Devin Brown Press Conference

Salt Lake City, Sept. 14, 2005 - After signing a contract today, new Jazzman Devin Brown and Jazz managent sat down this afternoon for a little Q&A in the Zions Bank Basketball Center.

Participants:

Hyde: The Utah Jazz are pleased to announce that Devin Brown has signed a two-year contract to play with the club. We’re excited because of his great offensive abilities, particularly his athleticism. We think we’re more athletic, we’re getting younger with the addition of Devin. He has great defensive abilities. Jerry Sloan is very high on Devin and what he can do on the defensive end of the court.

In addition to that, I think we’re very pleased with the great gentleman and citizen we get in Devin Brown. He has a great track record in his activities in the community; this past weekend he was raising funds for the victims of hurricane Katrina. So we’re pleased to have somebody with that kind of character and great citizenship as well.

O’Connor: I think what Devin has brought to us is toughness. He’s played on a winning team, certainly. To tell you a story from three years ago, and Derrick can vouch for this, we had (Jazz Director of Player Personnel) Walt Perrin go watch an NBDL game, and when he completed his rounds he said Devin Brown is the guy we should bring in. But San Antonio had signed him earlier that day. We were just about 24 hours behind three years ago. But things come around and we’re thrilled to have him on board.

Every year he’s gotten better. That’s what Coach Sloan wanted to emphasize: guys who want to get better, want to improve. And we think there is a lot more in the tank from Devin, and he’s going to get the opportunity.

He was our first and only choice to be able to come in and fulfill the things we’re going to ask him to do. Defensively, he gives us a presence. He’s guarded 2-guards, some small forwards. I would look at him a little like we did with Shandon Anderson a few years ago.

We’re excited to have him on board, get started October 3rd. I think the next step is for us to implement the plan we had at the beginning to get some size, to get a point guard, to get some athleticism and I think this completes the triumvirate.

Brown: I want to say thank you for taking a chance on me. A young guy in my situation, growing up and you’re developing in this league on a team like San Antonio, you’re exposed to a lot and one of the things we did in San Antonio was winning. That’s one of the main things I would like to bring here, a winning attitude. That starts in practice. One of the things (Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich) Pop talked to me about before I left was, he said, “You’re going to an organization where those guys play hard every night. They prepare for teams every night.”

But Pop put a lot more extra preparation every time we played the Utah Jazz because he knew what kind of effort they put out. Now being part of that, I feel with that effort and the leadership I’ll try and provide, I think we can do some special things. I look forward to being out there; playing for a great coach in Jerry Sloan…I’m anxious to get started.

Haslam: Welcome back home. It’s good to have you back. We often say we have a plan, and people question what our plan is. But we do a lot of planning, and this is just another step in the process of developing our team, and relatively consistent with that plan. The average age of our players right now is about 25 or 26. Greg Ostertag is the old man of the club, and he’s not that old. So we’re going young, we’re building, but we have a core group of players that will allow us to be extremely competitive in the league this year.

Powell: This is a great opportunity for Devin, this is what he’s worked hard for, this is what he wants. To everyone who has not seen Devin play a tremendous number of minutes, given the consistent minutes here you guys are going to be very pleased with what he does on the floor.

He comes in every day, brings his hard hat and his lunch, and he goes to work.

1. How will winning championships in San Antonio help translate to success with the Jazz for Devin?

Brown: When you look at this team, and you think about great teams you start inside out. A guy like Boozer, a guy like Ostertag in the middle – those are solid basketball players. Then you have something special in Andrei Kirilenko at the three position, someone that long and big who can block shots defensively, and is just so gifted offensively; you can get a lot out of that too. I think with myself, Giricek and C.J. Miles those are some talented guards. Add Deron Williams and Milt Palacio and you have a core that can get things done every night.

2. Were you born in Ogden or Salt Lake?

Brown: I was born in Ogden, let’s clear that up. Not Salt Lake City.

3. Do you know any of the players on this roster?

Brown: I don’t. C.J. Miles’ uncle is one of my best friends; I played with him at UTSA (University of Texas – San Antonio). But that’s probably the only connection I have. Other than that just playing against some of the guys – Big O, Boozer before he got hurt, Okur with the last second shots last year – that’s really the only connections I have.

4. What about the injury?

Brown: August 21st I was playing in Madison Square Garden, I herniated a disc in my back. Lost some strength in my right leg, but I’ve been working hard, regained all my strength. My back is fine. I do 5,000 abs a week on my back, so I’m good.