Redrafting the Jazz: 1984

I have been cursed by a witch to repeatedly travel back through time to relive every NBA draft. Fortunately, her spell sends me directly to the Utah Jazz war room on draft night and all the executives magically know I’m from the future and will do whatever I say. Unfortunately, the curse prevents me from seeing how my advice altered the future, as I am sent back to the previous year as soon as draft night ends.

June 19, 1984 – Madison Square Garden, New York City

Previous season:

The 1983-84 season was a very exciting time for the Utah Jazz. All-Star Adrian Dantley led the league in scoring and was named to the All-NBA Second Team. Rickey Green was also named an All-Star while leading the league in steals. Darrell Griffith not only made more 3-pointers than anyone else this season, but he also shot the highest percentage from beyond the arc. Mark Eaton led the NBA in blocks and was second behind Sidney Moncrief in voting for Defensive Player of the Year. And John Drew finished second to Kevin McHale for Sixth Man of the Year. (This was sadly Drew's last good season in the NBA before being waived by the Jazz and subsequently banned from the league for cocaine addiction.)

Frank Layden was named Coach of the Year as he guided the Jazz to a 45-37 record and their first playoff appearance in franchise history. After sneaking past Denver in a memorable five-game series, Utah fell to Phoenix in six games in the second round. So spirits were certainly high entering the 1984 draft.

The draft:

With the 16th pick, Utah selected a little-known point guard from Gonzaga named John Stockton.

The Jazz didn't have a second-round pick, since they traded it away to Dallas in 1980 for Billy McKinney.

The remaining eight(!) rounds were rather inconsequential. So I'll just run through them in a bullet list:

62. David Pope, Norfolk State

86. Jim Rowinski, Purdue

108. Marcus Gaither, Fairleigh Dickinson University

132. Chris Harrison, West Virginia Wesleyan College

154. Bob Evans, Southern Utah University

178. Eric Booker, UNLV

199. Kelly Knight, Kansas

222. Mike Curran, Niagara University

Analysis:

Karl Malone may have been Utah's greatest draft pick, but John Stockton was the team's savviest. Frank Layden knew right away he had found a diamond in the rough. In interviews with local media heading up to the draft, Layden provided a list of 13 players on Utah's radar. Stockton's name was not on that list, and Layden coyly hinted that there might be a surprise on draft night. Well, there was. And the fans booed the pick. Like my dad always likes to tell me, people had to look up Gonzaga in an encyclopedia to see where it was.

I don't need to list off Stockton accomplishments here. He provided Utah with 19 years of no-nonsense excellence, rarely missing a game, winning more often than losing and quietly setting a good example for the children of Utah. Yeah, I did lose a lot of respect for him when he became a vocal anti-vaxxer in his retirement. But that doesn't diminish the impact he had during his playing career. And I would be a fool to tell the Jazz to draft anyone else.

None of the eight other draftees ever played for the Jazz. And only two of them, Pope and Rowinski, even saw action on an NBA court. This is normally where I provide replacements for each pick, but there's really no point for this draft. There are only two players in the later rounds that I'm remotely interested in. The first is Jerome Kersey, who had a 17-year career, shining brightest for the Portland Trail Blazers. But he went in the second round, and it would have been impossible for Utah to draft him. The second is Oscar Schmidt, who was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame because of his accomplishments in Brazil and Italy. He was drafted by New Jersey in the sixth round, but they offered him a smaller contract than his Italian team, so he never came to the NBA. I guess I could advise to take a chance on Schmidt — even if it means overpaying him upfront.

But other than that, I have nothing to contribute to the Utah Jazz front office this year. So I'll just let the witch's curse do its thing and take me back to 1983!

Before Watchmen: Time for a big, epic figh—SQUIRREL!

The main Watchmen series begins with Ozymandias killing the Comedian. And through the story, we learn that Adrian Veidt was partially motivated by a previous fight he had and lost against Eddie Blake. So it's incredibly exciting to see a demonic Comedian pointing his gun down (presumably at Ozymandias) against a dark red sky. This is a very good, captivating cover by Jae Lee.

The variant cover by Massimo Carnevale isn't quite as engaging, though. It's just a bit too murky and vague for me to enjoy. It also seems to imply that Adrian possesses some strange energy-based powers, which never had been manifest in any Watchmen story I've encountered.

This issue picks right up where Ozymandias #2 ended, with the Comedian attacking Ozymandias as he investigated the disappearance of Hooded Justice. During the fight, Adrian silently concedes that they are evenly matched. In the narration, which is still Adrian's autobiography written years later, he complains that Eddie won the fight by cheating. All Eddie did was randomly shout, "No! Don't—!" And this made Adrian hesitate long enough for Eddie to knock him down. By that point in the fight, Adrian had disabled both of Eddie's guns, so he decided to just walk away, telling Ozymandias that this is a game for grown-ups. In his autobiography, Adrian maintains that he allowed Eddie to win so that he could collect data on his strength and fighting style. But I find that a strange thing to say after accusing the other side of cheating.

