Walking Wounded

Let's be honest, this was supposed to be our season. Not our season to 100% win the championship, but a year where things were supposed to come together better than they had the previous seasons -- guys would be at the end of their contracts, and this would be a make or break season for the team as it is currently composed. Instead everything pretty much went absolutely nuts -- in a bad way.

It could have been worse, you know -- it's not like we traded a player only for him to fail his medical examination (right Hornets?); or we haven't played our highest earning player a single second this year (right Knicks fans?). That said, it hasn't really been that great either.

I haven't been that glued to the Jazz this season partly because of how bad it got. I haven't felt this distanced since the 2004-2005 season (where AK missed 41 games and Carlos missed 31). The Jazz are sitting at 3rd place in their division and 8th in the conference right now. Why? If I had to point my finger on something I'd have to go with "Injuries for $500, Alex". After playing 55 games this season the Jazz have (only?) 23 losses.

Position	Name	Role	Accolades	# of games missed	Status
PG	Deron Williams	Team leader	All-NBA 2nd team last year, Top 5 PG in the L, Gold Medal winner	14	Injured in pre-season, played hurt all season long, finally feeling healed over the last two weeks
SG	Ronnie Brewer	Primary wing defender	Top 5 FG% SG in the L	1
SF	C.J. Miles	Utility player on offense	Never really had playing time before in his life	5
PF	Carlos Boozer	Top Scorer, Top Rebounder	Multiple time All-Star, Gold Medal winner	43	...and counting...
C	Mehmet Okur	Best outside threat, clutch shooter	Former All-Star, captain of his National Team	9	Had to fly to Turkey in the middle of a road trip because his father was on his death bed
6th Man	Andrei Kirilenko	Best defender, Glue guy	Former All-Star, MVP of Eurobasket 2007, European player of the year 2008	15	Just had ankle surgery, came back early, could have been out longer
	Brevin Knight	Team veteran off bench, oldest player	one of the best career Assist:Turn over ratios	8
	Paul Millsap	Became starter early in the season because of Boozer's injury, previously just an energy player off the bench	Had 19 straight double doubles this season	6	Got injured when the Jazz were reeling from other injuries to forwards/centers, has been playing hurt over the last 6 weeks
	Matt Harpring	Toughest hustle player	Player other NBA players hate to be defended by	14	Near fatal foot infection after surgery in the off-season
	Kyle Korver	Bench sharp-shooter	Highly regarded three point threat	4	Has played entire season with wrist injury to shooting hand
	Jarron Collins	Backup center	Probably had a good SAT score	38	Off-season golf cart accident that injured him and his twin brother, still a bad player, but still our backup center
				157 games total

That's a lot of games missed by key guys. If you divide 157 games evenly between your starters, and their back ups, you get an average of 16 games missed by each of your top 10 guys on your depth chart. That's not bad, especially not if those are spaced out. That's quite manageable. Unfortunately, the Jazz have had multiple injuries at the same time . . . sometimes to the same position on the court. Heck, there have been games where both Deron Williams and Brevin Knight have been out. If you haven't been following along, Jerry Sloan's offense is only as good as the point guard running it. During this stretch the Jazz had Ronnie Price (former 2 guard), C.J. Miles (a former 2 guard now playing the 3) and Andrei Kirilenko (former 4 playing the 3) running the show. How solid would the Lakers have been at the 2 (the triangle's most important position) if Kobe and Sasha were both out? Probably not that great, I reckon.

D-Will had to be carried off on Oct 18, 2008 thanks to some amazing Bowen like defense by Derrick Rose (Photographed by Joe Murphy for NBAE/Getty Images)	Boozer hurt his knee on Nov 19, 2008 against the Bucks, a non-contact injury which made little sense. (Photographed by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty Images)	AK was down but not out after his ankle surgery -- he came back to play pretty quickly for such a fragile looking guy. (Photographed by Lisa Blumenfeld for NBAE/Getty Images)	Nasty post-op foot infection, not actually Matt Harpring's foot though . . .	Memo and his dad Abdullah in the Istanbul Int'l airport, in happier times back in 2005.

