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Memo Okur, you won my heart.
Posted by: Diana on December 23rd, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.The Jazz announced on Thursday at 5:29 p.m. that they traded Memo Okur to the New Jersey Nets. If you want to see how it was phrased in their press release you can thanks to Salt City Hoops:
Isn’t it nice that we get a 2nd round pick in the year 2015! We also get a trade exception, which in the Jazz’s eyes and many fans eyes makes the trade well worth it. I understand that basketball is “just a business”, I understand that the Jazz save $8 million and I understand that doing this trade gives the Jazz greater flexibility for make future trades.
Our friend Jody Genessy of the Deseret News wrote a great article about the business and personal side of the Memo trade. One thing that stood out to me was what Memo’s agent said
Okur did not want to be traded, according to his agent, Marc Fleisher.
Tribjazz on twitter tweeted that Memo was completely caught off guard by the trade.
I know the Jazz don’t talk but why not talk to Memo about it beforehand , he has shown great loyalty to the organization over the last seven years. Yes Greg did call him to tell him about the trade, that was nice of him.
I am crushed by this trade. I know the rational, logical fan thinks its great. Oh Diana, the Jazz will save so much money, oh Diana its necessary for the future of the franchise, oh Diana, Memo is old, we have a crowded front court. Oh Diana you just don’t get it.
I do get it, I get it. The one problem is that I am not in business with the Jazz, I don’t make money off the Jazz or the NBA. I am a FAN. I am emotionally invested in the Jazz. I spend my time, thinking, writing, and tweeting about the Jazz, they are my passion. To prove how much they are my passion, I kid you not that my daughter’s (who is now seven) first complete sentence was “I love the Utah Jazz”. My daughter’s favorite player, Memo Okur.
Memo is also my favorite player, the Memo of old, Money Memo. There is John, there is Karl and tied for third would be old Memo and old Deron. Memo renewed my Jazz fandom. I have been a Jazz fan for many many years but in the early 2000s my fandom hit a little lull. Its not like during that time, I didn’t root for the Jazz nor watch their games, I did but my heart wasn’t as invested like it was when I was growing up or how invested I am now with the team.
It was Memo’s play and personality that was what started to get my heart more and more attracted to the Jazz once more. The Jazz played the 76ers on New Years Eve of 2005. My husband and I went to that game. It was a fun game to watch despite the fact that the Jazz were a sub .500 ball club with a record of 14-16. Memo scored 21 points (three 3-pointers) it was the first time I watched Memo in person, he won my heart.
Memo’s loyalty to the Jazz is lost in this day and age of sports. Memo put it all out on the line for the Jazz in the 2010 playoffs, something I as a fan will never forget.
Memo never complained about starts, or how many minutes he played. As the longest reigning Jazz man coming into camp this year, Memo could have demanded to start and said he was a “starter, period”. Memo did not make such demands, Memo said he would do whatever the team needed him to do, play fewer minutes, come off the bench, start, whatever would help the team to win.
Memo was clutch. I can’t recall how many Jazz games Memo won for us, but it was more than a few. Memo was never afraid to take the big shot for the Jazz. He tipped in a game winner against the Spurs ending a huge drought against them, he hit clutch 3’s and then blocked a game winning layup against the Pistons in 2008. Memo played excellent defense in the 2007 playoffs against Yao Ming and hit clutch 3’s in game 7 on the road of that series, in the same playoffs he was amazing on offense against the Warriors and played great defense against Tim Duncan in the Western Conference Finals. Memo was clutch.
And lets not forget that he wasn’t afraid to make fun of Kobe:
Memo will always be a Jazz man to me. I will go to the New Jersey game in January and give Memo the standing ovation he deserves from the Jazz and Jazz fans. Thank you Memo for seven wonderful years.
Replies: 17
Views: 1345
17 Responses
I can’t agree more. Absolutely heartbreaking, even if the trade makes sense from a business point of view.
A couple of my own “Money” highlights:
few years ago, when the Jazz played here in Toronto, the Turkish community turned out in full force (Memo versus Turkulu). I’ll never forget the sight of Memo making foul shots at the ACC while a gigantic Turkish flag was unfurled by hundreds of fans. (Incidentally, Hedo went scoreless, said he was sick and was photographed two nights later in a Toronto night club. The rest was history for Hedo).
