Summer Love

The offseason has mercifully come to a close. As the players trickle back into practice, it is apparent that basketball has not been an all-consuming mistress. In fact, a lot of formerly "available" players are now spoken for.

Most notorious, of course, is Lamar Odom's recent fake marriage to reality TV she-man, Khloe Kardashian. If you didn't already hate the Lakers (anyone?), the fact that the new additions to Laker's practices this year will be Ron Artest, Ryan Seacrest, and Brody Jenner should awaken you to the following reality: LAKERS FANS SUBSCRIBE TO PEOPLE.

Closer to home, love has bitten our slower, less-talented, Ukranian version of Lamar Odom: The Fez! That's right, the second most attractive center on the Jazz has stopped his wild, non-stop skirt chasing and has settled down with an anonymous lucky lady. Her identity won't be a secret for long, though: L.A. may have TMZ, but Salt Lake has Hope Woodside.

Deshawn, the Patriot

On the eve of the NBA preseason tipoff, former jazzman DeShawn Stevenson is showing off his new patriotic ink (yes, that IS Abraham Lincoln on his throat):

. . . and this fresh ink is a CRACK under his eye and on his forehead to symbolize how he never 'cracks' under pressure (unless of course LeBron is anywhere in the same building, in which case he cracks hard).

Opportunity Abounds

AK47 has gained weight… CJ Miles is in the best shape of his life… and Carlos Boozer still finds himself stuck in Salt Lake… It must be the start of fall camp, where all things “Jazz” look gloriously optimistic. And then practice starts. Aren’t these guys playing ball every day in the summer? Stretching… lifting… running… in good shape? Injuries… This can’t be good. Apparently, opportunity abounds for playing time (especially at small forward and center). However, nobody is around to compete for the positions. AK, KK, and CJ are all fighting off the injury bug. Ironically, all of them play the same position… small forward, along with our other injured warrior, Matt Harpring. Get well guys. We might actually need you during the season. Good thing our first game doesn’t start for another month.

Collins Officially Moves On

Jarron Collins will move on from his career playing for the Utah Jazz and try out for the Portland Trail Blazers. The end of an era has come, according to the Salt Lake Tribune... the Jarron Collins era is finished. What an incredible era it was! To his credit, Collins was one of the few and final players to play with both Karl Malone and John Stockton and made a minor impact on the team over the years.

"It was an honor and a privilege to play for the organization and to play with all of my teammates throughout all the years..."

Even better... over the course of trying out for other teams, Collins ran into Ostertag.

"In recent weeks, Collins worked out with Cleveland and Portland. He even crossed paths in Portland with Ostertag, who is trying to make a comeback at 36, and played in a handful of games with his former teammate. 'It was great,' Collins said. 'Just like old times playing with Oster. We were actually pretty good on the defensive end, knowing how to cover for each other."

Sports Illustrated's Take on Boozer

From SI's Steve Aschburner (Steve who?) this morning:

"For now, we know Boozer is in Salt Lake City. But that's not where he wants to be and that's not where we expect the Jazz power forward to be for long, given the positional redundancy with Paul Millsap and Boozer's chronic me-first attitude. When it suited Boozer -- who gave Utah basically a half-season of production (16.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg) in an injury-marred 2008-09 -- to openly ponder opting out of his $12.7 million contract, he did that. When it behooved him to instead cling to that money for this year, he did that. Yet when he gave several interviews this summer, he speculated about playing in Chicago or Miami, solidifying his image as an individual disconnected from his team -- or even good form.

Next to Boozer these days, Zach Randolph looks like the consummate chemistry guy. Jazz teammate Kyle Korver recently told the Salt Lake Tribune: "We expect him to come back and play really well and try to be healthy and earn back the respect that whoever people think that he needs to earn it back to." We'll say this much: Boozer's consistency has to be applauded in Cleveland, which learned in losing his talented but self-absorbed act to Utah what Jazz fans now are fully wise to."

Come opening night, it is too bad that with a name like "Boozer," we will be unable to differentiate the "Boooooo's" from the "Booooze." I would guess that 75% will be the former, and 25% the latter. Anybody beg to differ?

You, Me & Dupree

Ron Dupree is looking to sign with the Jazz as a wing forward to play in place of Matt Harpring, if and when he decides to retire.

"The Louisiana State product is described as a tough-nosed player similar in a lot of ways to Harpring. A capable shooter and explosive athlete, Dupree's greatest strength is as a defender, which he proved in one game last season with the Flash... Dupree has averaged 3.6 points and 2.2 rebounds in 154 games with Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota and Seattle. He has added familiarity with the Jazz's system after playing with the Flash, where he averaged 16.2 points and 6.6 rebounds in 31 games."

It seems like Dupree has been showing some quality "face time" for the Jazz since he's played last season for the Flash. The Jazz must know him quite well and understand how his abilities will contribute to the team. In this case, there will probably be no need of any awkward interviews or get-to-know-you sessions for the Jazz and Dupree. If he doesn't work out, then I guess there's always Sasha Pavlovic, our former 1st round draft pick.

A Fitting Tribute

You can count on Utah County to find the appropriate gesture to commemorate the passing of a public figure. Behold, plans for the Larry H. Miller Memorial Corn Maze!!!

The Greatest (Blunder?) Ever

This weekend couldn't have gotten any more entertaining.

