The Utah Jazz have picked up 24-year old SG/SF C.J. Miles’ 2011-12 option valued at $3.7 million bucks.  Miles played in 78 games (19 starts) for the Jazz last year and he averaged 25.2 minutes, 12.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.  Miles has now played in 333 games (145 starts) in his first six years with the Jazz and he is averaging 19.1 minutes, 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.  This was a smart move for the Jazz as it will allow them to break in rookie Alec Burks slowly if needed.

The Jazz took 19-year old, 6’6″, 195 pound shooting guard Alec Burks with the 12th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft last night.  Burks played in 38 games for Colorado last year and he averaged 31.4 minutes, 20.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  He played in 68 games in his two years in college and he averaged 30.9 minutes, 19.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  Shooting guard has been a Black Hole offensively for the Jazz for quite some time and they are hoping that Burks is the right guy to make them forget all about that.

The Utah Jazz took 19-year old, 6’10″, 255 pound center Enes Kanter with the 3rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.  Kanter sat out last season at Kentucky because he was ruled inelgible due to making $33,000 bucks in Turkey the year before.  Kanter last played back in 2008-09 in Turkey.  He played in 9 games that year and he averaged 10.9 minutes, 2.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game.  Kanter is a big time talent and the Jazz couldn’t pass him up.  He will give Al Jefferson a break whenever he needs one in 2011-12, but the Jazz are hoping that he will be their starting center in the near future.

The fact that the Utah Jazz are trying to deal PG Devin Harris gives a little foreshadowing at who they are looking to pick with the #3 overall pick on Thursday Night.  It seems as if PG Brandon Knight of Kentucky is the guy the Jazz are targeting with their first pick on the night.  The Jazz also hold the #12 overall pick and it will be very hard for them to pass on SG Jimmer Fredette out of BYU, if he’s available.  I think that Knight and Fredette would be a nice haul for the Jazz on Thursday Night.  I look for them also to try to add another first round pick in the trade market (Devin Harris and Paul Millsap reportedly are available).

The Utah Jazz are likely going to pare the payroll down and let 5 free agents walk this summer.  The Utah Jazz have a team option for the 2011-12 season and I look for them to pick it up.  SF Andrei Kirilenko will be allowed to leave as the Jazz won’t want to pay him the big bucks anymore.  Centers Francisco Elson and Kyrylo Fesenko will both be allowed to leave town.  PGs Ronnie Price and Earl Watson will also likely leave Salt Lake City.  I see the Jazz trying to get into almost a full rebuilding mode starting in 2011-12.

Point guard John “The Pastey Gangsta” Stockton and power forward Karl “The Mailman” Malone were the masters of the pick and roll, as a lot of Stockton’s assists went to Malone.  Stockton played in 19 years for the Utah Jazz.  Stockton played in 1,504 games for the Jazz and he averaged 31.8 minutes, 13.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 10.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game.  Stockton is the Jazz’ all-time leader in games played (1,504), three-pointers made (845), assists (15,806) and steals (3,265).  He is also #3 in rebounds (4,051), #10 in blocked shots (315) and #2 in points scored (19,711) in Jazz’ history.

Karl Malone played 18 years for the Utah Jazz.  He played in 1,434 games for the Jazz in which he averaged 37.3 minutes, 25.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  Malone is the Jazz’ all-time leader in rebounds (14,601) and points (36,374).  He is also #2 in games played (1,434), #2 in assists (5,085), #2 in steals (2,035) and #4 in blocked shots (1,125) in Jazz’ history.

Stockton is the NBA’s all-time leader in both assists (15,806) and steals (3,265) and those are likely numbers that are going to stand for a while.  Karl Malone is the NBA’s #2 scorer of all-time with 36,928 points and he’s #4 in rebounds (14,968) in NBA history.  It was a pleasure to see these two Hall of Famers spend their careers playing together with the Jazz.  It’s a shame the Jazz never won a NBA Finals with Stockton & Malone on the team.

26-year old center Al Jefferson turned in a solid first year for the Jazz.  Jefferson played in 82 games (all starts) for the Jazz last year and he averaged 35.9 minutes, 18.6 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.9 blocked shots per game.  He has now played in 489 games (358 starts) in his first 7 years in the NBA and he is averaging 29.8 minutes, 15.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game.  Jefferson really turned in a solid season for the Jazz in 2011-12 and they hope it was just a glimpse of things to come.