Meet the ‘who-dats’ on Jazz fall roster Friday, September 29, 2006 8:33 PM CDT CHUCK NUNN/Jazz Session With the announcement Friday of the Utah Jazz 2006 fall camp roster, I'm going to break off breaking down the positions for today and focus instead on some of the 「who-dats」 on the camp roster. The position breakdowns ─ plus lots of stuff from Monday's media day in Salt Lake City ─ will pick up next week. The first invitee who caught my eye was 7-2 Frans Steyn, a South Afrikaaner who played three years at Oklahoma State before transferring to NCAA Division II school Southwest Baptist University for starters' minutes. He averaged 12.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game his senior season. Of course, it seems like anymore people think of most 7-2 players as big stiffs who can't contribute in today's basketball. But some of the buzz from Steyn's summer pre-draft workouts is pretty good. In a May 31 workout with the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, Steyn was pitted against first rounders Patrick O'Bryant and Shelden Williams, and Hornets brass was pretty impressed by what they saw. 「He held his own against those guys, which was something I didn't expect」 Hornets coach Byron Scott said after the workout. 「He's a big, strong kid. He's a little bit more athletic than I thought he was. He was good around the basket and finished strong.」 Steyn also worked out this summer in Chicago with Jazz second-round pick Dee Brown and other draft hopefuls with Tim Grover, Michael Jordan's former personal trainer. The Jazz got a look at Steyn when he played with the San Antonio Spurs' entry in the 2006 Reebok Rocky Mountain Revue. Steyn played in three games for the Spurs, totalling eight points, three rebounds and a block. Tyler Smith, a 6-6 forward out of Penn State's Class of 2002, had his most notorious season with the Nittany Lions during his junior year. Smith started 32 of 33 games for Penn State, which went 21-12 overall and made its first-ever appearance in a modern-day NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. Smith averaged 7.6 ppg. and 4.5 rpg and was named as one of 16 finalists for the 2001 USA Men's World University Games team. Smith's senior season with the Lions was better individually, but the team didn't fare as well as the previous season. Smith averaged 12.1 ppg game while grabbing 4.9 rpg. He shot .456 from the field and had 27 steals and 39 assists. Hiram Fuller, a 6-9 forward out of Fresno State, played briefly with the Jazz during the Rocky Mountain Revue this summer. In two games, Fuller tallied eight points and five rebounds. Five-foot-nine Brian Chase played his college ball at Virginia Tech. Chase played last season with the NBA Development League’s now-defunct Roanoke franchise. In three games, he averaged 13 points per game and six assists per game. He's also seen action with the CBA's Gary Steelheads and the ABA's Maryland Nighthawks. With first-round draft pick Ronnie Brewer automatically guaranteed a contract and second rounder Paul Millsap getting a partially guaranteed deal, the heat will be on Brown, Steyn, Smith, Fuller and Chase as they compete for the two possible remaining roster spots Utah has left. That makes October a pretty interesting month for Jazz watchers as the countdown to the 2006-07 NBA season is on. 2006-07 Utah Jazz Training Camp Roster (略) Contact South Idaho Press sports editor Chuck Nunn at [email protected] or feel free to blog this column at www.southidahopress.com. http://www.southidahopress.com/articles/2006/09/30/sports/local/jazzsess.txt --

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