Jazz Take Rice Guard In First Round Jun 28, 2007 9:53 pm US/Mountain SALT LAKE CITY The Utah Jazz took Rice shooting guard Morris Almond in the opening round of the NBA draft Thursday, hoping they finally got the shooter they've been missing. Jazz officials appeared thrilled to see that Almond was still available when Utah was about to make the 25th overall pick. After Phoenix drafted Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez with the No. 24 pick, Jazz owner Larry Miller playfully punched vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor's arm in congratulations. A few minutes later, O'Connor walked to the podium at EnergySolutions Arena and announced that the Jazz were taking Almond _ much to the delight of fans who had been chanting things like "Almond Joy!" as Utah got closer to picking. Coach Jerry Sloan, who is known for being especially tough on rookies, was even smiling when the Jazz were about to make the pick. "He's a guy that looks like can really shoot the basketball and we felt like that's something our team needs," Sloan said. Sloan liked the idea of having a 6-foot-6 player who can shoot or post-up inside. If Almond follows Sloan's orders and works hard enough, he could be getting a chance to play as a rookie. "The offense is not the part I'm worried about. It's really playing to Coach Sloan's liking and the specifications of the offense and the team structure," Almond said during a conference call after he was picked. "I feel comfortable that I can come in. I think it's a good fit." The Jazz also had the 55th overall pick and selected Providence forward/center Herbert Hill, then traded the rights to Hill to Philadelphia for 7-foot Ukrainian center Kyrylo Fesenko. The 76ers selected Fesenko 38th. Almond played all four years of college, returning for his senior year after declaring early last summer but backing out when no teams promised to pick him in the first round. He led Rice in scoring and was third nationally as a senior with a 26.4-point scoring average. He shot 48 percent last season, making 263 of 544 from the field and was 77-for-169 (46 percent) from 3-point range. Almond worked out and interviewed with the Jazz on June 19. He said he knew as it got later in the first round that he could end up in Utah and was hopeful it worked out that way. "Every team has different styles," Almond said. "Utah is like hands in a glove. It fit perfect." The Jazz hope so. "He's played four years at rice and he's been the guy that carried that team for a couple of years," O'Connor said. "He's not going to have that responsibility here." Utah's lack of a shooting threat was apparent in the Western Conference finals, which San Antonio won in five games by limiting the Jazz's scoring to mostly forward Carlos Boozer and point guard Deron Williams. The Jazz haven't had a consistent shooting guard since Jeff Hornacek retired in 2000. Almond is the fifth shooting guard drafted by Utah in the last five years, joining 2006 first-round pick Ronnie Brewer, C.J. Miles (2005), Kirk Snyder (2004) and Sasha Pavlovic (2003). Miles, the only second-round pick of the bunch, will be an unrestricted free agent next week after two years of playing little for the Jazz. Fesenko may be a little more of a project. He averaged 6.7 points, about six rebounds and blocked 32 shots in 20 games last season for his Ukrainian team. "He's not a polished player and we're going to see how he handles the NBA," O'Connor said. http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_179225436.html --

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