Monson - The Salt Lake Tribune

Monson: Kevin O’Connor says good player will be available for Jazz to draft

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:17:38 MDT

Monson: Kevin O’Connor says good player will be available for Jazz to draft

by Gordon Monson Tribune Columnist

Published May 16, 2013 03:17PM MDT

With the NBA combine underway this week in Chicago, the Utah Jazz are busy studying their options, working through every possibility, tossing them in the air like a dough slapper at Pizano’s. They have two picks in the coming draft, one in the lottery, a likely No. 14 selection, and another at No. 21. There is both skepticism and sunshine as to whether the Jazz can add to their half-vacant roster a player or two who will actually help them improve what is already a young core. There’s been talk...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Monson: Jeff Hornacek on fast track for head-coaching job

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:13:22 MDT

Monson: Jeff Hornacek on fast track for head-coaching job

by Gordon Monson Tribune Columnist

Published May 11, 2013 11:13PM MDT

Jeff Hornacek will be a head coach in the NBA, probably — but not certainly — somewhere other than Utah. It’s a matter of time, and that time is growing short. The Jazz know this. They know it enough to worry about it, to suffer heartburn over it, but not enough to immediately or automatically alter their current course. “He’ll have some choices, either this year or in the coming years about where he wants to be in his career as a potential head coach,” said general manager Dennis Lindsey. “He’...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Monson: Soccer referee’s family wants us to learn — and live

Tue, 07 May 2013 23:36:23 MDT

Monson: Soccer referee’s family wants us to learn — and live

by Gordon Monson Tribune Columnist

Published May 7, 2013 11:36PM MDT

Most of us never knew Ricardo Portillo. From what I’ve read about him, he seemed like a terrific human being. The sad emphasis there on the past tense. And that past tense carries with it an important lesson. He was the father of three daughters, a sportsman, a lover of the beautiful game, a volunteer soccer referee. And when he issued a yellow card on a 17-year-old goalkeeper during a game last week in Taylorsville and wrote the infraction in his notebook, it was the last thing he ever conscio...