There’s a great European TV commercial featuring Memo at a party. He tosses an ice cube through throngs of people and drops it into a glass perfectly from 20 feet away. Money!
Okur’s 3-pointers always seemed to bring the house down. I think everyone will miss that arc he placed on his shots.
Okur had an easy-going, laid-back style that seemed natural and sincere. He seemed to take the team seriously, but never himself.
We all wish the guy success in New Jersey. But you sure can’t help but feel a little sad.
And because it is a business that’s the way it is. Not every player can leave like Stockton as a retired player. Some come back to the Jazz (Thurl Baily), and play some more. When the Nets come here to play the Jazz Memo will get a standing ovation and he will know how much he was liked. So who is the Senior Jazzman know?? Sap??
aww. Diana, sorry Okur got traded. That’s kind of how I felt about Price. I understood that his talent was not what the Jazz needed, but it was hard for me to go to the scrimmage and not see him there.
Dude Memo is the best. I am really sad to see him go. He did a great job for us, and he wasn’t cocky or arrogant he was really cool when he came into the store. I hope Utah retires his jersey.
Thanks for your comments. I am happy to see we all loved Memo. I remember that Toronto game Cam I loved all the Turkey support Memo received. I saw that commercial on youtube it was awesome!
i am sad to see the reports on twitter from the reporters of how sad the teammates are and that Memo is having a hard time.
Love the guy. Good luck in Jersey.
I agree. How hard would it have been to extend a little courtesy to a guy that has done EVERYTHING you’ve asked him to do? Talk to the guy! Give him a chance to speak his mind before you send him packing. I really think Memo would have retired a Jazz man given the opportunity. Instead, the front office ships him off to New Jersey. I understand the trade and why it makes sense, but you don’t just blind side someone like that, that’s bad business. It’s seems like the Jazz are good at doing that though. Deron found out he was traded from the news ticker on ESPN, Brewer was pulled off the plane after he was traded, now it seems Okur was totally surprised by his trade. I’m happy for Memo though, he wasn’t going to see the floor much with the Jazz, especially since Kanter, Favors, and Evans are demanding minutes. He’ll get plenty of time in New Jersey, especially with Brook Lopez being out at least 2 months. Good luck Memo! I’ll never forget the “Money Man.”
P.S. I really miss that team from the videos above. They were all likable guys, Memo, Deron, Brewer, Matty, even Boozer had his moments. Too bad things have fallen apart to quickly.
@Diana
Thanks for this post and especially for the videos you put together. I know thing have settled down a little about this trade and many fans are excited about the possibilities involving the trade exception, but for me this whole thing points out how two faced pro basketball management can be. It has been that way for a long time with most of the NBA, put I thought the Jazz had a little more class than that, not anymore. When a team brings a player in they promote the heck out of him. They send him out into the community to sign autographs, meet and greet the fans. They print up new T-shirts, jerseys to sell, they do features during the games so fans can get to know the player, his family, his background, his hobbies even the first car he owned. In other words, they want the fan to like him as a person, maybe even a friend. One of the most important perks sponsors and season ticket holders receive is the opportunity to spend quality time with a player, go golfing, have dinner and more. The biggest fundraiser of the year involves fans paying a great deal of money, not to watch the players play basketball, but ping-pong, video games and sign autographs, take pictures, get to know the fans. And then in a 180 degree move (sorry Karl not 360 degrees) they explain that players are just assets to be used to buy, sell and trade or bargaining chips to be used to play in a giant game of chance. Professional basketball is not just a game of numbers and stats, wins and losses. It has a cult of hero worship and often is personality driven. Why else would people wait in line and fight over spending $170.00 for shoes that will not make them play better or jump higher or in any way resemble Michael Jordan?
So for those of us who come to care about the basketball players as people, give us a chance to grieve for a loss that really hurts.
A valuable lesson for me in all this is that I probably won’t ever again spend over $100 on an authentic jersey or even $25 on a t-shirt, because the next day it might be obsolete.
Wow that was a lot longer rant than I thought, but I do feel better now and it is so much cheaper than therapy.
