The Jazz brought in new uniforms for the 2004-05 season to highlight the new direction for the franchise. (I thought the uniforms were all right at the time, but looking back now, they're kind of ugly.) Stockton and Malone were gone, and Kevin O'Connor finally had a roster full of guys he brought in (with the possible exception of Andrei Kirilenko, whom O'Connor didn't draft, although he did sign him to his first contract and extended it). With Greg Ostertag's overly large contract finally off the books, O'Connor now had more money than ever to work with. Let's see how he built on the momentum from the previous season's surprising 42-40 record.
Season 6: 2004-05
Not only did the Jazz have their first lottery pick in 20 years (No. 14), but they also had the 16th pick from the Tom Gugliotta trade, and the 21st pick from the Glen Rice trade. With their own pick, the Jazz drafted Kris Humphries, a freshman from Minnesota, who was said to very similar to Karl Malone, but a bit selfish. He played little for the Jazz during his first two years, before bouncing around the league until he landed in New Jersey, where he averaged an "impressive" 10 rebounds a game. I put impressive in quotes because the Nets were really bad, Humphries was playing alongside center Brook Lopez who doesn't rebound, and with the amount of shots missed in an average NBA, somebody has to get those rebounds. In short, I don't think Humphries is very good. He is well-known for marrying and quickly divorcing a Kardashian, which isn't a good thing. He didn't help the Jazz and he hasn't had a good NBA career. I think Utah could have picked someone better here.
With the 15th pick, the Boston Celtics chose a big man straight out of high school by the name of Al Jefferson. He plays the same position as Humphries and can score and rebound just as well as him. He even had the same weakness — being a ball hog — but he has recently begun to learn that passing is a good thing. The only reason I can see for Utah taking Kris over Big Al was age. But is a college freshman really that much more mature than a high school senior? Maybe, but I seem to remember Humphries' age being the main excuse for his ineptitude during his Jazz days. "He's only 19, cut him some slack." Meanwhile, Jefferson went on to become an All-Star with Minnesota and was Utah's leading scorer and rebounder this past season. Would he still be leading the Jazz today had they drafted him in 2004? Would he have learned to pass and play defense under Jerry Sloan? Tough to say, but I do think spending his early years with a stable organization like the Jazz would have been much better than a bad Boston team and a horrendous Minnesota team. Anyway, you can chalk up Kris Humphries to O'Connor's list of failed first-round picks.
At No. 16, the Jazz grabbed athletic guard Kirk Snyder. Although Raja Bell and Gordan Giricek both had a pretty good first season in Utah, neither could be considered athletic, so this seemed like a good pick at the time. He averaged 5 points per game his rookie year and even had a fun nickname, Snyder-Man (this was back when Spider-Man was king, I'll elaborate more with my upcoming review of Spider-Man 2). However, Snyder didn't fit in with the Jazz personality-wise and only lasted one year in Utah. He spent the next three years of his NBA career with three different teams, peaking with 8.4 ppg in Minnesota. But then everything ended for him when he was arrested for aggravated burglary. Another miss for O'Connor.
Taken right after Snyder at No. 17 was super-athletic Josh Smith. Although he is now a pretty good player, he did come straight out of high school and played the same position as Utah's best two players, Kirilenko and Matt Harpring. The next pick was the volatile scorer J.R. Smith, who probably wouldn't have even lasted a full season in Utah. No. 19 was Dorrell Wright, who attempted more than 500 3-pointers with the Warriors in the 2010-11 season. He also seems to be a decent defender in addition to being a shooter, which is always a nice combination, but he's a small forward, which was one position Utah did not need to fill in 2004. The 20th pick of the draft was point guard Jameer Nelson, who has battled injuries lately, but did play a major role on the Orlando team that made it to the Finals a couple of years ago. When the Jazz last played the Magic this year, I heard Phil Johnson say on the radio that Nelson was one of the most impressive pre-draft interviews he ever did. So while at least one assistant coach for the Jazz liked Nelson, enough of the other decision-makers at Utah decided they didn't need another point guard with Carlos Arroyo and Raul Lopez already on the roster. Looking back now, I think I much would have preferred Nelson over Snyder.
