A conversation with Kevin O'Connor

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Jazz have benefited from a little lottery luck to land the 3rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Now it's up to the franchise to take advantage of that stroke of luck and land a player, perhaps a star player, that can help them get back to being a playoff contender. After a tumultuous season that featured the resignation of Jerry Sloan, the trade of Deron Williams and the 2nd losing season for the franchise in 28 years, making the right pick could give this franchise the boost it desperately needs. I had a chance to sit down with Jazz vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor as he and his staff prepare for one of the most important decisions in franchise history.

JJ: What went through your mind when you realized you were in the top three (of the NBA draft)

O'Connor: I was stunned a little bit because once you get it and you saw that, at six, your name didn't come up, you go, whoa, now we can get the first pick. Then you gotta stand up there with the three of you when they call the names and I felt like I was at the carnival, sitting over the water and people were throwing things at you. My bell got hit first and I dropped into the water after three. It's almost like, okay, get lost. They paid us back. We lost the flip with Sacramento or else Sacramento would have that pick and we'd be 7th. We went from four to six last time so the lottery gods paid us back a little bit.

JJ: How important is it for you to really hit a home run in this draft?

O'Connor: Sometimes maybe there isn't a home run to be hit but by the same token you need to get a quality player. You don't get many of these chances. You want to make a quality pick and that's important to us. We've already added Derrick Favors, we've already added Devin Harris and to get a quality pick now would really help the franchise.

JJ: This seems to be a weak draft. Would you agree with that assessment?

Kevin O'Connor: When they say weak I don't know what weak is. We'll wait and see how it turns out. There are guys that have been taken in the 2nd round that turned out to be pretty good basketball players. We've got a few of them. There are guys that have turned out to be drafted No. 1 or 2 in the draft and haven't turned out to be great players. There will be somebody that's going to be a very good player in the NBA where we pick. We've got to make the right pick. As far as being weak, I think there is some unproven players which there are always going to be now the way the draft is. Now that becomes a more difficult process to figure out who to take.

JJ: Are there three or four all-stars in this draft? Is there a player as good as Deron Williams in this draft with that kind of star quality.

Kevin O'Connor: yeah, I'm sure there are. I'm sure there will be. Again, it's our responsibility to try and find them. We always look at it and say who was drafted after us that became a better player than we thought and we try and go back and review that and why didn't we think that. We challenge ourselves a lot more than the fans challenge us.

JJ: Really? You hear the criticism of fans and the media. You guys are just as critical of yourselves?

Kevin O'Connor: Harder. I think much harder. Why didn't we take him? What was our reasoning? Why did we take so and so rather than so and so? Did we see this? Where did we miss? We go back, we write up reports., we write files. We do background checks. We look at all that stuff and evaluate it and we do it each year.

JJ: As you look at this roster and evaluate things, what does this team need to get back in contention in the West.

Kevin O'Connor: Everybody needs size. I think if you look at what Dallas did when they made the trade and took the gamble on Tyson Chandler with a big time foot issue. Oklahoma City had turned him down on a trade. Give Mark Cuban credit. He took a $26 million gamble. You can always use size and I think Dallas proved that. So that is one of the things that you look at. You can always use really good basketball players. We could use shooting. Our wings are very young. We'd like not to get younger there but we may do that. There are a lot of positions. When you're not in the playoffs there are a lot of positions of need.

JJ: There is a lot of interest in this draft because you have the No. 3 and No. 12 picks. There is also a lot of interest locally because of Jimmer Fredette. What can you say about Jimmer?

Kevin O'Connor: That if he's the best player available we'll take him. You're judged by, your report card is public just like yours is. When your station gets the ratings and everything else it's public. The brass calls you in after that and they tell you 'hey you better do this or you better do that.' We're the same way. We're graded on 82 games. So if he's the best player available that's something we'll look at and that's something we'll evaluate and take. We're not gonna take him because of local interest and we're not gonna take him in the court of public opinion if everyone wants to take him. That's not what we're trying to do. We're trying to evaluate who is the best player and I always say who is the best player in three years for your team not who is the best player today.

JJ: Does popularity and marketability play any role when you make draft decisions?

Kevin O'Connor: No, because they booed John Stockton.

JJ: And last year they booed Gordon Hayward.

Kevin O'Connor: yeah. We'll see how that turns out. At the end of the season I think people would maybe take back some of that but that's okay. Look, that's part of it. Draft night is fun for those people. It's not fun for me but it's fun for those people.

JJ: There was word at the combine that Enes Kanter turned down an interview with the Jazz. Can you confirm that?

Kevin O'Connor: He turned down an interview with a lot of people. We've set it up so that we're gonna get an individual workout with him and sit down with him and have dinner with him and everything else. Those half-an-hour interviews were difficult for him. Little bit of a language issue and everything else. They called and said here is what we would like to do. We said fine.

JJ: So too much was made of that?

Kevin O'Connor: Way too much was made of it to be honest with you. I wound up talking to him at the hallway at the combine and he was asking about Memo and how Memo liked it here. All reports were that he loved it. All those things are overblown at that time. And besides, We're gonna take the best player. We've had people turn down interviews that we've taken.

JJ: Would you take a player that says 'I don't want to play for the Utah Jazz?'

Kevin O'Connor: Yeah. Absolutely. Other teams have shied away from doing that and it's cost them. I remember when Brandon Roy didn't want to play for Charlotte at three. You've got to take the best player and you've got to say, hey, show up and play. You're getting paid. That's not dictatorial. I'm just saying that during this process they're going through it once. It's like recruiting. They (draft prospects) really don't know what they are doing. Those kids don't know what they're doing as far as the draft goes. Somebody says 'hey they got this player at your position and you don't want to go there' so we take it with an ultra grain of salt.

JJ: What is the most important part of this process? The interview? The workouts? What really sets a guy apart during this process?

Kevin O'Connor: His body of work in basketball. That's one of the things that's tougher with the younger players. When Tim Duncan came out you knew what his body of work was. When Keith Van Horn came out you knew what his body of work was. Andre Miller, you knew what his body of work was. I don't say you knew what they were gonna become but you had a pretty good idea because they played 120 college games. It makes it a little different if someone hasn't played or is a European player.

Email: jjensen@ksl.comTwitter: @JJSportsBeat

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