From Deseret News archives:
Jazz hope to get a European trip
Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams were disappointed, too, that the Utah Jazz weren't one of the four teams announced by the NBA Thursday to play October preseason games in Barcelona, London, Paris and Berlin as part of the NBA Europe Live program.
"Are we going?" Boozer asked when a reporter mentioned Europe. "Aw, come on, man. Half our team, well not half of it, a couple years ago half our team was from Europe. I think we'd like to go abroad and check out some new cultures, play in different arenas. Istanbul (Turkey, Okur's homeland) is a beautiful place. Hopefully they'll add us later. Probably not."
"That would definitely be fun," Williams said of playing preseason games overseas. "I like to travel, see new places. I know Andrei was trying to push for us to go to Russia. When I first got here, they were talking about it. I definitely think those guys (Kirilenko and Okur) would like to go back and show us their home countries."
Okur actually had that a conversation with NBA commissioner David Stern because the Minnesota Timberwolves spent part of their preseason in Turkey last fall.
"I had a chance to speak with him last year, with David Stern, and I asked him why we didn't go," Okur said. Okur's version of Stern's answer: "'Because that's how it's scheduled, and you know, blah, blah.' So hopefully in future."
Utah was to have gone to Kirilenko's Moscow for a game in 2004, but the trip was canceled due to terrorist acts in Russia. The game was never rescheduled.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan recalled Utah being one of the first teams to play regular-season games in Japan and how it tired out the team. "We never practiced for about four weeks (afterward). Our team, after we came back, I said, 'They look like 80 games already."' Those probably were more pressure than any playoff games I've ever been in just because starting off the season, you don't know what's going to happen to your team after you get back. "
But Sloan said he'll go wherever he's told because that's the job.
"I've never had to deal with that yet," said Boozer. "I'd be up for seeing if it would work out, though. I would love for our team to have a chance to experience those kind of games, playing against some different competition, enjoying the city we're in."
"I would like to show all the guys how good is Russia," said Kirilenko.
Okur would like his teammates to see the world, too. "The players (could) see European culture because most players, they've never been in Europe. (To) work out over there and play European teams would be fun," he said.
