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After watching Tuesday's game, just wondering if anybody else flashed back to last season, when the Jazz were playing the Bulls and the long rebound from Derrick Rose's jumper went right to Larry Hughes, who let fly with a game-winner at the buzzer?
Different continent, same result, I guess, although it was the preseason and neither Jerry Sloan nor Vinny Del Negro opted to bring back his starters in the final minutes.
More on the game in a second. NBA commissioner David Stern held a news conference beforehand and had several interesting things to say about some issues of the day around the league.
It's fascinating to watch Stern, who's essentially a head of state for an entertainment. He walked into The O2 arena interview room with no fewer than eight people in tow. He's heading from London to Taiwan for another preseason game the NBA is hosting.
The most interesting thing Stern had to say was in response to a question from the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson about his reaction to Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame speech. Stern was present for the ceremony in Springfield, Mass., last month.
"What I took from Michael was that he needs to feed off of perceived disrespecting," Stern said. "He looks for the motivation - - not uncommon in our league. And I think that is what drove him to probably be the greatest competitor in the history of our game.
"And he put some of that on display for us and he knowingly did it. He said, ‘I want to tell you what motivates me' and then he shared it with us.
"I think it's interesting for those of us who seek to be great, it was an interesting insight into how one great athlete in this history of the world probably uses perceived slights, real or imagined, and likely if those weren't the slights he would have invented a few more because he motivates himself."
Stern said he is hopeful of bringing a regular-season game to London in either 2010 or 2011 ahead of the 2012 Olympics. He also talked about the league's new television deal in the U.K. with ESPN to broadcast 100 games through the NBA Finals.
He also said there has been no progress with the league's officials in respect to a new contract.
"Right now we are not discussing anything with the union, but they know how to reach us," Stern said. "They haven't even told us why they rejected [the last offer], and left us with little choice but to go ahead and start the exhibition season with replacement referees."
Stern said the league has been "stealth hiring" at its offices, despite the recession, and said the league is planning to open several new international offices - - one in India, one in the Middle East and one in Africa, likely South Africa. He added that the league expects to have three offices open in Africa by the 2012 Olympics.
"We are very intently focused in Africa, based upon the response and the 900 million people that Africa represents," Stern said. "In addition to the extraordinary richness of the talent pool coming from Africa, the business opportunities are going to be very important to us."
Stern even entertained a question from an international reporter about his expectations for the Jazz and Bulls this season.
"I'm fascinated by Utah, which now has four international players," Stern said, "and what can I say, they always make the playoffs with rare exception."
Stern went on to call Deron Williams "one of the point guards of our future."
* * *
As for the game, the Jazz opted to finish with a lineup of Eric Maynor, Ronnie Price, Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Millsap and Kosta Koufos. Millsap scored 10 points in the fourth quarter while Koufos had two shots blocked by Joakim Noah in the last 1:10.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan by Maynor's play, saying: "I thought Eric did a good job for us trying to run our offense and get us decent shots every time. . . .It's nice for him to have the opportunity to be in there in those situations and hopefully he'll grow from that."
* * *
Neither Derrick Rose nor Tyrus Thomas played for the Bulls, offering another reminder that Tuesday's game was just the preseason. Have to admit that I'm shocked that Luol Deng didn't play a minute in the fourth quarter of what was a homecoming game for him. Deng scored 18 points in the 25 minutes he did play.
* * *
Jazz president Randy Rigby said the team's decision not to broadcast this week's games in Europe on the radio was purely based on cost as well as potential audience in the middle of the workday.
* * *
Got the chance to do a morning of sightseeing in London, including a stop at Harrods, where we saw not one, not two, not three, not four, but five watches on display costing 125,000 pounds or more. Harrods is so spectacular, it has everything from an entire area devoted to pre-Colonial maps to a section of ancient fossils. Upon closer inspection, the fossils come from Lincoln County, Wyo., and are sold through a company in Logan. Two of the most impressive cost 10,000 pounds or more.
--Ross Siler

