The Utah Jazz stayed so focused on the 1997 NBA playoffs and their rise to the finals that most players gave little thought to what they would do beyond the playoffs, on summer vacation.
After Chicago finally put an end to the longest-ever Jazz season last Friday, the players came home Saturday and on Sunday cleaned out their Delta Center dressing stalls, had their last meetings with the coaches and said their summer goodbyes to each other. Then most wandered off on their own wondering what to do next.Bryon Russell, who becomes a free agent on July 1 along with five teammates (Jeff Hornacek, Antoine Carr, Howard Eisley, Shandon Anderson and Stephen Howard), did a few personal appearances this week and planned to take his family to Hawaii for a vacation. But Russell was about the only player who publicly voiced a definitive plan.
Karl Malone's publicist and personal assistant, Roxanne Hasegawa, says the Mailman expects to participate in his regular summer activities like hunting, fishing, seeing to his ranch near El Dorado, Ark., and probably spending some time with country singer Neal McCoy, but unlike other years, "He has no set schedule," Hasegawa says.
Last summer, of course, Malone, John Stockton and coach Jerry Sloan were busy with the Dream Team and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and then went almost straight into training camp, so they've had little R&R or time with their families in the last two years.
That's part of why Malone's plans are vague now. Because the Olympics and NBA season took him away so much, now, "He wants to be a dad," Hasegawa said. He also wants to see his new home above the State Capitol being finished and then get the family moved in.
Malone will do things by whim this summer, go where he wants when he wants.
In fact, Jazz director of media relations Kim Turner says Malone on Thursday took off on a motorcycle jaunt with Jackson, Wyo., as a tentative destination.
Last summer, Malone and several teammates had a well-planned fishing trip in Alaska. Malone will probably fish in several places including the Kenai this summer, too, and teammates have an open invitation to accompany him, says Hasegawa, but they'll have to be ready to go at a moment's notice. "When he decides to go, he'll ask who wants to go with him," she says.
Greg Ostertag, Jeff Hornacek, Stockton, Russell, Carr and Adam Keefe have homes in the Salt Lake Valley and could spend parts of the summer here. Stockton and Ostertag have stayed around at least through this weekend to participate in celebrity softball and golf outings.
Hasegawa said the Stocktons were packing this week. They always return to their hometown of Spokane, Wash., and spend time at their cabin in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Ostertag, Carr, Howard, Chris Morris and Greg Foster all consider Texas home, and Carr will probably spend some time in Atlanta, too, says Hasegawa. Keefe usually spends a lot of the summer with family in California, she said. Turner said Hornacek usually sees family in Chicago during the summers, but he may have had already made some of those visits during the playoffs. Hornacek took his family with him on both Jazz trips to Chicago, Turner said.
Eisley usually goes home to Detroit, said Turner, and Anderson probably went home to Atlanta, where he and older brother Willie of the Miami Heat spent part of the playoffs being with their critically ill father, who died of cancer during the NBA Finals.
The coaching staff is getting ready for Wednesday's NBA Draft. When that's done, Sloan will likely spend the rest of the summer farming in Southern Illinois, and assistant Phil Johnson will probably move to his cabin on Bear Lake, says Jazz media relations manager Mark Kelly.
Assistants Gordon Chiesa and Dave Fredman usually stay in Utah. Fredman and Jazz video coordinator Richard Smith are quite involved in the draft, says Kelly, and Smith will be a scout for the Jazz-operated Utah Starzz of the WNBA. And it won't be long before the Rocky Mountain Revue and rookie camp start up again.