By the time the 21st pick came around, O'Connor decided Utah didn't need to add a third rookie to this already young roster, so he drafted Pavel Podkolzin for Dallas and traded him there for a 2005 first-round pick. Podkolzin never played an NBA game, so nothing was lost there, but let's take a quick look at who else was available had the Jazz wanted a third rookie.
The next two picks were also Russians who did nothing in the NBA, Viktor Khryapa and Sergei Monia. The 24th pick was Delonte "Wet Willy" West, who definitely would not have fit in, while No. 25 was Tony Allen, who some consider to be the best perimeter defender in the league right now. Defense is always good, but the Jazz did have Raja Bell ... No. 26 was the high-scoring Kevin Martin, who would have been interesting, but ultimately probably wouldn't have given the Jazz what they needed/wanted. The last few picks, Sasha Vujacic, Beno Udrih and David Harrison, most likely would have had very little impact for Utah.
The Jazz didn't have a second-round pick this year, having given it to Sacramento for Keon Clark. But they really didn't miss out on anything in 2004. Most of the second-round picks were foreigners who never made it to the NBA, but there were a couple of interesting names: Anderson Varejao, Chris Duhon and Trevor Ariza. (As much as I hate Varejao's hair, his hustle would have been nice in a Jazz jersey.) But now that I come to think about it, it really is a shame Utah didn't have a second-round pick in 2004 because O'Connor's only good picks (Mo Williams and Jarron Collins) were second-rounders. I know I'm being mean, but look at it — through five years, not one of O'Connor's first-rounders paid off. Stevenson, Lopez, Borchardt, Pavlovic, Humphries and Snyder can all be considered busts to varying degrees. So anyway, let's step away from the draft, and head into the free agency period, where O'Connor struck out in 2003.
Luck smiled on O'Connor in 2004, as he was finally able to bring in some big free agents (of course they were both guys O'Connor could have drafted, but we'll ignore that for now). The first free agent was Mehmet Okur, who had been averaging 9.4 ppg and 5.9 rpg off the bench for the champion Pistons. In his first year for the Jazz, Okur put up 12.9 ppg and 7.5 rpg. He was also the only Jazzman to appear in all 82 games (quite odd if you think about it; more on it later). Although he was not the defensive anchor that Mark Eaton was (or even Ostertag at times), Okur was the first scoring center in recent Jazz history, with the added flair of 3-point shooting. As a whole, I did enjoy Memo's career in Utah, although I did occasionally grow weary of his streakiness. Sadly, it now seems like injuries have claimed his career at the ripe age of 32. Never the less, this really was a good signing by O'Connor, perhaps his best ever.
The second big free agent was Carlos Boozer, who had been averaging 15.5 ppg and 11.4 rpg with the Cavs. This signing caused a bit of controversy, as Cleveland reportedly had a secret, unspoken agreement with Boozer that after releasing him from his rookie contract, they would re-sign him to nice, fatty one. However, such an agreement would have been illegal, so they couldn't complain too much when the Jazz offered more than they could. Instead, they began attacking Boozer's integrity, saying he would much rather follow the big paychecks than win championships with LeBron James. I thought they were just being bitter, so I refused to let those now-obvious red flags ruin my enthusiasm for Karl Malone's replacement. Of course, Boozer came nowhere near Malone, but he was a massive upgrade to Tom Gugliotta, Michael Ruffin and whoever else ended up playing power forward the previous season. Boozer averaged 17.8 ppg and 9 rpg during his first year with the Jazz, but injuries limited him to just 51 games. Of course, that was just a fluke, we Jazz fans told ourselves. Boozer still had the potential to be the best power forward in the league, and we were glad we had him.
Because O'Connor decided Mo Williams wasn't worth $1.5 million a year, and Arroyo and Lopez both started the year on the injured reserve, he had to quickly sign a couple of point guards before the season began. The first was Keith McLeod, whose previous NBA experience amounted to 33 games with Minnesota. Surprisingly, McLeod was a halfway decent point guard. While not extraordinary in any way, he was able to run the offense and ended up averaging 7.8 ppg in 47 starts. Unfortunately, he too was bit by the injury bug, and only played 53 games his first year with the Jazz.
