Which Jazz player was biggest disappointment ever to you?

[akirac73]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Wright


Good work, if you can get it.

I read somewhere that Luther's mother took control over the $153k/year "annuity" while he was wasting away his life on drugs, and now the money is likely all gone.

 

[Hitman]

Agree with Amaechi.

Kelly Tripucka was the biggest disappointment for me before him, although I blame Coach Layden for not being able to use his talents.

 

[zbone]

Andrei Kirilenko. He was THE answer after the Stockton to Malone era. So much that the Jazz gave him a max contract even though he wasn't scoring that much, because of all of the other things that he brought to the table. They figured that with his raw tools he would have another gear to take making him almost statue material. Unfortunately after his big contract he went consistently downhill from year to year and was never worth the money.

In order to be the biggest disappointment, you have to have peoples hopes high, and AK did.

Please stop repeating that BS nonsense about his contract and production.

 

[Ellipse]

Agree with Amaechi.

Kelly Tripucka was the biggest disappointment for me before him, although I blame Coach Layden for not being able to use his talents.

If we get to blame coaches, the I'd vote for Layden for what he did with Carey Scurry. I can remember a game against the Lakers when Scurry was killing the Lakers, then he got his fourth foul mid-way through the 3rd quarter and Layden put him on the bench for the rest of the game -- Jazz lost. Pat Riley made a point in the post-game interview of thanking Layden for not putting Scurry back in the game.

 

[Chad Feldheimer]

AK is the easy answer here. He was a huge drain and disappointment after signing his huge deal. Killed the Jazz flexibility for years. 86 million and they got one average to slightly above average player who didn't play every night.

 

[Stifle Tower]

Probably someone else is more disappointing if I think about it, but Kris Humphries was the first player that came to mind.

That was the player I wanted going into the draft and I thought he was gonna be awesome for us.

That's a good choice. Because of his draft position and the fact that he subsequently developed into a nice player puts him high on the list. The Jazz just couldn't wait on him to grow out of diapers.

1. CJ Miles. This kid had SO MUCH potential. Easily the most athletic player the Jazz have had and by all accounts was a fantastic player in practice. Had flashes here and there, but could never perform on a high level with consistency in actual games.

2. Carlos Arroyo. Could have been a great PG, but he spent too much time looking at his reflection as he dribbled, and dribbled and dribbled some more. Thankfully when he left, so did the rabid Arroyoheads who were ruining Jazzfanz.

3. Jose Ortiz. Should have learned not to draft Puerto Ricans after the failure of Ortiz. Dominant player in the PR leagues (> 20/10 for several seasons). Lazy and soft as Charmin in the NBA.

4. John Amaechi. I don't care what his orientation was(is). This guy signed a FA contract with little intent of earning his money. You want to listen to Streisand and put pretty flowers in your entryway? Fine. That's your life choice. But your employer is paying you to play BB, not rehearse musicals in the back of your mind.

5. Derek Harper and Rony Seikaly. Could either have been the "missing piece" for a championship? We'll always wonder what would have happened had they not refused trades to Utah.

6. Derek Fisher. Because he either a) believes LA is closer to New York than Utah, or b) wasn't aware the Concorde did not make supersonic coast-to-coast flights. I'm glad he was widely despised during the CBA negotiations, and then dumped by the Lakers at the deadline. He got what was coming to him.

7. Greg Miller. Larry H. may have been TOO passionate about the Jazz. At times some of his actions were over the top or embarrassing. But at least he cared. Greg? Well, he failed to give his support to a HOF coach and let a petulant all-star PG win the battle of wills, only to then turn around a week later and trade him. NICE flip-flop, Greggy Boy.

I won't list Wright and Snyder as they had mental problems. Was there a failure by Jazz scouts or during the interview process to notice signs of mental instability or just an unfortunate turn of events post-draft?

HM goes to AK and Boozer who could have/should have been among the league greats, but never had the right attitude or toughness to man up and play at 100% effort all the time, despite their outrageous salaries. By no means "busts," but I had such high hopes for those two.

 

[Stifle Tower]

We're still paying Wright? He just jumped to the top of my list. Kirelenko is high on my list, too. I loved the guy early in his career but he bailed on us mentally once he got paid.

I thought this was a great settlement. Mental illness is so sad. I have a relative with bipolar disorder. I kind of know what brought it on, or at least was a major contributor. Some of it her fault, some of it not. In Luther's case, who knows why the guy just snapped and started banging on garbage can lids? The 25-yr payout should have supported him for the rest of his life: living expenses and medical care/counseling. Hope his relative is using most of the money to take care of Luther instead of on herself.

 

[cctrackstar]

Please stop repeating that BS nonsense about his contract and production.

AK did what drives me nuts about NBA contract negotiations: He saw Pau Gasol get a max extension and said 'me too'. This is why contracts go up and up, because players see the other guy get a big contract and then hold out until they get one. Then someone else does the same thing and it goes on and on. I was a pretty big AK fan before the max contract, but his demand for a max contract rubbed me the wrong way and I never felt the same, and coincidentally, he never played the same. Frankly, I didn't think that Deron should have been given the max. Maybe close to it, but the max should really be given to the Lebrons, and only after they have proven their worth, not based on potential.

But that's only my opinion.

 

[zbone]

Check his stats after the signing, mate. It gets ridiculous.

 

[Stifle Tower]

AK did what drives me nuts about NBA contract negotiations: He saw Pau Gasol get a max extension and said 'me too'. This is why contracts go up and up, because players see the other guy get a big contract and then hold out until they get one. Then someone else does the same thing and it goes on and on. I was a pretty big AK fan before the max contract, but his demand for a max contract rubbed me the wrong way and I never felt the same, and coincidentally, he never played the same. Frankly, I didn't think that Deron should have been given the max. Maybe close to it, but the max should really be given to the Lebrons, and only after they have proven their worth, not based on potential.

But that's only my opinion.

Only a hard cap would fix the problem. After Stern leaves and more small-market teams wise up and get fed up with being feeders for LA, NY and Miami, there MIGHT be changes. I really hope the league shuts down for 1+ years when the next CBA negotiations come around. This model is broken. And nothing changed with the stoppage. Rich owners got their amnesty (just like last time) and were able to go out and spend like drunken sailors again. Big market teams don't mind exceeding the luxury tax mark because they make up for any penalties with additional revenues.

May as well go to a 6-team "Super League" with a minor-league system for the rest of the teams.

 

[Hitman]

Only a hard cap would fix the problem.

I disagree only with the 'only', because revenue sharing would fix it, too, but the fact the owners balked at that shows they weren't serious about fixing the problem. Ideally, though, you'd have both a hard cap and revenue sharing.

 

[JimLes]

5. Derek Harper and Rony Seikaly. Could either have been the "missing piece" for a championship? We'll always wonder what would have happened had they not refused trades to Utah.

In Seikaly's case, nothing would've happened. He got hurt right after and never played again. Actually dodged a bullet there.