This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The NBA playoffs are agonizing for Jazz fans, even without their own team being involved.
The perspective gets especially tricky when it comes to former Jazz players such as Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver. They were popular guys around here and people want them to succeed with Atlanta, but not so much that it makes everyone lament their absence.
Those feelings came into play Sunday as Millsap's points piled up in an eventual 104-95 overtime loss to Boston in Game 4. Millsap scored all of his 45 points in regulation and he would have been remembered for an epic performance in Hawks history, if not for the defeat.
Regardless, the longer the Jazz go without winning a playoff game (six years) or even appearing in the postseason (four years), the tougher it is for their fans to watch other players and teams succeed. Maybe it was some consolation Sunday that Detroit was swept by Cleveland, as the Pistons remained with the Jazz, Minnesota and Sacramento as teams without a playoff victory in six years or more. Charlotte broke out of that pack with a Game 3 win vs. Miami, with former Jazz center Al Jefferson contributing 10 points.
Then came Millsap's scoring spree in Boston, prompting another review of his seven-year Jazz career. A couple of thoughts: Millsap clearly was capable of expanding his offensive game, once he was exposed to a different scheme and given more opportunity than he experienced with Jerry Sloan and Tyrone Corbin in Utah. But it should be encouraging to Jazz fans that he has blossomed in the Hawks' system, starting with a season of working with Quin Snyder as an Atlanta assistant. Millsap's development under Mike Budenholzer's staff suggests that similar things can happen with Snyder's Jazz players.
Having said that, it would have been interesting to see what Snyder did with Millsap, if he had inherited him with the Jazz in 2014. Millsap and Jefferson were allowed to depart as free agents the previous summer, as part of Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey's tearing down of the roster.
That made some sense at the time, allowing for Derrick Favors' further development and creating other roster flexibility. But when Millsap signed a bargain contract (initially, for $20 million over two years) and became an All-Star in Atlanta, some regret was inevitable. I was wrong in saying at the time that the Jazz would miss Jefferson more than Millsap. Then again, who could have known Millsap would thrive to this degree with the Hawks?
His success is fun to witness for everyone who watched him play in Utah for those seven years, as he played key roles in the Jazz's four playoff series victories from 2007-10. Jazz fans undoubtedly want him to keep doing well, while hoping their team someday will model his playoff achievements.
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