From the beginning, the Jazz regarded this trip to Europe as their version of NBA jury duty. After watching C.J. Miles go down Monday with a ruptured ligament in his thumb, I'm sure they're probably ready to head home.
It's pretty sobering to learn that a guy will miss the start of the regular season - - and almost certainly longer - - with an injury that happened on what was supposed to be a happy-go-lucky trip.
Miles had been planning to go sightseeing after practice. In fact, at practice, it seemed as if the Jazz's biggest concern was how to keep this preseason trip from turning into a five-day vacation with many players and staffers bringing along their wives.
"I told the players I hope they have some fun and see some things and that sort of thing," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said, "but they wouldn't be here if it wasn't for basketball and you've got to take care of your job first."
The Jazz were debating whether to immediately fly Miles back to Salt Lake City so he could undergo surgery as soon as possible or keep him with the team for the rest of the trip, which ends with a Thursday game against Real Madrid.
You never know, but having the surgery two or three days earlier than if the Jazz waited to get home could give Miles a chance to play in an extra game or two during the regular season.
* * *
You've got to love these descriptions of the Jazz's biggest stars in Monday's edition of The Times of London.
Andrei Kirilenko: The Russian wears No. 47 on his shirt, hence his AK 47 moniker, and is one of the most solid players to leave Europe for the NBA. Best known in the United States, perhaps, for a bizarre interview given by Masha, his pop star wife, in which she revealed that her husband is allowed one night a year to cheat on her, a confession that earned him national fame and/or notoriety.
Carlos Boozer: Born in Germany, to American military parents, and raised in Alaska, Boozer has been a key member of the US national team at the past two Olympic Games. While an excellent workhorse on the court, Boozer has a bad reputation in contract talks with clubs past and present and is at loggerheads with the Jazz.
Deron Williams: One of the sport's unsung but bona fide superstars in waiting. The Utah playmaker's understated game results in him being overlooked for honours such as the All-Star Game (voted by fans) but makes him an automatic choice on the US team, which he helped to gold in Beijing last year. Expect him to be leading the US to gold at the O2 Arena in 2012.
* * *
It was fun listening to Kyle Korver talk about the experience of attending Sunday's Chelsea-Liverpool game. He mentioned Chelsea's Russian owner as well as what the victory meant in the Premier League standings.
As subdued as he was about this trip in the States, Korver was enthused Monday.
"I wasn't super excited going into this," Korver said. "I really like London. It's a really cool spot. The building's are so old. They really are. It's a whole different culture and it's fun to see."
* * *
Not making this up: Asked how London was treating him, Sloan said that he was having a tough time staying on his regular schedule of medication.
"It's thrown me off a little bit," Sloan said. "I have to count backwards."
* * *
Wish I had more to report from the tourist side, but I spent all afternoon and evening writing. I did venture to a pub across from the hotel to watch Monday night football - - Manchester City-Aston Villa, of course - - but this trip is anything but a vacation for the beat writers.
Hopefully, we'll get to Harrods on Tuesday and enjoy some time in London before the game, which will be shown on ESPN here and NBA TV back in the U.S.
--Ross Siler

   Believe it or not, this trip to London has been less rough than your garden variety back-to-back during the regular season. I've had a lot worse weekends going from New Orleans to Memphis on no sleep than going from Salt Lake City to London over two days.

    There's a host of logistical issues that would have to be resolved before they could ever bring an NBA team(s) to Europe, but sitting here across the Thames from the O2 Arena, it's not as far-fetched as it might seem.

    We got here Saturday afternoon, so we're 24 hours ahead of the Jazz in terms of jetlag. The team arrived midmorning Sunday, having been delayed an hour and a half on the ground at JFK in New York, stuck in a line of 60-plus planes waiting to take off.

    The highlights from Saturday included the world's longest/most expensive cab ride from Heathrow to our hotel (checking in at a cool 80 pounds) as well as a stop at a pub/restaurant across West India Quay from our hotel.

    It was simply impossible not to watch the second half of the Manchester United/Sunderland game when we walked by and every person in the pub was transfixed by the action. Man U. scored in stoppage time to secure a dramatic 2-2 tie.

    (That also started a streak of having sausage as part of every meal that thankfully ended at two with dinner and breakfast the following morning.)

    The Jazz followed through on their plan to hold a brief practice soon after arriving in London. They got out on the floor at The O2 arena for about a half-hour, with practice ending as Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko started juggling a basketball, soccer style.

    It should be noted that The O2, built by the same people as Staples Center, would be the most impressive NBA arena today if it housed a team.

    The O2 is home to 25 different bars and restaurants, which are open to the public even when there's no event, as well as a 12-screen movie theater and a British music museum. There's not one, but two Starbucks along its main walkway.

    It's an especially incredible arena when you consider that it doesn't house a team as an anchor tenant, like Staples Center does with the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. The O2 has been largely a concert venue since it opened in 2007.

    After wrapping up practice, Kirilenko, Okur, Kyle Korver and Deron Williams went to the Chelsea-Liverpool game, with Kirilenko and Okur making an appearance on the field during halftime along with Luol Deng.

    Unfortunately, we couldn't go. The concierge at our hotel said if - - if - - they could even find tickets to the game, they would cost 350 pounds (550 dollars) apiece. There's still the possibility of heading to Birmingham to see a game tomorrow night.

