Things looked up though. The Jazz received the 6th pick in the draft which Kevin O'Connor brilliantly parlayed into the 3rd pick giving the Jazz their pick of either Chris Paul or Deron Williams. They also drafted early in the second-round a promising shooting guard that was being targeted by the San Antonio Spurs by the name of C.J. Miles. The subsequent Rocky Mountain Review (R.I.P.) gave us our first glimpses of the future. It was the Jazz's Stark Expo.
The season began against the Dallas Mavericks. Dirk was there, so was Devin Harris, and a young wing player out of Wake Forest: Josh Howard. Keith McLeod started this game. The Jazz were electrified by the entrance late in the 1st quarter by their star rookie Deron Williams who ended the game 18 points including a half-time buzzer beating heave from half court. It seemed that the future had arrived. The Jazz beat the Mavericks that night.
But it was not so. Jerry Sloan stuck to starting Keith McLeod who continued to look worse and worse compared to his backup rookie. Then Sloan started Williams ... at shooting guard, and began playing the legendary Captain Crunch: Milt Palacio. Things went grey in Jazzland. Deron began to fume at Sloan, setting the stage for a battle that would last 6 years, his play diminished. His playing time too. Keith McLeod remained. During a game late in the season against rival Chris Paul and the Hornets, McLeod and Palacio (what? This still makes no sense) had a disappointing first half (one in a long series). Sloan went with Deron to start the second half. The rest was history. At the time I believed that Keith McLeod was history as well. The Jazz went a run after Deron started at PG, falling just short of the post season. Things again were looking up.
The Jazz seemed poised for greatness. A young roster. Another great draft pulling in Ronnie Brewer who looked dynamic during a great Rocky Mountain Review (R.I.P.), Dee Brown, and the little known Paul Millsap.Then something curious happened. Keith McLeod was traded. It made sense, until it was revealed that the trade was for Derek Fisher. It didn't make sense. Why pull in a veteran PG making a lot of money when we had the PG of the future on the cheap right now? Either way the season looked promising. Sophmore C.J. looked to be the starter at SG, Brewer looked poised for an All-Rookie team run. Then the Jazz coaching staff pulled another curious move. They pulled C.J. from the starting lineup after he had started hot and then gone cold, and gave all the SG minutes to Derek Fisher. This is curious for one reason. Derek Fisher is 6'0 and is not a SG. The rest of the minutes went to basically useless veteran Gordan Giricek who was curiously not traded to this point despite his poor play, fighting with Sloan, and routine smoking breaks during timeouts and half times. Nevertheless the Jazz had a successful season, making all the way to the Western Conference Finals.
Again the future looked bright. And it was. For four years. Brewer developed nicely. Millsap became a beast. Deron became the best PG in the league, and Memo was Memo. Then the Chicago game happened. And it all fell apart. It was time for the Jazz to start over. The seemed poised to do so.
They received Derrick Favors from New Jersey, Gordon Hayward developed at the end of his rookie year as a legit scorer and playmaker. The Jazz had exciting second rounder Jeremy Evans, and then drafted big-man Enes Kanter and swingman Alec Burks in the lottery. It seemed that the Jazz had fully embraced the OKC Thunder model and were going to let their young core develop together and hopefully create another golden age of Jazz basketball.
Then a name appeared. A name I hadn't heard in a very long time. A name I thought I would never hear again. Keith McLeod. This didn't make sense. Why here? Why now? Old demons filled my brain.Visions of Deron Williams sitting grumpily on the bench. Still, McLeod doesn't have a guranteed deal. Even if he made the team it would be as a 3rd stringer. Still I couldn't shake the feeling that this was a bad omen. However I remained steadfast in my faith that the Jazz were committed to letting our young guys play and develop like the Thunder had done with Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, and Harden. I ignored Jamal Tinsley, a minor blip on the rader, a strange blip, but just a blip.Word began trickling out of Jazz camp that Raja Bell was impressing. THE Raja Bell. My mouth was beginning to go dry. Surely Corbin wouldn't play that corpse instead of Burks, Hayward, or C.J.?
Then for the 1,000 time in my Jazzfan career, something curious happened. Something curious indeed. The Jazz signed Josh Howard. Yes. That Josh Howard. The Jazz Howard who admitted to smoking marijuana live on SportsCenter, the Josh Howard who was once too hungover to play a game for the Dallas Mavericks, the Josh Howard who couldn't tolerate standing for the National Anthem, the Josh Howard who had barely played any games in the past few years. This Josh Howard. I have seen this before. I can see Burks and Hayward sitting sourly on the bench and Bell and Howard struggle to defend or score points. I see Corbin losing his young players. I see the Jazz relying too much on their "trusty veterans". I see mediocrity.
I see the ghost of Keith McLeod. It should haunt you as it does me.
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