Larry H. Miller, while sitting in his traditional court-side seats at the Delta Center, was handed the brief, hand-written message soon after the national anthem at Friday night's exhibition game against the Denver Nuggets.
"LaPhonso Ellis has made up his mind. Call him at home, ASAP."It was the news the Jazz owner had been waiting to hear -- one way or another -- for a week. Miller got Jazz vice president of basketball operations Scott Layden out of his seat and they left the noisy arena together to make the fateful call.
Miller spoke to Ellis himself and received the bad news. The Jazz had come in second yet again. Ellis, the coveted 28-year-old free agent forward, was going to sign with the Atlanta Hawks.
The game, in which the Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets 108-90, became the secondary story.
"I would have loved to have had LaPhonso here," said Miller. "He would have fit in great, but it was not to be . . . . He was very cordial. He said it was very tough to make the call, but he felt like he owed it to us. He said, 'My wife and I have done a lot of soul searching and I'm sorry that it's taken so long, but we feel like Atlanta is where we need to be right now.' " Ellis, who averaged 14.3 points per game last year for the Nuggets, is the latest free agent to snub the two-time defending NBA Western Conference champions the past couple of weeks.
Utah came up short in trying to land Sam Perkins (Indiana), Mario Elie (San Antonio) and Johnny Newman (Cleveland). The Jazz also would have had a much better chance at landing their own free agent Antoine Carr had they not been waiting for Ellis' decision. If they had know Ellis was going to go elsewhere, they would have tried harder to get "the Big Dawg," but instead Carr signed with Houston.
"He said he and his wife had relied heavily on a spiritual aspect to make the decision," said Miller. "He's a very sensitive, spiritual kind of guy and a good basketball player as well. Based on the criteria he and his wife were using to come to a decision, we have to respect that decision. That's what I told him. I said, 'I wish your decision had been otherwise, but I respect the decision you made, the method you used to make it and I wish you well.
"And you know how to find us if you need us.' "
"That's good," said Karl Malone when asked what he thought about Ellis going to Atlanta. "If he don't want to be here, that's fine."
The Jazz actually could have offered Ellis a bit more money -- approximately $1.88 million this season to the $1.75 million from the Hawks. While Utah still has money available under the salary cap to sign free agents -- and a couple of exceptions if they reach the cap -- it looks like they'll be content to go with the players they already have in camp.
"We've got to focus on the team we have here and move on," said Layden. "We've talked with some other (free agents), but I don't think there is anyone on the horizon right now that we'll go after."
Utah has 10 players under contract. Thurl Bailey, who played eight seasons with the Jazz before stints in Minnesota and Europe, is now a virtual lock to make the roster, bringing the total to 11. Three other players, for 14 altogether, can be on the team for the first two weeks of the regular season -- but then they'll have to trim the roster by two to the usual 12. The Jazz are looking for another big man -- which is good news to campers Anthony Avent, who is 6-9, and 6-11 Shawnelle Scott.
Avent scored eight points with four rebounds in 12 minutes in Friday's exhibition, while Scott had four points and three boards in 15 minutes. The most impressive of the guys trying out for the team was Joe Stephens, who scored a dozen points in 18 minutes. But he's a small forward, a position where the Jazz already have Bryon Russell and Adam Keefe and where Shandon Anderson also plays at times.
The Jazz led from start to finish over the new, improved Nuggets. Utah jumped out to an 11-2 lead and had a 51-43 advantage a the half. With Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek leading the way, the Jazz went on a 24-5 run in the third quarter to put the game away.
JAZZ NOTES -- Russell (groin strain), Keefe (lower back sprain) and Greg Foster (left ankle fracture) did not dress for the game. All three are expected to be back at practice by the middle of next week, however, and will likely be ready for the regular-season opener Friday night against the Chicago Bulls . . . . The Jazz have a new black uniform that they will use occasionally on the road instead of their usual purple. Home fans will get a chance to see it firsthand on Friday, however, as they will wear it in the opener -- even though it's a home game.