14 forever

The plan was in place.

Marksman Jeff Hornacek would some day retire, and when he did Shandon Anderson would neatly slip in, assuming the role of starting shooting guard on a team that traditionally depended so greatly on quality play from that position.

One hitch:

Anderson never did re-sign with Utah like the Jazz fully expected in the summer of 1999, bolting instead for less money but supposedly more happiness in Houston.

"We were in place to try to take care of the Hornacek thing," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan says now. "We had kind of made plans that Shandon would come in and do that. But it didn't work out.

"All of a sudden you get a wrench thrown in the motor, it screws things up a little bit."

Hornacek retired after the 1999-2000 season, and Anderson — who now plays in New York, probably wishing he had stayed in Utah — was nowhere to be seen.

Three seasons later, the Jazz are retiring Hornacek's No. 14 — they will do so at halftime of tonight's Delta Center game against the Phoenix Suns, the team that drafted him out of Iowa State in 1986 — and the motor still has clunks and clanks sputtering from the 2-spot.

Replacing Hornacek, plugging the hole, filling his spot — whatever one wants to call it — has arguably been the Jazz's biggest unfulfilled need since the fella who hobbled along on one aching, bone-on-bone knee decided he preferred spending quality time with his family to playing hoops with what amounted to one good leg.

"When he left the scene," Jazz play-by-play announcer "Hot Rod" Hundley said, "we had a void that we never have filled.

"Same thing as John and Karl," Hundley added with regard to the Jazz's still-going duo of 40-year-old Stockton and 39-year-old Malone, who along with Hornacek formed the triumvirate that led Utah to the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals. "It's going to be awfully hard. He was that great a player. He didn't get the recognition like Stockton or Malone or (Michael) Jordan or (Larry) Bird, but he was a great player. Coaches know. Players know. They know the respect he deserved."

While Hundley may get carried away just a tad with hype, his partner, broadcast analyst Ron Boone, breaks down Hornacek's importance to the Jazz by examining the impact of his 14.4 points per game and 49.4 percent shooting in six-plus seasons with Utah.