Jazz almost landed Jaric last summer

Much has been made of the Jazz's unsuccessful offseason pursuit of Sarunas Jasikevicius, the Euroleague star who rejected offers from Utah and Cleveland and accepted one from Indiana.

What few may realize, however, is just how close the Jazz came to landing another big and versatile veteran combo guard from Europe.

Utah, it has been learned just recently, thought it had a commitment from Marko Jaric, a restricted free agent at the time.

The Jazz, in fact, were not alone.

"I also, at one point, felt that I am gonna be 100 percent Utah Jazz," Jaric said Monday night.

The Jazz essentially were a news release and an autograph away from making Jaric's planned offer-sheet signing public. Instead, just a few hours after an agreement had apparently been made, the deal fell apart.

It was Aug. 12, a Friday, and Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor was in Los Angeles to meet with now 26-year-old Jaric, who spent his first three NBA seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, and agent Bill Duffy.

Jasikevicius already had signed with the Pacers.

Guard Antonio Daniels, with whom the Jazz flirted a bit over the summer, had decided to leave Seattle for Washington.

Jaric, who was much higher on the Jazz's radar than Daniels and essentially as high as Jasikevicius, had previously visited Cleveland and Denver — but was about to take step one toward joining the Jazz.

Utah was dangling most if not all of its $5 million midlevel-exception money. Its thinking was that the Clippers — who retained matching rights — would pass on giving Jaric the same contract, instead letting him go without any return compensation.

The Jazz envisioned Jaric as the answer to one of their biggest needs, a tall guard who could log minutes at point guard and also play at shooting guard in the backcourt alongside rookie point Deron Williams.

Utah figured Jaric, a strong catch-and-shoot shooter, would thrive in Jazz coach Jerry Sloan's offensive system.

Just a few hours later, however, Jaric and his agent found a better deal that the Clippers would agree to facilitate: L.A. re-signed Jaric, then dealt him and throw-in Lionel Chalmers to Minnesota as part of a sign-and-trade deal that netted the Clippers veteran point guard Sam Cassell and a conditional 2006 first-round draft choice.