Meet
The Local Kids Get to Shine
Posted by: Diana on May 31st, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Today the Jazz held their 2nd of their pre-draft workouts. According to the national blogs and websites, it was not a workout to get excited about. In fact the Ridiculous Upside Blog (a blog on SB Nation that covers the D league) wrote a piece previewing it entitled ” The Utah Jazz Will Host the Most Utah Jazz NBA Draft Workout Ever on Tuesday”
Jackson Emery and Michael Stockton don’t know if they’ll get another shot at working out for another NBA team but the Jazz gave them that shot today.
As a fan covering my first media type event. I was nervous. I arrived at a time I thought would be late (thank you I-15 traffic) so the anxiety of maybe being late and my nerves had me looking quite out of place. At the door I was greeted by Jonathan Rinehart. Jonathan is the PR director for the Jazz. In his Jazz polo he tells me I look a little lost. I explain to him its my first time being at the Zions Bank Basketball Center. I told Jonathan who invited me to attend and he lead the way to the media waiting room.
The media room is crowed, I am told there are many more media members covering this workout than Sunday’s workout. I was 10 minutes late but am told its ok they usually start late. I have a few minutes to look around the room and see all the local media celebrities. Just as my nerves are calming, Jonathan walks in the room and says they are ready for us.
Here it is the big moment. I have seen this gym a million times on TV, I have heard many many interviews take place in this gym and now I am at it in person. It hits me. I am walking on the same court that John and Karl practiced on, where Jerry Sloan ran his practices!
I am given quick advice from the Jazz PR person who invited me… Gary Briggs doesn’t allow heels on the court, stick to the groups as you talk to the players and don’t be afraid to get right in there.
Alright easy enough, I wasn’t wearing heels, I am good at following people and well the third rule a little harder. I had my phone with its recorder, a little more ghetto than the professional reporters with their digital recorders, thats ok mine does the job, I knew to stand as part of the circle, but asking questions a little bit harder than you can imagine.
All the attention was directed towards Michael Stockton(Westminister) and Jackson Emery (BYU). I didn’t even get a chance to talk to Mustapha Farrakhan (UVA), Brady Morningstar (KU).
Michael Stockton was the first interview, he sounded similar to his dad.
Stockton on his dad :
he’s my idol on and off the court i am very fortunate to be in this postion right now very lucky
I thought about this all last night ….. this is actually a dream come true. very lucky to be a part of something absolutely a dream come true
….almost everything else is 2nd nature. This one I got a little nervous… think of the guys running the drills and the coaches. Coach Corbin and Coach Hornacek. I watched those guys growing up I learned a lot from them back in the day and it was just it was really cool getting to hear a little bit from them and work out with them
…slept well for 2 hours than wake up and get all excited and try to get back to sleep it was a really interesting night
same as everyone else got. thanks for coming good hard work and way to finish strong, as long as i didn’t get yelled at and kicked out, i’m happy!
absolutely
I am not a fool, I know to play basketball after college is a lot of hard work this is a complete different level this is the big time and you learn that as soon as you get in here they dynamics of workout are hard enoughdef it is defintiely difficult and a lot of fun to be here
I don’t know if you want to know that It always switched.
For Utah media purposes I’ll say John Stockton it switched all the time it was more a flavor of the month deals John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek were definitely in there too and Karl.
that not going well at the moment. The Millers seem to have a strangle hold on it I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pry it away from their fingers maybe someday… maybe someday I can be a part of it someway some how.
same thing as always, talked to him last night
don’t be afraid of anyone you can play with these guys and I always belived in myself and onea main reason is because he’s always told me I can do it definitely a boost of confidence down the road
As I was listening to Michael Stockton speak I couldn’t help but think of all the great memories his dad has given me as a Jazz fan.
It speaks volumes about the organization that the son of one of the if not the greatest Jazz player of all time gets a workout. Corbin touched on that in his time with the media. Corbin said “it speaks well of the organization, that these players get an opportunity to come in here and work hard” Corbin said how Michael is his daughters age so its kind of weird but rewarding. Spoke of how its Michael’s dream to come here and get an opportunity to try out for an NBA team and how he should be grateful, not many get this shot.
Coach Corbin at one point looked me in the eye, that was a good moment. That was right before he talked about the differences in his role now and his role in the past during pre-draft workouts.
Corbin loves his new role. He feels that he has more time now. If he wants to see a player doing a certain thing before there were time restraints, now he can ask that player to do it again. He said the Jazz always have a script that they follow but its nice to be able to adjust to it on the fly.
Jackson Emery also spoke to the media. I will write up that in my next post on Jimmer. Just to give you a preview Jackson talked a lot about Jimmer and how they have helped each other become better players, what he needs to do to make it to the NBA and similarities between the Jazz workouts and Coach Rose’s workouts.
This was an amazing experience. I will write posts as I get to go to the draft workouts. If you have any ideas for questions for the players (I will ask questions next time) I think I will have a post the day before where we can all make our suggestions.
Today was special. Its unlikely that any of the four players that worked out together today for the Jazz will have a straight shot into the NBA but the Jazz helped them along that path. The Jazz being the stand up organization that they are deep in tradition, kept the tradition alive today of giving the local kids their chance to shine.
Replies: 8
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8 Responses
Sounds like one of your dreams came true as per your last blog. They should have let Michael Stockton wear his dads old jersey. That would have been special for both of them. Good luck to these kids somewhere down the line.
Thanks LK it was totally like a dream come true. I’d have laughed so hard to see Michael wearing John’s jersey And like you said good luck to these kids. It’ll be interesting to see where their professional careers take them.
Nice post. Which of the players there was the most impressive? I watched Farrakhan a little in college and wouldn’t mind signing him if he goes undrafted.
We weren’t allowed to watch the workouts only go in afterwards for interviews.
Poor kid, he´ll be always compared with him amazing basketball player dad …
Nice post! I’m looking forward to your next post on Jimmer.
Nice job Diana! This was a fun “insider” perspective. I look forward to your other Draft workout blogs. It was certainly a classy move by our team to invite the locals. It is a shame that summer league won’t be happening, as players like Emery and Stockton could really do well there.
Oh, and I’m utterly jealous, by the way
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This is great Diana, thanks so much for posting it and for sharing your experiences. It must be so cool for those players to even have the experience to be involved with an NBA team, that is why I really miss a summer league here.