Utah Jazz history: Top 5 players whose numbers aren’t retired

1. Andrei Kirilenko

Prior to the 2001-02 NBA year, the Utah Jazz were strung together by an aging Karl Malone and John Stockton. They were both moving further from their primes, proving that every great story has a climax and a falling action. It was clear the classics, no matter how good they once were, were falling out of style.

The Jazz needed new life—a new beat. Something fresh, something different. Who was going to be the band’s new first chair?

A young, lanky Russian would answer the trumpet’s clarion tune.

Andrei Kirilenko entered the league as the youngest European ever drafted, when Utah picked the 20-year-old with the 24th overall pick. By the end of his first year, he was a First Team All-Rookie selection. His stellar beginning season would be just the start.

Even early on, AK-47’s biggest impact came on the defensive side of the ball. He would eventually be named to three All-Defense teams (Second Team in 2004 and 2005; First Team in 2006) and was the league’s top shotblocker in 2005, averaging 3.3 a game.

Kirlenko’s ability to guard the other team’s top offensive threat while also being able to score, pass, and rebound efficiently himself led to an All-Star selection in 2004. He was the first non-Stockton-or-Malone Jazz All-Star since Mark Eaton’s appearance in the 1989 game. That year he averaged a career-high in points (16.5) and rebounds (8.1) per game, while adding 3.1 assists and 2.8 blocks.

As the bridge from one power-duo to another, Kirilenko continued to excel as Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer joined the team in 2005. Williams was a highly-rated rookie, and Boozer, an off-season signee, ran a Jerry Sloan offense similar to that of the mid-nineties, which meant Kirilenko wouldn’t be the focal point of Utah’s offense any longer. Kirilenko, however, continued to affect all aspects of the game.

In a game against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2006, Kirilenko had 14 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 6 steals, and 7 blocks. The performance was the NBA’s first ever regulation 5 x 6 stat line, meaning Kirilenko is the only player to ever record 6 or more points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks in a game that didn’t go to overtime. Forget about the Swiss–AK-47 was a Russian Army Knife.

Kirilenko would leave Utah after spending ten years with the franchise. After a lockout stint in Russia (where he would win the EuroLeague MVP), he returned to the NBA to play three years, split between Minnesota and the Brooklyn Nets. He now serves as the Russian Basketball Federation’s commissioner.

Kirlenko is all over Utah’s record books. He ranks second in blocks; fourth in win shares (68.2), made free throws, and steals; fifth in assists and minutes played; sixth in points; seventh in games played; eighth in attempted field goals; and ninth in total rebounds and made field goals.

(Whew–Let’s take a water break after all of that.)

Kirilenko’s last Jazz game was just months after Jerry Sloan’s. Looking back, the linked departures are sort of poetic, really–a partnered wave goodbye to what the Jazz were, and a joint-welcoming to what the Jazz were becoming. Kirlenko will always be a fan-favorite, and I don’t think it’ll be too long before he gets kicked off this list and has his name hanging in downtown Salt Lake.