NBA Draft | Entertainment Picks | Salt Lake City Weekly
Support the Free Press | Facts matter. Truth matters. Journalism matters
Salt Lake City Weekly has been Utah's source of independent news and in-depth journalism since 1984. Donate today to ensure the legacy continues.

Culture » Entertainment Picks

NBA Draft

Thursday, June 25

by

comment

Once again, the Jazz are drafting fairly low in the NBA draft—20th overall. Once again, the list of prospects likely to be available by that point is less than exciting. Once again, it’s a great thing for Jazz fans.

The remarkable thing about the Jazz, perhaps the most consistent NBA franchise over the past 25 years, is how little draft order has meant during the past 25 years. In all that time, they’ve only had one high pick. In the early ’80s, they picked up a couple of guys who had slipped down to the teens: Karl Malone and John Stockton. While riding those two for the next two decades, Utah never drafted higher than 14, and more often than not, in the 20s. After one lousy season and trading up to the No. 3 pick to get Deron Williams in 2005, the Jazz went right back to making the playoffs and drafting in the teens or lower.

Who will the Jazz get this year? Probably nobody of note. History indicates that’s just fine.

NBA Draft @ Madison Square Garden, New York City, Thursday, June 25, 5 p.m. MDT. Televised on ESPN