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SALT LAKE CITY - What has Andrei Kirilenko done for Utah? At this point what he hasn't done could be the more pertinent question.
He is the lone holdover from the Stockton and Malone era. The Russian born Kirilenko was drafted in the first round in 1999 and came to America in 2001 to start his career with the Jazz and with the recent signing of Josh Howard his time most likely has come to an end.
Over the last few years his career has been remembered more for his tattoo, his wife's clothing store, his injuries, his whacky haircut, his other less whacky, but still odd haircut and his giant contract that kept the Jazz from making moves to build around Deron Williams. What should not be forgotten is what he did during a dark time in Jazz history.
In his prime, which occurred after Stockton and Malone left and before D-Will got to Utah, he was as productive a player as anyone around. After the team lost its identity AK47 stepped up and had a phenomenal year in the '03 season.
That year he played and started in 78 games. He averaged 16.5 points per game with 8.1 rebounds per game, 2.8 blocks, 1.9 steals. He was the star on a team with DeShawn Stevenson, Carlos Arroyo and Greg Ostertag. He was named an All-Star in 2004 and to the 2nd All-Defensive team. The Jazz finished with a 42-40 record, but failed to make the playoffs.
The following season Kirilenko missed half the season and the Jazz suffered greatly. They fell to 26-56, which allowed them to draft D-Will. That season he signed a max contract that would end up defining the rest of his Jazz tenure.
In the '05-06 season he was named to the All-Defensive team when he averaged 3.2 blocks per game and eight rebounds. He was still the team leader, but Mehmet Okur was taking points away and the next season Carlos Boozer would come in and take more of his possessions.
Williams was becoming the leader of the team and Boozer was the offensive weapon. Most expected Kirilenko to become a defensive stopper. He had rare numbers such as putting up six steals, six blocks, six points, six rebounds and six assists, which has only been done by two people; Kirilenko and Hakeem Olajuwon.
He could have been the ultimate x-factor. A player that fills up the stat sheet and guards every position. This is what most expected, and there were glimpses, but never enough to justify the max contract.
The injury-riddled Kirilenko, he's averaged 63 games per year since 2004, never clicked with the Williams regime. Whether it was injuries, leadership, playing out of position, an unwillingness to accept his role or complacency his numbers would go down to averaging just under a block and a half per game his last four years and around 4.5 rebounds per game. This is around half of his usual average despite only losing seven minutes per game.
He is still relatively young, 30, but the Jazz have a full stock of contracts, so he will most likely go elsewhere once he signs a contract this season.
He currently isn't on an NBA roster, but is playing basketball for CSKA Moscow, his former team in Russia. He has signed a contract during the lockout and helped lead the team to an undefeated Euro league season, going 9-0. He averaged 13.8 points per game with nine rebounds, 2.2 steals and 3.2 blocked shots.
He seems to be happy playing for his former team and there have been questions as to whether he will come back to the NBA this season or if he will stay in Russia.
If he does come back he has two suitors that have shown interest lately: Sacramento Kings and New Jersey Nets.
Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee said two sources have talked about Kirilenko coming to the Kings. One reason Voisin gives the Kings a chance is the history of Eastern European players enjoying their time in Sacramento, including Vlade Divac, Hedo Turkoglu and Peja Stojakovic.
The Nets are an easy fit for AK thanks to Mikhail Prokhorov. He is the owner of the Nets and is a Russian billionaire who would have a natural affinity for the Russian Kirilenko. On Dec. 14 Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated tweeted that the "Nets are in serious talks" with Kirilenko. There AK would be reunited with Williams and would start and be a key contributor on both ends of the court.
Either place would set Kirilenko up to be a veteran leader that could help young teams improve and would be given a chance to be productive for either team.
Kirilenko still has a few more years and while his time in Utah is coming to an end he will still be able to play basketball and hopefully get more bad tattoos, haircuts and interesting conversations with his pop-star wife.
Email: jmoore@ksl.com
