2009 Utah Jazz Draft Review

Virginia Commonwealth University senior point guard Eric Maynor was the Utah Jazz first round draft pick last night. Utah also took 6-foot-10 Bosnian center Goran Suton of Michigan State at No. 50 in the second round.

Of course you always want to draft the best player available but going into the draft I wanted the Jazz to try and address one of three areas: A backup point guard, a backup power forward to replace Boozer or Millsap, and a backup small forward to replace Matt Harpring. Looks like they tried to address two of those areas.

I give the Jazz an A- grade in selecting Eric Maynor. There never seems to be much talent to choose from outside the lottery and that was especially the case this year. But this year there did seem to be an abundance of point guards. Hey I'm just glad that they picked Maynor before the Timberwolves snatched up all the point guards for themselves. Seriously when was the last time a team picked three point guards in the first round?

Anyways, about Maynor, he sounds like he is a true point guard. He's always been a point guard, he's not converted from a shooting guard, like a Ronnie Price. He is a winner. He is skinny and could put on some more weight. He is very lucky that he can learn from Deron Williams from the start of his career. The Jazz rarely have had a quality backup point guard, and they'd love to see Maynor be able to be the new Howard Eisley for the Jazz.

There are two revealing things I have heard the past couple days. One was Jerry Sloan talking about how Maynor will be a nice #3 point guard this year behind Williams and Ronnie Price. Price, may I remind you, is a free agent. Looks like the Jazz know who they want to backup Williams next year. I'm glad they will have Price and Maynor as backups, that means they won't be wasting lots of precious money on an expensive veteran backup point guard. Really if Price resigns, I think the Jazz have the best point guard situation in the league.

The other interesting thing that has come out is that Maynor's dad came very close to making it to the NBA. He was about to sign with the Chicago Bulls, but he was cut by the coach, who just happened to be named Jerry Sloan. Apparently Sloan doesn't remember that and nobody in the Jazz organization knew that Maynor's dad was cut by Sloan until after they had selected Maynor. I don't know how that plays into this. I hope it doesn't make anything awkward. Maybe it makes Maynor work harder to impress Sloan. If anything it just shows how old Sloan is getting.

As for Suton, I haven't heard much. He has a nice outside shot for a big guy. The Jazz have probably had better luck in the second round than the first so I should research more about him. Looks intriguing though.

All in all it was a bizarre day with Shaq and Vince getting traded and the whole draft being overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson.

I give the Jazz an A- this year for the draft. They did what they could with their position. I don't know as much about these guys but I will cut they some slack because they have been one of the top 5 drafting teams since 2005. They've gotten Williams, Miles, Brewer, Millsap, and Koufos through the draft lately and who knows maybe even Fesenko will turn out to be good.