Utah Jazz Blog – Page 71 – NBA Blog

Jazz sign Othyus Jeffers to second 10-day contract

Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced today that the team has signed rookie guard/forward Othyus Jeffers (pronounced OH-thee-us) to a second 10-day contract. Jeffers (6-5, 210, Robert Morris University (IL)) signed his first 10-day contract with the Jazz on March 4 and has appeared in two Jazz games since, averaging 2.0 points and 2.0 rebounds in 2.0 minutes per game.

When the Jazz signed him from the NBA Development League’s Iowa Energy, Jeffers became the 18th D-League Call-Up to the NBA this season, and second by the Jazz (Sundiata Gaines).

Jeffers also became the fifth D-League Call-Up in Jazz history, joining Gaines, Rusty LaRue (2000-01), Mikki Moore (2003-04) and Louis Amundson (2006-07).

At the time of his call-up, Jeffers was averaging 14.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting .510 from the field through 22 games (16 starts) with Iowa this season. Jeffers had led the Energy to a D-League best 30-9 record in his second season with the team, reaching double figures in scoring 18 times and registering a double-double in four games.

He began the 2009-10 campaign with NGC Cantu of the Italian League, the same team current Jazz teammate Sundiata Gaines played for during the 2008-09 season. The 24-year-old averaged 9.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 steals in nine games with Cantu.

A native of Chicago, he was originally selected by the Energy in the third round (47th overall) of the 2008 D-League Draft. In his first year with Iowa (2008-09), Jeffers led the Energy to the playoffs and was named the 2009 D-League Rookie of the Year in addition to being a D-League All-Star selection. Jeffers was also chosen to play for the D-League Select Team in the 2009 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, where he averaged 20.5 points and 7.0 rebounds.

Jeffers concluded his collegiate career at Robert Morris University in Chicago (24.0 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game) earning The Sporting News NAIA Player of the Year and Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors. He preceded his one season at RMU with two seasons at Illinois-Chicago (13.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game) and one season at Los Angeles Southwest College (22.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game).

Robert Whaley arrested

Nate Carlisle of the Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Police in Salt Lake County arrested former Utah Jazz center Robert Whaley and found marijuana “between his buttocks,” according to a jail document.

Whaley, 27, had warrants for his arrest for absconding from a probation in Michigan. A police document filed with the Salt Lake County jail says gang detectives stopped a car about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. Whaley was a passenger and was not wearing a seat belt, the document says…

A state of Michigan Web site lists Whaley has having a 2008 conviction for maintaining a drug house. It says he has absconded from parole in that state.

Jerry Sloan is forever

Mike McGraw of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports:

Jerry Sloan was asked how he’s lasted 22 years with the Jazz when most other NBA coaches seem to lose touch with their players within a few seasons.

“I tell our players, ‘I’m going to be here and you may not,’ ” he said. “I’ve been real fortunate that our owner gave me the opportunity to say that when he first started out. Coaches are going to be here and players are expendable. – If you don’t have support, you don’t have a fighting chance.”

Someone asked Sloan what he thought about his 1970s-era photo on a mural honoring Bulls legends that went up outside the locker room this year. He hadn’t seen it.

“I don’t think it affects me in any way,” Sloan said. “Like my friend said, ‘I’ll still eat hamburgers.’ “

Jazz re-assign Kosta Koufos to D-League

Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced today that the team has re-assigned second-year center Kosta Koufos to the Utah Flash of the NBA Development League (D-League). Koufos appeared in one game for the Flash during his first assignment this season, posting 16 points, seven rebounds, two steals, one assist and one block vs. the Maine Red Claws on January 25.

In 25 games for the Jazz this season, the 7-0, 265-pound Koufos has averages of 1.2 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.2 assists in 3.4 minutes. Koufos has been inactive 12 times this season and DNP-CD 22 times. He last appeared in a game on March 6 vs. the Los Angeles Clippers, playing two scoreless minutes, and prior to that on February 27 against the Houston Rockets, totaling two points and a rebound in three minutes of action. The center has notched a season-high six points twice this season and also picked up a season-high eight rebounds vs. the Clippers on October 30.

Selected by the Jazz out of Ohio State in the first round (23rd overall selection) of the 2008 NBA Draft, Koufos also appeared in 10 games (all starts) while on assignment with the Flash in 2008-09, averaging 16.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 2.0 assists.

Jazz to sign Othyus Jeffers to 10-day contract

Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced today that the team will sign guard Othyus Jeffers (pronounced oh-THEE-us) of the NBA Development League’s Iowa Energy to a 10-day contract, pending the outcome of a successful physical. Jeffers becomes the 18th D-League Call-Up to the NBA this season, and second by the Jazz (Sundiata Gaines). Following the transaction, the Jazz roster now stands at 13 players.