The second point guard O'Connor brought in was a familiar face — Howard Eisley. Remember, Eisley was an important backup during Utah's Finals runs, and he was supposed to replace Stockton when the time came. Only it took too long for Stockton to retire and O'Connor decided to trade Eisley for Donyell Marshall. While Stockton was backed up by Jacque Vaughn and Mark Jackson, Eisley bounced around the league a little bit and was even the starting point guard for the New York Knicks (curtesy of Scott Layden). By the time he came back with to the Jazz, his prime was well passed, but he was still dependable, averaging 5.6 ppg off the bench. He also became the default veteran on the team as well as providing a small amount of nostalgia.
Filling out the opening day roster was 7-foot-3 Aleksander Radojevic, who was drafted 12th overall by the Raptors in 1999, but only played in three NBA games before the Jazz gave him a second chance in 2004. He only lasted 12 games before Utah cut him.
The Jazz actually got off to a fairly decent start, until they learned that injuries are contagious. When Stockton and Malone were around, they never missed a game, and most of their teammates followed their lead. But with this young, leaderless team? Nobody wanted to play through a jammed finger or rolled ankle. Two-day injuries gradually turned into two-week injuries, especially once the losses started piling up. I'm not saying there weren't a lot of legitimate injuries that hit this team, it's just that this amount of missed games would have been unthinkable during the Stockton-Malone era, which is odd when you consider that medical and training techniques designed to limit injuries keep improving over the years. I'm kind of surprised Sloan didn't quit after this year, but I do suppose there was enough hope and positives to keep going.
Coming off his All-Star season, Kirilenko again put up decent numbers, 15.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.3 bpg and 1.8 spg, but he only appeared in 41 games. Harpring was healthy, 14 ppg and 6.2 rpg in 78 games, although he was not as agile as he was when he first joined the Jazz. Raja Bell and Gordan Giricek had a fun little battle over who was top shooting guard, which Bell won with his superior defense and even better shooting, averaging 12.3 and shooting a little more than 40 percent from 3. I think Bell outplaying Giricek destroyed his confidence, and he never was able to play at the same level he did when the Jazz first brought him in. (European players can tend to be overly sensitive at times.) Luckily for Giricek, Bell was also hurt a bit (playing in just 63 games), which gave him enough time to score 8.8 ppg.
Carlos Arroyo started the season hurt, and when he came back, he had a completely different attitude than the previous season. This, I believe is entirely due to the Olympics. Remember, in 2004, the Olympics were held in bankrupt/anti-America Greece, and nobody wanted to represent USA over there. Not just because the Olympics had lost their allure and had become a big hassle, but some players legitimately feared their own safety in Athens. The result was one of America's worst basketball teams ever, a hastily-assembled group of young All-Stars led by LeBron James, who briefly took the nickname LeBronze after this fiasco. Team USA's first humbling defeat came at the hands of Puerto Rico, led by Utah's own Arroyo. While it was a proud moment for his little territory, I think he let the victory go to his head. I remember the images of him prancing around the court, jutting out the "Puerto Rico" on his jersey, acting like he just won the championship of the world. Regardless, he wasn't the same player when he returned to Utah. Suddenly, he stopped running Sloan's plays. Suddenly, he became a ball hog. Suddenly, he had an attitude, and the Jazz didn't like it. Arroyo lasted only 30 games his final year with Utah, averaging 8.2 ppg and 5.1 apg, before O'Connor traded him to Detroit for Elden Campbell and a 2006 first-round pick.
Campbell was a 36-year-old veteran playing in his last year. I can't remember if he didn't want to come to the Jazz, or they didn't want him, or both, but he was waived immediately after the trade. He then signed with the Nets and spent a couple of games with them, doing absolutely nothing, before he returned to Detroit to finish his career. Anyway, the point is the Jazz just wanted to get rid of Arroyo, which they did, so it was a pretty good trade. It still pains me to think that Arroyo went from being Stockton's replacement to the anti-Stockton in just a year. Although he remained in the league for five more years, he bounced around a bit and never recaptured the magic of the 2003-04 season.
