| Show Jazz enter 10th season in place they now call ‘Home’ After all kinds of adventures we find the Jazz entering their 10th sea son in Utah Ten seasons' The team that came from New Oi leans and kept the same name colors and uniforms has genuinely found a home The Jazz's resounding success m the 1987-8regular season and plav-ofi'- s made the early yean in Utah easy to forget Hut no doubt this was a franchise that struggled on and off the court to build a winner in Salt Lake City With expectations higher than ever and the Jazz talking seriously about winning 50 games and even challenging for the NBA championship here's a look at their Utah history 1979-80- : Sain Battis-ton- e and Larry Hatfield move the franchise from New Orleans and hire Tom Nissalke as head coach and Atlanta Hawks assistant coach Frank Layden as general manager Adrian Dantley is acquired from the Lakers in a trade for Spencer Haywood Future Hall of Fame player Pete Mara-vicis waived during the season but Dantley becomes Utah s first All-Stas the Jazz finish 24 58 The Jazz go through 20 players during that first season in Utah searching for the right combination Players who came and went in the early days and are still actn e in the NBA include Dallas point guard Brad Davis Washington forward Bernard King and Golden State center Jerome Whitehead 1980-81- : The Jazz take NCAA Player of the Year Darrell Griffith of Louisville with the No 2 pick m the NBA draft and Griffith becomes the NBA Rookie of the Year and Dantley leads the league in scoring with a 307 average The Jazz sign point guard Rickey Green from Billings of the Continental Basketball Association: he eventually becomes e leader in games the Jazz's played The Jazz improve to 28-5Veteran guard Ron Boone a local hero from his days with the ABA Utah Stars plays in his 1000th consecutive professional game 1981-82- : Dantley starts for the Western Conference in the All-StGame for the third straight year and finishes third in the NBA in scoring and seventh in field-goa- l percentage while Green starts to make real impact by finishing sixth in steals and with assists The Jazz end up 25-5Layden taking over as coach m December Dantley scores 57 points in a game the NBA high for the season 1982-83- : The Jazz who find UCLA center Mark Eaton in the fourth 8 round of the diaft tiade first round choice Dominique Wilkins to Atlanta Dantley misses the last 80 games of the regular season following surgery on his wrist but the Jazz reach the level for the first time in Utah and Layden is rewarded with a 10 year contract The Jazz make all 39 attempts in a game against Portland to set an all time NBA record 30-wi- free-throv- v firs'-roun- 1 d 0 All-Sta- ’88- - ’89 UTAH JAZZ all-tim- 4 c 3 44-3- 8 2-- 0 18-2- 2 5 mi Tw 1983-84- : To this day Layden calls this his most satisfying season With rookies Thurl Bailey and Bobby Hansen added to a more stable team the Jazz go 11-- in December and go on to the win the Midwest Division record championship with a 45-3Layden is named the NBA Coach of the Year and NBA Executive of the Year and coaches Dantley and Green r Game Statistiin the NBA cally they have four individual champions — Dantley (scoring) Eaton (blocked shots) Griffith (three-poin- t shooting) and Green (steals) 2 7 All-Sta- Golden State’s Joe Barry Carroll goes up against big Mark Eaton while Larry Smith left watches 4 41-4- h 7 While playing 1 1 home games in Las Vegas the Jazz are 25-- in the Salt Palace In the franchise's first playoff appearance the jazz defeat Denver in five games in the first round but lose to Phoenix m six games in the second round But the Jazz have taken a very important step they're now on their way to a still alive streak of seasons that send them to the playoffs This first winning season and playoff appearance comes after nine losing years in New Orleans and Salt Lake City 1981-85- : The Jazz need a strong reregular-seasofinish for a cord but stage a shocking comeback led by rookie guard John Stockton to win their playoff series with Houston in a deciding Game 5 on the road They lose to Denver in five games in the first round Local car dealer Iairry Miller buys half of the franchise in a transaction completed just before the end of the regular season 1985-8(1- : Griffith misses the whole season with a foot injury but rookie forward Karl Malone immediately makes his presence known by helprecord Danting the Jazz to a 42-4r ley makes his sixth appearance in seven seasons but misses the playoffs with a back injury and the Jazz lose to Dallas in four games in the first round Shortly after the season Miller buys the rest of the franchise from Battistone preventing a sale and move to Minnesota 1986-87- : In August the Jazz trade Dantley to Detroit for Kelly Tripucks and Kent Benson The Jazz use a 12-- December highlighted by several improbable road victories to send them to a record and a homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs But after taklead over Golden State they ing a lose the next three games and are eliminated But interest m the team remains high — the front office has a rebusy summer with season-ticke- t newals at a record high rate 1987-88- : in late Standing January the Jazz regroup and finish 47-3the best record in franchise history Malone finishes fourth in the NBA in rebounding (12 0) and fifth in scoring (27 7) while Stockton breaks an NBA season assists record on the final night Even with their late drive the Jazz are unable to gain a homecourt advantage in the playoffs but they still handle Portland in four games and then extend the defending — and eventual — champion Lakers to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals drawing national attention What s ahead for the Utah Jazz? Great possibilities — a new arena more televised games and maybe even an NBA championship in the future Jazz on the verge of hitting the magic 50 In the NBA the difference between good teams and very good teams is easily measured too the Jazz can point to several sons why they'll be better than Fifty games A team that can wan 50 of season games immediately takes on a special distinction And the Jazz find themselves on the verge of doing just that this season Even after a disappointing first half of the 1987-8season the Jazz ended up only three w ins short of the 50 mark and Coach Frank Layden is already challenging his team to break the barrier this season Certainly the Jazz have the potential to do that and more as shown by finish their strong regular-seasoand playoff performance last spring While other teams keep improving The right mix — The Jazz made a transition from an older team to a younger team m the last couple of seasons but they now have a good 8 in 1988-8- reaev er 9 combination of experience and youth Their best players are all en- tering the prime of their careers — center Mark Eaton is starting his sev enth season forward Thurl Bailey and guard Bobby Hansen their sixth guard John Stockton his fifth and forward Karl Malone his fourth Add to that list veterans like Marc Iavarom and Darrell Griffith and several young players looking for jobs and playing tune — Mike Brown Jose Ortiz Eric Leckner Scott Roth Bart Kofoed Eddie Hughes Jeff Moe Billy Donovan Ricky Grace Ron Rowan and Marty Simmons — and you have the makings of not only a very competitive training camp but a final roster d Confidence — The events of last April and Mav have to have a nice carryover effect The Jazz struggled on the road for much of last season but reaching their best record ever was made possible by winning their last four road games including outings at Portland and Seattle Forced to open the playoffs on the road the Jazz split two games at Portland and had the momentum to come home and finish off the series In the Westi rn Conference si mifi- - nals against the Lakers the Jazz shocked the defending champs in Game 2 m the Forum and even more remarkably almost staged a second road upset in Game 5 before finally falling in seven games At home the Jazz were solid all season They ended up 33-- in the Salt Palace losing only to the NBA's elite in their home arena Unlike the previous season the Jazz did a good job of w inning games they w ere supposed to a trend that will be important this season when they play six games against Miami and two against the newest NBA Charlotte members Consistency — Possiblv the key to the Jazz s strong second half of last season was that Coach Frank Lavden See OUTLOOK on H5 8 198889 Utah Jazz Home Schedule —— — John Stoc'kton right drives around F’hocnu s Eddie JolTnson |
