Utah Jazz: Knight gladly leaves L.A. for a playoff shot

Brevin Knight was enjoying a summer vacation last week when he was informed that he'd been traded to the Jazz from the Los Angeles Clippers.

So, naturally, dreaming of a white Christmas (what else?) in late July got him and his family "all on board" over their impending relocation from sunny Southern California to the oft-chillier Rocky Mountains.

"They haven't seen a snowy Christmas in a while, so I told 'em, 'Don't worry. They'll have enough snow to go around,"' Knight said while being introduced to Utah media Thursday at the Jazz's training facility.

Snow isn't the only thing the lightning-quick 5-foot-10 point guard is eagerly looking forward to experiencing this upcoming season in Utah, where he'll join his ninth NBA franchise.

Knight is mostly dreaming of winning in Salt Lake City. Winning in the postseason would be all the better for the well-traveled 11-year NBA veteran, who the Jazz received in exchange for third-string point guard Jason Hart.

"The last couple of years I've been wanting to get into a winning organization," he said Thursday at the Jazz training facility, "(and) be with a team that I felt was going to continue to win, and this organization has been that way over the years, so I was excited (to get traded)."

In other words, he'll happily trade Hollywood for the playoffs. Makes sense, too, considering he endured a 23-59 season with the Clippers in 2007-08 and has played in all of nine playoff games during stints with eight other teams over 11 seasons.

Knight will wear the No. 2 for the Jazz, and with his Stanford education, he is wise enough to realize that he'll be battling Ronnie Price to play second fiddle behind Utah's current Olympic-caliber point guard. The 1997 first-round pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who also spent time with Atlanta, Memphis, Phoenix, Washington, Milwaukee, Charlotte and L.A., said he completely understands that "this is Deron Williams' team."

Still, he looks forward to competing with and pushing the Jazz starter and hopes he can help improve his game and Utah's team regardless of when he comes off the bench.

"I don't come in here with any position ... I'm not first, second (string)," he said. "I'm coming as a player that's going to prove to the coaching staff, prove to the city, that I'm worthy of being on the court."

Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said Knight's "stability" is his greatest asset. He was, of course, speaking of Knight's consistent play and not his tendency to bounce around the league, which he even did three times during the 2003-04 season.

"He's consistently proven that he can run a team," O'Connor said.

Along with his leadership skills in running the team, Knight says the Jazz "expect me to be quick." He's quite familiar with the Jazz as an opponent, so he joked that he can already run the "1-4 high post" and "automatic" for coach Jerry Sloan. The 32-year-old also said the Jazz want their oldest roster player to provide "a positive voice in the locker room" and to help younger players.