Just a couple quick links to get you through today.

• UPDATE:  Apparently Fess is now officially a Jazzman.  So long Araujo?
• Morris Almond is the FreeDarko Embedded Rookie - (Thanks to PCA for the tip) He gives some insight to his photo shoot with the rest of the rookies.  I guess it explains this pose.
• Another opinion on keeping Brown - I think Miller’s quote here is an offense to Deron.  Is he saying Deron can’t make decisions for himself?

Now Deron’s married and Dee’s not,” Miller said, “and so if Dee is going out, who’s he going to go with, and is that good for Deron?

• Ronnie Price over Carlos Boozer - I love how all of the local media outlets keep showing the Price dunk over and over.  I know Boozer doesn’t keep a home here, but if he were sitting on the couch watching the news, wouldn’t he get a little ticked?  I know it’s the only highlight Price has had, but still…  Also, who’s going to have the camera rolling when Boozer and Price first meet up?
• Kevin Garnett is a Celtic officially - I only include this because while the Timberwolves haven’t done anything the last three years, getting KG out of the Northwest Division certainly doesn’t hurt Utah’s chances to win the division again.
• Matt Harping Photos - Is that a silk shirt? 
• Price is busy moving back into his UVSC dorms - So his press conference isn’t until 8/1
• Price’s Lab, Ronnie’s Hammy, Ford & Dodge - I would like to know what lab work is done for a player?  I thought it was just a physical mainly.
  
  Technorati tags: utah jazz, ronnie price, morris almond, dee brown, deron williams, kevin garnett, matt harpring

 
Dee Brown seems to confirm what most of us already realized when the Jazz signed Price.  In his latest blog post, Dee talks about leaving Utah and finding a team that needs a backup point guard.  Here’s the paragraph from his blog:

Now with this qualifiying (sic) offer on the table along with two point guards signed I have to look around the league and find a team that is interested in me, a solid point guard. My agent will definitely see what’s out there for me, now that Utah made it clear that they want to move in a different direction. I really feel like the Jazz organization is looking for something else and going in a different direction as far as the guard position goes. It’s a business at the end of the day. It’s a man’s game and I have to work even harder now because I feel like I can play in the NBA, I feel like I can help a team win and be a great teammate. I felt like Utah was the perfect fit for me because its a city that has great fans, great tradition, and teammates and fans that love me and I love them back. But again its a business, I just wanted to reach out to the fans and let everyone know your boy wanted to stay with D Will, C Booze, Memo, Ron Ron, P Mill but things happen and changes are made. I love Utah and for me to be even thinking about moving or going to another city its crazy for me right now. But thats the status on that situation, all Utah had to do was guarantee me and I was definitely staying and I was so down when I thought about last year jazz team not being back together. We had great chemistry, everyone got alone (sic), we won, and most importantly we won together. But right now I’m still waiting and praying for a great situation.

I really felt like Dee wanted to be back with the Jazz, it just wasn’t reciprocated.  One of the reasons I’ve come across that seems to have some merit comes from Bethlehem Shoals:  Does Larry Miller want Dee Brown out of Utah? 

I don’t think we’ll ever find out the real reason behind all this, but if Larry didn’t want Dee back for this reason, I couldn’t say I would be surprised.  But there are plenty of other single guys with Brewer and Millsap.  I guess neither would have as much influence on Deron though.  But why get rid of him when he would be a cheap third-string PG who knows the system and is a core part of the chemistry of the team?  And I have nothing against Price, but he is a significant upgrade?  Compare:

He’s got more PPG, but almost an assist lower than Brown.  I don’t think we ever took Brown with the intent of having him score.  As he’s said, he’s a pass first kind of guy.

And as I’ve said before, my biggest fear in all of this is that it would piss off Williams.  I think the potential backfire from this far outweighs what Price will bring.  You’re letting go of a fan favorite, Deron’s best friend, team guy, and a more than capable third string PG.  We’ll have to see what backlash come from this.  Maybe none.  Maybe everything is on the up and up.  But I don’t think we’re getting the whole story.

Well, I was going to try to get a simpsonized version of Almond put up, but this photo taken from the NBA Rookie Photoshoot is just, I don’t know.  What was he trying to pull off with that look?  Just a nice smile would have done.  You’re not pulling off the angry scowl.  Leave a caption in the comments.

UPDATE:  Now this is better

So I was playing around with the Simpsonizer at http://simpsonizeme.com and decided to try some Jazz players.  The interface is klunky and has a ton of bugs, but I was able to get these.  This was about as close as I could get them.  See if you can determine who they are (hover over them to see the names):

Boozer’s looks the most like him.  And I couldn’t really find a hair-style that fit Millsap.  And Sloan is a dead ringer for Principal Skinner.  I’ll get some more up if I have time.

