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SALT LAKE CITY -- Tuesday night was the premiere of Utah Jazz 4.0. The departure of free agent Andrei Kirilenko and the trade of Memo Okur were the final steps in an 18- month process closing out Utah Jazz 3.0.
Jazz 1.0
In 1979, the Utah Jazz came to Salt Lake. An ABA city got its first taste of the NBA. After a few years of Tom Nissalke, Ben Poquette and Alan Bristow, Jazz fans were introduced to its first group of stars, Adrian Dantley, Ricky Green, Darrell Griffith and Frank Layden. Jazz 1.0 brought legitimacy to the NBA in Salt Lake and legitimacy to Salt Lake itself. After early highlights of Alan Bristow punching out Larry Bird and the Whopper Billy Paultz's right hook, Jazz 1.0 had a connection between city and team that would soon be unprecedented in the NBA.
Jazz 1.0 capped off its run with the 1987-88 seven-game series with the Hall of Fame laden Los Angeles Lakers. 1.0 ended shortly thereafter. Frank Layden suddenly resigned turning the franchise over to his trusted assistant Jerry Sloan. It was the culmination of a process that had been taking place for a few years. A power forward from Louisiana Tech replaced the previous NBA All-Star Adrian Dantley. The fresh-eyed competitor, John Stockton, supplemented the fastest of them all - Ricky Green as the point guard.
Jazz 2.0
Utah Jazz 2.0 was first born in 1985 when Larry H. Miller bought 50% of the team from Sam Battistone, and then on June 16, 1986 when Larry H. Miller purchased the rest of the franchise.
2.0 started a bit slow with first round exits in ‘89 and ‘90. The consistency of the organization and loyalty of the fan base allowed 2.0 to have great success, starting in 1991 when the Jazz made the Western Conference Finals. Subtle updates including Tyrone Corbin, Jeff Hornacek, and Antoine Carr moved the Jazz into a new stratosphere. Still at the core were Stockton, Malone and Sloan (Hot Rod deserves part of it also). Finally, they were able to crest the Western Conference and make its two NBA Finals appearances. The Utah Jazz was officially Utah's favorite. Salt Lake City was a Jazz town and the nation took envious notice.
All great things must come to an end and when John Stockton retired from basketball in 2003, Utah Jazz 2.0 was obsolete.
Jazz 3.0
The beginnings of Utah Jazz 3.0 were raw and limited, but at the helm was the same master as 2.0, Jerry Sloan. The fan base embraced 3.0 - it was built on grit and desire. Utah Jazz 3.0 didn't start with much to sell other than a raw energetic 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko.
Applications were added, Deron Williams, Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer and Utah Jazz 3.0 was back into the Western Conference Finals within three years. Memo was hitting huge threes in Houston. Carlos Boozer was dominating Yao Ming, Deron avenging a breakout by Baron Davis to dominate the series and Craig Bolerjack was telling you to buckle up for another ride. It was an unheard of ride back to prominence. The bubble didn't last and 3.0 would never make it over the summit.
Looking back Utah Jazz 3.0 very well may have been the second best team in basketball, but the best was in L.A. and stared them down in the NBA Playoffs each and every time.
Unlike Utah Jazz 2.0 that lived at the top of their game without distractions or dips for over 15 year, Utah Jazz 3.0 took a much more natural business cycle and crashed in 2010, seven years after it had been launched.
The end of Utah Jazz 3.0 started with the torn Achilles of Mehmet Okur in the Denver Playoff series. Utah Jazz 3.0's greatest moment may have the fight and determination it showed to blast the Denver Nuggets out of the first round before once again falling to their archrival Los Angeles Lakers.
3.0's expiration was intensified with the departure of Carlos Boozer only to come to a crashing halt the night Jerry Sloan retired after losing to Boozer's new team. With Jazz stock prices dropping to all-time lows, Jazz ended 3.0 with the trade of Deron Williams.
Jazz 4.0
Tuesday night we embarked on Utah Jazz 4.0. It is the next era in 32 years of Utah Jazz Basketball.
Pieces have been acquired for 4.0, starting with a winner from the heart of basketball, Gordon Hayward, who took a no-name school, Butler, to the final second of the NCAA National Championship against the giant of college basketball, Duke. Now as the oldest of the "youngsters", (21) he embarks on his second season in the NBA.
Next is a gift from the basketball god's 6-foot 10-inch unbelievably gifted Derrick Favors who for the first time in three years gets to unpack and be established. Consider at 20 we were still two years away from meeting Karl Malone. Favors will do his learning and excelling all as a part of 4.0.
The newest addition is highlighted by an import. A Turkish teenager who was so desperate to play in the NBA he left his homeland and parents at 17 to become a part of the most storied college basketball program in the U.S., Kentucky. Then that hope was denied by the ruling body of the NCAA. Finally, after two years of waiting the 19-year- old Enes Kanter is dropped into the middle of a man's game and with endless effort and joy doing everything he can to hold his own.
The final piece is an overlooked kid from Missouri who has proven every doubter wrong, Alec Burks. While every other Missouri State star was getting recruited, Burks, while going unnoticed, just keep winning all the way to the Missouri State Player of the Year. With one and only one scholarship in hand Burks stayed in Big 12 country with a chip on his shoulder.
At the end of his freshman year at Colorado, he was the Big 12 Rookie of the Year, averaging 17 points and 5 rebounds and a Freshman All-American.
Two years later he was the #12 pick of the NBA draft again with doubters wondering if he could shoot at the NBA level. Each night he has a message for those doubters.
It is these four pieces along with the hard working Al Jefferson, the overachieving Paul Millsap and a cast of others that lead the Jazz into the new era, Utah Jazz 4.0.
4.0 is different than the other eras. We embarked upon 1.0 with ignorance and bliss. 2.0 was our first taste of greatness, one to never be equaled. 3.0 started with a dearth of talent only to bring in hired guns for the first time.
Now with a new CEO in charge, Greg Miller, a new coach, Tyrone Corbin, and characters younger than we have ever seen before, 4.0 gets under way.
On a personal level, it is incredibly exciting to embark on this journey with you. This is our team, Utah's team. It comes to us in a new era. Where the players are also @gordonhayward, @alecburks10 and @dfavors14, an era where we know a little more about each of these guys and what they do. We learn more about what makes them tick and what drives them to greatness. We are closer to this group with the advent of new technology then we were in the past eras.
At the end of this era, we will have met them younger, known them better and learned more about them and probably ourselves than we did in the past. It will be quite a ride. Not always an easy one, but one that will only intensify the relationship between this state and its team.
Utah Jazz 4.0 is here. Let it begin.
