| Long Winter Days Authored by Ben Wilkinson - January 24, 2005 - 10:31 pm
On Friday, the Utah Jazz made a trade that many had suspected had been in the works for a couple of months. The Jazz sent PG Carlos Arroyo to the Pistons in return for veteran C Elden Campbell and a first-round draft pick. The Jazz have not even bothered to list Campbell on the team’s official roster since the deal went down, and they are currently working on a deal to buyout Campbell’s current contract.
What does this all mean? In the short term, the trade itself sends a signal from Jazz management that they have come to the realization that it is impossible for this year’s squad to make the playoffs. This year’s team needed upfront help immediately and if in fact they go ahead and release Campbell this will give the Jazz money to spend next year to try and bring in more help.
What’s more, the Jazz were in talks with Cleveland to send Arroyo the Cavs in return for much heralded guard Eric Snow. Not only would Snow give immediate assistance to the Jazz, but he would also give consistency to a back court that has been anything but so far this year. With the Jazz picking up (and immediately dumping) Campbell, the Jazz are signaling that they are more concerned with their upcoming off-season, rather than the near term.
Grizzlies 110 Jazz 94: On Saturday night, the Grizzlies paid a visit to the Delta Center. Also on Saturday night, Andrei Kirilinko made his much heralded return after a 26 game absence. AK-47 logged about 12 minutes in a game where he played in spurts. He still did not look in game shape. He was 1 for 2 from the field with two points. Mehmet Okur added 22 points in 25 minutes for the Jazz.
The Grizzlies shot 56.9% from the field which included an astounding 57.9% from beyond the three point line. Pau Gasol led all scores with 23 points on 7 of 12 shooting. Forward Shane Battier added 16 points and 6 rebounds in 39 minutes. The Grizzlies improved their overall record to 23-19 while Utah fell to 14-28.
Sonics 122 Jazz 105: The Jazz really never had a shot in this one against the Northwest Division leading Sonics. The Sonics jumped out to a 33-23 lead after the first quarter and increased their advantage by halftime to 62-47. The Jazz did get some quality minutes from All-Star forward Andrei Kirilinko. Kirilinko filled all columns of the score-sheet with 14 points, 3 rebounds (1 offensive), 2 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Rashard Lewis led Seattle with 36 points including a blistering 7 of 8 shooting from behind the arc. Antonio Daniels added 24 points and Ray Allen added 20.
In an interesting side not to the game, fans and players were quickly ushered out of Key Arena after the game owing to a bomb threat. Authorities do believe that the threat is nothing more than a prank.
The Jazz and the Sonics face off again on Wednesday night, this time in Salt Lake City. The Jazz then head to Minnesota to square off against the Timberwolves and then they are home the next night against the Nets. |