 Well, after fires kept me from last Friday’s Revue game, the release of Harry Potter, and now flooding, I’m finally able to play ketchup and get things going again.  I’m not going to recap the Revue in this post as I want to do one on that separately.

We’ll start with the Ronny Price signing.  To which all I have to say is what?  This baffles me on so many levels.  So now we have potentially 6 guards?  So what happens if CJ and Dee accept their offers?  Maybe the Jazz have received word that they’re not going to accept.  That’s the only possible explanation I can think of.  No good fan reactions from this.  My other question is, who are we getting that can play some defense at the two?

Deron Williams is kicking can at the Blue/White Team USA scrimmage.  He didn’t shoot particularly well, but when you have the black holes that are Carmelo and Kobe, he doesn’t have to worry about points.  But I’m sure they’ll take his thirteen assists.  And if the PGs for Team USA are anyone other than Kidd and Deron, we’ll finish 3rd again.

Millsap was named MVP of the Rocky Mountain Revue.  No shock here.  He edged out Louis Williams, who was everywhere.  The Jazz could be regretting letting him go especially as they need another big man.  Have I mentioned that they just signed another guard?

I’ve uploaded a new video that I couldn’t edit about the ref scandal and Williams at the FIBA tryouts.  I couldn’t edit it, so you’ll have to forward to about 2:22.

Poca-what?  Dee Brown visited a school in Pocatello, ID where he admitted he didn’t even know Pocatello existed.  As a native Idahoan, we don’t like to admit that Pocatello exists either.  He wants to be back and should be back.  Although with the Price signing, it looks bleak.

AK loves the ice cream.  Kirilenko was spotted in St. Tropez with his family.  He seemed to blend in pretty well despite being 6′9″.  At least he’s not biting anyone’s throats.

deronwilliams.net has some info on his upcoming charity golf tourney.  Looks like the .com is a domain cybersquat.

I’ll get up a proper review of the Revue and each player.  Until then, please no more mother nature.

This is too big of a story not to at least make a quick comment on.  ESPN is reporting via the NY Post that the FBI is investigating an NBA referee for betting on games. I can’t even imagine yet all the implications this has for the NBA.  First, the refs name hasn’t been revealed yet.  But you can guarantee when it is, all hell will break loose.  As mentioned on the ESPN message boards for this article, Mark Cuban is going to have a field day with this.  Because now every game that the ref was involved in will be scrutinized.  And if they were playoff games, Cuban is going to demand a replay or forfeiture or something. 

This will tarnish the league for a long time.  Fans have always suspected that the refs have a hand in who wins games.  And of course not all refs are like this, but it will always be on the minds of fans when calls go against them.  And think of the chants and signs that will be held up at games this year.  I don’t even think we’ve seen the tip of what the fallout from this will be.

And of course as Jazz fans, it would be interesting to see if the ref was involved in any of the 97 or 98 finals games.

UPDATE (9:50): Truehoop has some good insight.  And apparently, it’s only happened in the past couple years.  But it will still put into everyone’s mind, if one guy did it…

UPDATE (9:55): Is Mark Cuban still on the phone with Stern?

UPDATE (13:27):  Well it looks like it’s Tim Donaghy.  And according to Marc Stein, Donaghy was the time keeping official for the Lakers/Spurs series where Derek Fisher hit the game winning shot with .4 left.  He apparently started the clock .2 late to allow for the shot as he had $20k riding on the game.  Maybe that’s why the Spurs are getting all the calls lately?  To make up for it?    Ouch.  I’m sure his every call is being scrutinized right now.

Is it possible for a player to become a legend in only his second year in a summer league?  For someone who was overlooked and unheralded in the 2006 draft, Millsap has done more in that short of time than I’ve ever seen growing up a Jazz fan.  The Millsap lore grew as he calmly nailed the game-tying three-point shot to send the game to overtime.  And then in a bit of deja-vu for the Hawks, Millsap hit the game-winning shot with a reverse layup from under the basket.  After the game, nearly the entire crowd hung around until after Millsap’s TV interview to cheer him before he went to the locker room.  And in a bit of Millsap-mania, as Paul ran off the court, he threw his towel into the crowd where a boy caught it and almost started crying.  For games “that don’t count” according to Millsap, he’d have a hard time arguing that after tonight.