Lots of teams face injuries during the season, it's just part of the game. Very few teams face a multitude of injuries/absences to the same position at the same time though. The zenith of it was a game against Philadelphia where Memo had to leave to fly to see his dad in Turkey, Jarron Collins was injured, Kyrylo Fesenko had to leave the country because of a work visa problem, and the Jazz had to start a 19 year old Kosta Koufos -- and Kosta had to defend guys like Elton Brand and Sam Dalembert all night long. The Jazz actually won that game. How crazy is that? All hail expanded rosters and 4th string (actually he should be 2nd) centers! [Sadly, this was one of the first games of the season -- and the most RECENT game recap on All That Jazz]

The injury situation has been absurd this season for the Utah Jazz . . . heck, yesterday our injured team owner even passed away. Never has a team been so cursed with injuries it seems. Well, there is good news -- so don't jump off any bridges yet. Right now the Jazz are the least injured they have been all season -- with only one key guy (Boozer) who is out. And rumor has it that he will be ready to play next week. The Jazz have managed to position themselves in the playoff hunt, and they are only 5 games behind in their division. Utah plays Denver twice yet this season, so if the Jazz win those two games then they only need to make up 3 more -- which is easily done if we come back hungry and healthy in this 2nd half of the season. It's a good time to be a Jazz fan, because as dark as things look now, things are only going to get better. After all, in the last few games the Jazz have (while still not at full strength) knocked off the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics.

Oh, if the Jazz do win the division Jerry Sloan should get COY . . . all the other playoff teams would have died by now with 157 injuries (spread unequally among the rotation guys). So here's to a healthy next 27 (+playoffs) games!

Go Jazz Go!

Game 7 Recap: Utah 93 - Philadelphia 80

Game at a Glance:

The Jazz bounce back from the ridiculous loss to the New York Knicks and win a game on the road. This was the first win on this five game Eastern Conference Road trip, and was a necessary win in the first game of a back-to-back set. Adding to the drama of this event was the fact that it was Kyle Korver's return / revenge game against his old club, the Philadelphia 76ers. It was also Kosta Koufos' first start in the NBA because every other bigman was out: Mehmet Okur was in Turkey to be there with his ailing father; Jarron Collins was still injured from his golf cart incident during the summer; and Kyrylo Fesenko had to leave the country due to visa issues. Oh yeah -- it was also Deron Williams' first game of the season as well. Pretty big game, storyline-wise. The real story of the game was the dominating performance by the Jazz bench (38 to 12 points), and the Ronnie Brewer show in the 4th quarter. Philly had no answer. (and haven't had him for a few seasons now . . .)

[ ESPN.com's boxscore -- Yahoo!Sports.com Game Recap -- NBA.com's game highlights -- SLCDunk.com -- TrueBlueJazz.com ]

Jazz Quartet -- Top Four Players of the Game:

Andrei Kirilenko	Carlos Boozer	Paul Millsap	Ronnie Brewer
Photographed by Ron Cortes for Philly.com	Photographed by Tom Mihalek for AP Photo	Photographed by Jesse D. Garrabrant for NBAE/Getty Images	Photographed by Jesse D. Garrabrant for NBAE/Getty Images
Andrei seems to have a permanent spot here as the team continues to have a wide variety of injuries this season. Andrei had a much better game than the last one, and he finished with 16 points (6-8 shooting, 4-4 from the FT line), 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block in 33 minutes of action (and only 1 turn over!). Andrei was patient on offense finding his team mates, out-rebounded Dalembert on some misses and shot at least three outside jumpers with a high level of confidence, and swished each of them. He was one of four guys with at least 16 points in the game!	Boozer had another double double, this time with 19 points and 16 rebounds. If he was shooting better from the FT line he would have had a 20-10 game, something that has so far been elusive to him in the last few outings. He made himself a good target for Deron Williams, and the side pick and roll was called often, and worked often -- Boozer actually had a double double before halftime in this game, and Deron Williams had 8 assists. Boozer was a beast inside, scoring in a variety of ways, but his jumper was off -- and that's something that we're going to need to be on during the rest of the season against harder clubs.	Millsap tied Kirilenko with 16 points off the bench (though, he was slightly less efficient, going 8-12), and added 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists and 1 steal. His defense and rebounding was instrumental during the 4th quarter run by the bench, and his hard work was rewarded as his team mates looked for him inside. So far the unselfish play of the Jazz has really been a key reason why they've continued to win games with so many guys out. Millsap is a great example of this unselfish play.	Ronnie Brewer is going nuts these last few games. Last game was a 12/7/7 with some other stats for change. This night Brewer started off slowly (zero points at half, after missing all of his shots), but his team continued to work the ball to him, and he delivered when it counted. Ronnie finished the game with 16 points (6-16 fg, 0-3 3pt, 4-4 ft), and had 9 assists and 4 steals. Yes, he and Andrei almost had double doubles in this game, and both are 'second' tier players on this team. That's depth!

