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SALT LAKE CITY - The big topic that is on many Jazz fans’ minds is the upcoming NBA Draft, as well as this week's Draft Lottery to determine where the 14 teams that missed the playoffs will be picking. According to espn.com, the Jazz two picks combined garner about an 8% chance of getting the number one spot.
Jazz Insider Tim Buckley and Tom Kirkland discussed some players who have been drafted at numbers six and twelve, assuming that the ping pong balls fall exactly as the odds say they will. Many Jazz fans would probably be pretty happy if Kevin O’Connor and the Jazz front office could pick up someone like Brandon Roy or Chris Kaman with the number six pick. The lower lottery picks are usually harder to find any notable players, but Nick Collison and Thaddeus Young were both former twelfth picks that were on playoff rosters this year.
The good news for Jazz fans, as Buckley points out, is that O’Connor and the rest of the staff have a track record of making decisions based on the long-term health of the franchise and not decisions based on what will help ticket sales for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, more bad picks (Robert Swift or Cherokee Parks might be familiar “bust” picks to fans) occur the later in the lottery you go. The odds are definitely against the Jazz, but it has been done before. The most recent example was when the Chicago Bulls moved up to the number one overall pick with only a 1.7% chance to do so and took reigning MVP Derrick Rose in the 2008 draft.
Buckley pointed out that there are many European players taken around pick twelve or later in the lottery, which depending on how the lottery shakes down, might not be a bad choice for the Jazz. If they don’t feel that there is any players available that can help the team in the coming seasons, they could make this type of pick and stash the player in another league while still owning his rights.
Many Jazz fans will be familiar with players whom the Jazz have taken left with their current teams for a few years while they mature and gain playing experience. The most notable of this type of pick is Andrei Kirilenko, who was drafted in the 1999 NBA Draft, but didn’t play his first game in a Jazz uniform until the 2001-2002 season. Another of these players would be Ante Tomic, a second round pick in the 2008 draft who is still playing for Real Madrid in Spain. Tomic, who is seven feet, two inches, could also impact the Jazz draft decisions, dependent upon when the front office deems him NBA-ready and also dependent upon buyout arrangements with his current team.
All of the draft talk inevitably led to one specific pick that seems to divide some Jazz fans on whether or not he should be taken if available. That of course would be Jimmer Fredette out of Brigham Young University. The point guard has seen himself move up from a second round pick between his junior and senior year, when he tested the draft before ultimately deciding to go back to BYU for one more year, to almost a guaranteed lottery pick this year. Buckley pointed out that if Fredette has strong workouts leading up to the draft on June 23rd, he can climb even higher than he is currently projected as a late lottery pick.
The last BYU product that was this highly touted leading up to the draft was Rafael Araújo, who many in the Jazz organization, including the late Larry H. Miller were impressed with, didn’t end up working out after jumping to the eighth overall pick in the draft. By all accounts, according to Buckley, Araújo was a hard worker, but he wondered whether Araújo was picked so high based more on the fact that “outside influences” such as published reports that the Jazz wanted him rather than talent.
There is no doubt that Fredette would sell tickets because of his local ties and the “Jimmer-mania” that occurred during the last few months of his career, but whether or not he is the proper fit for the Jazz organization will be something that fans will debate at least until the night of the draft, if not even longer. The good news for Jazz fans, as Buckley points out, is that O’Connor and the rest of the staff have a track record of making decisions based on the long-term health of the franchise and not decisions based on what will help ticket sales for the foreseeable future.
Buckley also discussed an interview with long-time coach and Hall of Famer, Jerry Sloan, who told Buckley that he had recently sold all of the tractors that he owned on his McLeansboro, Illinois farm. He is adjusting to his retirement and approaching things differently now, as everyone who goes through a major life change has to. Sloan said in the interview (available at Yahoo Sports) that he really doesn’t miss the daily grind of NBA life, specifically the “having to pack your bags every time you turn around.” Even though Sloan seems content to enjoy his retirement, that has not stopped his name from being brought up as a possible replacement for teams looking for a new coach, including Golden State and Indiana, and even as an outside possibility with the Los Angeles Lakers and the retiring Phil Jackson. For Sloan to rejoin the ranks of the NBA coaches, the opportunity would have to be absolutely perfect.
"I’d be stunned [if he ever coached again]," said Buckley.
Landon Walters is a history and political science major currently studying at Salt Lake Community College and is an avid sports fan. He can be reached at mavericksoccer_22@hotmail.com or on twitter at www.twitter.com/LandawgDew
