International House Of Utah - The Downbeat - #574

The Utah Jazz announced yesterday that they had hired Rick Sheubrooks to be the Director of Professional and International Scouting. This is a newly-created position as announced in the release. Sheubrooks' previous experience is as follows,

Sheubrooks joins the Jazz after spending the previous four seasons as the Director of Global Scouting for the Charlotte Bobcats. Sheubrooks is well known on the international basketball scene for his role as a Global Basketball Consultant for Nike where he has played a key role in organizing the Nike Hoop Summit the past 14 years.

I have to admit that before yesterday, I couldn't tell you who Rich Sheubrooks was. Once I read up on him, he's had his hand in the lives of many NBA players. He started working with Nike and their Hoop Summit going all the way back when a kid named Allen Iverson got into trouble before he went to college. He's been responsible for getting players such as Bismack Biyombo and Dirk Nowitzki noticed. He no doubt had a hand in getting Enes Kanter to play last year as well. His record speaks for itself and this is a huge get for the Jazz.

While he'll have many other duties, he seems to be a man that "knows how to get things" if you'll allow me to compare him to Redd for a bit. I wonder if he'll be able to Ante Tomic to come over and play for the Jazz. Tomic is pretty set right now playing in Europe. He is paid well and gets minutes, both of which might be hard to come by if he played in Utah. However, his recent performance in Eurobasket may have made him more valuable in the eyes of the Jazz front office. If they have a master plan to move Jefferson and/or Millsap, then the team could have a young and formidable front line in Kanter, Favors, and Tomic.

The Jazz have never been shy about drafting international players, but they have yet to have the success they had after drafting Andrei Kirilenko. Maybe Kanter changes that.

Speaking of AK, his Russian team remains undefeated in Eurobasket thanks in part to this miracle heave yesterday against Macedonia

More Hayward,

(h/t Kurt Adison)

The owners and players will hold their next series of meetings this week starting today. Their is some optimism and some people are reporting that the owners could present a new offer based on last week's meeting. Others don't believe another proposal is coming. Your roundup:

N.B.A. Players and Owners Are Talking, but That’s All - NYTimes.com
Neither side is expected to deliver a complete new proposal. The hope — at least among the optimists on either side — is that last week’s brainstorming sessions will become the basis for a collaborative new effort. They are actively seeking a compromise. As one person monitoring the talks said, "They’re not just sticking to one side and saying, ‘We’re not moving.’ " That is a vast improvement from August and puts these talks light-years ahead of where they were during the 1998 lockout. While the circumstances may differ, the comparison is worth noting. By this point in 1998, players and owners had held just one bargaining session. It ended abruptly, with the owners walking out after rejecting a union proposal. They did not meet again until Oct. 8, after the preseason had been canceled. They passed the time by blaming each other for the lack of meetings.

Enes Kanter's second-round highlights courtesy of moni