Digging Deeper:

There were several points to this game. The first is that, really, the Jazz won yet another game while being vastly short-handed. Kosta Koufos has to start, and nearly played half the game, against some of the best bigmen in the business (Brand and Dalembert). He did a fantastic job, and while he did not shoot a great percentage (3-8 fg), the times where he caught the ball somewhere close to the rim he did not hesitate and made a good, solid move to score. He still managed to get 6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal and an assist in his time on the court. I was impressed with him on the offensive end with his ability to actually make a fluid post move. I was also impressed that he got the rebounds he was supposed to get. (nothing amazing, like how Boozer or Millsap get rebounds they should not get, but at the same time, not like Collins who misses rebounds he should get) Lastly, while he was really nervous (as any rookie should be), he manned up and played good ball. He had a good sequence in the 2nd quarter where he was making life hard on Elton Brand (who would finish with 13 points and 5 rebounds), and tied him up and forced a jump ball -- which Kosta won. Great job, Kosta!

While Koufos was impressive Deron was somewhere between impressive and 'meh'. He felt the need to come back sooner than he should have, and while he did have an okay game (statistically at least, with 7 points and 9 assists, 2 boards, 1 block and 2 turn overs), he did not play a good game. He did control the pace and was able to break his man off the dribble and find an open man on occasion -- but he was just as likely to pass the ball to someone a bit off where it should have been. He also forced his way inside, but did not have the speed, lift, or balance to make layups. His outside shooting was also pretty off.

Photographed by Jesse D. Garrabrant for NBAE/Getty Images

All in all he finished with 1-8 shooting (worse than Kover's 1-7, or Price+Knight's combined 1-5) and was just not quick enough on defense. Lou Williams was going by him with regularity before halftime. Even worse is the impression this game may have left on the minds of some people -- Andre Miller finished the game with 25 points -- most of them coming on unmolested layups. Some people may attribute that to Deron's defense, however, that just is not the case. Miller got many transition buckets, and lay ups in the same way Brewer does -- camping under the rim and getting the pass. Still, 25 points to Andre Miller is ridiculous. It's a good thing that no one else showed up . . .

Or more precisely, that Philly only really showed up in the 3rd quarter when their defense really clamped down on the Jazz when Deron and Boozer went to the bench. What was once a 14 point lead ended up becoming a 4 point deficit after the 3rd quarter was in the books. While that may have been reminiscent of the previous game in New York, the outcome of the 4th was nothing like it. Why? I'll tell you why! The Jazz bench (Knight, Korver, Kirilenko, Millsap, and starter Ronnie Brewer) started the 4th quarter on a 9-0 run which was mix of hustle on offense (like Andrei's 2nd tip shot attempt basket) and defense (Millsap had 2 blocks early in the 4th). By the time the main timeout of the quarter occurred the Jazz bench had outscored Philly 15-4 in the quarter. After that it was lights out as Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko kept feeding the hot hand, Ronnie Brewer, and he finished with a high number of layups and 'and ones'. Game over.

