The ledger
The Stockton–Malone era (1984–2003)2002–03 Utah Jazz
Nobody outside the building expected this one to work. The Deseret News season preview ran under the question of whether the streak of nineteen straight playoff appearances would finally end, and reported that the whispers were everywhere — press row, radio, the preview magazines. Jerry Sloan's answer fell "somewhere roughly between trust and blind faith" .
18 in, 8 out. Every move the record shows for this season, with the reason where a source gives one. Where no reason is documented, the entry says nothing rather than guess.
In
18 ARRIVED2002 NBA draft first round pick (#19 overall)
Ryan Humphrey never played a minute for the club
2002 NBA draft second round pick (#46 overall)
Jamal Sampson never played a minute for the club
signed first round pick to a 3-year, $3.6M contract with a fourth year, $2M team option
- Orlando took him 18th in 2002 and traded him to Utah for the 19th pick and a second-rounder. A third stress fracture of the same navicular bone cost him his rookie season. Utah sent him to Boston in the five-team, 13-player trade of August 2005.
- Missed his whole first NBA season to injury after being drafted.
- Background: Even before he signs, the foot is a known problem: surgery for a stress fracture of the right foot during his college years at Stanford. ESPN writes that the injury had slowed him throughout his Stanford career (junior year: 16.9 pts, 11.4 rebounds — third in the nation). source
- ARRIVAL: 2002 draft night. Orlando takes Borchardt 18th, Utah takes Ryan Humphrey 19th, and the two are traded immediately. Utah sends Orlando the rights to Ryan Humphrey (19th) PLUS a second-rounder (the rights to Jamal Sampson) — so it is not a clean 18-for-19 swap. source
- The contract: signed Friday, 12 July 2002 — 3 years, $928,100 for the first season, $2.99 million in total, plus a team option for a fourth year at $1.64 million. source
re-signed to a 2-year contract
signed free agent (from Nuggets) to a 1-year, minimum contract
- Utah signed him away from Denver on a one-year minimum contract in July 2002, and let it lapse a year later.
- Remains the all-time leading scorer in Big Ten conference history.
signed free agent to a 4-year, $18.5M contract
- He signed as a free agent in August 2002 and found the ideal home — a hard, physical player in a motion offense — staying seven seasons. Chronic knee and ankle trouble ended it: he never reported for 2009-10, saying his body could no longer withstand NBA games, and his contract was traded to Oklahoma City that December.
- Spent seven seasons with the Jazz and then became the team's long-time television colour commentator.
- Background: He did not report for the 2009-10 season: 'my body can simply no longer withstand the rigors of NBA games and practices.' source
signed free agent to a 1-year minimum contract
- Denver let his contract lapse and Utah signed him for 2002-03. He inherited the starting job when Stockton retired, but his role shrank the next year and on January 21, 2005 the Jazz dealt him to Detroit for Elden Campbell and a first-round pick.
- Led Puerto Rico to a 19-point win over the United States at the 2004 Olympics, one of the great upsets in basketball history.
- Background: Undrafted. He plays in Toronto and Denver in 2001-02; Denver does NOT renew his contract before the 2002-03 season, and Utah then signs him for one year. source
signed first round pick to a 3-year $2.8M contract with a fourth year, $1.7M team option
signed free agent to a minimum contract
Anthony Bonner never played a minute for the club
signed free agent to a minimum contract
Joe Vogel never played a minute for the club
signed free agent to a minimum contract
Malik Dixon never played a minute for the club
signed free agent to a minimum contract
Mike Smith never played a minute for the club
signed free agent to a minimum contract
- The Jazz signed him on January 1, 2004, waived him five days later, then brought him back on a 10-day contract.
- Was the 20th overall pick in 1997 out of Wisconsin.
re-signed to a 1-year minimum contract
- ARRIVAL: Utah selected him 28th overall in the first round of the 1999 draft (from Kentucky, 1998 champion, 1998 Wooden First Team All-American). As a rookie he started 9 games, 2.6 points. He worked his way into Sloan's rotation — third season 6.7 points and 3.8 rebounds, fourth season he played ALL 82 games. source
signed free agent
Michael Smith never played a minute for the club
signed free agent to a 1-year minimum contract
- Denver waived him and Utah signed him on October 2, 2002 to back up John Stockton, at 37. He played all 82 games without starting one. Stockton retired that May, the Jazz went young, and Jackson sat unsigned until Houston took him in January 2004.
- Retired third on the NBA's all-time assists list, behind Jazz legend John Stockton.
- Background: The 2002-03 season: he played ALL 82 games, without a single start. During that season he passed everyone except his teammate Stockton and became SECOND in NBA history in assists. source
- ARRIVAL — confirmed: New York traded him to Denver in the deal around Antonio McDyess (summer 2002) and the Nuggets WAIVED HIM immediately. On October 2, 2002 he signed with Utah as a backup to John Stockton, at 37 years old. source
team exercised contract option through 2003-04
- ARRIVAL: the 23rd pick of the 2000 draft, straight out of high school (Washington Union, Fresno) — the first high schooler drafted by Utah. source
signed free agent
- The much-travelled big man spent the 2002-03 season in Utah, one of his twelve NBA franchises.
- Played for twelve different NBA franchises, an all-time record.
Out
8 LEFTplayer became an unrestricted free agent
- THE END: after the 2001-02 season the Jazz offer him NOTHING. In his own words to the Deseret News: "They never offered me anything. Nothing. They could say they did, but they didn't." source
player became an unrestricted free agent
player became an unrestricted free agent
- THE END OF THE FIRST STINT — the Jazz RELEASE him in early October 1995: 'Early this month the Utah Jazz called and laid him off.' The reason, given by Scott Layden (director of basketball operations): 'You look for a player who can grow' — the club does not want to stand still. The spot as Stockton's backup goes to Howard Eisley (Jamie Watson is also mentioned in the article). source
player became an unrestricted free agent
- The reason in his own words: he wants to reach a Finals again. "I believe Utah gives me that chance right now to do that." source
player became an unrestricted free agent
- THE REASON he was not re-signed is NOT explained in any accessible source — Deseret merely states the fact. He was not traded and not waived mid-contract. source
player became an unrestricted free agent
lost free agent (to 76ers)
retired