This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
So, my recent declaration that the Jazz's season was over was more true than I knew.
The trade of All-Star guard Deron Williams to New Jersey means a team struggling to make the playoffs will have even more trouble getting there now. The 2010-11 season is being written off by Jazz management, beyond anything I said.
But I do get why they did it.
The Jazz will get worse for a while, then they will get better. That's my interpretation of their plan, anyway.
Endorsing this deal requires only the certain sense of paranoia that comes with being a Utahn, living in the NBA's fifth-smallest market. We all could identify with the "gut sense" that Jazz CEO Greg Miller spoke of Wednesday, addressing the chances of keeping Williams with the team beyond the summer of 2012. In other words, Williams was out of here, inevitably.
So this move, thankfully, does away with the D-Will Watch. Rather than lose Williams via free agency with nothing in return, the Jazz got a lot from the Nets. Devin Harris is not an All-Star, but he's a decent point guard. Rookie forward Derrick Favors was the No. 3 pick in June, just the kind of player the Jazz needed and wanted. And general manager Kevin O'Connor should produce two more building blocks with first-round picks.
That's "building," as opposed to "rebuilding," which O'Connor said is not the "correct word."
This will be a tough sell in the short term, though, requiring some buy-in from the fans of a famously conservative team that made a bold, proactive move. You wanted change? You got it. And now you have to pay for it with patience.
Asked how he intended to market a team without an All-Star, Miller promised "classic Jazz basketball … everybody's got to overachieve, as we've been known to do for many years."
Of course, it helped when those achievers were John Stockton and Karl Malone and Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, coached by Jerry Sloan. Miller and O'Connor contended their team would remain "competitive" this season and improve in the future.
O'Connor labeled the deal something that would "help the health of the franchise."
The reality is this is a faceless franchise, with less relevance right here and now. Man, this all happened fast. Within a fortnight, Sloan and Williams have departed and coach Tyrone Corbin suddenly has a bigger project than he ever imagined undertaking. He'll need time and support to make this work. The tradeoff is this transaction gives him a grace period with somewhat less pressure.
"It's not fair, in one respect," O'Connor acknowledged, "but it's exciting."
Yet expecting Harris to play like Williams or Favors to become like Malone or Boozer is asking a lot. O'Connor also will have to deliver some solid draft choices to make this deal a plus for the Jazz.
Money is involved, but this is nothing like the Jazz's selling Dominique Wilkins to Atlanta after making him the No. 3 pick in 1982. This is a basketball move. The Jazz traded one former No. 3 choice (Williams) for another (Favors), in addition to much more.
Still, no matter how much sense it makes, the deal came as a shock. Coincidentally, as the trade deadline approached, I began compiling my All-Time Ex-Jazz Team, not expecting another challenger to Adrian Dantley, Boozer, Bernard King, Dell Curry, Karl Malone, Derek Fisher and the rest.
Now, nearly 25 years after Dantley's departure, another of the top five players in the Jazz's Utah era is gone. But the Jazz are convinced they'll be better for it, eventually, and I believe them.
kkragthorpe@sltrib.comTwitter: @tribkurt —