Jazzhoops   One Game Down, One Long Season To Go. By Johnathan Kendrick Friday morning there was no way Jazz management thought Gilbert Arenas was worth 9 million a year. By Friday night… Arenas might just be. Jazz opened summer league play Friday night with a loss to Phoenix. It looks right now like it will be a long year. The Jazz find themselves in unusual territory. Trouble at the point. Pistol Pete, Ricky Green, John Stockton. If there has been one position where the Jazz have held their own, it's at the point. For nearly 3 decades the Jazz have been solid at point guard. The summer league ushered in a new era for the Jazz. It’s a hyped up new era. It could be exciting. The new era opened the door, looked around, took a deep breath, smiled convincingly, and tripped over the first step on the way in. The 3 young athletes gunning to be the next to fill the point guard spot went 2-15 from the field with 8 assists and 7 turnovers. The purpose of the point guard in the Jazz offense has always been to make the other guys look good. They certainly did that Friday night, just not the way the everyone hoped. While the three point guards, Raul Lopez, Mo Williams, and Jermaine Boyette, all had good moments, it's tough to say that any of them had a good game. It's just the first game, but there is a lot of work to be done. A lot. The odds are the Jazz will be very young and inexperienced this year. There are 12 regular season roster spots to fill. 3 of the 12 summer league players, DeShawn Stevenson, Raul Lopez and Curtis Borchardt have guaranteed contracts. Third year man Jarron Collins is under contract and involved on the summer league team even though he is still recuperating from a knee injury. Sasha Pavlovic, was the Jazz first round draft pick and is guaranteed a 3 year deal by the collective bargaining agreement. That means almost half of the team is guaranteed to be made of summer leaguers. With the free agent market drying up fast, you have to figure Mo Williams, Jermaine Boyette, Zendon Hamilton, and Michael Ruffin all have a chance to make the team as well. While it's doubtful all 4 will make the team, expect to see 2 of those players to be invited to the veteran's camp and at least one on the final roster. So how are the guys playing so far? Stevenson took a lot of bad shots. Sasha does not move well without the ball and his defense is suspect. Borchardt is a step slower then projected and laden with rust. Hamilton despite his 6’11” frame is not a good rebounder. Ruffin is not a good outside shooter and struggles from the line. Then the point guards – oh the point guards… I think we covered them enough already. Lets recap real quick. Looks like a long year. Young and inexperienced team. Has Arenas signed in Washington yet? So is there hope? Is the rest of the season going to be as big a bust as the free agent market has been? Certainly there were some good signs… right? There was. Stevenson showed he was a leader on the team. He pumped up the crowd. He moved well without the ball and played decent defense. He only shot 40% from the field but he made the most of second chances and made the shots when it counted including shots to take the lead and to tie the game. DeShawn used primarily as a guard led the team in assists with 4, and was the game's second highest rebounder pulling down 8 boards. Perhaps most important, DeShawn didn’t let mistakes get to him. Pavlovic is young and athletic. While he has lots to learn, he has one thing that can not be learned, at least not the way Sasha does it. I had heard he was a great shooter, but the first time I saw him shoot in person – it took my breath away. Maybe it's because no one else on the team can shoot from outside. Maybe his shot is that good. His shot is really that good. Already his shot is amongst the smoothest in the league. Will his shot make him Peja Stojakovic good? His shot could easily match Peja’s, but he will have to put a lot of time into foot work and moving without the ball if he is going to be in Peja’s league. Still it's great to know there is a chance. Curtis Borchardt and Raul Lopez. Both looked like average summer league players on Friday night. While not normally a good sign, for those two it is a great complement. A year is along time to be away from the game. No matter how many shots you take and how many weights you lift, you are still going to be rusty, and they were. However, they were not so rusty that they stuck out. Neither one dominated, yet neither one was dominated. Not bad when you are playing against guys who haven’t been idle for a year. Not bad to hang with guys at their sharpest while you are still sharpening. It still might be a while before we see what they can do, but at least we know there are some good skills and anticipation there when the rust falls off. Jermaine Boyette and Mo Williams may not have lit the nets up. OK they couldn’t even find more then a spark. They did play tough though. In a game where things were not all running smooth, they hung in their and played some hard defense against the Suns Jason Hart. Hart the first half MVP was a non factor in he second half. Zendon Hamilton scored fast in a short amount of time. Hamilton showed great low post skills going 6 for 7 from the field as he somehow managed to get close to the hoop every time he touched the ball. Michael Ruffin had the only double-double in the first night of the Reeboks Rocky Mountain Review. Ruffin looks to be in great shape and fights hard on the boards. Ruffin is a good defender and he cleared the offensive glass an impressive 9 times in Fridays game, that is a record that will probably hold up the entire 9 days of the tournament. Overall, there were enough good bright points to overshadow the sluggish ball movement, the bad defense, the inexperience, and the lack of good shooting. How bright will those points shine though? How will they shine during the season. It does look like it will be a long season, which is ok, and there are a lot of questions to be answered. Which reminds me…… Where is Arenas right now anyway?