Tears Were Shed and Hope for our Future

In honor of Mehmet Okurs retirement from professional basketball. Jazz fan extraordinaire @jazzbasketball1 made this video

Do yourself a favor and watch the entire 16+ minutes of the video. I am so grateful to have fans like @jazzbasketball1 who has the talent and means to create such a video and shares with the rest of us Jazz fans to improve our fan experience.

I enjoyed watching this video for many reasons. As I have said many many times Memo is one of my favorite Jazz players of all time. If John and Karl are counted as one then Memo is top 3.

I enjoyed watching this video to remember happier times in my Jazz fandom. It helps to remember these happy times after losses like Friday night against the Denver Nuggets.

I enjoyed watching this video to see an amazing offense system, a system that people said didn't change for twenty+ years but that is not true. The fact that Memo was allowed to be the 'Money Man' and that 'Memo is Money' is a phrase is because Jerry was willing to adapt his system. We all know Mark Eaton and Greg Ostertage weren't out there shooting threes.

I enjoyed thinking about Jerry Sloan as head coach of the Utah Jazz. Yes he wasn't perfect but he was a Hall of Famer in every sense of the word. Jerry did learn to adapt his game and was able to get the most out of nearly every player on our roster during Memo's tenure with the Jazz.

I enjoyed remembering that the Jazz although not the best defensively during the Deron Williams era, we always had an offense to rely on and it wasn't iso or quick jump shots, they set screens, ran plays, they played as a team, it was beautiful basketball. So even if AK couldn't always help Boozer and the other team got an easy layup, I knew something good was going to happen on the other end of the court.

I enjoyed seeing a team that everyone knew their role. Despite the fact that Deron Williams was a second year player, he was allowed to run the offense, he was able to set Memo up for threes. No one was saying Deron Williams was too young or too inexperienced. Deron was the most talented point guard on our team so he played, Memo was our most talented center so he played.

Lastly, I enjoyed thinking about the talent that we currently have on the 2012-2013 Utah Jazz squad. Our current talent supersedes the talent that was on the 2007 WCF's team. That is a cause for great hope. We have six lottery players on our team and high lottery players at that. If a bunch of 2nd rounders, AK and Deron Williams can do what they did in those highlights, I can only imagine what this team could do when they are allowed to gel, be in an offense that helps them succeed and when each of them know their roles. It will be a glorious sight.

So yes a tear was shed for what was but also for what will be.