Next Game: Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 -- Utah @ Washington Wizards [2nd night of a back-to-back]

Kosta Koufos signs off his interviews like an an Anchorman from the 1950's

Kosta Koufos is a helluva player. He is going to have a good future in the NBA, he's also really really young. He's 19 years old. He's a rookie. And there is not much playing time coming his way. Due to the stars aligning in a specific way (resulting in the three other centers on the roster to be out of action right now) he got a chance to start the game, but also play 21 minutes of action. He finished with only 6 points (3-8 shooting), but added 5 rebounds (that's what LaMarcus averages over the last 5 games) 2 blocks, 1 assist and 1 steal. That's AMAZING, if you ask me! (Especially as he was playing against Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert) Kosta had a good game, and I was more impressed with what he did that did not show up on the boxscore. He blocked shots after the foul was called on another defender -- which is a legal move, and prevents the chance of a three point play. He also played good man defense on Elton Brand inside and on the perimeter. He also did a good job of denying the pass, especially on one sequence where the Sixers were inbounding under their own basket.

All of that is great, but Kosta's old school interview is the main reason for this blog post. Dude is out of a time machine. It's great entertainment. The absolute best part is how he 'signed off' of this interview like some snazzy anchorman. He gives very solid answers and is very poised. [Anchorman picture is used here, even though he represents the 1970s, not the 1950s]

If I was answering these questions as a 19 year old I would have said things just a little differently:

Craig Bolerjack: Did you get any sleep last night? (in reference to getting the notice the night before that he'll start today) Kosta Koufos: Definitely, it's just a game of basketball . . . 19 year old Amar: I tried man, but I was so excited that I couldn't! Usually my room mate is Morris Almond, but because so many guys were out we all had our own hotel rooms tonight. So I was up all night playing video games and I talked with my girlfriend on the phone for 4 hours. [to the camera] Hey baby! Did you see me on TV today? CB: How did you feel the first few minutes? A little wide-eyed out there? Elton Brand is the guy you're banging against? KK: Elton Brand is a tremendous player, I just wanted to play hard. 19yroA: I puked right before the game and I puked again a halftime. It was like Steaming Willie Beaman from Any Given Sunday, but without any of the steam. Or stuff in my stomach. I also puked a bit on CJ Miles by accident. Seriously . . . Elton Brand? I'm only 19, two years ago I had a lunch period and study hall.	CB: [How was it for you to have Deron back?] KK: Deron Williams is probably one of the better point guards in the NBA. He's a great leader. I learned a lot today. 19yoA: Let me tell you, that even though he didn't shoot well, we don't win without him. I sure as hell would have been crapping my pants *and* puking all over the place if Deron wasn't playing. CB: [Asks about experience, and not having Mehmet Okur around] KK: Memo's family is in my prayers . . . he's been a good role model for me, I've learned a lot from him and he just takes care of me. 19yoA: Why did the Jazz draft me just so I can fly around the country checking into hotel rooms and watching NBA games from the front row / aka the Bench? You have to be a little selfish at times, and I want to play now when I'm young and injury free. [turns to camera] Hey Mom! Did you see me on TV? I'm on TV! Teeeeeveeeeee! Woooo!
Click on either image for the actual interview, including the classy sign off.

Kosta had a great game, and his is unnaturally poised for his age -- and that's a great thing to have. He's not a man child like Fesenko is -- he's the ice to Fesenko's fire. Today the iceman cometh.

Memo's dad is in the ICU; Deron may make a go of it tonight

We've all heard by now that Mehmet Okur has been excused by the Jazz brass, and has flown to Turkey to take care of a family crisis. It doesn't take much interneting skill to figure out what happened. One only has to go to Memo's official website to get the straight dope:

"Utah Jazz center Mehmet Okur's father Abdullah Okur has been sick for a long time now. His condition got worse about two weeks ago as he was taken into intensive care.  However a few days ago he showed strong enough signs of recovering and that the doctors moved him to a normal hospital room. Yesterday his condition all of a sudden deteriorated and he was immediately taken back into intensive care once again. Memo was informed of his condition and today spoke with both coach Jerry Sloan and general manager Kevin O'Connor both of whom said that he should immediately go to be with his family. Memo is going to be on the first flight to Istanbul. " (via MEMO13.com, 2008)

This is saddening news, and I hope that the Okur family is able to have the peace and time needed to properly resolve this situation -- family IS bigger than work. And I wish that Mehmet comes back to the USA soon, but only after he knows it's the right time to do so. (e.g. Don't leave your dad in the ICU to go and rush back to play against the Charlotte Bobcats or Sacramento Kings or anything silly like that.)

