by JonColton

10. Signing 2nd round draft pick CJ Miles (34th) to guaranteed contract. With scouts making comparisons to Ray Allen, he is potentially too good to risk offending. The Jazz needed to show CJ the love, and they did with guaranteed money. He might spend some time in the NBDL this season, but when he is given the chance to play he is going to make an impact on the game, and have many of us scratching our heads wondering, "What is this kid doing in the NBDL?"

9. Shooting for the stars with 2nd round picks. When you have 2nd round picks, you can often still get a quality serviceable player. See, Bryon Russell, Shandon Anderson and Isaac Austin as examples. The Jazz did not play it safe, they drafted a high schooler with huge upside (CJ Miles) good enough to get drafted, but not in the lottery. I didn't think the Jazz would ever draft another high schooler after the disappointment with DeShawn Stevenson (remember when he was drafted his upside comparison player was Michael Jordan). The Jazz used their other 2nd round choice and someone who (had the Jazz not picked him) probably would have gone undrafted. Playing for a small school, multiple transfers and a checkered past caused the rest of the NBA to pass on Robert Whaley. Besides dominating at the Chicago camp, Robert Whaley proved himself again at the Rocky Mountain Revue putting on a display of rebounding, and a complete arsenal of post moves. He uses the drop step and baby hook with ease, giving the Jazz a player that can play with his back to the basket.

8. Letting Raja Bell go to Phoenix. At first this might not seem like a good move, after all Raja Bell was the team captain last year. He always brought intensity and tenacious defense every time he stepped on the floor. However, at a 5 year contract worth just shy of 24 million dollars the Jazz are better off letting him play for Phoenix. Raja Bell will be 34 years old when his contract expires meaning that he is going to be depreciating in value over the term of his contract. Adding to that a contract like Raja's would have tied up their salary cap over the next half a decade and we are found wishing him good luck in Phoenix (except for the nights when they play the Jazz of course).

7. Swinging for the fences and going after free agents, Antonio Daniels and Sarunas Jaskicevius. With the absence of Raja Bell the Jazz needed another quality veteran to play some minutes at shooting guard. Their targets were set on Sarunas and Antonio. The Jazz lost out on both of them, the Jazz reportedly offered Lithuanian star Sarunas Jaskicevius more money than the team he eventually signed with (Indiana). Both would have been excellent additions to the Jazz roster, but it was not to be. However, the Jazz should be commended for pursuing some of the NBA's top combo guards. Our consolation prize is nothing to scoff at though, leading us to no. 6.

6. Signing free agent Devin Brown. Did I say the Jazz lost some backcourt defense by losing Raja Bell? Well, they more than made up for it by signing Devin Brown. Devin Brown brings just as much intensity as Raja, but at half the price. Brown missed part of last season with a back injury (which is why the Jazz got him so cheap), but his doctors have given him the thumbs up and he's ready to go. While playing with the Spurs last season he really did some impressive things, like holding Vince Carter to 4-18 shooting, while Brown did his own 9-12 thing going for 22 points, while also grabbing 9 rebounds (Tim Duncan had 8 that game). It will take probably 3 or 4 games like that and the Delta Center will be rising to their feet every time Devin enters the game, and trying to remember the name of that shooting guard they had last year, his name was like Raj or something.

5. The old man in the John Deere hat is back. There is no doubt after last season, most NBA franchises losing that many games would have fired their coach. After all, the Jazz had just done a serious upgrade to their front court, and had re-signed the backcourt that had helped with previous year's team win 42 games. Actually, most NBA teams would have fired Sloan by mid-season. The Jazz on the other hand followed the model of Tammy Wynette and sang, "Stand by your man".

Jerry Sloan is old school, and gets his players to acquire a few of those old school values, primarily: hard work, teamwork, workmanship, and work ethic. The Jazz benefit from Sloan's delayed retirement, but so does the NBA. That being said, this is not the year that Sloan wins the Coach of the Year award, even if the Jazz pulled off some type of miracle and won 65 games. The credit would go to the players being healthy, and Andrei Kirilenko (who would deserve a lot of it). Also, Sloan would give all the credit to the players, just another reason that he's the greatest.

4. Re-signing Keith McLeod. The only point guard to return from last seasons roster. There had to be at least one for the sake of the teams continuity, and Keith McLeod was the one who consistently brought effort every game he played. Let's not forget this kid put up 20 points against Minnesota (the team that cut him) and had quite a few games where had double-digits in assists. He was also the point guard that lead the Jazz to a 6-1 record at the beginning of the season. We have not yet seen the best that Keith McLeod has to offer.

3.Signing of Milt Palacio, and Devin Brown and improving their backcourt defense. The biggest weakness in the Jazz's defense has always been defending the 3 point line. When teams bury the Jazz, they usually do it from behind the arc. Milt Palacio is tremendous defensive upgrade over Howard Eisley and Raul Lopez.
Milt is possibly even a better defender than Keith McLeod. It gives Jerry Sloan another weapon to use in key matchups.

2. Admitting your mistakes (bad drafts) , trading for Ostertag and improving interior defense. Tired of seeing the Jazz getting dunked on? Ostertag should help remedy that a little bit. While he's never won the Defensive Player of the Year award, Ostertag's long arms block a fair amount of shots, and just his presence will make players think twice about taking it into the paint. The Jazz had to give up Kirk Snyder, Curtis Borchardt and Raul Lopez to get the big goof ball back, but this is a contract year for Ostertag. I expect it will be one of his best if not his very best year with the Jazz.

1. Drafting Deron Willaims. Trading picks for a better pick, the Jazz gave up nothing and got everything in return. The Jazz desperately needed a point guard, and in the deepest point guard draft of the decade the Jazz had their pick of the litter. While most draft experts ranked Chris Paul as a better player, they also recognized that Deron Williams was a perfect fit for the Utah Jazz. Let's hope it shows during the season. Forget about the next John Stockton, after last year Jazz fans would be ecstatic to get the next Mark Price or even the next Kenny Smith. The comparison most scouts have made is that of Deron Williams being the next Jason Kidd. Well, we'd be happy with that too.

Deron will give the Jazz some much need cohesion. He was the one point guard in last year's draft class that is capable of controlling the tempo of the game flawlessly. He gets his teammates the ball exactly where they want it, plays outstanding defense and makes an impact on the game whether he is scoring or not (remind you of anybody?)

Here's looking forward to the season, and seeing how all these off-season moves actually work out. It looks good on paper, but the only way to know the results is to play the games. At any rate, the Jazz get an A for effort.