MVN - Most Valuable Network

Looking forward to 4 more years with Mr. D-Will

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Earlier this month, Deron Williams re-signed with the Jazz for at least four more years. He will benefit from his stellar play at the point the last two seasons with a new max-money contract after concluding his rookie season deal that he signed three years ago.

Four more years with Deron in a Jazz uniform and I am definitely looking forward to it. He is a savvy point with great court vision — which point guards who play for Jerry Sloan, at least one that played here for 20 or so years, usually have — in fact, which rivals the all-time assists leader and former Jazz point John Stockton.

D-Will is a joy to watch with his ability to entertain with an ankle-breaker crossover — just ask Derek Fisher about that last November in EnergySolutions — and the ability to score from beyond the arc, in mid-range, down the lane or flick a pass to the open man whose defender has collapsed due to Deron’s offensive threat.

I think that Jazz fans have a lot to look forward to as long as Deron Williams is in Utah, and as of this month, that will be for at least four more years. Enjoy.

NBA Draft: Jazz Go Big and Foreign, Pick Koufos at No. 23

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Heading into Thursday’s draft the Utah Jazz were looking for a big man to clog the middle.

Something that the Jazz have been missing since, yes…actually, since Greg Ostertag took up space in the lane is an old school shot-blocking Center.

With Mehmet Okur, who although he plays the center position, is more of the European-style big man who can play inside but also likes to stretch the defense and can knock down shots from long distance.  And although he can play inside the lane, he’s not exactly a power-exerting shot blocker.

So, with that being said, the Jazz were hoping for someone like 7-foot-2-inch Roy Hibbert (Georgetown) to still be left when the draft reached pick No. 23, where the Jazz’s first pick lay.

Unfortunately, Hibbert was taken at No. 17 by Toronto and the Jazz had to make another choice for their pick.

However, Ohio State 7-foot Center Kosta Koufos, was still left on the board and the Jazz took him.

Not the classic big man shot-blocking Center as much as someone like Hibbert would be, but Koufos has made his presence down low felt on defense while he played for the Buckeyes.

With his size, interestingly enough, like Okur, he can pop out for 3 on occasion and knock it down.

It will be interesting to see how he develops and how much the jazz will actually use him, if at all, this next season.

Koufos is from Greece and played on the Greek National Team when he was 17 years old.

Along with Greece native Koufos, the Jazz had two other picks in the second round, which were both bigs and foreigners.

At No. 44, Utah picked 7′2” center Ante Tomic from Croatia.

At No. 53, the Jazz took 6′9” forward Tadija Dragicevic out of Serbia.

Jazz General Manager Kevin O’Connor called these second round picks: “investments.”

Jazz Host Knicks After Dusting Spurs

POST GAME:  vs.  San Antonio  (EnergySolutions Arena)

Spurs  (28-15)          91

Jazz  (27-18)             97    Final

MY LINE:  Jazz by 5  -  105-100    (-1  -  +8/+9)

The Jazz did not trail once in their victory over the defending champion Spurs Monday night.  Andrei Kirilenko, in what may just have been his best game in years, and Carlos Boozer shared leading scorer duties for the Jazz both scoring 23 points.  The Jazz improve to (19-3) at home.  This was the first game of the Spurs’ nine-game rodeo road trip and interestingly enough, San Antonio also lost their second game of the trip in Seattle last night, 88-85, dropping their record to (28-16).  After beating the Spurs and improving their record to (27-18) overall, the Jazz are back in the playoff race and sit atop the Northwest Division standings jumping ahead of Denver with their loss in New Orleans Monday night.

GAME DAY:  vs. New York  (EnergySolutions Arena)

Knicks  (14-30)

Jazz  (27-18)                   7:00 p.m.  (MST)

MY LINE:  Jazz by 15  -  111-96

The Jazz seek to continue their five-game winning streak tonight at EnergySolutions Arena tonight.  They also seek to keep their newly-acquired first-place spot in the Northwest Division and stay ahead of the Nuggets and Blazers.  I expect the Jazz to take this game tonight against the Knicks in a relatively easy fashion and moving their current winning streak to six games and their current home-game winning streak to double digits at 10 in a row.  It would improve their home record to (20-3), tying the Mavericks for the best home record in the NBA.

Jazz Ground Rockets, Prepare for Spurs

POST GAME:  @ Houston  (Toyota Center)

Jazz (26-18)         97

Rockets (24-20)  89    Final

MY LINE:  Jazz by 7  -  104-97   (-1  -  +7/+8)

As most games between Utah and Houston go, the outing in the Toyota Center was a tight, grind it out, low-scoring game.  That is, until the last four minutes of play when Deron Williams’ led Jazz team widened the gap between themselves and the Rockets with two back-to-back three-pointers from sharp-shooter Kyle Korver.  The lead was 82-77 for Utah when Korver knocked down the two consecutive treys from the right corner, and increasing the lead to 88-77.   The Jazz took home the win against the Yao-less Rockets, but the Jazz are happy with any road win any way they can get it.  This improves their road record to (8-15) and (26-18) overall.  The Rockets fall to (11-9) at home and (24-20) overall. 

GAME DAY:  vs. San Antonio  (EnergySolutions Arena)

Spurs  (28-14)

Jazz   (26-18)                7:00 p.m. (MST)

MY LINE:  Jazz by 5  -  105-100

The Jazz and the Spurs will square off tonight in Salt Lake City where the Jazz will seek to continue their dominance at home (18-3) and to take down the Spurs.  The Jazz-Spurs showdown will be a good test for the Jazz as to how they are really playing in their recent surge of 10 wins out of their past 12 games and eight out of their last 9.