“Look, there’s only so many hours in a day. You look at all the hard work that’s been put in — and I mean from top to bottom. You go through the organization... from the Millers to the Smiths... well, I’ve gotta be careful and not get myself in trouble since nothings official yet.. it’s gotta go through the proper league channels, but you have David Moreway and Justin Zanik, all high level guys working long hours. We feel we really did a great job in our scouting, hats off to the scouting department who goes in overtime this year. They work like accountants in April. Just the integrity of this program, I couldn’t be more happy or more proud of the job these guys are doing. And not just the guys, we have some really excellent young women and women in this organization who put a great touch on it. A lot of times this isn’t seen but they play an integral role in so many things behind the scenes. You wouldn’t believe the amount of man hours, and woman hours, I should say, it really takes to put on this production, even all the minute detail. And I can tell you, top to bottom, this has been an in-depth, team effort from start to finish. There are a lot of guys out there, guys with phenomenal talent. And we feel like we really came in to the off-season with some big tasks and we really executed. You look at the advanced numbers on a player of the caliber of a Derrick Favors, and it just blows your mind the value he brings to this franchise and this locker room. But there are so many guys to reach. You mention people like Gary Payton Jr., and who could forget all the complimentary things Gary Payton Sr. has said about another Jazz great, John Stockton. Gary has a great knack for identifying talent in competitors and it’s a real testament to the legacy of John and his contributions to the franchise here. But guys like Gary Jr., he’s obviously been exposed to the league at the highest levels from the youngest ages. He’s a guy who can write his own ticket. We really love what we’ve done here, but with Gary’s expansive view in seeing the world, we felt comfortable acknowledging that Salt Lake is a place that he would probably never live or a place that isn’t on his radar, so that allowed us to more efficiently structure our offseason efforts and I can speak for the entire group in saying that we are incredibly pleased with the way this offseason went.”
- Dennis Lindsey, probably.