After the Arroyo trade, O'Connor brought in journeyman Randy Livingston, who made a living on 10-day contracts and hopping from the D-league to the NBA and back. He only played 17 games for the Jazz, and really didn't contribute much. But wait, what happened to O'Connor's Plan A to replace Stockton? Raul Lopez did average 5.2 ppg, but he was only able to play 31 games before succumbing to a career-ending injury. Speaking of career-ending injuries, Curtis Borchardt did manage 67 games in his second season before his feet finally betrayed him for good. The loss of Brochardt prompted O'Connor to bring back the lovable oaf Ben Handlogten, who wouldn't have been needed for 21 games had Jarron Collins been able to play more than 50 games.
So, 17 different players suited up for the Jazz and only four of them played in more than 70 games. The end result was a 26-56 record, Utah's worst since 1982, the year Frank Layden replaced Tom Nissalke as head coach. That's what happens when you have a young, leaderless team plagued by injuries. This is also the first year I think Kevin O'Connor can be held completely accountable for this team, kind of like how a college coach can't truly be judged until he gets his recruits playing for him. Every player on this roster was signed by O'Connor, so he can't make the excuse that Scott Layden jammed up his salary cap with a massive Ostertag contract or anything like that. He is completely responsible for this team now. And as a whole, I don't think he did that bad of a job.
In 2004, he was finally able to get some big-name free agents, Okur and Boozer, both who had rather decent careers with Jazz (Okur more so than Booze), and the trade of Arroyo falls under a growing list of O'Connor dumping players who caused more harm than good (Amaechi, Clark, Stevenson). Of course, all those guys were brought in by O'Connor, but it is kind of nice to see that he made up for his mistakes. He has consistently failed in the draft, but only one of those picks was in the lottery. He also oversaw the Jazz go from 55 wins to 53, to 44, 47, 42, then 26, which wasn't a pleasant stretch, but it wasn't as abrupt or pitiful as Chicago's decline after Jordan left in 1998.
Looking closer at the 2004-05 team, O'Connor's first "own" team, I see a lot of high-offense, good-stat guys, but not a lot of defense. Raja Bell is really the only player I'd consider a good defender on this roster, even though Kirilenko put up amazing numbers. Sometimes (most of the time) stats are deceiving (straight-up lie). Some people think Allen Iverson was a good defender because he got two steals a game, while more knowledgable people regarded Iverson as a terrible defender. Kirilenko was a pretty good at help defense, but his on-the-ball defense suffered because of his bad habit of letting his man drive past him so he could try to block their shot from behind. This strategy failed more than it worked, and when it did work, it created artificially inflated stats that caused a false sense of security. I can almost imagine O'Connor saying, "We don't need another defender, Kirilenko's averaging 3 blocks and 2 steals a game!"
Another problem I see with this roster is the amount of injury-prone players. Borchardt and Harpring both had a history of injuries before coming to Utah, so it was of little surprise when they continued to repeatedly get hurt. Lopez's injuries couldn't have been expected, and Boozer showed no signs of milking out his injuries before playing for the Jazz. And even beyond these guys and up to today, it seems like the Jazz have had an abundance of players who just can't stay on the court. I don't really know who to blame for this — there could be many, many reasons for this. One person I've never heard criticized is Gary Briggs, the Jazz's head trainer. Maybe he's not that good? I mean, his main job is to keep players healthy and on the court, but when you have guys like Boozer perpetually stuck in a suit on the sideline, it starts to make me wonder ...
Anyway, Kevin O'Connor's first six years with the Jazz weren't spectacular by any means, but they were decent enough. He managed to keep the team competitive through a transition era, and even though they just went through a 26-win year, there was still enough hope to create a sense of optimism. Unfortunately, O'Connor and his shoddy draft record would soon find themselves in perhaps the most important draft for the Jazz in decades.
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