<div align="center"> UTAH JAZZ SEASON REVIEW</div> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/act_carlos_boozer.jpg[/imgl]Heading into the 2004 ? 2005 season, the Utah Jazz looked set to improve considerably on their 42 ? 40 record from the previous season. The Jazz had made big signings during the off season in the form of Carlos Boozer of the Cavaliers and Mehmet Okur of the Pistons. Power Forward Carlos Boozer, in just his second season, was averaging a double double for Cleveland with 15.5 PPG and 11.4 RPG. Many think that an All-Star Game is just a matter of time for Boozer. Center Mehmet "Memo" Okur was finding minutes hard to come by in Detroit, despite having a shooting range that extends to the 3 point arc. The Jazz were expected to provide him with plenty of minutes at Center, and let him show what he could do. The pair was a huge improvement over the departing starters Greg Ostertag and Michael Ruffin. The Jazz drafted Power Forward Kris Humphries and Shooting Guard Kirk Snyder with the 14th and 16th picks. When he was drafted, Humphries was expected to be the starter for Utah at PF. But then Boozer arrived. Snyder was thought to provide a scoring option off the bench. [imgr]http://www.terra.com/addon/img/deportes/baloncesto/nba/e62214arroyo130p.jpg[/imgr]Returning Andrei Kirilenko was coming off an All-Star and All-Defensive Second Team season, and the versatile forward was only going to get better. The Jazz showed a lot of faith in him by giving him a big, lengthy contract. Before the season had started, Point Guard Carlos Arroyo had an impressive Olympic performance, most notably his 24 points in leading Puerto Rico to an upset victory 92 ? 73 over USA. He was expected to start for the Jazz, and have his best season yet. The Jazz went as far as considering him their Point Guard of the future. Gordan Giricek had earned a new, four year contract with the Jazz. He was to start the season at Shooting Guard. Keith McLeod and Aleksandar Radojevic, relatively unknown, were also added to the Jazz to deepen the bench. Veteran Howard Eisley returned to Utah. He had spent five seasons under Sloan earlier in his career with the Jazz. Jerry Sloan was back coaching the Jazz, and narrowly missed out on a COY award in the 03 - 04 season. The Jazz had added players, but they had lost some as well. These players were Tom Gugliotta, Mikki Moore, Greg Ostertag, Sasha Pavlovic, Michael Ruffin and Mo Williams. The Jazz seemed to have improved dramatically during the off season. The Jazz had a 21 year streak of having a winning record, and it didn?t look like been broken this season. The Jazz had reason to believe they could make the playoffs. [imgl]http://deseretnews.com/photos/1664996.jpg[/imgl]The Jazz limped into the season, with Point Guards Carlos Arroyo and Raul Lopez both out with injury. However, they started the season in excellent form, even with relative unknown Keith McLeod starting at Point Guard. Utah stormed out to a 6-1 record. Carlos Boozer was scoring plenty and playing well. Andrei Kirilenko was blocking everything. He had 26 blocks in the first 4 games, playing at Small Forward. The Jazz were winning games comfortably, and were amongst the best teams in the NBA at the time. Soon after, they lost to winless New Orleans and Chicago at home. All-Star Andrei Kirilenko then went down with a knee injury against San Antonio on November 27. The Jazz were to go down with him, they went 6 ? 21 without him. He wouldn?t return until January 22, and even then would play limited minutes. Utah missed the versatile Kirilenko in many ways, especially his defense. The Jazz just couldn?t stop their opponents from scoring with Kirilenko injured. The lengthy losing streaks began and wouldn?t stop. When he returned, the Jazz had lost a lot of hope in themselves and their chances of making the playoffs. The Jazz quickly turned from one of the best teams in the league into one of the worst teams. Frustration began to grow within the team. Carlos Arroyo had an argument with Coach Sloan. After starting the season injured, Arroyo never got back to the level Jerry Sloan wanted him to play at. Arroyo was Utah?s starter for most of the 03 - 04 season, but he wasn?t to be this season. To Sloan, Arroyo just wasn?t performing well enough to get the amount of minutes Arroyo wanted. An argument followed between Arroyo and Sloan, which never got resolved. Arroyo had several DNP?s ? coach?s decision leading up to his trade to the Pistons. Utah?s future Point Guard was dealt to Detroit for Elden Campbell (soon waived by Utah) and a future conditional first round pick. Sloan wasn?t the only one concerned with his team. Jazz owner Larry H Miller said the following about his pricey off season signing, Carlos Boozer. "Some nights he's acted like he didn't care that much". The trade rumors came regarding Boozer. However, this situation was resolved, and Miller later said, "I feel like he and I had our little whatever ? blowup, or something ? at some point, but I feel totally at ease with the way he and I have reconciled that. And I think he is the competitor we thought he was". He also said "I can't imagine anything coming along that would have us trade him". Boozer is still a Jazzman today. Despite the losses piling up, Kevin O?Connor kept faith in the Jazz, and didn?t make any deadline deals. He only traded the struggling Carlos Arroyo during the season. The results weren?t there this season, but O?Connor believed that they will come with the current Jazz. They didn?t come after the trade deadline, with the Jazz finishing the season a disappointing 26 - 56. [imgr]http://espn.go.com/media/ncb/2001/0305/photo/a_boozer_i.jpg[/imgr]Injuries plagued the Jazz throughout the season. Just one player, Mehmet Okur, played in all 82 games. The injury situation was so bad that the Jazz tried an NBA record 31 different starting lineups this season. Andrei Kirilenko played in 41 games, Carlos Boozer played in 51 games. Keith McLeod played 53 games. Those three are all starters. Raul Lopez played in just 31 games, and had yet another surgery. The Jazz signed Ben Handlogten and Randy Livingston to because the injury situation was so bad. Most Jazz players took at least one trip to the injured list throughout the season. Fans were left to think, if the Jazz had stayed relatively healthy, what could they have achieved with the roster and coach they have? The run of bad luck didn?t get much better after the season finished. Despite the 4th worst record, Utah got the 6th pick in the draft. That is probably not good enough to get Point Guard Deron Williams who Utah are said to be after. The lottery could affect the Jazz for seasons to come. There wasn?t much to cheer about from a Jazz fan perspective this season, because the season couldn?t have gone much worse. There were some good parts though, such as Utah having back to back wins over Phoenix and San Antonio in January. The promising start, which leaves hope that this Jazz team can get it together and meet their expectations. Mehmet Okur had some huge games, and he should be having more in the future. In the 51 games he played, Carlos Boozer averaged 17.8 PPG and 9 RPG. The Jazz have the best pick in the draft they?ve had for a long time at 6th, and four other picks. Jerry Sloan signed a contract extension. Andrei Kirilenko looked like the Defensive Player Of the Year at times during the season. The Jazz have a very young team, and they should get better. Utah will have what?s required to win next season, but will they?
