From Deseret News archives:
Jazz nut — Utah likes Almond, and he likes Jazz
Tuesday's in Utah, though, is one the Rice University senior said he has had "circled on my calendar."
The Jazz too.
That is because at No. 25 overall in the first round of the June 28 draft, Almond may be the one for Utah — if, that is, he's there for the pickin'.
That's the sense some in the media walked away with after talking to the shooting guard whose 26.4 points-per-game average this past season ranked third in the nation.
With a pick so deep in the draft, granted, pinpointing Utah's possible selections truly is a guessing game.
At a minimum, though, there is ample reason to suspect the 22-year-old Georgia native — along with several others, perhaps also including Italian shooting guard Marco Belinelli and Vanderbilt swingman Derrick Byars — will receive serious consideration should he still be available when the Jazz's turn to choose finally rolls around.
Almond seemed to feel similar vibes after working out Tuesday with Ohio State's Daequan Cook, Jackson State's Trey Johnson and Keith Simmons of Holy Cross.
And that's fine by him.
He admits now, after all, to having been a closet Jazz fan when Utah made its recent playoff run to the NBA's Western Conference finals.
"It wasn't the popular thing to say you watch the Jazz and Matt Harpring and how they played," Almond said with reference to Utah's yeoman small forward who also calls the Atlanta area home. "But kind of by myself I definitely would really watch the way they were just posting up hard, running the floor, hitting open jump shots coming off screens.
"That kind of stuff is right up my alley."
That's not all Almond has to bowl over Jazz brass, who took a liking to the prospect when he performed well in last year's NBA pre-draft camp and followed that up with a super shooting showing this year in Orlando.
He's affable and articulate. He's got decent size, listed at 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds. And with an average topped only by Johnson's 27.1 and the 28.1 posted by Reggie Williams of Virginia Military, he showed that — on the collegiate level, at least — he sure can score.
Perhaps more importantly than all that, though, Almond is a shooter — something for which the Jazz undeniably are in the market.
While his 48.3 percent-from-the-field success rate as a senior is solid but not spectacular, a sampling of scouting-report comments on Almond's strengths amplify the billing:
• ESPN.com: "Excellent mid-range shooter. Deep range on his 3-point shot ... Hard worker who can score from just about anywhere on the floor ... He may be the best shooter in the draft."
