From Deseret News archives:
Jazz fall in exhibition opener
Whatever its tag, the Jazz's body of work in a 94-79 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night was about what coach Jerry Sloan would expect for a preseason opener in which 16 players were used, including 12 logging a dozen minutes or more.
"We had our moments out there when we played pretty well," Sloan said after watching point guard Deron Williams score 16 points with five assists, big man Carlos Boozer pull down a game-high 12 rebounds while scoring a team-high 18 points and the rest of bunch showing little to boast of, "and then we did a lot of silly things."
Yet Sloan, knowing the outcome is relatively meaningless, was able to at least laugh at that which did not make him smile.
Perhaps that's because he is looking at the bigger picture, and not the Lakers' pullaway 27-16 third quarter.
It's the same one basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor may have been viewing as he sat courtside Tuesday and agreed with his coach's assessment of the personnel O'Connor has assembled for the 2006-07 NBA season.
That is this: "There are some players," Sloan said, "that can be pretty versatile for us."
O'Connor, in fact, thinks it may be the most-versatile Jazz team of his eight-year term as Utah's basketball boss.
Evidence of that, for starters, was on display when Sloan opened the exhibition at Save Mart Center on the campus of Fresno State University with Williams picking up where he left off during his rookie 2005-06 season.
Williams' 16 points came on 7-of-13 from the field, including 5-of-6 in a 12-point opening quarter.
Next to Williams was Gordan Giricek, the Jazz's starting shooting guard last season before succumbing to an Achilles tendon after just 37 games.
Williams was relieved by offseason acquisition Derek Fisher, who might wind up starting the season playing shooting guard next to Williams — but on this occasion was getting a long look at the point.
Sloan insists he still isn't sure just how he'll use the 10-year veteran, but it continues to seem apparent that the ex-Laker — despite looking Tuesday like someone still learning the offense — will be an integral part of the Jazz's regular rotation.
"Fisher," Sloan said, "is certainly a player that has some experience and can play — whether you start him, or you play him off the bench."
Further evidence of the Jazz's newfound flexibility came when first-round rookie Ronnie Brewer followed Fisher at the point — ahead of the two rookies supposedly battling for Utah's No. 3 point position, second-round selection Dee Brown and undrafted free agent Brian Chase.
