From Deseret News archives:
Fesenko sketchy in Flash win
The Jazz center, who's currently on assignment with the Utah Flash of the D-League, made that clear on Thursday night — and not just by clanging a wide-open dunk attempt off the back of the rim during the Flash's come-from-behind 92-78 victory over the Los Angeles D-Fenders at the McKay Events Center.
"I'm not Michael Jordan. I'm not a gold medalist," Fesenko said, laughing after being asked what he'd like to work on while playing for the Jazz's minor-league affiliate.
"I need to work on everything — running, shooting, conditioning, athletic, everything," he continued. "I need to improve everything to make the Jazz."
Though his current coach had some good things to say about Fesenko's game Thursday, Brad Jones didn't necessarily disagree with the 22-year-old Ukrainian's assessment.
"That's why he's here," Jones said, "to complete his game."
Fesenko's game didn't exactly live up to the name of the D-League Showcase, which his team wrapped up with their second win.
In his second game with the Flash, he showed some flashes of both being ready to rejoin his teammates at EnergySolutions Arena but also of needing more development with the Orem-based squad he played with last year and hooked up with again this week.
With his NBA coach and other Jazz officials watching, Fesenko had an up-and-down outing with 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots. But there was also that dunk attempt gone awry — although he did finish off a late alley-oop — a three-fouls-in-three-minutes spurt and, according to Jones, a "mental focus" that wasn't always necessarily razor-sharp.
Fesenko, who had 12 points and seven rebounds in his first game with the Flash on Tuesday, preferred to leave the evaluation of his play to his coach.
"It's hard to say. I think, as a team we did good in the second half. That's it," he said, referring to how Utah rallied from as many as 10 points down to win going away. "You can ask coach how I did, but don't ask me. I don't want to do that."
So, coach?
"I thought he was pretty active at times, other times he zoned in and out a little bit," Jones said. "Overall, the second half I thought he played pretty well."
Jones even laughed off Fesenko's missed dunk, saying he likes to see the 7-foot-1 center be aggressive. Like Jerry Sloan and the Jazz coaches, he also just wants to see more consistency.
"I can't speak for the Jazz, but they sent him down here for a reason. He had some confidence because he had some success, and now they just want to see him continue to grow as opposed to go backwards," Jones said.
"Hopefully tonight's a learning lesson for him — you can't just always show up and things go easy for ya."
Jones said he isn't sure how long Fesenko will be with the Flash, but he does know that the center will travel to Los Angeles for a rematch with the D-Fenders tonight.
Fesenko, who wears a Jazz patch on his No. 44 jersey, is now the only NBA player on the Flash squad after the Boston Celtics called up JR Giddens and Bill Walker before Thurday's game.
E-mail: jody@desnews.com
