No NBA player since 1996 had scored more in a debut than Gordan Giricek's 29 points for Memphis in 2002. The Croatian sharpshooter came to Utah in a February 2004 trade for DeShawn Stevenson and gave the Jazz four seasons of efficient shooting — 53.8 percent from three in the 2007 playoffs, when Utah reached the Western Conference Finals. A heated argument with Jerry Sloan in December 2007 ended his stay, and days later he was traded for Kyle Korver.
A product of Zagreb's Cibona club, Giricek played in five consecutive European Championships for Croatia and finished his career back home at Cibona in 2011.
HOW HE CAME & WENTOrlando sent him to Utah for DeShawn Stevenson and a second-round pick on February 19, 2004. After a heated timeout exchange with Jerry Sloan at Charlotte on December 19, 2007 he was sent home, and ten days later he was traded to Philadelphia for Kyle Korver.
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| SEASON | TEAM | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | UTA | 25 | 24.2 | 13.5 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | .431 | .359 | .883 |
| 2004–05 | UTA | 81 | 20.5 | 8.8 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | .448 | .362 | .810 |
| 2005–06 | UTA | 37 | 25.8 | 10.6 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | .433 | .305 | .754 |
| 2006–07 | UTA | 61 | 19.5 | 7.8 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | .462 | .426 | .816 |
| 2007–08 | UTA | 22 | 12.7 | 4.3 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.0 | .402 | .353 | 1.000 |
| JAZZ TOTAL | 5 SEASONS | 226 | 20.7 | 8.9 | 2.1 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | .442 | .373 | .819 |
Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗ · Wikipedia ↗