When he signed on for a second stint of duty with the Jazz, John Crotty envisioned himself helping run a basketball team, as he has throughout his journeyman NBA career.
It hasn't, however, worked out that way. Instead, the lifelong point guard is playing primarily 2 guard, a position that isn't exactly second nature.
Still, Crotty isn't complaining.
"I'm happy to get the minutes, so I'll take it any way I can get it," said Crotty, who is averaging 9.9 reserve minutes in 16 games since being activated. "I'm happy to be able to contribute, and it feels good when the team is winning and you're playing."
Crotty sat most of the first half of the season due to arthroscopic knee surgery and an unrelated infection.
Since returning, he has played not at the point, where he had expected to battle Jacque Vaughn for backup minutes behind John Stockton, but rather mostly at shooting guard, where he offers veteran experience behind starter John Starks and swingman Bryon Russell that stashed-on-the-injured-list youngsters Quincy Lewis and DeShawn Stevenson cannot.
It's an unlikely role, one Crotty practically stumbled into. "We never really discussed it," he said. "It was more like, 'Get healthy, and then we'll see kind of see how it falls into place.' "
Crotty has made a career of backing up the best at the point but being good enough at it that someone, for nearly a decade now, has always wanted him.
His first three NBA seasons out of the University of Virginia, it was Stockton in Utah. Next: Terrell Brandon in Cleveland. A season in Miami behind Tim Hardaway. Kenny Anderson and later Damon Stoudamire in Portland. Gary Payton briefly in Seattle, which visits the 41-18 Jazz tonight at the Delta Center. And, last season, Lindsey Hunter in Detroit.
Now, Crotty shares floor space with Utah's main men at the point. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has committed to Vaughn as Stockton's primary backup, leaving Crotty to try something new.
"Obviously that had a lot to do with it, because it set me back three months," Crotty said when asked if health woes hurt his chances of playing the point. "But I really don't know how it would have panned out. Woulda, shoulda, coulda, man — the story of all our lives, right?
"You know, I've been a lot of different places and had a lot of ups and downs in my career. The best way for (me) to approach things is from a day-to-day standpoint — work hard and hustle and do whatever job they ask me to do, and hopefully I get to do more and more of what I hope to accomplish down the road."
That, in this instance, requires adjustments.
The biggest: "Not having the ball," said Crotty, who has played nine or more minutes in four of the Jazz's last six games, but was not called on in the other two. "You're used to handling the ball, making decisions, and it's a different perspective when you kind of have to wait for things to develop. And most of the time they're not developing towards me, either."
When he began playing the 2, it seemed even teammates were perplexed. Some would look, see him open and waving, and turn elsewhere.
"Over time, that's kind of worked its way out," said Crotty, who is averaging 2.6 points per game. "I think they know I can play, so I think I'm still getting some opportunities."
How he earns them now requires a different approach.
"When I'm playing the point, I feel there's much more of a responsibility to run the team," Crotty said. "I always take it personally when I play the point. I always the want the team to be ahead of where we were when I came in.
"At the 2, I've been concentrating more on just trying to work on the defense, in terms of giving energy or effort, and some things have happened for me offensively when I've done that, and I feel like I've been able to help the team in that way."
That's all Crotty wants to do, really.
Sure, he'd love a bigger role in the Jazz's success. "You have aspirations of always doing more than you're capable of," he said. But with things going as well as they are for Western Conference-leading Utah, he's happy to at least help.
"Last year, (Detroit) was an early playoff team, but we really weren't anywhere near as deep, or anywhere as near as together . . . as (in Utah)," Crotty said. "As you get older, you appreciate a good team, a good chemistry. You know, you only have so many opportunities to really win. And I've been lucky. I've been on a playoff team every year of my career with the exception of one year in Seattle, and we were .500."
In most of those instances, though, Crotty didn't really feel good about his teams' chances.
"This team (the Jazz) really does have a legitimate chance," Crotty said. "Some of these that don't have a chance, they all say, 'Oh, our goal is to win a championship.' But they don't have a chance. This — this is realistic."
Point made.
E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com