Ashy Larry
09-19-2010, 12:43 PM
For an NBA general manager dealing with a significant amount of uncertainty and change, Kevin O’Connor exuded nothing but calm confidence.
He slowly walked through the empty hallways of the Utah Jazz’s practice facility earlier this week, flipping on bright lights to better display large blue-and-green themed rooms that belong to the team’s front-office personnel.
He caught a quick minute of welcome-back conversation with still-unpacking Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, offering a smile laced with an insider’s-only greeting.
Then the casually dressed O’Connor — wearing summer shorts and a wrinkled Kansas Jayhawks T-shirt — eased into a straight-backed office chair and answered every query thrown his way.
The hope and optimism that surround the first-year relationship of Jazz point guard Deron Williams and newly acquired center Al Jefferson. The odd mixture of caution and anticipation that revolve around Andrei Kirilenko, Kyrylo Fesenko and Mehmet Okur. And the unknown future a consistently competitive Utah team faces as it learns to live life without Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver and Wesley Matthews.
O’Connor had answers for everything. And while questions still and will remain, one thing was certain: The Jazz are less than two weeks away from tipping off training camp for the 2010-11 season, and O’Connor is ready to go.
“We lost some good players, and I think we got some good players coming in to replace them,” O’Connor said. “Now, how that translates into team efficiency, playing in close games and playing on the road, we don’t know yet. But I don’t think the cupboard’s bare.”
The 12th-year GM credited the ownership of the Miller family with again spending the money necessary to allow the small-market Jazz to compete with big-market powerhouses such as the Los Angeles Lakers. And while many analysts spent a chaotic free-agent summer concentrating on the players Utah lost, O’Connor and other key Jazz executives are riding a smooth, steady wave of cautious optimism as they analyze and explore exactly what Utah possesses.
“I’ll let the court of public opinion evaluate it,” O’Connor said. “The biggest thing is how it’ll translate into wins and losses. That’s really the only thing that your report card is judged on.”
While the still-forming relationship between Williams and Jefferson will likely have the most affect on O’Connor’s season-ending grade, the GM acknowledged that Kirilenko’s role and future with the team is of near-equal importance to Utah’s fate.
A healthy, motivated Kirilenko is a major asset for a Jazz team that will largely rely on role and second-tier players as it battles for the Western Conference’s Northwest Division title. But Kirilenko’s health and motivation have long been question marks. And with the Jazz lifer possessing a $17.8 million expiring contract that could mark the end of his tenure in Salt Lake City, O’Connor acknowledged that this season is nothing less than huge for the agile but unpredictable forward.
“I think the key thing is, Andrei’s got to play this year,” O’Connor said.
The GM knows that Kirilenko will worry about his contract situation, but hopes that he can play through it.
“If he plays well, it helps us; it helps him,” O’Connor said.
Expected improvement from Paul Millsap and C.J. Miles should soften the blow if Kirilenko fails to deliver or is traded midseason.
However, a last-minute move the Jazz made last summer could provide the largest cushion. O’Connor did not hype the arrival — and return — of veteran guard Raja Bell. But he did not play it down, either.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/jazz/50301620-87/connor-jazz-kirilenko-players.html.csp
He slowly walked through the empty hallways of the Utah Jazz’s practice facility earlier this week, flipping on bright lights to better display large blue-and-green themed rooms that belong to the team’s front-office personnel.
He caught a quick minute of welcome-back conversation with still-unpacking Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, offering a smile laced with an insider’s-only greeting.
Then the casually dressed O’Connor — wearing summer shorts and a wrinkled Kansas Jayhawks T-shirt — eased into a straight-backed office chair and answered every query thrown his way.
The hope and optimism that surround the first-year relationship of Jazz point guard Deron Williams and newly acquired center Al Jefferson. The odd mixture of caution and anticipation that revolve around Andrei Kirilenko, Kyrylo Fesenko and Mehmet Okur. And the unknown future a consistently competitive Utah team faces as it learns to live life without Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver and Wesley Matthews.
O’Connor had answers for everything. And while questions still and will remain, one thing was certain: The Jazz are less than two weeks away from tipping off training camp for the 2010-11 season, and O’Connor is ready to go.
“We lost some good players, and I think we got some good players coming in to replace them,” O’Connor said. “Now, how that translates into team efficiency, playing in close games and playing on the road, we don’t know yet. But I don’t think the cupboard’s bare.”
The 12th-year GM credited the ownership of the Miller family with again spending the money necessary to allow the small-market Jazz to compete with big-market powerhouses such as the Los Angeles Lakers. And while many analysts spent a chaotic free-agent summer concentrating on the players Utah lost, O’Connor and other key Jazz executives are riding a smooth, steady wave of cautious optimism as they analyze and explore exactly what Utah possesses.
“I’ll let the court of public opinion evaluate it,” O’Connor said. “The biggest thing is how it’ll translate into wins and losses. That’s really the only thing that your report card is judged on.”
While the still-forming relationship between Williams and Jefferson will likely have the most affect on O’Connor’s season-ending grade, the GM acknowledged that Kirilenko’s role and future with the team is of near-equal importance to Utah’s fate.
A healthy, motivated Kirilenko is a major asset for a Jazz team that will largely rely on role and second-tier players as it battles for the Western Conference’s Northwest Division title. But Kirilenko’s health and motivation have long been question marks. And with the Jazz lifer possessing a $17.8 million expiring contract that could mark the end of his tenure in Salt Lake City, O’Connor acknowledged that this season is nothing less than huge for the agile but unpredictable forward.
“I think the key thing is, Andrei’s got to play this year,” O’Connor said.
The GM knows that Kirilenko will worry about his contract situation, but hopes that he can play through it.
“If he plays well, it helps us; it helps him,” O’Connor said.
Expected improvement from Paul Millsap and C.J. Miles should soften the blow if Kirilenko fails to deliver or is traded midseason.
However, a last-minute move the Jazz made last summer could provide the largest cushion. O’Connor did not hype the arrival — and return — of veteran guard Raja Bell. But he did not play it down, either.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/jazz/50301620-87/connor-jazz-kirilenko-players.html.csp