A point over Bogut

Deron Williams? Chris Paul?
That was the question, as most know all too well, that the Jazz faced when picking No. 3 overall in the 2005 NBA Draft.
Even if there had been another possibility on the board, however, Utah still would have stuck with Williams over now-New Orleans point guard Paul.
So suggested Jazz coach Jerry Sloan when he was asked this week what Utah would have done had University of Utah product Andrew Bogut — who went No. 1 overall to Milwaukee — also been on the board at 3.
“We needed a point guard so badly,” Sloan said, “yeah, I guess you’d say when it comes right down to it that’s probably what we would have done.”
Not that the Jazz coach does not think the world of big man Bogut, who had a 15-rebound, 11-point night in Utah’s 114-110 over the Bucks on Wednesday.
“He has some nice skills,” Sloan said of the Aussie.
“He’s a much better player this year than he was. It looks to me like he’s gotten stronger, and he’s able to put the ball on the floor a little bit more,” Sloan added. “I think all those things come out as guys get a little more experience, and get a little more freedom (with) what’s going on in the game. That’s where they finally get a chance to maybe excel to the level that they’re capable of.”
Bogut, meanwhile, earlier this week defended his lofty selection.
“Deron and Chris are obviously the two biggest ones everyone looks at. They are probably two of the best point guards in the league, but I play a different role in Milwaukee,” he was quoted as saying by the Washington Post following the Bucks game Tuesday against the Wizards. “Being the No. 1 pick, you have that scrutiny. But I’m not too worried about what people say.
“In that 2005 draft class, I think I was one of the best players at that time, coming out of college. I definitely deserved to be up in the lottery by the career numbers I had in Utah. I think obviously, I wasn’t able to produce 20 (points) and 10 (rebounds) right away. It’s definitely unrealistic given the situation I came into.
“If I had gone to a team like Atlanta (which took Marvin Williams at No. 2 that year), maybe, where they didn’t have a chance for the playoffs, it might have been a different story,” he added. “My development was definitely hindered my first two years in the league. At the same time, I think I’m moving along to where I need to be, to get to an All-Star level. I have a lot of hard work to do to get there.”
For the full blog on Bogut by the Washington Post’s Michael Lee, including comments from currents Bucks head coach and ex-Jazz forward Larry Krystkowiak, here’s the link … washingtonpost.com

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A gun-charge case against ex-Jazz big man Keon Clark went to trial earlier this week in Illinois, then — according to The (Ill.) News-Gazette — was adjourned until April 10 “because prosecutors are waiting on verification … that Clark did not have proper firearm identification.”
According to police testimony Wednesday at the trial, the newspaper reported, an “intoxicated and uncooperative Clark held (a) .50-caliber revolver in his right hand and was reaching for a gun case on the kitchen table with his left hand” after two officers entered his house to investigate a male-female argument. He then “put the gun on the table, and stepped away.”
Clark’s attorney reportedly argued that the officers “illegally entered Clark’s home” and “emphasized that the gun Clark was holding was not loaded.”
The News-Gazette also reported that “Clark continues to serve a two-and-a-half year prison sentence he received in Champaign County (Ill.) in September 2007 on a conviction for driving under suspension,” and that he has other area cases pending, including re-sentencing “on a 2007 … conviction for possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence.”
Clark played two games for the Jazz, his final two in the NBA, before his 2003-04 season was cut short by an ankle injury.