SALT LAKE CITY — In a draft chock full of forwards and centers, the Utah Jazz went small, taking point guard Raul Lopez of Spain with the 24th pick in the first round.
The pick likely signals the end of Jacque Vaughn's career with the Jazz, even though the 21-year-old Lopez likely won't play for Utah for at least a year, possibly two.
Jazz officials said they like Lopez's quickness and playmaking ability, shrugging off comparisons to John Stockton, yet describing the 6-footer much like the 39-year-old Stockton's been described during his 17 years in Utah.
"I don't compare anyone to John Stockton," said Kevin O'Connor, Jazz vice president of basketball operations. "I find the best thing about John ... the best thing about Raul is that he thinks pass first and shot second."
So much for the comparisons to Stockton.
Lopez played for Joventut Badalona in Spain from 1998 to 2000 before signing with Real Madrid, his current team, for the 2000-01 season. In 32 games with Badalona during the 1999-2000 season, Lopez averaged 10 points and handed out 90 assists.
In 2000-01 with Real Madrid, Lopez averaged six points and two assists in 20 minutes a game. In 13 Euroleague games, Lopez averaged eight points and three assists, while making nearly 50 percent of his 3-point shots.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan spoke carefully about Lopez being the Jazz's point guard of the future, but it appears that is what he was chosen for.
"We have to start somewhere and we are starting to put ourselves in the position to go forward, rather than just have someone to back John up," Sloan said.
As far as Vaughn, who the Jazz drafted for precisely the same reasons in 1997, it seems his days in Utah may be over, although Jazz officials won't say it. The Jazz have always preferred to have three pure point guards on their roster, particularly in recent years, as Stockton creeps up on his 40th birthday.
While Vaughn is without a contract, John Crotty is signed through next season and looks like Stockton's backup for 2001-02.
With the 53rd pick in the second round, the Jazz took the less touted of Stanford's twin towers, Jarron Collins. Collins is a 6-11 power forward who averaged 12.8 points playing alongside his twin brother Jason last year for the Cardinal.
O'Connor said the Jazz had been high on Jason Collins, who was taken earlier than most thought, by the Houston Rockets with the 18th pick.
Of the estimated 2,500 die-hard Jazz fans who showed up to watch the draft in the Delta Center Wednesday, most seemed less than pleased with the Jazz pick of Lopez.
Two more highly-touted point guards — Jamaal Tinsley of Iowa State and Tony Parker of Paris — were still available when the Jazz selected Lopez. The two ended up being chosen with the last two picks in the first round, as boos still echoed off the Delta Center walls.
O'Connor wasn't bothered by the jeers, saying that Larry Miller told him of a similar crowd reaction in 1984.
That's the year the Jazz picked Stockton.