And here’s why the Jazz are a different team.  Almond missed a three and the Hawks made a quick two on the other end to push the lead to five with just under two minutes left.  They the Hawks added on two more points for a seven-point lead.  After the Almond miss, here’s what I wrote in my notes:

Almond’s missed three and subsequent basket by Atlanta did them in

That’s how I became accustomed as a Jazz fan growing up.  But after a couple comebacks in the playoffs last year and seeing the young guys tonight, I vow never to make that assumption again.  And this game made up for me missing the Seattle game.

And now we have two people with Mansap Crushes as PCA professed to me.  His article about the summer leagues in Vegas and SLC are up at FreeDarko.

On to some other game notes

• You’ve read about Fesenko’s earring that reads “Fess.”  Shouldn’t it be Fes or Fez?
• There was an early rumor about Dee Brown being signed but nobody could get confirmation.  I was going to try to talk to his girlfriend about it as she headed back to towards the locker rooms.  But as she was coming back, I got a call from my wife and didn’t get a chance to talk to her.  That led to this conversation between me and PCA:
  Me: I can’t talk to Dee’s girlfriend because my wife keeps calling.
  PCA: So your wife calls you every time you want to talk to his girlfriend?

  Hmm, maybe that wouldn’t sound very good if it was overheard.

• DNDs for both Brewer and Hoffa
• Randy Ribgy, new Pres for LHM Multimedia Entertainment and dealerships and race cars and restaurant Enterprise, made his first public appearance since the promotion.  He was chatting up Frank Layden most of the night and listening to Sloan after the game.  And of course he was sporting the Jazz baby blue tie.
• Lack of pictures tonight as my batteries were dead.  So the picture above of Rigby is brought to you by PCA’s four AAs.
• And showing why the refs are are in summer league as well, after a tipped ball out of bounds, none of the refs had seen the play and the one closest called for another’s help.  It could have gone either way but it went to the Hawks.  That led to this comment from Tyrone, “There wasn’t even anyone on the play!”
• Jerry Sloan loves the Skittles.
• Mario West for the Hawks has some major air.  He made a couple plays on both ends that looked like he chose to come down and not because gravity made him.

Audio coming in a bit when I get it up.

Here’s my first and probably last pathetic attempt at a funny webcomic.  I have no art skills so I thought I’d just make one using only what Microsoft Clipart provides.  So all of this was done in Word.  And of course I’m setting the bar low so there will be no place to go but up, right?

Let’s get caught up on a few things I’ve missed.

• Karl Malone loves to hunt - Really?
• What would happen if BJ Armstrong and Greg Oden had a kid? Would we finally get a basketball player that looks his age?
• The Jr Jazz Orem tip off this November - Heaven help us if both Dee Brown and Ronnie Brewer are Flashers.
• I left my comment on this article - I did think that there was a favor done at first, but after talking to DeAngelo Simmons (Millsap’s agent/uncle), I don’t think this is the case.
• More Deron Williams nickname suggestions - I know I just posted that we need a nickname for Millsap, but I got to thinking, don’t the cool nicknames come from some announcer’s comments or something from their childhood? If they haven’t got a nickname this late in the game, I don’t think we can just make one up. These nicknames have to be earned as well. Don’t force the issue, one will come along. And just say no to DWill, Slick, and The Kingpin.
• Interview audio from the Spurs game Monday:
  • Tyrone Corbin Recap
  • Morris Almond
  • Paul Millsap
  • Fess
  • Hoffa talks about his injury
  • Millsaps Mom

Technorati tags: utah jazz, rocky mountain revue

I didn’t get a chance to go the the Seattle game yesterday or watch it so I can’t really comment much on it. There is a YouTube recap up though (link on the right).

Despite Durant’s 29 and Green’s 25, the Jazz were able to put this one away in the second half. Unfortunately, this was Durant’s only game at the Revue as he’s been at the Las Vegas summer league and he’ll head back to start Team USA tryouts.

Millsap had his typical 22 & 9 and Dee had his best game of the Revue with 10 points and 10 assists. Fes had 8 boards to go along with his 3-4 shooting. And Almond rebounded from his lackluster previous game with 18 points.

I’ll be back in full-effect tomorrow night when the Jazz take on Atlanta again followed up by Friday’s finale with Chicago.

Other news late tonight, Dennis Haslam, President of all things LHM, is stepping down. I put in for the opening but apparently it went to Randy Rigby. Man, the things I would have done for the LHM conglomerate. I was thinking he should expand into NASCAR, movie theaters, restaurants, etc. Man, they’re missing out.

And finally for the night, Boozer won’t be participating in the FIBA tourney this summer to be with his wife as they’re expecting twins. Deron will be representing the UJ though.

Technorati tags: utah jazz, rocky mountain revue