It's easy to be selfish as a Jazz fan and be upset that another one of your starters can't play every game, the prospect of being down two is bad enough. Compounding things, Kyrylo Fesenko has VISA issues that needed to be resolved (somehow, in Toronto), so he's not going to be there to bang against Dalembert and Brand either. Collins is still hurt as well. [Better hope that Kosta is a big fan of Disney movies, because he has his perfect Disney movie chance now to shine!]

As a result of this new development, or by some magical hotel rest, 1320 KFan has reported (and it was confirmed by the Deseret News here; and the Salt Lake Tribune here) that Deron Williams is expected to play tonight.

Now I just check SLC Dunk and see that I had no reason to blog any of this has Basketball John already explained everything! (Early bird gets the worm I guess)

Flashback Friday: The first 10 games of the last two seasons

Last season (2007-2008) the Utah Jazz won 54 games in the regular season, but only 6 in the post season, for a grand total of 60 wins. The Jazz also won 60 total wins the previous season (2006-2007) -- 51 in the regular season and 9 in the post season. I think that this club is ready to break the 60 total win barrier and do something special this season. The years where the Utah Jazz start off hot as usually the most successful seasons for the Jazz as well. That said, it has to start somewhere, so let's take a look at the first 10 games of the last two seasons: 2006-2007 and 2007-2008.

	2006-2007				2007-2008				2008-2009
	Opponent	Win	Record		Opponent	Win	Record		Opponent	Win	Record
1	Houston Rockets	Yes	1-0		@ Golden State Warriors	Yes	1-0		Denver Nuggets	Yes	1-0
2	@ Phoenix Suns	Yes	2-0		Houston Rockets		1-1		LA Clippers	Yes	2-0
3	Golden State Warriors	Yes	3-0		Golden State Warriors	Yes	2-1		@ LA Clippers	Yes	3-0
4	Detroit Pistons	Yes	4-0		@ LA Lakers		2-2		Portland Trailblazers	Yes	4-0
5	@ New Jersey Nets		4-1		Cleveland Cavaliers	Yes	3-2		Oklahoma City Thunder	Yes	5-0
6	@ Boston Celtics	Yes	5-1		@ Seattle Supersonics	Yes	4-2		@ New York Knicks	?
7	@ Milwaukee Bucks	Yes	6-1		Memphis Grizzlies	Yes	5-2		@ Philadelphia 76ers	?
8	@ LA Clippers	Yes	7-1		Sacramento Kings	Yes	6-2		@ Washington Wizards	?
9	@ Seattle Supersonics	Yes	8-1		@ Toronto Raptors	Yes	7-2		@ Charlotte Bobcats	?
10	Phoenix Suns	Yes	9-1		@ Cleveland Cavaliers		7-3		@ Cleveland Cavaliers	?

The last two seasons the Jazz started above .500 and went on to have pretty successful seasons (winning their Division, getting to (at the very least) the 2nd round of the playoffs). In 06-07 the Jazz beat some really good squads on their way to an amazing 9-1 record. (Phoenix twice, Houston, Detroit, etc) The next season the Jazz lost the games against harder opponents -- like the Lakers, the Rockets, and the Cavs on the road. This season how do you think the Jazz will fare?

The remaining games after tonight's game against Oklahoma (which we won, btw) appear to be 'easier' than having to face 5 Western powers in a row, though they comprise a really tough Eastern stretch where there are:

• two sets of back to back games (Nov. 11th-12th; Nov. 14th-15th)
• three different situations of 3 games in 4 nights (Nov. 9th, 11th & 12th; Nov. 11th, 12th & 14th; Nov. 12th, 14th & 15th)
• 4 games in 5 nights (Nov. 11th, 12th, 14th & 15th)
• and ultimately, 5 games in 7 nights.

That's brutal. If you have any Jazz guys on your fantasy team start them this week as there are 5 games -- but if you are just a Jazz fan, you do not relish the upcoming week.