I happened to tune into the Hall of Fame speeches of Jazz legends, John Stockton and Jerry Sloan and breathed in the enormity of their great accomplishments. The Hall of Fame presented Stockton, Sloan and the greatest ever, Michael Jordan as new enshrinees, and gave them the opportunity to address the crowds and viewers watching and awaiting their final words.

Stock and Sloan, (I must mention) were fabulous. Their speeches inspired, moving and marvelous. As one person said it... "From the speeches of David Robinson to John Stockton, Jerry Sloan to Vivian Stringer, there was an unmistakable thread of peace of mind and purpose. At times, they were self-deprecating and deflective of praise." In my mind, you couldn't help but witness the gratitude, humility and appreciation to the game of basketball that each enshrinee felt. It was great stuff to witness!

And then there was Jordan... and his speech.

Wow. What was that all about? Jordan mentioned how so many people had "stoked the fire" and "added wood to the flame" of his success, and which had ultimately made him who he became... the best ever. He poked fun of everyone. He brought up the dude who beat him out of his high school basketball team (even inviting him to the ceremony!), took apart Buzz Peterson, his ex-Carolina teammate, ripped on Jerry Krause, Jeff Van Gundy, and Bryan Russell of all people. And plain and simply sounded off on how everyone doubted him. His speech was arrogant, ego-driven, selfish, and most certainly bizarre. I then remembered a piece of ancient '90's history, and thought to myself... "Oh yeah, that's just Jordan. That's what he was like." It's no wonder that I dispised the guy.

Many writers developed similar sentiments about Jordan's speech. And I wanted to just share a few of them...

From Yahoo.com... "This wasn’t a Hall of Fame induction speech, but a bully tripping nerds with lunch trays in the school cafeteria. 'M.J. was introduced as the greatest player ever and he’s still standing there trying to settle scores,' one Hall of Famer said privately later.
When basketball wanted to celebrate Jordan as the greatest player ever, wanted to honor him for changing basketball everywhere, he was petty and punitive."

From ESPN.com... "If you listened to Robinson's and Stockton's speeches, you could see the difference between the two and Jordan. Stockton and Robinson have made comfortable transitions into adulthood through retirement, and both gave wonderful, emotional, heartfelt speeches... Michael Jordan the Chicago Bulls guard was invincible. Michael Jordan the Man is vulnerable, complicated and ultimately human. I miss Jordan the Hero. I don't really want to know Jordan the Man."

What gets even better is how Jordan called out BRuss, the former Jazzman, as pressuring him to come back to play in the NBA so Russell could guard him. Jordan shoved his speech right in BRuss' face, essentially calling him a fool. Take that Bryan Russell! You... you nobody!

Afterward, BRuss responded... and now wants to take Jordan up on his offer. “I’ll play his a$$ right now. This is a call-out for him to come play me. He can come out here in his private jet and come play. He’s got millions of dollars. He can pay for the jet. He can meet me at the Recreation Center in Calabasas. We can have Mark Jackson do the commentating. We can have Mitch Richmond do the officiating. We can put it on TV and see if Michael’s still got it.”

I would love to see this! How can we get this on pay-per-view? Talk about your... "Prime-time, over-the-hill, washed-up, entertainment-tonight, made-for-TV, reality show"? Jordan vs. BRuss II... '98 Finals Rewind. Are you kidding me?

Beyond all the non-sense that Jordan was spewing on stage, we can't forget the legendary status and career of our very own John Stockton. He was an ordinary man doing extraordinary things on the basketball court... (6-foot nothing and repeatedly beat the stuffing out of players bigger, stronger, and often times faster than he was). He always came and did his job. "He worked harder than you. That was his secret" Sloan said. He never wanted the limelight. Gave credit where credit was due. And ultimately succeeded tremendously, making our fans, city and state proud of his every accomplishment. He was a superstar, and will always be one of us.

Stock and Sloan Surprises

It's official: John Stockton and Jerry Sloan have picked the guys they want to introduce them at their Hall of Fame induction ceremony tomorrow. Neither are conventional, although you have to pick from someone who's already in the hall, which narrows your choices a bit. Still, amazingly, Stock went with Isiah Thomas. Guess he didn't care much about that whole Dream Team controversy or the fact that Karl Malone laid Isiah out afterwards for it. Or maybe as a loyal Jazz fan Stockton just wants to thank the former Knicks GM for his gift of a draft pick we're going to get this year.

Sloan's pick was even more surprising: Charles Barkley. Turns out that all along Jerry has been down with guys who get in bar fights and lose $2.5 million in blackjack in one sitting. Actually, it turns out Barkley was Bobbye Sloan's favorite non-Jazz player, so he's really honoring her. Can't argue with that, but you can with any picture that shows Chuck measuring 6'7:

Camp Invitations

The Jazz have invited two players to fall camp. Paul Harris from Syracuse and Wesley Matthews from Marquette are the invitees. Both seem capable of making the team, especially since Matt Harpring's decision to retire looms large, potentially opening up an extra spot on the roster for either guy. Harris offers tremendous athleticism, defense and rebounding (8.1 rpg). However, he's undersized for the offguard position (6-4) and doesn't shoot the ball particularly well from the perimeter. He possesses strong similarities to Shannon Brown of the Lakers. Wesley Matthews is a better overall scorer and shooter from the perimeter, but may not possess Harris' intangibles and athleticism. Matthews averaged 18.3 ppg and 5.7 rpg at Marquette.