<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">TAYLORSVILLE, Utah -- Paul Millsap hit two game-winning shots, both against Atlanta, and knocked down an uncharacteristic 3-pointer to force overtime in Utah's second Rocky Mountain Revue game against the Hawks on Thursday. He had much of the hometown-heavy electorate, mostly media and RMR officials, on his side. The Louisiana Tech product also had the benefit of Revue MVP and all-tournament team ballots being signed, sealed and delivered before he finished the Jazz's Revue-ending 78-60 loss to Chicago on Friday night with just three points and one rebound in 17 minutes. Otherwise, Philadelphia point guard Louis Williams -- who merely averaged 24.0 points in four Revue outings, tops among anyone playing more than one game in the Jazz-hosted summer league -- might easily have walked away with MVP honors in tow. Instead, the award went to Millsap -- a legit candidate who went into Friday's play averaging a team-leading 17.2 points and team-high 8.6 boards over five games. That's no surprise to Jazz staff members, all of whom are quite fond of Millsap -- Utah's regular backup power forward behind Carlos Boozer last season, even though he was selected just 47th overall in the second round of the 2006 NBA draft and even though Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan purportedly is allergic to rookies. Two Sloan assistants, in fact, raved this week over the progress Millsap has made just in the short span since the Jazz were last seen fighting San Antonio in the Western Conference finals. "He's starting to grow," Tyrone Corbin said, "and that's one of the things that's gonna be key for him." "Amazing progress,'' added Scott Layden, the former Jazz and New York Knicks general manager who now is back coaching in Utah. "He's gotten better. He was in great shape. He was more efficient and more effective scoring. His rebounding goes without saying, because he always seems to [grab] one in under every three minutes, which is excellent in the league. He's great. Great in practice, great leadership. We're very fortunate that he's on our team."</div> Source: ESPN
The Jazz should do everything they can to keep Millsap long term. He was a massive steal, and should only get better. As a rookie playing under Jerry Sloan and behind all star Carlos Boozer, he managed to play in every game and emerge as a key bench player. That's saying something for any Jazz rookie. He got minutes in the playoffs, and Summer League helped to show just how far he has come in only one season.
