4) The Jazz go all-in on Deron Williams; June 28, 2005
On the day of the 2005 NBA Draft, the Jazz moved the No. 6 pick, the No. 27 pick and a future first-round pick to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for the third overall selection.
After a disastrous 2004-05 campaign — the Jazz finished with the NBA’s fifth-worst record despite inking future All-Stars Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur — the silver lining was a high pick in the ’05 draft. However, the lottery didn’t quite cooperate and Utah dropped back to the No. 6 spot.
In other words, the Jazz were just outside the range for players they were targeting. With the writing on the wall, then-GM Kevin O’Connor went to work.
Utilizing an excess of assets in the coffers and exploiting the Blazers’ weird crush on Martell Webster, O’Connor sent three first-round picks to Portland for the No. 3 pick, which became their franchise cornerstone in Deron Williams from Illinois.
Say what you will about Williams over Chris Paul in hindsight. Obviously, one was a great player for seven-ish years while the other is a surefire Hall of Famer. Regardless, D-Will still led the Jazz to their best seasons since the heyday of Stockton-to-Malone and Coach Jerry Sloan. Really, those years were some of the best in Jazz history.
If he had remained with the team (and relatively healthy), who knows how things would’ve played out.
What we do know is that Williams was a multiple-time All-Star (and was snubbed from a few other nods) and an Olympic gold medalist who averaged 17.3 points and 9.1 assists over five and a half years in Utah.
He also played in 44 playoff games; far more than some guy who wore No. 20 could muster. Speaking of…
Next: G-Time and the fabled Knicks pick