About this time four years ago, I was adjusting to post-mission life, catching up on everything I missed, and eagerly anticipating the upcoming Jazz season. (Football season is great, but it always reminds me that basketball season isn't too far away.) There was a lot of excitement surrounding the Jazz in 2008, as they were coming off back-to-back division titles and were returning every major player. Would they keep winning at this great pace now that I was home and able to properly enjoy them?
Season 10: 2008-09
With the 23rd pick in the draft, Kevin O'Connor simply wanted to get bigger, which he did by taking Ohio State freshman Kosta Koufos. On the night of the draft, ESPN's Chad Ford praised the pick, calling Koufos a "steal" and "a little like the second coming of Mehmet Okur." Yeah ... O'Connor easily could have (and maybe should have) taken Serge Ibaka, Nicolas Batum, Darrell Arthur, Nikola Pekovic, DeAndre Jordan, Omer Asik and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, all of whom I consider as good as or better than Koufos. Of course, Koufos isn't terrible — he just never really got it going with the Jazz. He played 84 games in his first two seasons in Utah before he was traded for Al Jefferson. Last season, Koufos averaged 5.5 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game with the Denver Nuggets. Not terrible, but definitely not the second coming of Mehmet Okur.
In 2008, the Jazz had two second-round picks, which ended up being completely worthless, but I still like tracking down where the extra pick came from. In 2004, the Jazz traded Keon Clark to Phoenix for Tom Gugliotta and three draft picks, including a 2005 second-rounder, which ended up being the 60th (and last) pick of the draft. That year, the Jazz had five draft picks, so they traded the unneeded 60th pick to Philadelphia for a 2008 second-round pick, which ended up being No. 44. With Koufos on board, the Jazz already had a full 15-man roster that looked pretty good, so once again, they really didn't need this pick. But instead of trading it away for a second time, O'Connor decided to use it on a European project. The lucky guy was 7-foot-2 center Ante Tomic, whom the Jazz planned to keep in Croatia for a couple of years, but then two years turned to three, now four, and it looks like he'll never make it to the NBA. Since O'Connor was content to waste that pick, why didn't he waste it on BYU's Trent Plaisted? They didn't have to sign him — it just would've been fun to have a local guy at training camp.
With Utah's own 53rd pick, O'Connor repeated himself by choosing Serbian power forward Tadija Dragicevic, who also is very unlikely to play in an NBA game. Recently, his draft rights were traded to Dallas to help facilitate the Lamar Odom/Mo Williams trade. So Kevin O'Connor ultimately came away from the 2008 draft with a disappointing big man who only played 84 games for the Jazz. Chalk up one more lackluster draft to O'Connor's career.
As I said earlier, the Jazz were already looking at a 15-man roster that they really liked, so O'Connor had a really quiet offseason in 2008. He did make one trade, attempting to upgrade the backup point guard spot by sending Jason Hart to the Clippers for Brevin Knight. Knight used to average about 10 points and nine assists a game, but in 2008, he was entering his 12th season and his ninth team, and we quickly found out why he had played for nine different teams in his career — he was just awful. Even though he appeared in 74 games for the Jazz, he shot only 34.9 percent from the field and whenever he came onto the court, I usually began yelling for Ronnie Price to take his place. So Knight's one year in Utah was his last in the NBA, and he ultimately failed to fill that veteran backup point guard role the Jazz needed from him. However, he was an upgrade to Jason Hart, who bounced around four different teams over the next two years.
There was more slightly interesting thing O'Connor did in 2008, and that was matching Oklahoma City's offer sheet it gave to C.J. Miles. I really wish he wouldn't have done that. I know he was hoping this wouldn't be another Mo Williams situation, but in this case, letting Miles go would have saved me four years of headaches. But now C.J. is finally gone!
So the Jazz entered the 2008-09 season with virtually the same roster from the previous year. Deron Williams led the way with 19.4 ppg and 10.7 apg. Okur had an un-Koufos-like season with 17 ppg and 7.7 rpg. Carlos Boozer, who had the best two seasons of his career during my mission, decided to go back to disappointing and angering Jazz fans. He only played in 37 games, averaging 16.2 ppg and 10.4 rpg. This wouldn't have been so bad if each one of his little injuries didn't last much longer than they were supposed to. We'd be told that he'd be out for two weeks, only to watch those weeks turn into months, all while we heard stories about doctors cutting into his knee, only to find nothing wrong with it. But the absolute worst thing he did was to say in an interview that he was for sure going to opt out of his contract because he was for sure going to get a big raise. Did I mention he gave this interview while he was injured and the Jazz were in the middle of a losing streak? I also need to mention that after Boozer's awful 37-game season, he did not receive any offers and had to return to Utah for one more year. At least he's now busy infuriating Chicago fans. It's almost like we're getting a little bit of revenge for those Finals losses. Almost.
Back to the 2008 roster. Ronnie Brewer was the starting shooting guard and put up 13.7 ppg off 50.8 percent from the field, while leading the team with 1.7 steals per game. I still don't think he was as expendable as O'Connor treated him. Anyway, Boozer's injuries were the best thing for Paul Millsap, who started 38 games and averaged 13.5 ppg and 8.6 rpg. Andrei Kirilenko was pushed down to the bench, where he scored 11.6 ppg, while C.J. Miles became the starting small forward and had 9.1 ppg. Kyle Korver rounded out the main rotation with 9 ppg off the bench.
Sadly, I returned from my mission to find one of my favorite players, Matt Harpring, was on his last legs, literally. He was able to play in 63 games, but his minutes were severely limited, as was his mobility and production. I remember watching him get completely gassed after just a couple of plays, while I didn't want to believe this was the end for him. But it was. He never played another game after this season, and now he is the new Ron Boone with Craig Bolerjack. Hopefully he'll pick up his color commentary game next season. He was starting to get a bit stale last year.
Nobody else really made a significant impact on the Jazz this year, but I like to mention everyone anyway. Ronnie Price did start 17 games, but he only played in 52 because of injuries. He was one of those exciting guys who never had a chance to develop because he couldn't stay healthy. Morris Almond spent his last season in Utah by appearing in 25 games and doing nothing more than that. Last, and least, were two big men, Kyrylo Fesenko and Jarron Collins, who played in 21 and 26 games, respectively.
Fighting through a few injuries, inconsistent play at small forward, and a really thin bench, the Jazz struggled to a 48-34 record and the eighth seed in the playoffs. Matching up the Lakers (again), the Jazz were crushed in the first two games of the series before Carlos Boozer guaranteed a win for Game 3. Boozer put up 23 points and 22 rebounds to help the Jazz get a 2-point win at home, but we didn't get another win the rest of the series. The most frustrating thing about this was we saw one game where Boozer truly was the best power forward in the NBA. He had it in him — so why couldn't he bring it out on a more consistent basis?
So my first Jazz season after my mission was a bit of a dud. But I was happy to be back home and able to fully enjoy professional basketball and closely follow the upcoming offseason to see how Kevin O'Connor would get us back to the Finals.
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