From Deseret News archives:
Jazz coach emphasizing free throws
Understandably.
Dragged down by rotation-regulars Deron Williams (70.4 percent) and Andrei Kirilenko (a career-low 69.9 percent on a team-high 495 attempts), the Jazz shot just 71.9 percent from the line in 2005-06.
That's 2.7 percent worse than their opponents, 3.8 percent worse than they shot in 2004-05 and 8.7 percent worse than league-leading Phoenix's 80.6 percent.
It's also better than only five other clubs in the 30-team NBA shot last season.
No wonder Sloan made the seemingly simple task a major point of emphasis during training camp last week at Boise State University and will keep an eye on his club's success at the line when tonight Utah plays its 2006-07 preseason opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.
"We've got to prove," the Jazz coach said, "that we can play under pressure."
It all starts, the cheap advice goes, with making more freebies.
"It was one of my best memories," he said, "and the next day it was one of my worst memories."
Fuller, an undrafted free-agent forward whose only four NBA games to date were with Atlanta in 2004, can re-live the memories when the Jazz play tonight at Save Mart Center on the Fresno State campus.
Fuller never actually played in the multipurpose arena, which opened after his college career concluded. But he's hoping to get tickets for about 20 friends still in the area, including a couple former Fresno State teammates: Chris Jeffries, a 2002 first-round draft choice who played 72 games over two seasons for Toronto and Chicago, and Mustafa Al-Sayyad, who played with Fuller on the Jazz's Rocky Mountain Revue team this past summer.
LAKERLAND: According to the Associated Press, Lakers coach Phil Jackson attended a scrimmage and "a good portion" of practices Sunday and Monday despite undergoing hip-replacement surgery last Tuesday.
Jackson even did some coaching.
Comments
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65
We learned a bit more about the basketball team after this weekend.
There are 14 BYU players from Salt Lake Valley. And there are four Utah...
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Hard to believe Max ends such a prolific career with comments that is not...
Does anyone remember the ute fans jumping on Derek Stevenson dad at an game?...
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Dear Cherie and Leon and Family, We love you and appreciate your strength...
What ever happened to the love of the game? This is one of the best rivalries...
Thanks big brother???? ha ha ha. You weren't even competitive for 30 years.
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I find it interesting that many of the same people who say that we can't...



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