Just because you are playing against the Eastern teams doesn't mean that they are just going to roll over. We're traditionally not that great on the road, and the schedule works against us here. Let's go over these teams and the games the Jazz will play against them in:

November 9th, 2008	@ New York Knicks
	New York (3-2) is a run an gun team that's nothing like the Eddie Curry / Zach Randolph disaster from last season. (101.6 ppg so far this season) Almost everyone on their team shoots threes -- 7 different guys on their roster has made at least one. Making things worse is the fact that we've been historically bad in Madison Square Garden over the years. This is not going to be as easy as we think to get a win here -- especially when we're going in there without Deron Williams. Nate Robinson has been playing very well this season, so far coming off the bench to average 16 ppg (48.4 fg%, 42.3 3pt%), 4.2 rpg, 4.8 apg and 2.6 spg. Wilson Chandler has a surprisingly effective offensive game as well. There's no guarantee to say we'll win this one.
November 11th, 2008	@ Philadelphia 76ers
	Philly (2-4) is supposed to be really good, a top team in the East -- at least according to pre-season projections by "experts" . . . so far their offense looks horrible and their team isn't winning. That said, they are long and big inside (Brand, Dalembert, Marreese, etc) and have some youth and athleticism in the likes of Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young and this Iguodala guy. Boozer hates playing against guys with longer reaches than he has -- and all three of those big guys have than on Booz. Additionally, stronger slashers with good first steps routinely can burn Brewer and Kirilenko -- and Thaddeus and Andre Iguodala both fit the bill there. By the time they play the Jazz, they would have had a 5 day rest.
November 12th, 2008	@ Washington Wizards
	Washington (0-4) has been playing without Gilbert Arenas, and is still looking for their first win of the season. Tonight they play the Orlando Magic and could very well be down 0-5 by the time that they play the Jazz -- but that doesn't mean they still can't hurt us . . . they are a good outside shooting team, and the duo of Caron Butler and Antwan Jamison (two mobile and active players on offense) can score with ease. It's about this time of the road trip that fatigue could be setting in as this is the 2nd game in a back to back and the first 'three games in four nights' set of the season for the Jazz. Through some quirks of the scheduling, the Wizards will have three free days before the game against the Jazz, and be rested.
November 14th, 2008	@ Charlotte Bobcats
	Logic suggests that a game against Charlotte (2-3) would be a relative breather at this stage in the 5 game road trip, but the Bobcats are long and athletic -- and have nothing to lose. They beat the New Orleans Hornets last night, and that should show us how dangerous they can be on any given night, thanks to Coach Larry Brown. They will have played the Toronto Raptors and Denver Nuggets this next week before they face off against the Jazz on Friday. We don't know what's going to happen with Gerald Wallace during that time period, but we know that they are strong defensively inside with Wallace (8.8 rpg, 2.4 spg, 1.0 bpg) and Okafor (11.0 rpg, 1.0 bpg). In addition there's this Jason Richardson (17.6 ppg, 1.2 3ptm/game) guy who is pretty dynamic and used to score on us at will back when he was playing for the Golden State Warriors. So far they are only scoring 90.4 ppg, and if there is one easy game during this road trip, this may very well be it. It's a 3rd game in four nights game, by the way.
November 15th, 2008	@ Cleveland Cavaliers
	This game against the Cleveland Cavaliers (4-2, who have games against Chicago, Milwaukee and Denver this week before they tip off against the Jazz)  is another 'three games in four nights' set; the 2nd night of a back to back set; and the fourth game in five nights. And yes, if you're keeping track, 5th game in 7 nights total. It's a game against the talented, bruising and defensive minded Cleveland Cavaliers. They are really big inside with Zydrunas, Sideshow Bob and Ben Wallace; feature a plethora of smaller guards who don't have any consciences when it comes to attempting threes (Boobie Gibson, Delonte West, Mo Williams, Sasha Pavlovic, etc). Last, but not least, they have LeBron James. Also Boozer hardly ever plays well there. If we win this game, I will give up eating bacon for a month. And I love bacon.

I'd like to think the Jazz could end up with another 9-1 record, but I don't count on it . . . the schedule is the main opponent for the Jazz during this 5 game Eastern Conference road trip, and the main opponent the Jazz are going to face during our first 10 games of the season. I wouldn't be surprised for the Jazz to limp home after this trip with 3 losses. Then again . . . this is all speculative appraisals of the situation based on a world where Deron Williams does not suit up in any of these games. (And it looks like he's not going to suit up at all for a while now, according to the Deseret News.)

