Editor:
Kevin O’Connor joined the Utah Jazz in 1994 as player scout, later becoming the general manager and vice president of basketball operations in 1999. With O’Connor in charge, the Jazz have not had a single draft pick worth writing home about. No league leaders, no All-Stars, not even a starter-and only one player who is on the current roster.
In 2000, DeShawn Stevenson was the Jazz’s first-round pick-O’Connor’s first as a GM. Stevenson came with a draft night fight and later a charge of statutory rape. He never developed into a true NBA player and was traded in 2004 to the Orlando Magic.
Next on O’Connor’s first-round selection list is Raul Lopez. An undersized point guard from Spain with a bad knee, Lopez didn’t fit the NBA mold either. In fact, Lopez is currently out of the NBA.
Lopez is not the only O’Connor first-rounder missing from all NBA rosters. In 2002, Curtis Borchardt became an O’Connor first-round pick. Slow to develop and constantly injured, Borchardt never became a factor for the Jazz. A year after being traded, he found himself out of the NBA.
Aleksander Pavlovic, a shooting guard from Serbia and Montenegro, was brought in via the first round of the 2003 draft. Just one year later, Pavlovic was sent packing to Charlotte, never becoming the outside shooter the Jazz desperately lacked.
In 2004, O’Connor had two first-round draft picks. By selecting Kris Humphries and Kirk Snyder, O’Connor managed to find one first-round draft pick that actually remains on the current Jazz roster.
To have a well-rounded, competitive team, you must build through the draft. But it seems that O’Connor would rather dismantle through the draft than build.
Before the 2005 NBA season began, O’Connor showed us just how bad he is by trading three-make that three-of his first round draft picks to re-acquire Greg Ostertag.
Kevin O’Connor cannot stumble upon talent-not if it bit him on the nose. It is time for O’Connor to start packing, as in resign. He owes it to the Jazz organization and to its fans. The last five years of destruction have been simply unacceptable.
Braxton PetersonSophomore, Communication