Anyway, as strange as it as was for Eddie to walk away from the fight without actually conducting his investigation, it was even stranger for Adrian to do the same. You'd think that with Eddie gone, he would have been free to gather some evidence about Hooded Justice. But instead, he just went home, admitting he lost interest in it. Several months later, the emergence of Dr. Manhattan provides Adrian with a new obsession. He immediately began investing in fallout shelters and gathering resources to build his secret base in Antarctica.

Five months later, he's invited a charity gala with other superheroes. Adrian initially declined, until he learned that Dr. Manhattan would attend. He was even willing to perform on stage next to the Comedian just for the chance to meet America's new "superman." But first, Adrian's approached by Captain Metropolis, who stuns him by asking how to pronounce Ozymandias. Realizing that he's surrounded by primitives, Adrian quickly shook hands with Dr. Manhattan before slinking away to eavesdrop on his conversation with Nite Owl. After a few minutes, Janey Slater asks Jon if they can go home. Dr. Manhattan says goodbye to Nite Owl, then, quite shockingly, says goodbye to Ozymandias, as well, revealing that he knew Adrian was hiding the whole time.

We then skip ahead a few more months to the completion of Adrian's Antarctic hideaway. The three architects who designed the fortress had all died in a tragic plane crash, which we all know was caused by Adrian. Just like the pharaohs of old, Ozymandias didn't want anyone who knew his secrets to live to tell them. The issue then ends with Adrian turning on his wall of televisions, which is oddly voice-controlled (something that was most definitely not the case in the original Watchmen story).

A running gag in the classic Pixar film Up is how the dogs would frequently become distracted by the mere thought of a squirrel. That's what Len Wein feels like to me. He spent all this time setting up an investigation into Hooded Justice but then immediately abandoned it to rush into the famously alluded Comedian fight. But that fight was started for no reason and ended without any real consequence before Wein quickly zipped over to the Dr. Manhattan storyline. Granted, I did like how Adrian's first thoughts when seeing Dr. Manhattan was to prepare for nuclear armageddon. I just didn't like how that short-changed the stuff with Hooded Justice and the Comedian. I mean, Adrian didn't need to investigate Hooded Justice. If Wein was unable or unwilling to provide any answers on that front, then he should have just avoided the topic altogether. But the Comedian fight was something that he did need to do. And it was a real opportunity to be creative and provide some fascinating depth to this character. But Wein missed the moment. Such a shame.

Redrafting the Jazz: 1985

I have been cursed by a witch to repeatedly travel back through time to relive every NBA draft. Fortunately, her spell sends me directly to the Utah Jazz war room on draft night and all the executives magically know I’m from the future and will do whatever I say. Unfortunately, the curse prevents me from seeing how my advice altered the future, as I am sent back to the previous year as soon as draft night ends.

June 18, 1985 – Madison Square Garden, New York City

Previous season:

Led by All-Star Adrian Dantley and Defensive Player of the Year Mark Eaton, the Jazz reached the second round of the playoffs before being crushed by Denver in five games. But Dantley only played in 55 games, giving the Jazz a mediocre 41-41 record, which ended up helping out tremendously in the draft.

The draft:

Even though the Jazz already had Dantley and Thurl Bailey, they couldn't resist picking up the Mailman when Karl Malone inexplicably slipped to No. 13.

In the second round, the Jazz drafted a small forward from Long Island University named Carey Scurry with the 37th pick.

Because of the NBA's strange free agent rules of the day, the Jazz were forced to give their third-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks as compensation for signing Billy Paultz.

In the fourth round, Utah used the 83rd pick on Wake Forest point guard Delaney Rudd.

In the fifth round, the Jazz drafted a guard from Canisius named Ray Hall at No. 105.

Utah's sixth-round pick (No. 129) went on Jim Miller, a forward from Virginia.

And finally, in the seventh round, with the 151st overall pick, the Jazz drafted Texas forward Mike Wacker.

Analysis:

Apologies to all John Stockton fans out there, but Karl Malone is hands-down the greatest draft pick in Utah Jazz history. Eighteen years of unparalleled consistency and excellence. Two MVPs, Olympic gold medals, trips to the Finals, All-Star MVPs ... you name it, he did it. Everything except win a championship. Regardless, he was a remarkable player, even heading into the draft. Remember, he picked up the Mailman nickname in college! So it came as a complete shock to everyone to see him slide so far in the draft. Head coach and general manager Frank Layden worried that all the other teams knew something he didn't know. Malone himself was so convinced that Dallas would draft him that he even picked out an apartment in the city.

