Jazz nab Humphries in draft; Araujo going to Toronto

Happy with their first two picks in the draft, the Utah Jazz quickly traded away their third — all 7 feet, 5 inches of him.

A team desperate for inside scoring, the Jazz decided they were comfortable enough with forward Kris Humphries and guard Kirk Snyder that they traded 7-5 Russian center Pavel Padkolzine to Dallas for a first-round pick next year.

"We got a power forward and a big wing player," Jazz vice president for basketball operations Kevin O'Connor said. "We'll address our (other) needs in free agency."

O'Connor said the Jazz did not want to go with three rookies on the roster for a team that was going to be young even before the draft. Utah took two college players in Humphries and Snyder, then picked Padkolzine with the trade already in mind.

"This is a work in progress. We're still working our way through this," O'Connor said. "We tried to address some of the needs that we have. We needed some size up front."

But not Podkolzine's size. Podkolzine played in just 22 games in Italy last season and although he has the massive size, he lacks experience. Snyder played three years at Nevada and Humphries played one at Minnesota, where he was the Big Ten's freshman of the year after leading the league in scoring and rebounding.

O'Connor said Humphries and Snyder should be able to contribute to rebuilding the Jazz quickly under veteran coach Jerry Sloan, who is expected to return to the Jazz for a 17th season. Sloan, whose wife of 41 years, Bobbye, died last week, missed the draft to be with his family at his southern Illinois farm. Funeral services for Bobbye Sloan are scheduled for Saturday.

The Jazz are hopeful that Sloan will return and drafted with him in mind, giving the two rookies a strict leader in their first NBA season. Humphries has been labeled by some as selfish, a tag that wouldn't last long under Sloan.

"We think he's going to come in here and be able to adjust to our system," O'Connor said. "The nice thing about the Utah Jazz is I think anybody knows when they come here what's coming. Whether it's a free agent, whatever it is. They know what to expect."

Humphries (6-9, 235 pounds) worked out for the Jazz one week before the draft and was impressive enough for Utah to use the first of its three opening round picks on him. He averaged 21.7 and 10.9 rebounds, becoming the first freshman to lead the league in both categories.