How the Jazz replaced Stockton and Malone without a full rebuild — and rode it to a Western Conference finals appearance.
Every franchise has a bitter taste in its mouth when its legends decide to walk away from the game. For the Utah Jazz, they spent the first few years of the new millennium figuring out what came after Stockton and Malone retired. Somehow, they built one of the most underrated rosters since.
Transition
Stockton retired in 2003, ending a run that lasted nearly two decades. Malone left to join the Los Angeles Lakers the following year. What is surely a rebuild for most franchises instead became a bridge between eras, largely thanks to Andrei Kirilenko. Kirilenko was established enough to keep the competitiveness afloat.
In the 2003-04 season — the Jazz's first without Stockton and Malone together — Kirilenko made the All-Star team and the Jazz stayed in playoff contention. At the end of the season, it wasn't enough to make the postseason, but it kept the organization and roster optimistic for the ensuing years.
Foundation
The real noise was heard during the 2004 and 2005 offseasons. Carlos Boozer signed during the 2004 free agency period, leaving Cleveland.
February 19, 2010; Sacramento, CA, USA; Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer (5) points towards the Jazz bench against the Golden State Warriors in the third quarter at ORACLE Arena. The Jazz defeated the Warriors 100-89. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY SportsAccording to Cleveland at the time, Boozer broke an agreement to return to the team.
The following draft, in 2005, Utah selected Deron Williams out of Illinois. Neither move was a lock or a sure thing in the moment. Together, they became the core of the decade's best Jazz squad.
Williams has now described his early seasons with the Jazz as basketball in its purest form — a young point guard getting the keys to an offense and just going out there and "hooping".
Freeform hoops were the structure of coach Jerry Sloan's system, built around pick-and-roll cohesion that fit Williams and Boozer perfectly. Mehmet Okur, a stretch big shooting 37% from beyond the arc, gave the offense a wrinkle that opposing defenses were not used to. Kirilenko rounded it out as the defensive anchor, guarding multiple positions on the court and protecting the rim at all costs.
Peak
It all came together in 2006-07. Utah finished 51-31, good for the fourth seed in an uber-dominant Western Conference. The Jazz beat the Houston Rockets in seven games, then swept the Golden State Warriors en route to the Western Conference finals, the franchise's best finish since the Stockton-Malone era.
The run ended against the San Antonio Spurs in five games. That Spurs team then swept a young LeBron James-led Cavaliers team in the Finals.
Williams has since said he believed the team was good enough to make more runs in future seasons, citing a modern roster construction that was ahead of its time.
Legacy
The core never got back to the conference finals. Boozer and Williams both left the following years. Boozer went to Chicago in 2010 and Williams was traded to New Jersey in 2011. Sloan resigned in the 2010-11 season after 23 years.
The 2000s Jazz proved something that still matters for how the franchise operates: you can survive the end of a legendary era without a full-fledged rebuild if a front office finds the pieces efficiently enough.
A lesson worth keeping in mind as Utah tries to build around Bailey and Peterson.
