So after FIBA got its cut gave it’s blessing, a week after the team announced it had signed Fesenko, they Utah Jazz consummated the relationship with a press conference. Terms are never disclosed so how do we know he gets $750k the first year and $810k the next? Everyone finds out anyway, so why do they have this policy? One term not disclosed is that Fess receives a $1000 bonus each time Hot Rod or Booner mispronounce his name. And sadly, no car was included. That makes me wonder if LHM gave players a car, how much that would count against the salary cap. Seems like it would be a relatively cheap throw-in but would sweeten a deal. Could he get around this by giving the players a $1 lease per year? I’m not a CBA guru or student for that matter. And bloggers and MSM reporters rejoice with endless Fesenko quotes.

And now, I promise to put up something meaningful in the next bit. But until then, we have the following:

• Deron’s not going to get a lot of touches - When I was watching the USA pound on Chavez’s (dictator for life) Venezuelan team I noticed that Williams played a lot with Chaucey Billups. And since Williams isn’t going to get to shoot much, it kind of takes away from his strengths if he’s not running the point.
• Williams will be playing a lot of ball - Deron will probably be playing in many of the upcoming summers. How will this effect him for the NBA season? I don’t think it will matter too much for someone as young and that’s in good shape. Jimminy, I feel old calling him young. Also, if Boozer makes the team for the Olympics, who would get bumped? Chandler?
• Why is Chauncey Billups being picked over Deron? - Of course I’m biased, but I don’t know why Billups is #2 behind Kidd when it should be Deron. I think Chauncey is good player, but I’ll let Bill Simmons explain (#3).
• John Stockton hates Isiah Thomas - Wouldn’t he have to in order to fight a stress fracture to play in the Olympics? Of course it’s widely believed that Jordan and Malone didn’t want Thomas on the team. But for Stockton, I’d like to think his motivation was playing in the Olympics, the first time pros were allowed to compete. And I think the day of players doing something like this have come and gone. Most wouldn’t even go now if they had a hangnail. I don’t think that the world has caught up yet to USA players overall. There are countries that have very talented players, but the US should have twelve all-stars every year. I think that most players just don’t care enough. It’s been a long time since the Dream Team but I remember it was playing for something. I think this also is why the slam dunk contest sucks for the most part now. But with Kobe coming on board and other talk, I see a resurgence of USA pride.

Technorati tags: utah jazz, kyrylo Fesenko, deron williams, carlos boozer, john stockton, isiah thomas, team usa, nba