The Jazz have 5 more games -- all on this East trip -- how do you think they'll finish? Will the Jazz go 10-0 to start the season? 5-5? 6-4? What do you guys think?

N.B. All Images are photographed for NBAE/Getty Images

I still ♥ Raul Lopez

So that whole drafting Raul Lopez didn't really work out that great for the Jazz franchise. He got injured quite a bit and by drafting him, the Jazz missed out on drafting some pretty good players (Gerald Wallace, Samuel Dalembert, Jamaal Tinsley, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Mehmet Okur, Earl Watson, and Bobby Simmons), but really, which team never makes draft day mistakes? Probably only San Antonio . . . but that's besides the point.

The point is that I still ♥ Raul Lopez. His hobbit-esque/Frodo like features are hard to stay upset with. Plus his sultry Spanish accent is, uh, I dunno. I guess if I was of the chick persuasion he'd do more for me. He had some pretty bad luck with the whole injuries thing. I was a fan of his. For some reason my hard drive is filled with (among other things) loads of pictures of former Jazz players. (yeah, like Tony Massenburg pictures, that's hardcore) Anyway, here are some pictures of Raul Lopez . . .

This is really where it all started. He had boyish good looks and dared to bring sexy back to Utah with that slit of facial hair.	Why were there no 'Misses Lopez' T-shirts back in the day, like they now have for Kover? C'Mon Masha, get on it!	I hear that his sister used to go to University somewhere in Salt Lake City . . . I doubt that she's still there.

Unfortunately, his game never really lived up to the potential positive impact he'd have on the team overall attractiveness ranking.

Here Raul is with Pau Gasol . . . they were the face of Spanish basketball for years	He was a super speedy PG, really, he was!	And a veteran of many International matches

One of my favorite stories happens to be his first time meeting John Stockton. Stockton gestured towards him and asked one of the front office types "Hey, is this our guy?" After an awkward pause Raul flatly denied that he was Raul Lopez, NBA draft pick of the Utah Jazz. That must have made for a really awkward 2nd meeting between the two of them during training camp.

A re-creation of events . . .

Eventually he had to play some NBA games, and sometimes he played well. Other times, well, he didn't play at all due to injuries.

Those shorts are cool	Raul looks out for adoring fans	Raul looks to pass the ball

Raul points to Malone's pick up	Raul cries like only a European man knows how to	Raul hobbles around the Delta Center underbelly

Most amazing of all, this truncated career still had some pretty crazy moments. For example, did you know that he was the regional cover boy for NBA Live 2004?

Raul with John Goodman, I think . . .	Yup, NBA Live 2004	He returns to Spain with even more hair than he started with.

Raul currently plays in Spain and is on the Spanish Men's Basketball team participating in the Olympics. His Utah Jazz legacy is survived by Paul Millsap wearing his #24. If he's ever in Detroit and totally wants to hang out, or watch some DVDs or something, I'm totally up for that.

Top 5 Moves of the Summer (...so far...)

While the NBA has not been rocked by some four team, 16 player trade this off-season moves have been made which have changed the landscape of the league. October is just around the corner, 8 weeks away, and much can still happen. The market value for players has been relatively set by the offers and contracts signed by players like Elton Brand, Luol Deng, Baron Davis and so forth. There are a handful of interesting free agents left (Josh Smith, Andrei Iguodala, Ben Gordon, J.R. Smith and so forth), but with the NBA draft finished and most teams approaching luxury tax, the majority of moves will occur via trades. That said, what are some of the 5 top moves of the summer?

