News from today… The Jazz have offered contracts to Dee Brown & CJ Miles. They’ll both test the market. I suspect that Brown might leave to get more PT. But I think CJ will end up staying. That will still leave quite the logjam at SG.

And with the 25th pick in the 2007 NBA draft, the Utah Jazz select, Morris Almond.

The ESA went crazy when O’Connor made the announcement before being officially announced by David Stern. After boos filled the arena with the selection of Marco Belinelli by Golden State, the excitement in the air grew with each pick that didn’t involve Almond. The chants of “Almond Joy” erupted when the TrailBlazers selected Rudy Fernandez with the 24th pick. The Jazz get their shooting guard and the fans get a new infinite source of signs to hold up at games.

The Jazz got probably got the best shooter in the draft. And Utah fans know first-hand from Almond’s 42-point game performance against the Utes. I don’t think he’ll contrbute as quickly as Belinelli would have, but I’m sure he’ll get the chance to work hard and fight for minutes with CJ (if he stays), Brewer, and Giricek. Not much more that I can add that hasn’t already been said.

The Jazz also swapped picks with Philly and received Kyrylo Fesenko from the Ukraine. “The Ukraine is not weak!” He could develop into a useful backup. As S.A.S says, “You can’t teach height.”

I’d give the draft an overall B. Neither of them will probably turn into a Millsap type surprise, but if Almond does what Sloan tells him to do, he could find some good PT.

As for the party, there were free hot dogs and drinks. Standard free food. You get the same at RC Willey on Saturday’s at their weekly random excuse for a “sale” event. But hey, it was all free. The NuSkin Jazz Dancers threw a few t-shirts and balls into the crowd. I was fortunate? to pick up a ball that everyone else around me had dropped. It would have been nice if the girls could have thrown further than the length of their skirts. I don’t know why they didn’t have them perform at all. It was about two hours until the Jazz picked. They also had a bingo game with prizes except that you had to race down to the floor and be first to the bingo table to get your prize. The best part of the whole thing was being with other fans and not just sitting at home watching it.

Up next, the Rocky Mountain Revue. It will be intersting to see if Seattle comes this year. I’m sure tickets would go like mad if Durant was going to be here. We shall see soon.

Here are some pics of Bolerjack, the brain trust, and O’Connor calling in the pick

Technorati tags: utah jazz, nba draft, 2007