Well, it’s 1 p.m. MST and no trades announced for the Jazz. I’m more relieved than anything, not because the core is left in tact, but because we can finally stop hearing ridiculous trade suggestions and made up ones.

So you’ll get some links as we wait for possible Bulls/Cavs trade and see if Artest ends up anywhere.

• Here’s Simmons latest offering for the Jazz. Ugh.
• Please don’t click on any of these links unless you have tons of spare time. It will kill productivity. Most probably already know about this site, but there might be a few that don’t know. If you’re into stats or want to do player comparisons, check out basketball-reference.com. Here’s the main Jazz page and the 2008 page. They have player comparisons, head-to-head matchups, and other cool stuff. This link compares Boozer and Malone, Williams and Stockton in their respective years in the league. Williams and Paul in head-to-head matchups. Duncan usually played better than Malone while Karl had a slight edge over Robinson. Too much time wasted already.
• Jazz get some blog love
• One blog talks about ESPN’s roundtable. Here’s the original article. It scares me when Hollinger likes the Jazz.
• Someone stole my stability article. Not really. But he talks about the Jazz and stability. I’m the first one to ever write about that, right?
• Thanks Luhmy!
• Layden breaks down the matchups.

And finally, if you’ve read this far, it means you got past the basketball-reference link. Also, I’ve got an email interview coming up with Jonathan Rhinehart of the Jazz. He’s the Public Relations and Communications head man for the Jazz. You can see him sitting at the end of the court-level press table during games. He had a blog last year where he would give some insights into the Jazz life. He’s probably been a bit too busy because he hasn’t been able to keeps it up.

But if you have any questions you’d like to have him answer, leave it in the comments. I have a list already to go, but thought I’d send a few more his way.

And since I’ve started getting a few more comments, I’ve added a plugin that will allow you to reply to specific comments.  So try it out.

So as you may know, the name of this blog was inspired by the Basketball John song by Robert Lund.  Well, I thought it needed a fresh update as the original is now ten years old.  And with John Stockton no longer with the Jazz, I present to you, Basketball Paul (check on the link above for original lyrics and a sample for you to sing along to):

basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
i love the basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

basketball paul
i love the baseketball paul
i love the basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

ladies and gentleman
i would like to tell you
a little story about the first time
that i went to a basketball game at the ESA

well, that famous player guy
he shot the ball into the air
and the really big mansap, he tipped the ball down to the little man
and the little man, he took that basketball
and he was dribbling it back and forth
on the court as fast as he could
and he was dribbling the ball
and passing the ball off to his teammates
and paul could grab rebounds from anywhere
and he grabbed them all and and that man’s name was

basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
i love the basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

hey carlos boozer, sing this with me one time

basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
i love the basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

hey carlos, that’s pretty good

and then there was this other time
that i went to the ESA
to see the utah jazz and paul millsap do his thing
and paul millsap was passing the ball behind his back
to carlos boozer and through people’s legs to
the ak-47 man
he blocked every shot that he blocked
and he was jumping so high he was blocking shots with his feet
and he was shooting the ball with his head
he grabbed 59 rebounds like, like in one minute
and he broke records all over the time
so everyone in the ESA was going crazy
going crazy for the man they called

basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
i got a basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

okay coach has been practicing some more since the last time, he’s been taking lessons, let’s hear you coach…

basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
(ok, ok, that’s enough)
i love the basketball (no, stop.  never again.) paul, paul millsap,(who let him back in here? no, really coach, that’s enough) ooo ooo ooooh.

then it was sunday afternoon
(oooohhh)
get him out..

and, and the nba’s all-star game was on
and dirk no whiskey was there
and carlos boozer was there
and lebron james and, and that chow meing guy
and, and then the tv announcer
he took the microphone in his hand
and he said, ladies and gentleman
i want to introduce to you
the best rebounder in all the world,
in all the nba, in all the universe
and the man we’re talking about, yeah!

basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
i got a basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

okay memo, almond, deron, sing along here

basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
i got a basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

okay, the cottonwood 14th ward relief society, here we go

basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
(ahh, everybody singin)
i got a basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

(okay, come on everybody driving in your cars, everybody join in, sing along)

basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
(come on hot rod, err, bolerjack, you got to love it baby, err..)
i got a basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

(okay, okay, if you’re a utah jazz fan, you should be singing now)
basketball paul
i got a basketball paul
(come on governor huntsman, come on gary)
i got a basketball paul, paul millsap, ooo ooo ooooh.

oh man, you guys are great
you’re beautiful
thanks for helping us sing the new basketball paul millsap song
go, fight, win
bye

Some more links of course.  But first, this quote from Millsap:

“[The Jazz] didn’t really ask me,” Millsap said. “I kind of told them I was going to play. They agreed with it. I’ve still got a lot to learn. I’ve still got to continue to learn the plays and stuff. I came just to get better.”

I didn’t like him playing in the Revue, but stuff like this shows why the Jazz are lucky to have him (not just that he fell to them in the second round).  My preview of the Rocky Mountain Revue coming tonight.  Now, on to some links:

• Williams isn’t a “replacement” for Stockton.  We tried  replacing Stockton and it didn’t work.  That why we went out and broke the Stockton mold when we got Williams.
• Could Charles Boozer be our answer @ SG? - Now we just need a Boozer at the 5 and we’re set.
• Ostertag dominates Duncan - We should have offered to trade them straight up then.
• Fesenko should fit in just fine with the Utah drivers - I think Fes just joined AK in having their own quotes categories here at BBJ.
• Another ridiculous top-ten PG list  - I shouldn’t even link to this.  I think Deron has an even more break-out year on 07-08.
• Fisher officially a Laker - I still don’t know about this.  I don’t think he used his daughter as an out, but him firing his agent is suspicious.

“Stockton…open…three..Good! John Stockton sends the Utah Jazz to the NBA finals.”

Still gives me chills. The ten year anniversary of “The Three” (was it ever given a name?) Thought this was appropriate now that it’s coming upon playoff time. Finally found this on YouTube. The three-pointer is what’s always shown, but I forgot that the Jazz were down 98-91 with less than two minutes. But thanks to a couple of great shots by Stockton before this and a Russell three, the Jazz were able to come back.