For some reason, by the time I reached Tuscon I was a little hungry; and ready to stretch the legs a little. My co-worker and I decided to grab a bite to eat; and then see what Tuscon had to offer, which turned out to not be much. Neither of us wanting to return to the hotel decided that we would go catch a movie and then call it a night. Trust me this is going somewhere. Anyway, the movie ended, we went back to the Hotel; I wrote the blog, and was ready to crash since I was staring at 2 in the morning.
The alarm went off bright and early at six; and I decided to log into the Hotel's wireless Internet; thinking like most Hotel's that this would be an option. Apparently, at the JW Marriott in Tuscon; it's $12.99 a day to do this. GULP!!! Apparently they charge this much in order to maintain the Golf Course.
I fought with myself internally for a few minutes about whether or not the blog was really worth $12.99 or not. In the end, I decided it wasn't; since I pay less than that monthly now; I decided that it could wait until Sunday when I got back home.
Well somewhere in between then and now; the entire article has blown up. Not in the I lost all of my data sense; but in the "There was only two good players to talk about; and now they have signed" sense. The whole blog was going to focus on Mikki Moore and Jamal Magloire; of course I was going to cover some of the lesser known names, but it was eventually going to come down to a choice between Mikki and Jamal.
Unfortunately, as some of you may know; they are no longer available. Mikki agreed to contract terms with the Kings for 3 years and $18 million dollars; while Jamal was not interested in going to Utah without a starters role; even though we were offering a two year deal instead of the one year deal he's looking at.
Where does that leave us Jazz fans?
I thought about this; and decided there is really only one clear answer...Fesenko!
Before I left on my trip, I set the DVR to record the Rocky Mountain Review for a couple of reasons. First; I'm a psycho and totally addicted to basketball; so any chance to watch basketball I get I do it. Second, I plan on putting out game summary articles for all the games; which will be coming soon.
As I watching the game and doing my best to transcribe the game; I noticed how well Fez seems to move. I'm use to watching our seven footers plod down the gym; and set up shop at the bottom of the key waiting to engage their respective offensive players. What I saw from Fez, was a player that was showing well on screens, blocking shots (3 in the first game; all with in about a ten minute span; going aggressively at rebounds; and what may be the best sign, a player that was playing with passion.
That last part is what truly stood out to me. Fez was working as hard as I have ever seen a player work; when rebounding it was as though his life depended on it. He played defense with an intent to not let the other person score. I know that last sentence sounds weird, because that's what a player is suppose to do, but this kid made you feel it.
I'm not saying that there aren't limitations on his game, because there were some holes that stood out. His conditioning is not where Sloan would want it to be; which was noticeable on a few plays where it looked as though he was laboring to get back down the court. His free throw shot is lacking some mechanics; he is not bending his knees enough, not lifting up on his release; and looks as though he is lacking concentration. The lack of concentration looks as though it may be caused by lack of routine; it may have been bad camera work, but it seemed as though he was really rushing the free throws. Finally, his offensive game needs a little work; which I believe will come if he pours as much passion into that as he does his defensive skills.
The Fez bandwagon has pulled into the station; and I'm hoping on baby.
In case you are wondering here are the potential centers that are still available:
- Rafael Araujo
- Earl Barron
- Calvin Booth
- Andre Brown
- Pat Burke
- Dale Davis
- Paul Davis
- Alonzo Mourning
- Michael Olowokandi
- Scott Pollard
- Jared Reiner
- Jamal Sampson
- Luke Schenscher
- Jake Voshkul
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