More from RealGM
 Utah Jazz WiretapNews Archive
NBA News
Gugliotta's tough time in Phoenix comes to endPHOENIX (AP) Tom Gugliotta came to the Phoenix Suns as a star forward who averaged 20 points a game in the previous two seasons. Nearly six years later, he left as a player who rarely got off the bench. The Suns traded the one-time all-star to the Utah Jazz on Thursday for two injured players _ forward-centers Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten. The Jazz also got two conditional first-round draft picks, a 2005 second-round pick and an undisclosed amount of cash. Gugliotta, who averaged 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds in 30 games this season, is earning $11.6 million in the final year of a six-year contract. ``This deal was clearly driven by the luxury tax,'' Suns president Bryan Colangelo said in a statement released by the team. ``The end result puts us comfortably under the expected tax threshold.'' As part of the trade, Phoenix will give up the least-favorable of its two first-round picks in the 2004 draft _ either its own or the selection it got from New York in a previous trade. The second conditional first-round pick also came from New York and is protected through 2010. Clark, in his sixth NBA season, has not played since undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs in his right ankle on Nov. 24. Orlando selected Clark in the first round _ the 13th pick overall _ of the 1998 draft. He has averaged 8.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.62 blocks in six seasons with Denver, Toronto, Sacramento and Utah. Handlogten is a 30-year-old NBA rookie who averaged 4.0 points and 3.2 rebounds before he went down with a torn knee ligament on Dec. 26. Gugliotta turned down a seven-year, $86 million offer to stay with Minnesota in January 1999 and signed a six-year, $58.5 million contract with Phoenix. Serious injuries and a near-death experience followed. On the team bus inside the Rose Garden after a Dec. 17, 1999, game in Portland, Gugliotta suffered a seizure and stopped breathing twice. He may not have survived has his then-wife not told one of his teammates by cell phone that he had been taking a new nutritional supplement. Doctors believe that supplement caused the seizure. A grateful Gugliotta returned to the team. But three months later, in a game against Utah, Gugliotta ruptured every ligament in his left knee. The injury knocked him off the 2000 Olympic team, and he hasn't been the same player since. Gugliotta averaged 15.1 points in 97 games before undergoing reconstructive knee surgery, 5.1 points and 4.0 rebounds after it. He sat out 44 games last season because of a stress fracture in his right foot. This season, his playing time diminished, then disappeared altogether as the Suns were dismantled in salary-cutting moves aimed at making money available for free agents next season. Gugliotta, 34, did not practice with the Suns on Thursday and could not be reached for comment. He had said he would welcome a trade to Utah, a deal that had been rumored for weeks. He wanted more playing time, but didn't complain about his situation with the Suns. ``He was no problem,'' Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said. ``You just hope it works out for him. The Suns are going in a different direction. This is by far better for him.'' The Suns went after Gugliotta six years ago after their frantic efforts to re-sign Antonio McDyess failed. Ironically, a trade with the Knicks brought McDyess back to Phoenix. He too is a shadow of his former self after a severe knee injury. ``Man, that's the business you know,'' McDyess said. ``You never know what to expect.'' Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Jazz send Clark, Handlogten to Suns for GugliottaORLANDO, Fla. (AP) The Utah Jazz sent injured players Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten to the Phoenix Suns for forward Tom Gugliotta a few hours before the NBA trading deadline Thursday. Utah spokesman Kim Turner confirmed the trade; the Suns refused to comment. The Jazz lost to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. Clark played in just two games this season before having right ankle surgery in November. Handlogten played only 17 games this season before tearing left knee ligaments in December. Gugliotta, a 12-year veteran, earns $11.7 million under a contract that expires at the end of the season. He has been playing little the last few weeks, averaging 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds over the season. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Orlando Magic send Giricek to Utah Jazz for StevensonORLANDO, Fla. (AP) The Orlando Magic sent Gordan Giricek to the Utah Jazz for DeShawn Stevenson just before the NBA trading deadline Thursday in a swap of shooting guards. Stevenson averaged 11.4 points in 54 games for the Jazz, finally showing a glimmer of the promise that prompted Utah to draft him out of high school in 2000. ``DeShawn is young, athletic and a fierce competitor,'' Orlando general manager John Gabriel said in a statement. ``He has grown nicely under the leadership of Jerry Sloan and the Jazz organization, and we look forward to him taking the next step with us.'' Giricek averaged a career-low 10.2 points in 48 games with Orlando. This is the second time in as many seasons he has been traded at the deadline. Stevenson is having the most successful season of his four-year career. He has always been able to drive to the basket, but this season he has become more of a threat from the outside. His shooting percentage of .445 is a career high. Utah selected Stevenson 23rd overall from Washington Union (Calif.) High School, hoping he would be the next player to make a quick leap from prep to pro success. The development was slow. After averaging 4.9 points his second season, Utah signed Stevenson to a one-year contract option and tried starting him at shooting guard early in 2002-03. Stevenson held the job for eight games before returning to the bench. He grew frustrated as a reserve and let Sloan know it in a heated argument during practice that got him sent back to Utah during the opening round of the playoffs. Stevenson apologized and was quickly reinstated from a one-game suspension. Giricek is in just his second NBA season, having played for years in Europe. He came to Orlando with Drew Gooden from Memphis in a deal for Mike Miller and Ryan Humphrey in 2003. They put a charge into a mediocre team, and Orlando won 13 of 18 games down the stretch to make the playoffs. Giricek averaged 14.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 27 games. This season, however, Giricek fell out of favor with new coach Johnny Davis, and Giricek lost his starting job in early January to rookie Keith Bogans. Giricek had improved his defense in the past days to Davis' satisfaction, and was seeing more time off the bench. In his last eight games in Orlando, he averaged 12.5 points on 48 percent shooting. Giricek gives the Jazz four European players and two from U.S. territories. The Jazz's ``international'' roster is Giricek (Croatia), Carlos Arroyo (Puerto Rico) and Raul Lopez (Spain), All-Star forward Andrei Kirilenko (Russia), rookie Sasha Pavlovic (Serbia-Montenegro) and guard Raja Bell (U.S. Virgin Islands). Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Jazz Feb 2004 Archive
|
