Jazz draftee meets Utah
Almond says he was surprised that team's fans know who he is
Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller was impressed after meeting him Friday that the slender 6-foot-6 sharpshooter from Rice seems confident but humble ("not artificially" humble) and readily repeats how happy he is to be a Jazzman.
"You have to hope he means it," said Miller, who joyfully elbowed senior VP of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor Thursday when Phoenix didn't take Almond with its No. 24 pick Thursday. "I think he's got a chance to be something special."
Well, maybe all Almond has said the past 10 days, since his June 19 pre-draft Utah workout, about how the Jazz play the right way and how it's a perfect fit for him, are actually how he does feel.
Maybe he really is a straight shooter off the court, too.
His agent, Lon Babby, said that while Almond was in Washington, D.C., to work out for the Wizards, he visited Babby. "He showed up in my office about 10 days ago wearing a Utah Jazz T-shirt.
"I said, 'Are you trying to send a message?'
"And he said, 'You know, I just felt very comfortable there.'"
Babby also said Almond, a self-described "Army brat" from Atlanta, was pleased to see the main sports-page headlines, "Almond joy," and big stories about him in Friday's Utah papers. "He's not like a lot of players I represent that come from environments where they're used to this. He sort of still relishes seeing his name in the newspaper and being on TV. He meant it when he said, 'They knew who I was?'"
Almond was surprised at the EnergySolutions Arena ovation when the Jazz announced they'd picked him, surprised fans knew of Rice or himself. "Icing on the cake," he said. "Just to start on a good foot makes me really want to prove my worth and make everybody feel they were justified in choosing me."
When asked about the recent poll of NBA players that picked Utah as the worst place to be, Almond said, "They do them, and I'll do me. I'm more than happy to be here. I know the system fits me well, and I've said it over and over, I think this is just the absolute best fit for me."
As he talked, someone from the Jazz put an official Utah draft-day cap on his head. He flinched, not certain if it was proper or on straight. Told it was NBA policy, he said, "Oh, as long as it's procedure, I'll do it."
And coach Jerry Sloan wasn't even standing over him.
He's admittedly "low-key," even to the point he said if the Jazz send him to Orem of the NBDL, "I can't say it would be a disappointment. They know what they're doing here. They're the professionals. I'm the amateur making the jump, so just whatever they ask me to do."
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