UTAH JAZZ’S GM’S CAREFUL WORDS

Kevin O’ Connor seems to think Deron Williams is still the face and leader of the franchise.

Utah Jazz GM Kevin O’Connor appeared on The NBA Today podcast on Friday with host Ryen Russillo to talk about the team and Carlos Boozer.  It’s certainly worth taking a listen.  O’Connor addresses the ridiculous trade offers he has received, the inconsistent play of the team and talks about how professionally Carlos Boozer has conducted himself this season.

But the thing I noticed more than anything else, was what Kevin O’Connor didn’t say.  The topic wandered onto the Spurs and Kevin O’Connor started to praise Spurs Center Tim Duncan and mentioned that it makes it easier to win with such great players.  Here is a transcript of exactly what he said:

“A guy like Tim Duncan…how good has he been?  You talk about all the championships and everything else, he’s won 4 or 5 in the last ten, eleven years.  He’s somebody, if you can figure out a way to get guys like that and we had them with John and Karl and hopefully Deron and, and, and turns in, you know…can continue to do that.  Guys that care about winning more than they care about anything else and they are your best players, boy, you can be pretty good.”

You read that right and I heard it right.  He said Deron and…and…and…and I thought he was going to add another player to that list, but he never did.  He wanted to add another name, but he didn’t.  Or couldn’t.  Either way, I noticed it.  And Ryen Russillo noticed it and mentioned it in the conclusion of his podcast.  He also noticed the deliberate omission of Carlos Boozer’s name.  I am not trying to fuel any fires here.  To many degrees, I have been very wrong about Carlos Boozer.  I am not going to say that I have been unfair to Carlos Boozer or anything, but he has played really well this season and learned to be a good teammate.

But what Kevin O’Connors statement tells me is that Jazz fans need to pull the reins back a little bit on the assumption that the Jazz franchise is going to open up its collective arms and welcome Carlos back to the fold.  I am not saying they aren’t going to.  But Kevin O’Connor didn’t forgot to not mention Boozer’s name in the conversation of team leaders who want to win above all else.  He left him out of the conversation on purpose.  The Jazz front office is playing the situation very close to the vest.  Just as they should.  And for all of you who believe that Carlos Boozer has supplanted Deron Williams as the new team leader, you can just cool your jets.  Because one of the guys who makes decisions, the important decisions, doesn’t seem to think that is true.