The trade news had me stunned as well. If you look at the new roster, how many players have played for the Jazz just two years ago? I see two – Millsap and Miles.
Where is the continuity and loyalty that in my eyes made the Utah Jazz such a great club? I would have liked Memo and AK (of course if his demands were as outrageous as reported…) to be on the squad this year, I love to see those guys play.
Now the Utah Jazz have lost one great story line (will Memo make it back into greatness?) and a lot of heart.
If you treat players like that, how can you expect loyalty once the time to re-up a contract comes around?
Actually, the Jazz save $10.8m (not $8m) and generate more PT for the kids. The TPE is just like the Jazz being $10.8m under the cap, freeing up all kinds of options.
If they could have done this last year, it would have saved them $30m ($20m in salary and $10m in tax).
Jazzaholic
Great post, Diana, as usual. I was sad to see Memo go, but I definitely see the business end of it. I think that it came down to Memo or Millsap, and Memo was the easier of the two to part with from a basketball standpoint.
As to those complaining about how tight-lipped the front office is, while I sympathize for these players and their families, I can understand why KOC and company don’t want these trades to hit the press before they are finalized, and a call to an agent or a player could definitely mean that it gets out. In the end, the NBA is a business first, and the players understand that way better than all of us do.
So long, Moneyman. It was great while it lasted. As a side note, my first Jazz-related blog post (long before I was a Jazzbot) was about a game-winning three that Memo hit.
@jazzaholic Ross Siller tweeted that it was actually 8 million if you pro rate his salary from the lockout. Thats where I got the 8 million from.
@Deb I really appreciate your rant. You bring up things that I didn’t really bring up in my post but that I have thought a lot about in the last year with the Jazz and especially since yesterday. So we are supposed to support management which is fine but how can they be sad when players don’t want to resign with them. I used to feel for the Jazz when it came to players resigning now i am seeing it from a new light. I too won’t buy a player jersey or merchandise. I’ll get myself a Jimmer BYU jersey
@jeff thanks. I agree it was easier to part with Memo than Millsap. I get why they don’t call because it could get out I just feel for the players who are completely blindsided who don’t want to leave like Memo and Brewer.
@AG- I miss that team. I felt close to that team, I don’t feel that way yet about these guys. I have attachments but its not the same .
@arne- I too thought the Jazz were different but in the last year it is hard to see that they are any different from any other team. I know KOC is a top GM but it doesn’t make this trade any easier from the emotional side.
Memo’s making near $11M for one year of playing basketball. Being traded is the crappy part of that deal. As for the Jazz (and any business for that matter), you have to be ready to pull the trigger when opportunity presents itself. Brooke Lopez went down, boom, Memo, your fourth big, with a big contract and question marks becomes a year-long trade chip and 2nd round pick. Good move, but hard emotionally.
These players all know that when a contract is signed it is also tradeable. That is why kobe put a “no trade” clause in his contract. Usually only “franchise” players can do this. Yes sad to see them go but you pay me ten million a year and I would go to Portland..
From: Bill Ingram
“It reduces costs immediately. You stop paying memo until you find the better player… at $10.890 mil, Memo costs the Jazz $64,000 per day. He was not going to play, so this move gets the Jazz under the cap now. Second, the Exception is not the prize. For both the Lakers and the Jazz, the first move was clear out the rotation and reduce some costs. The second move was the exception. Keep in mind, you can not be “signed” using a TPE, you can only acquire a player under contract in trade using a TPE. That player technically can be signed a traded, but you can not use a TPE on a free agent. That said, This year the Magic acquired Von Wafer in the Big baby trade with Boston using the Rashard Lewis trade exception. The Raptors tried to use some of theirs from Chris Bosh to get Mickeal Pietrus from the Suns but failed his physical and backed out. The Mavs used their TPE from the Tyson Chandler trade to land Lamar Odom.”
Jazzaholic
The Jazz are the same Jazz they have always been. Business is business. Those of you who think this isn’t the same Jazz are crazy, they are just in a different position then they have been in a long time, but even Utah of old would have cleared a big man log jam for young potential talant and improving their future.
Just like to the players, its a business. If not, then why don’t we have Matthews or AK? Because of money, its a business from both sides, team or player.