    The NBA has both the Jazz and Bulls staying at the same hotel. The English soccer club Fulham also was here Saturday night. We're only one stop on the Underground from the arena, but the hotel is not centrally located.

    We still managed to head into the city Sunday night for some dinner in the Holborn/Covent Garden area. It was amazing how many people were out after 10 p.m., more than you'd see in an equivalent neighborhood in New York.

    We even saw a couple of guys in kilts. There also was also a store that sold military medals (not sure if they were antique or fake) that would have been perfect for former Jazz guard Gordan Giricek's Croatian bomber jacket.

    There's no way to know how many of the Jazz players will break out of what we like to call the NBA bubble and get to experience a little of the city, but it's an incredible city in which to spend four days.

    It was pretty cool to see Ronnie Price walk into the arena with a video camera recording, as well as Spencer Nelson having his picture taken with Okur on the court after practice. To some guys, this trip is a pretty special deal.

    --Ross Siler

   Yahoo.com's Marc Spears checked in with the Jazz at practice Sunday and offers a pretty sharp analysis of the Carlos Boozer situation in this Friday story. Most significantly, Spears touches on the sensitive subject of Boozer's decision not to attend Larry Miller's funeral last season.

    As Spears writes: "When Miller died later in February, team sources say Boozer again raised the eyebrows of some in the organization by not attending either the funeral or the wake. Center Mehmet Okur was the only other player absent at the funeral - he didn't attend because of his Muslim faith, but did go to the wake."

    If you remember, Miller's funeral was held the same afternoon as a Jazz home game. The Jazz officially deemed the decision to attend personal for each player and suggested it was an optional activity. In reality, though, people obviously were keeping score.

    According to our account in the Tribune, 11 of the Jazz's 15 players last season attended Miller's funeral. Boozer wasn't one of them, but neither was Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Millsap or Okur, if memory is correct. Some of them attended a wake the day before, some didn't.

    The Jazz also paid Miller a hospital visit in the weeks before his death. Thinking back on that time, I remember Deron Williams saying that he didn't plan on going to Miller's wake simply because he doesn't like them. He didn't even attend one for his grandfather. Williams did go to Miller's funeral.

    The point is that everybody handles death differently, and it is very, very complicated to hold it against Boozer for not attending Miller's funeral. It's also understandable that some people were offended by the decision, reading into it the back-and-forth between Boozer and Miller over the years.

    "Funerals are a tough thing to go through," Boozer told Spears. "After I saw [Miller] in the hospital, I wanted to remember him how I just saw him last. Confident. Happy. Not happy-happy, but happy enough to give us some words of wisdom for the rest of our season.

    "That's how I want to remember him. I didn't want to go to his wake and see his body lying there. I didn't want to go to his funeral, where it would be sad. I wanted to remember Larry as Larry, as a fiery competitor - happy, emotional, a leader."

    * * *

    Williams sat out Friday's practice with a sore right heel but is expected to play Tuesday. Kyle Korver was set to take part in some of practice as he continues to recover from an inflamed left knee. Korver is questionable to play.

    * * *

    Next time we see the Jazz will be a Sunday afternoon practice at the O2 Arena in London. It's a long way from here to there.

    --Ross Siler

   The replacement referees were competent. Carlos Boozer heard cheers from the crowd. Those were the two things to take away from the Jazz's preseason opener Thursday, a game that should best be forgotten by lunch Friday.

    With overseas trips, the Jazz and the Nuggets played their first preseason game less than a week after opening training camp. Neither Kenyon Martin nor J.R. Smith played for Denver, so be careful about putting too much stock in the Jazz's victory.

    Some observations from the game:

    --Not even three minutes in, Mehmet Okur hit a running hook against top shotblocker Chris Andersen. It's the shot Okur has talked about adding in the off-season. Okur then nailed a three-pointer a minute later and had 10 points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes.

    --C.J. Miles got off to a fast start and drew a three-shot foul just before halftime on the way to scoring 16 points. Miles hit one three-pointer after Denver had come out in a zone defense following a first quarter timeout. He went 5-for-7 for the night.

    --The Jazz outscored Denver a combined 61-43 in the first and third quarters. The Jazz mixed and matched lineups during that time, but both teams had their best players in the game those two quarters. The Jazz used 16 players, all of whom scored in the game.

    --Deron Williams took over in the third quarter, scoring 14 of his 16 points. That included two three-pointers, the first of which was anything but a preseason shot. Williams brought the ball up court and buried a three over Chauncey Billups with 19 on the shot clock. His shot bumped the Jazz's lead back up from seven to 10.

