Jazz Notes:
Friday, July 06, 2007
Friday Report
The Jazz announced their Rocky Mountain Revue roster Friday, which I'm
going to post here. There are some interesting things of note - - like
Rafael Araujo playing even though he's an unrestricted free agent - -
but for the most part I think summer-league is drastically overhyped.
Four members of this year's Jazz team will take part - - Araujo, Dee
Brown, Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap - - along with first-round draft
pick Morris Almond. We'll get to second-round pick Kyrylo Fesenko a
little later(as well as in Saturday's paper).The rest of the roster
is as follows:
Virginia forward Jason Cain (6-foot-10, 225), St. Peter's guard Keydren
Clark (5-10, 184), Boston College center Nate Doornekamp (7-0, 260),
George Washington guard Carl Elliott (6-4, 220), former NBA guard Eddie
Gill (6-0, 190), Pittsburgh center Levon Kendall (6-10, 225), Hawaii
guard Matt Lojeski (6-6, 185), Temple forward Kevin Lyde (6-10, 260),
Texas-San Antonio forward John Millsap (6-6, 205) and Alabama-Birmingham
guard/forward Wen Mukubu (6-6, 205).
Gill played five seasons in the NBA and is a Weber State product. He has
played for New Jersey, Memphis, Portland and Indiana in his five-year
career, and most recently averaged 1.1 points and 0.3 assists for the
Pacers in the 2005-06 season. He averaged 14.0 minutes a game with Indiana
the season before. I haven't gotten the chance to ask why he's playing
for the Jazz in the Revue.
As for the others, Lyde has played in the NBA Development League and
Doornekamp has played in Germany. John Millsap is Paul's older brother
and last played for the Dodge City (Kan.) Legend in the minor-league
United States Basketball League. He was selected as an All-Star in the
Continental Basketball Association.
I've seen guys make NBA rosters based on their summer-league play - -
Tony Bobbitt, Devin Green and Smush Parker all did so with the Lakers
- - but the odds are impossibly long. I'm interested in seeing what the
Revue is like. It seems like a huge deal, judging from all the e-mail
I've gotten.
Araujo was reported to be driving from Santa Barbara, Calif., where he's
been working out all summer, to meet up Sunday with the Jazz's team.
He wants to come back to the Jazz but will in effect be auditioning for
every team in the league. As an unrestricted free agent, Araujo could
sign with any team during free agency.
I'm interested to see just what he does with some minutes. He should
dominate given his age (26) and the fact that he's been an NBA player
for three seasons. But Araujo also is terribly underdeveloped, as
evidenced by this stat: If you divide his minutes, Araujo has played in
39.6 career 40-minute games.
There also are a number of issues involving Fesenko. The Jazz are hopeful
they can reach an agreement with his Ukrainian club that allows Fesenko
to play in the Revue while the Jazz assume the insurance risk should he
get injured.
At a minimum, playing in the Revue would accelerate Fesenko's development.
But the Jazz won't offer him a contract until they know how they're
spending the $5.5 million midlevel exception and don't want to get in a
situation where they have to take on a player in a trade yet don't have
a roster spot for him. Fesenko would take up a spot.
What's interesting is the Jazz were one of the teams that were most
encouraging about Fesenko coming to the NBA this season; a lot of other
teams wanted to keep him in Ukraine for another season. The fact that
his buyout doubles after next season also increases the urgency for the
Jazz to bring him over.
Fesenko plays for a club team in a rural part of Ukraine, about four
hours from the capital city of Kiev. That leads to the opinion that it's
best for his development if he comes to the U.S. immediately, even if
he spends all of next season with the Jazz's D-League affiliate in Orem.
The Jazz open summer-league practice Monday and we'll be there to report.
Assistants Tyrone Corbin and Scott Layden, incidentally, will split head
coaching duties.
--Ross Siler
http://blogs.sltrib.com/jazz/
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