Celtics 104, Jazz 98
Kyle Korver woke up Saturday morning in Portland, Ore., as a member of the 76ers, having scored 10 points in 31 minutes in Friday night's victory over the Sacramento Kings. He went to bed Saturday night in Salt Lake City as the newest member of the Jazz.
Korver was traded for the first time in his career Saturday, an experience for which Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor seemed to have much sympathy. O'Connor said he tried to reassure Korver that the Jazz would take care of all his real-world concerns.
Those would be things like getting his apartment packed up and his car shipped out. The NBA doesn't stop for trades, so Korver's got to get a physical today, take a crash course on the Jazz's offense and get ready to play Monday night against Portland.
He got to Salt Lake in time to catch highlights of the Boston loss on the local TV news and eat a room-service dinner. With all the snow on the ground, Korver said this was by far the coldest stop he'd made on the NBA circuit this season. Now it's home.
What's it like to get traded on the road?
"At least it's our longest road trip so my bag is probably the biggest it'll be as far as clothes," Korver joked. "I don't think I'm going to get back to Philly until when. I don't know how this whole getting your stuff from your old city to your new city works.
"But at least I got a few changes of clothes. This is all brand-new experience for me. I've never been traded before. It's pretty wild. I mean, my phone has been blowing up all day.
"All my friends and family and people from Philly calling to see how it all is. My battery's dead and I think I left my phone charger in that last hotel room so I'm having trouble with that. I'll be at the Verizon store tomorrow morning.
"It all has to soak in. It's a lot. At least I'm coming to a good team, I'm going to a team that has a real chance to win, a chance of contending. I'm happy to be a part of it."
The Jazz are going to have a press conference to introduce Korver after shootaround on Monday. Giricek used to wear a bomber jacket, so there were some jokes in the locker room that the Jazz traded "Top Gun" for "That 70s Show" in Korver.
* * *
Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor stressed that the deal was made for the right reasons. "We didn't trade Gordan just to get rid of Gordan. That's not fair to him," O'Connor said. "What we did was we felt we improved our team."
Giricek called up Andrei Kirilenko and Jarron Collins to tell them he'd gotten trade. Kirilenko said it was no surprise - - most of the Jazz players expected Giricek to go after his clash with Jerry Sloan on the last road trip.
Only two days earlier, Collins was giving Giricek a ride to a restaurant in the Brentwood part of Los Angeles. "I think that the situation with Gordan and coach had run its course," Collins said, "and it's probably best for all parties involved to move forward and go on."
Sloan said of Korver: "Obviously, I think everyone recognizes he's a very good shooter. With our team, his ability to shoot the ball on the perimeter should help some of our bigger people inside."
It might be one of the rare win-win trades. Korver fills a glaring need on the Jazz and seems like a good fit in Utah (he played in college in Omaha, Neb.). Giricek is finally free from Sloan's doghouse and can audition for a new contract the rest of the season.
Korver also is an automatic (90 percent) free throw shooter, which will take the guessing out of who the Jazz will have shoot technicals, at least as long as Korver's on the floor.
Giricek's agent, Marc Fleisher, said the Jazz were shopping Giricek to three Eastern Conference teams recently. The Jazz said that there were more teams than that interested and they included some in the Western Conference.
O'Connor did allow that talks "heated up" after Giricek's blow-up with Sloan. He also said several teams were interested in acquiring Korver from Philadelphia, which is why the Jazz had to throw in the protected first-round draft pick.
* * *
In tribute to Giricek, we had a discussion about man-purses in the locker room before the game. This led to an unprecedented declaration from Deron Williams, who announced with gusto: "I have a man-purse."
Giricek had a carry-all that he took with him everywhere. Williams has what is better described as a toiletry bag that he brings to games. He got even up to compare his bag to Mehmet Okur's, which is far more man-purse than Williams' bag.
The big difference (all the Jazz players have Louis Vuitton bags) is size. Williams bag has two zippers and is much larger. Okur's has one zipper and is considerably smaller. Hence the difference between a toiletry bag and a man-purse.
Yet Williams seemed to delight in bragging about having a man-purse (he was wearing a Gucci stocking cap and Gucci shoes). When he got up to do a TV interview, I told him to make sure he took his purse with him. And, yes, Giricek will be missed.
