The 3rd & final of the looks at the guys that are no longer on the Jazz after spending (some) time on the squad last year. First up was Jarron Collins, who saw his 8-year tenure with the team come to an end. Then came Morris Almond, who spent most of the last 2 seasons playing in the D-League. Last, but not least, comes Brevin Knight.

Brevin Knight

08-09 stats: 74 GP (0 GS), 12.7 mpg, 2.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 0.9 spg, 0.1 bpg, 34.9 FG%, 75.0 FT%, 0.0 3-PT%

Jazz career: 74 GP (0 GS), 12.7 mpg, 2.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 0.9 spg, 0.1 bpg, 34.9 FG%, 75.0 FT%, 0.0 3-PT%

Jazz Career: After the horror that was the Jason Hart experiment, the Jazz and Clippers talked after the season and agreed to a trade. The Clippers got back Hart, who had played reasonably well for them the half-season before he joined the Jazz in free-agency. The Jazz got back a warm body that could (we hoped) play the 3rd-PG spot behind Ronnie Price, but Brevin's veteran status made that a far off dream. Knight was supposed to come over as a fairly good FT shooter, a PG with a solid/good assist:turnover ratio and a really bad jumper. The largest problem was that Sloan all of a sudden forgot about Ronnie Price (for the 2nd straight season!) and gave Knight most of the minutes. So it went. Early on, with Deron out, Brevin showed some flashes playing behind Ronnie P. Sadly, after Deron's return, Ronnie lost minutes and Brevin... who was quickly showing flashes of being Jason Hart v.2.0... got them. It didn't work out well for either party though and he was allowed to leave, like Flop & Mo Nuts, after the season via free agency.

The Good: Easy. He wasn't Jason Hart. Really, that's all I have. He was fine backing up Ronnie P. to start the season, when his jumper was somehow falling a bit, but as the season wore on, that stopped.

The Bad: He forgot the FT-shooting & assist:turnover ratio back in LA, shooting his worst percentage from the line in 5 years and committing way too many turnovers while not playing enough to rack up the assists. Meanwhile his shooting from the field, which he had been forewarned would be bad, managed to be even worse... he shot a career-worst 35% from the field. And yet, for some reason, with the clock running down to end the quarter, it was always him pulling up for a jumper. Have I mentioned that his play meant the benching of Ronnie P, who while not a true PG was definitely a better option most of the time?

The Outcome: Disappointment. All we really wanted was someone that wasn't Jason Hart... and he failed at that. Like Hart, he stole minutes that Price deserved. Like Hart, his end-of-quarter jumper made AK's jumper seem like it'd never miss. Like Hart, he failed to keep the offense going when Deron left the court.

The Replacements: It'll depend on how much Sloan is willing to use a rookie (E3), but the current back-ups to Deron are Ronnie Price & Eric Maynor. And with the early injuries, there's a chance that Ronnie Price (& Deron?) could see time at the 2-guard spot, meaning the team could call on Maynor early. It'll be interesting to see how that goes... his jumper is better than the one exhibited by Hart/Knight, but his go-to move seems to be the floater, which has refused to fall for him during the summer league/preseason. That'll need some work, but I'm sure he's working on it. Price isn't a true PG by Sloan's standards, but he can carry the offense for short periods of times, whether it's by finding the open guy or by scoring. Which, given the stagnancy we've seen the last 2 years, has been a huge time coming.

His Future: He's not with a squad as of now, as far as I know. Maybe someone comes calling later in the season, after an injury or something? It's still TBD. If it's the end, it's been a long and solid career for him... nothing to be down on.

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