Gordon Hayward: Jazz Fans vs. Jazz Management


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In somewhat of a shocker, the Jazz passed up a couple of bigger players to get 6'8" Gordon Hayward in the 2010 NBA Draft; and Jazz fans weren't at all happy with the pick.

"Pretty disappointed."

"BOOOOOOOO!"

" They told me they booed John Stockton too. We'll hope that history repeats itself." said Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin O'Connor.

Fans passionately let their voices be heard, " Very disappointed, (I was) hoping for a big guy. Gordon Hayward, he's not the number 9 pick."

"We wanted a big man, big shot blocker, didn't get it."

O'Connor hears the fans' concerns, " You can appreciate what the fans are saying, what they wish; what I would like everyone to do is evaluate me two years from now and see where we stand with the teams that picked after us."

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It appeared by the post-announcement reaction that Jazz fans were looking to trade up in the draft or take the best available big man, "Hoping for Monroe, maybe Davis or someone else, but that (Hayward) was definitely not what we wanted."

O'Connor wanted to trade up, "We tried very, very hard to trade up, and there were no takers."

"I just think we could have done much better." another fan lamented.

Coach Jerry Sloan was not offended by the reaction, " It's a natural thing for people to do, if they're not that familiar with what we're trying to accomplish. We try to get the best player and sometimes that's not who everybody wanted."

As for the reason O'Connor and staff settled on Hayward, "Give credit to winning. All of us give credit to potential, but give some credit to winning. I don't know how many of you were here for the NCAA tournament, but the two games here, the last 5 or 6 minutes, he was the best player on the floor, and Wesley Johnson was on that floor."

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Dave Noriega, SportsBeat

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