Nobody really knows why the other 12 teams passed on Malone. Layden had heard there was some concerns about Malone's temperament. The Mavericks' GM said he didn't believe Malone was a pure power forward and a weak rebounder. Which was a very odd thing to say since he also passed on rebounding guru Charles Oakley to take small forward Detlef Schrempf. (By the way, Malone ended his career with 10.1 rebounds per game, more than Oakley and even this year's No. 1 overall pick, Patrick Ewing.) But what I have been unable to find is anyone on the record saying they didn't draft Malone because he had impregnated a 13-year-old girl.

Back when I posted about DeShawn Stevenson, I got into a lengthy argument with someone who claimed that the Jazz did know (or should have known) about Malone's transgressions before the draft and that the organization was uniquely despicable for turning a blind eye toward this. I don't know who knew what and when — I myself didn't learn of this until after Malone's retirement — but I am confident in saying the Jazz would not have been unique in overlooking this matter. Especially since Malone was never formally charged with a crime. This does not, in any way, excuse his behavior. I'm just pointing out that if the Jazz had chosen the moral high ground of refusing to draft (or quickly getting rid of) Malone, then somebody else would have immediately snatched him without a moment's pause.

So what is the morally right thing to do here? Malone was a generational talent and Layden made the strategically correct move by trading away an All-Star to make room for him. But compromising your basketball roster is one thing. But compromising your principles is another. Maybe Layden and Larry H. Miller and the rest of Utah's front office didn't know about Malone's history on draft night. But I do. And I can't deny that seeing Malone's statue in front of the Delta Center makes me a bit uncomfortable these days. Mainly because Malone has refused to apologize or even speak to those who have criticized him for this.

Is it possible, or even fair to argue that Malone's positive impact on the NBA and the state of Utah outweigh the horrific things he did before being drafted? It's hard to justify the drafting of Karl Malone without sounding like a selfish fan who just wants to win more basketball games. But he meant more to Utah than just basketball. It's hard to imagine Larry Miller being able to keep the team in Salt Lake, let alone construct the beautiful Delta Center without Malone. Think of all the jobs this man created simply by being one of the best basketball players in the world. Is that a valid argument? I don't know. Am I overthinking this? Probably. (After all, this whole blog is just for fun!)

Let's move on and look at the five other players the Jazz drafted. Carey Scurry was an unremarkable, but reliable backup for two-and-a-half seasons for Utah. But then he started getting into fights with his teammates (most notably Mel Turpin) and coach Frank Layden. So the Jazz waived him and he signed a 10-day contract with the Knicks before falling out of the NBA altogether. So in replacement, I suggest John "Hot Rod" Williams. He only fell to the second round because of a point-shaving scandal in college, which also caused him to miss the 1985-86 season. But he made the 1986-87 All-Rookie First Team and enjoyed a 13-year career as a defensive-minded power forward/center. I think he would have been a huge upgrade over Scurry and may have even enabled the Jazz to trade away Thurl Bailey earlier.

Even though the Jazz drafted Delaney Rudd in 1985, he spent the next several years in the CBA and Greece before Utah finally signed him in 1989. After spending three seasons in the unglamorous role of Stockton's backup, Rudd excitedly signed with Portland in 1993. But he only played 15 games for the Blazers before dropping out of the NBA for good. Luckily, I have the perfect upgrade available: Anthony "Spud" Webb. He was mostly known for his dunking skills, but he was also a fairly decent point guard who lasted 12 years in the league. Granted, it may have been hard for him to fully develop his game behind Stockton, but at the very least it would have been fun watching him wear a Jazz uniform in the dunk contests.

The last three players the Jazz drafted never played in the NBA. I only have one good player left (Mario Elie) and he wasn't taken until the seventh round. So I'm going to spend my fifth-round pick on BYU's Timo Saarelainen. He was a small forward from Finland who also never played in the NBA, but I think it would have been fun to have him try out for the Jazz.

In the sixth round, I'll take Michael Phelps. No, not that Michael Phelps, the Michael Phelps who was a shooting guard from Alcorn State. He spent three mediocre seasons in the NBA, which is three more seasons than the rest of the sixth-round picks combined.

And finally, in the seventh round, I'm going to draft Mario Elie. He didn't make an NBA roster until 1990, but his defense and 3-point shooting made him an invaluable piece on two Houston championship teams and one San Antonio title run. I think he could have been a real difference maker for Utah.

My advice:

1. Use the 13th pick on Karl Malone.

2. Use the 37th pick on Hot Rod Williams.

3. Use the 83rd pick on Spud Webb.

4. Use the 105th pick on Timo Saarelainen.

5. Use the 129th pick on Michael Phelps.

6. Use the 151st pick on Mario Elie.

I'll admit that part of the reason I took two months to write this post was because I still don't know how to reconcile Karl Malone's legacy. I want to say that had I been in that situation and fully aware of all the facts, I would have made sure that I wasn't involved in rewarding and exalting a man who somehow avoided all accountability for a heinous act. But I also don't want to deny my community of something truly special that has left such a lasting impression a full 40 years later. I just don't know what the right thing would have been. Perhaps there is no right or wrong in this situation.