--Ross Siler
Korver was traded for the first time in his career Saturday, an experience for which Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor seemed to have much sympathy. O'Connor said he tried to reassure Korver that the Jazz would take care of all his real-world concerns.
Those would be things like getting his apartment packed up and his car shipped out. The NBA doesn't stop for trades, so Korver's got to get a physical today, take a crash course on the Jazz's offense and get ready to play Monday night against Portland.
He got to Salt Lake in time to catch highlights of the Boston loss on the local TV news and eat a room-service dinner. With all the snow on the ground, Korver said this was by far the coldest stop he'd made on the NBA circuit this season. Now it's home.
What's it like to get traded on the road?
"At least it's our longest road trip so my bag is probably the biggest it'll be as far as clothes," Korver joked. "I don't think I'm going to get back to Philly until when. I don't know how this whole getting your stuff from your old city to your new city works.
"But at least I got a few changes of clothes. This is all brand-new experience for me. I've never been traded before. It's pretty wild. I mean, my phone has been blowing up all day.
"All my friends and family and people from Philly calling to see how it all is. My battery's dead and I think I left my phone charger in that last hotel room so I'm having trouble with that. I'll be at the Verizon store tomorrow morning.
"It all has to soak in. It's a lot. At least I'm coming to a good team, I'm going to a team that has a real chance to win, a chance of contending. I'm happy to be a part of it."
The Jazz are going to have a press conference to introduce Korver after shootaround on Monday. Giricek used to wear a bomber jacket, so there were some jokes in the locker room that the Jazz traded "Top Gun" for "That 70s Show" in Korver.
* * *
Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor stressed that the deal was made for the right reasons. "We didn't trade Gordan just to get rid of Gordan. That's not fair to him," O'Connor said. "What we did was we felt we improved our team."
Giricek called up Andrei Kirilenko and Jarron Collins to tell them he'd gotten trade. Kirilenko said it was no surprise - - most of the Jazz players expected Giricek to go after his clash with Jerry Sloan on the last road trip.
Only two days earlier, Collins was giving Giricek a ride to a restaurant in the Brentwood part of Los Angeles. "I think that the situation with Gordan and coach had run its course," Collins said, "and it's probably best for all parties involved to move forward and go on."
Sloan said of Korver: "Obviously, I think everyone recognizes he's a very good shooter. With our team, his ability to shoot the ball on the perimeter should help some of our bigger people inside."
It might be one of the rare win-win trades. Korver fills a glaring need on the Jazz and seems like a good fit in Utah (he played in college in Omaha, Neb.). Giricek is finally free from Sloan's doghouse and can audition for a new contract the rest of the season.
Korver also is an automatic (90 percent) free throw shooter, which will take the guessing out of who the Jazz will have shoot technicals, at least as long as Korver's on the floor.
Giricek's agent, Marc Fleisher, said the Jazz were shopping Giricek to three Eastern Conference teams recently. The Jazz said that there were more teams than that interested and they included some in the Western Conference.
O'Connor did allow that talks "heated up" after Giricek's blow-up with Sloan. He also said several teams were interested in acquiring Korver from Philadelphia, which is why the Jazz had to throw in the protected first-round draft pick.
* * *
In tribute to Giricek, we had a discussion about man-purses in the locker room before the game. This led to an unprecedented declaration from Deron Williams, who announced with gusto: "I have a man-purse."
Giricek had a carry-all that he took with him everywhere. Williams has what is better described as a toiletry bag that he brings to games. He got even up to compare his bag to Mehmet Okur's, which is far more man-purse than Williams' bag.
The big difference (all the Jazz players have Louis Vuitton bags) is size. Williams bag has two zippers and is much larger. Okur's has one zipper and is considerably smaller. Hence the difference between a toiletry bag and a man-purse.
Yet Williams seemed to delight in bragging about having a man-purse (he was wearing a Gucci stocking cap and Gucci shoes). When he got up to do a TV interview, I told him to make sure he took his purse with him. And, yes, Giricek will be missed.
--Ross Siler
1:28 AM
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1 Comments:
Ross, I love the insights. Your insights are great for those of us that don't live in Utah. Keep them coming.
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