Selecting 19th overall in the opening round of the June 26 NBA Draft, the Utah Jazz will take . . .
The best player available.
Sorry.
That's obviously quite trite.
But it is also, they hope, oh-so-true true — and, for now, with nearly a month still to go before the draft actually takes place, it's the best guess anyone has as to whom the Jazz actually will pick.
That includes even Jazz vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor, who on Friday morning gathered along with assistant coaches and other brass from the organization to watch a foursome of pro prospects — including two reigning major-conference players of the year, Illinois' Brian Cook and Wake Forest's Josh Howard — perform together in a private workout.
At 19, O'Connor said, one can't help but ask, "Who is the best player available?"
Regardless of position, age and experience, that is to say.
"I think we'll continue to go along those lines — to try to take what we think is the best player available," O'Connor said. "Because we do have so many positions to fill."
With point guard John Stockton retiring, free-agent power forward Karl Malone's future with the franchise in question and coach Jerry Sloan's team desperately in need of a shooter who can score from NBA 3-point range, the Jazz do indeed have a long list of needs to fill this offseason.
Perhaps one will be answered in the draft, in which Utah also owns one second-round selection, No. 47 overall.
The Jazz know that even their first-round pick may not play right away, but they do hope whomever they land can eventually contribute.
"Our consideration," O'Connor said, "is going to be 'In two or three years from now, who's going to the best player?' Not 'Next year, who is going to be the best player?' "
Determining that requires plenty of planning, and projecting.
Toward that end, O'Connor and his staff of scouts have been busy lately evaluating talent.
He and player personnel director Walt Perrin have both been to Europe, where the Jazz are said to have their eyes on a couple of shooting guards in particular, Frenchman Boris Diaw and Aleksander Pavlovic of Yugoslavia.
O'Connor, in fact, went to France to see Diaw practice and play earlier this month.
"They're guys that are in the area probably (of being a No. 19 pick)," O'Connor said.
Next week, O'Connor, Perrin and others from the Jazz organization will go to Chicago for the NBA's annual pre-draft camp.
And then there are the private workouts, like the one that took place Friday at the Jazz's new practice facility.
Cook, the Big 10's Player of the Year this past season, and Howard, the ACC's Player of the Year, auditioned along with first-round all-SEC selection Mario Austin and Horizon League Player of the Year Willie Green.
Green is a senior shooting guard from Detroit-Mercy whom the Jazz saw, and liked, at the recent Portsmouth prospects camp in Virginia.
He is not generally expected to go in the first round but could improve his stock by turning some heads in Chicago.
Austin, a junior out of Mississippi State, is an undersize power forward at 6-foot-9. But he is a likely first-round selection and already has worked out for several teams, including Memphis, Boston, Golden State and Seattle.
Howard, somewhat of a late-bloomer in college, is a senior projected to play shooting guard in the NBA. He could go late in the first round or perhaps early in the second, and also has worked out for Seattle and the Los Angeles Lakers.
As for Cook, he is a 6-10 senior power forward with a legit inside-outside game. Though this was his first private audition, several others are planned for the potential first-rounder.
One mock draft — CBS SportsLine.com's — even has Cook going at No. 19 to the Jazz.
But, as far away as the draft still is, he takes that for precisely what it is worth right now: absolutely nothing.
"You can't listen to the Internet too much," Cook said.
"The only thing I can do is wait for June 26," he added, "and hope that I get in the right situation."
The Jazz, too, hope their situation is right come late June. And it will be — just as long as they pick, all together now, "the best player available."
E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com