    --Paul Millsap has talked about expanding his game, especially if he's going to play small forward, and showed some range on his jumper in hitting an 18-footer in the third quarter. The story of the preseason might be how much small forward Millsap ends up playing.

    --Kosta Koufos really struggled in going 1-for-8 overall and 1-for-7 in the fourth quarter. Most notable was Koufos difficulty in timing rebound attempts and other plays around the basket.

    --Eric Maynor had four points and an assist in his Jazz debut, even hitting the type of runner in the fourth quarter that eluded him throughout summer-league play. For what it's worth, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan used Ronnie Price as his first point guard off the bench.

    * * *

    It was such a rough game for Koufos that Utah Flash owner Brandt Andersen, who was seated courtside, sent the following Tweet in the fourth quarter: "Please welcome Kosta back. He is having a tough night."

    One preseason game and Koufos is already ticketed for the D-League? It's worth noting that the Jazz only have 12 healthy players under contract right now, which means they're going to need Koufos in uniform for the sake of numbers alone.

    * * *

    By my count, the replacement referees called two delay of game warnings, one lane violation and several offensive fouls. It took 2 hours, 34 minutes to play a regulation preseason game, with the two teams combining to shoot 88 free throws.

    They whistled four fouls in the last minute of the fourth quarter with the Jazz leading by 15. And they made the kind of call you almost never see at the end of the first half, whistling a blocking foul on Goran Suton against Renaldo Balkman with 0.1 seconds left.

    At least in the Jazz's locker room, though, the sentiment was that Tre Maddox, Deldre Carr and C.J. Washington did a commendable job.

    "I'm going to be honest, I was impressed with the referees," Boozer said. "They did a good job and they called a fair game on both sides. They were unintimidated. They were great. I was impressed."

    Added Deron Williams: "The officials were good. I thought they did a good job. They didn't look like replacements to me."

    Most remarkable was how little was said between the players and replacement referees. You hardly ever see a game without a running dialogue between the players and refs.

    "I don't know their names," Williams said. "I'm trying to not talk to refs as much. I'm trying to just play and let coach talk to the refs. I want to save my money this year."

    * * *

    The Jazz's attendance is going to be closely watched this season, but they had to be happy with the numbers from their first exhibition game. The Jazz announced a crowd of 18,114, which is comparable to their first home preseason games in 2008 (18,761) and 2007 (18,707).

    * * *

    Deron Williams isn't going to have any problem complying with the league's new Twitter policy, but he did admit Thursday that he might have texted from the bench when he was out last season with a sprained ankle. You could see Williams, in fact, send messages a couple of times from the back of the Jazz's huddle during timeouts. In his own defense, Williams noted that he was never caught on camera doing so, as Carlos Boozer was last season.

    --Ross Siler

   From my first year covering the Jazz, I'll never forget Jerry Sloan joking that the greatest value of the first home preseason game was making sure his players knew how to get to the arena. It was Kyrylo Fesenko's rookie season, so Sloan sounded perfectly reasonable.

    There's not a lot to love about the preseason, but Thursday's opener against Denver will have more intrigue than usual. There'll even be national interest, with the NBA set to use replacement referees for the first time in more than a decade.

    Even more attention will be paid to the reception Carlos Boozer receives from the EnergySolutions Arena crowd as well as Sloan's starting lineup and how he decides to use Boozer and Paul Millsap.

    With Andrei Kirilenko, C.J. Miles and Kyle Korver all nursing injuries this week, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Sloan play Millsap extensively at small forward, something he has discussed doing as a way of finding Millsap additional minutes.

    We'll also get a chance to appraise Fesenko and Kosta Koufos as they enter their third and second seasons, respectively. Both will have the chance in the preseason to make the case that they deserve a role in Sloan's rotation.

    The word on the street, meanwhile, is that the Jazz have been putting in one to two new plays a day, in addition to their renewed commitment to defense. So much, I guess, for the perception that Sloan's been running the exact same plays for two decades.

    One of Sloan's comments Wednesday hinted at the new plays the team has been putting in.

    "You're always curious to see how we're going to play and see how they're going to compete," Sloan said, "because sometimes when you put plays in and guys are trying to figure out what they're doing and try to get comfortable with one another, you know they panic a little bit.

    "You see that and then you have to go back over it again, and try to get them comfortable to where they know if somebody puts a little pressure on them, hopefully they know what they're doing."

    The Jazz also supposedly are breaking their huddle with "1-2-3-Defense" this season, which is symbolic if nothing else. I have yet to see the new plays or the new chant, but that's what somebody in the know told me.