1. Elton Brand leaves the Clippers and goes to the Sixers: First of all, this basically destroyed the Clippers, they will continue to suck for a while. Getting Baron Davis is nice; it's nice that they traded for Camby and gave up nothing for him; and it's nice that they got Ricky Buckets . . . but Philly is just so much better right now with Andre Miller, Elton Brand, Samuel Dalembert and most likely Iggy. The Sixers have to be considered a top 6 team in the Eastern Conference right now. Brand will probably be an All-Star in the East this season as well. Great move for him, even if it splits up the really cool idea of him and Baron in Hollywood making movies together.
2. The European Evasion: NBA players are leaving the NBA to go play in Europe. When guys like Arvydas Sabonis or Sarunas Jasikevicius do it, no one really cares. When an American born kid like Josh Childress bolts everyone gets upset -- if for nothing else but the fact that Free Agents can now use real or imagined contract offers to use as leverage when negotiating contracts with NBA clubs. Other players who leave (or at least flirt with leaving) this off-season are Nenad Krstic, Sasha Vujacic, Primoz Brezec, Carlos Delfino, Jorge Garbajosa, Carl Landry, Jason Williams, Delonte West and others. Matt Moore postulates about a possible reaction by the NBA to this, methinks that this may come up in the next NBA Player's Association / NBA Team Owners meeting and a few tweaks of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) may occur. Let's not forget that plenty of NBA stars stole some money in Europe after their playing days in the NBA were done (like Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen and Dominique Wilkins . . . not to mention European guys like Sabonis or Vlade). Why can't mid-level NBA talent choose to go where the money is? They can, and apparently are!
3. Golden State and Chris Mullin over-react to losing Baron Davis: First of all, they enlist some help from the Department of Redundancy Department and end up signing another swingman in Corey Maggette (what happens to Steven Jackson?); then they throw bags and bags of money at Andris Biedrins; they steal Rony Turiaf from the LA Lakers and then make a small move for Marcus Williams. All of this is still < Baron Davis. I take great pleasure in seeing this team do poorly, and love how all of their bandwagoning fans will be quiet on the Internet again. (Note: Not all "Dubs" fans are bandwagoners, but a large vocal majority of them that were loud during the 2006-2007 Playoffs were, deal with it.) At least they'll always have that one Baron Davis dunk over Andrei Kirilenko to keep themselves warm . . . oh wait! He's not even theirs anymore, he belongs to Clippers fans now. Well, now the Warriors are screwed money wise, just like they were when they paid Troy Murphy and Adonal Foyle tons of money a few seasons ago.
4. T-Mac and Yao get a Tru Warrier: Easily the Rockets have been one of the worst playoff performing franchises that regularly get in the playoffs in recent memory. In the 11 years from the 1997-1998 season to this last one (2007-2008) they have been outed in the first round 6 times. They didn't make the playoff at all the other 5 times. While T-Mac gets a lot of the blame for this, I really thing the issue is Yao Ming's inability to be a big game player. Now they get some help by adding Ron Artest for the low low price of Bobby Jackson and some garbage. Artest is an expressive individual who probably can be the best player on this team on any given night. Houston is a lot more dangerous now. This is big news for a team that's had a top 4 record in the Western Conference the last two seasons. I also appreciate how he and Yao are having a verbal fight over the phone and Internet already. This is the omega trade for high risk/high reward.
5. Brooklyn New Jersey keeps making moves for LeBron in 2010: LeBron James is quite a catch. He would be the best player in this new NBA to be put in a large media market. Eventually the Nets franchise will move to Brooklyn, and the New York market is huge. LeBron becomes a free agent in 2010. Noted scandal rags have suggested that LeBron signing with the Nets really depends on who the Nets have on their team at that point. A quick look at their salary situation strongly points to a loss of swingmen on contract at the end of the 2009-2010 season, at the price of nearly $13 million dollars. Another issue to mull over for LeBron is the whole China market issue. Yi Jianlian is now a Net, and he's the only other guy in the NBA who is from China. The Milwaukee Bucks even focused part of their 2008 NBA Draft strategy on this point by drafting a guy who grew up in China and Taiwan and HK. Too bad for them, Yi is gone. LeBron could make a ton of cash if he was on the same team as Yi. He knows this. LeBron wants to be the richest man in the world -- if he wants to really be that guy, he's not going to do that in Cleveland. Let's not even bring up the whole Jay-Z thing . . .

Time will tell if these moves will improve their teams, or elicit other reactionary changes in the landscape (like the whole slew of trades that occurred in the Western Conference last season -- Kover, Kidd, Gasol, Shaq, etc). Regardless if they are good moves, they do make for a much changed landscape in the NBA. Philly is good again, Houston may finally make it out of the first round, Golden State is crap again and the Nets are making moves.