Jeffers (6-5, 200, Robert Morris University – Chicago) is currently averaging 14.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting .510 from the field through 22 games (16 starts) with Iowa this season. Jeffers has led the Energy to a D-League best 30-9 record in his second season with the team, reaching double figures in scoring 18 times and registering a double-double in four games.

He began the 2009-10 campaign with NGC Cantu of the Italian League, the same team current Jazzman Sundiata Gaines played for during the 2008-09 season. The 24-year-old averaged 9.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 steals in nine games with Cantu.

A native of Chicago, he was originally selected by the Iowa Energy in the third round (47th overall) of the 2008 D-League Draft. In his first year with Iowa (2008-09), Jeffers led the Energy to the playoffs and was named the 2009 D-League Rookie of the Year in addition to being a D-League All-Star selection. Jeffers was also chosen to play for the D-League Select Team in the 2009 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, where he averaged 20.5 points and 7.0 rebounds.

Ronnie Brewer out 3+ weeks with hamstring injury

Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports:

Grizzlies swingman Ronnie Brewer will miss at least three weeks with a partially torn right hamstring.

Brewer, who was injured Friday during the Grizzlies’ 100-87 double overtime loss to Miami, had his condition confirmed this morning after a magnetic resonance imaging exam.

Brewer did not travel this afternoon with the team to New Jersey where the Griz will face the Nets on Sunday evening. The Grizzlies are officially saying that Brewer will be out indefinitely and a timetable for his return will be set in a week.

Deron Williams dislikes Ronnie Brewer trade

Tim Buckley of the Deseret News reports:

He doesn’t like it, but Deron Williams knows trades come with the territory.

“It stinks that these things happen in the NBA,” Williams said Friday, one day after the Jazz dealt close friend and starting shooting guard Ronnie Brewer to Memphis for a protected 2011 first-round draft choice.

This particular trade, however, left Williams particularly offended — so much so he questioned the team’s thinking and suggested it could influence the length of his future with the franchise.

The All-Star point prefaced Friday’s remarks by saying, “I haven’t really got nothing much good to say about the trade, so …”

Mehmet Okur father of new baby boy

Utah Jazz center Mehmet Okur and his wife, Yeliz, welcomed the couple’s second child, a baby boy – Yigit Mehmet Okur (21 inches; 8 lbs., 2 oz.) early this morning in Salt Lake City. Memo, Yeliz, daughter Melisa, and new addition Yigit are all doing well.

Okur, who left the team in Oakland to be with his wife for the birth, will miss tonight’s Jazz game at Golden State.

Okur this season is averaging 12.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, shooting 43.5% from the field.

The 34-19 Jazz are currently the no.3 seed in the Western conference.

Jazz trade Ronnie Brewer to Grizzlies

Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune reports (via blog):

In a deal completed five minutes before the NBA’s 1 p.m. MDT trade deadline, the Jazz sent Ronnie Brewer to Memphis for a protected future first-round draft pick, general manager Kevin O’Connor said.

The Jazz’s starting shooting guard for the past three seasons, Brewer first was linked to Memphis in trade talk last month. The pick the Jazz will receive belongs to the Grizzlies and first can be conveyed beginning in 2011.

By trading Brewer, the Jazz will ease their logjam of wing players, freeing minutes for Wesley Matthews, C.J. Miles and Kyle Korver. The Jazz also will ease their luxury-tax burden, with the Grizzlies having the cap space to absorb Brewer’s $2.7 million salary.

Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune reports (via blog):

The primary reason for the trade, of course, is that Brewer plays the same position as Kyle Korver, C.J. Miles, Wesley Matthews and — to a lesser extent — Andrei Kirilenko.

Coach Jerry Sloan was having a difficult time finding minutes for everyone, so somebody had to either be traded or buried on the bench alongside young “bigs” Kosta Koufos and Kyrylo Fesenko.

Heat tried to trade for Carlos Boozer

Marc Stein and Chad Ford of ESPN report:

The Miami Heat spent the final hour-plus before the NBA’s Thursday afternoon trading deadline trying to convince the Utah Jazz to surrender Carlos Boozer, according to NBA front-office sources.

The Jazz, though, would not relent before the trade buzzer sounded, one source close to the process told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher.

One source with knowledge of Utah’s thinking told ESPN.com from the start of Thursday’s discussions that a trade was “unlikely,” but the teams were still talking entering the last half-hour before the deadline hit.

ESPN.com reported earlier Thursday that the Heat and Jazz had opened discussions on a Boozer deal. Yahoo! Sports reported that the Wizards were recruited as a third team to try to help facilitate the deal, but one source told ESPN.com that the Wizards were no longer involved in the talks.