Gone already were three others the Jazz seriously considered: Belinelli, apparently was much-liked by Utah scouts but went 18th to Golden State, and 7-foot Colorado State center Jason Smith and Ohio State shooting guard Daequan Cook, who wound up with Philadelphia and Miami, respectively, after a trade between the teams.

Had Smith been available at 25, the Jazz — who doubted he would ever slip that far — probably would have snatched up the big man.

Instead they went with the guard whose primary asset — his "one great skill," Sloan called it — is one Western Conference-finalist Utah is lacking among a stable of shooting guard/swingmen types that last included Derek Fisher, Gordan Giricek, Andrei Kirilenko, Matt Harpring, Ronnie Brewer and soon-to-be unrestricted free agent C.J. Miles.

"You all have asked us to get a shooter," O'Connor said, "and we got a shooter for you. But that's secondary to being a basketball player."

Indeed, Almond does not want to be pigeonholed.

"I never label myself as just a shooter, but coming into the draft and being under sort of a microscope these past couple months — that's probably what separates me from your average 6-6 athletic wing," Almond said. "You know, a lot of people can score — but everybody can't really shoot.

"But," he added, "that's not all I am by any means."

Sloan likes Almond's size, and the fact "he can post up some inside" as a 2 guard. O'Connor like his passing ability too. The knock is that he does not have great defensive skills and supposedly does not have terrific lateral quickness.

Then again, neither did Jeff Hornacek.

"You can probably criticize all of them, from start to finish, as far as that's concerned, as far as defense is concerned," Sloan said. "But hopefully he's a guy that will work at it."

Almond, speaking via conference call from the living room of his Georgia home, sounded both willing and able.

"I think my offense got me drafted, but my defense, and playing hard and intense and things like that, is what will get me on the floor," he said. "The offense is not the part I'm worried about. It's just playing to Coach Sloan's liking."

Morris Almond

6-foot-6, 215 pounds

Shooting guard

School: Rice

Hometown: Powder Springs, Ga.

Born: Feb. 2, 1985

Statistics: 26.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg in 32 games as a senior

Conference-USA Player of the Year as a senior, first-teamer as a junior, set single-season conference record for scoring average (26.4), points score (844) and free throws (241). Scored 1.825 career points. Played for Team USA in 2003 Global Games in Dallas. Scored 42 points at Utah last season.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com