    Andrei Kirilenko also mentioned Wednesday that the Jazz have started to make more extensive use of scouting and video preparation when it comes to defense. The goal is to reinforce defensive concepts better visually.

    "We're not concentrated on it [before]," Kirilenko said. "Right now, we're kind of more passionate about it. We'll see how it goes. I think it's a great idea, you can see what mistakes you did last game and kind of concentrate on this game not making it."

    * * *

    While saying that Ronnie Price was probably ahead of Eric Maynor in the backup point guard race, Deron Williams added Wednesday that Maynor had the potential to be what he described as a "special player."

    For a rookie, Maynor has been anything but rattled, according to Williams.

    "Usually, they come in here and they're going a mile a minute," Williams said. "We're still trying to slow some of the young guys down to this day. For him to come in and be that poised and just be under control, that's what I'm really impressed with."

    Williams also acknowledged that having improved backup point guard play could buy him some rest when the Jazz are facing a set of back-to-back games.

    "I think that's important for us this year because that was such a big problem last year," Williams said.

    * * *

    The Jazz will play under a hybrid set of NBA/FIBA rules for their Oct. 8 game against Real Madrid, general manager Kevin O'Connor said. O'Connor still was reviewing everything the rules entail.

    * * *

    You can't make this stuff up: Sloan's commute to the Jazz's practice facility has been negatively impacted by construction for a new highway off-ramp for a Karl Malone Toyota dealership.

    "I'm going to get on his butt and see if he can get that done with," Sloan joked.

    --Ross Siler

   Unfortunately, we don't get a chance to watch the Jazz practice this year during training camp - - they've opened one practice to the public in years past at Boise State - - so there's no way to assess how things stack up early in some of the position battles.

    We don't know yet whether Carlos Boozer or Paul Millsap is going to be starting in Thursday's preseason opener, whether Ronnie Price or Eric Maynor is going to be the first point guard off the bench or whether Kyrylo Fesenko or Kosta Koufos will see more action.

    Just from listening to the Jazz players, though, you can tell how much emphasis coach Jerry Sloan has put on defense so far in camp. The Jazz gave up 100.9 points on average last season, the first Sloan-coached team to do so in more than a decade.

    Both Boozer and Deron Williams said the Jazz have been working to sharpen their defensive rotations so far in camp. At least in Williams' opinion, help defense has been the focus of camp.

    "We got away from that last year, we didn't trust each other last year," Williams said. "We've got to get back and start helping out, start trusting each other and rotating better."

    The Jazz's defensive breakdowns were magnified by their abysmal record (3-18) in the second game of back-to-back sets. I haven't done the math, but if you took away five to seven of those games, the Jazz's defensive numbers wouldn't look as bad.

    This season, Williams has vowed to take it upon himself to set the tone for the Jazz on the road and in the second games of back-to-backs.

    "Just making sure we get out and have energy, get out and push the ball," Williams said. "Sometimes we start off a little complacent. It'll be my job to get out and push the ball and if people don't want to run, I'm sure coach will sub them out."

    At the same time, Williams acknowledges that he can't shoulder the entire weight himself.

    "We've got to get tougher mentally," Williams said. "It's on me, but it's on everybody else as well. We've got to step up to the challenge and play better on the road.

    "Another problem we had was playing bad against teams under .500. We let too many games slip away that if we'd just put our foot on people early, we'd have the game."

    Sloan pledged to make changes this year to increase defensive accountability. In particular, he said he would bench players who refused to run the floor or play as physically as he'd like to see.

    You can talk about strategies all day, but Sloan never fails to describe defense as being a matter of effort first and foremost.

    "We've got to do a better job defensively," Sloan said. "I think everybody's tried to work hard and do a better job there. And that's effort. It's not a matter about athletic ability. It's about effort and who's going to stick their nose in and get after it, try to help us take away some of the easy baskets that we gave up."

    * * *

    I've gotten a couple of e-mails from fans interested in the Jazz's television schedule this season. (One of the fans splits season tickets, makes the drive from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and tries to pick the KJZZ games he can't get on television at home. Pretty impressive.)

    Here's what it says on the Jazz's pocket schedule: "All games televised on FSN-Utah in high definition (except nationally televised games on TNT or ABC)." From that reading, it's unclear whether the Jazz are airing any games at all on KJZZ.

    And if that's the case, my question is why the Jazz pushed so hard for a KJZZ retransmission agreement last season with DirecTV.

    It also doesn't appear that the Jazz are televising Thursday's preseason opener. According to tvguide.com, KJZZ is set to air game shows and Dr. Phil while FSN will be carrying a Rockies game.

    --Ross Siler