Kevin Durant and Zach Randolph are stars whose play and personalities match the cities they play for. Will the Jazz find a player like that?

Facing a stream of questions this offseason, the Jazz might take note from the journey of All-Star forward Zach Randolph.

In a recorded interview with ESPN and Grantland.com’s Bill Simmons earlier this season, the Grizzlies’ All-Star forward revealed what helped him go from well-traveled and unwanted to beloved citizen and athlete in Memphis.

“[Memphis] is a place where people work hard,” Randolph said. “Ain’t nothing given to them easy. I’m that  type of guy…They respect real people. It’s a blue-collar town and I’m a blue-collar player. It’s a perfect fit.”

It’s no coincidence Randolph’s seamless fit in Memphis led to the Grizzlies’ rise in the Western Conference.

Yes, Randolph is talented. Yes, he has talented players around him. There’s something else at play with the combination, however. It’s both subtle and overwhelming. It’s the point when a team’s star and a city’s personality reflect each other, lifting the franchise to an identity that breeds success.

It’s not just Randolph and the Grizzlies. Oklahoma City was ready to support an NBA franchise. No question. But for a city renowned for college sports, the Thunder’s college-age star core couldn’t have been a better fit.

Ditto for LeBron’s fun-loving showmanship and Miami. Tim Duncan’s almost-boring consistency is the glove to San Antonio’s almost-boring lifestyle.

Oakland has embraced Stephen Curry’s cross-over, a move seen often in the city’s playgrounds.

There’s a reason Golden State has embraced Stephen Curry so feverishly. Oakland is pickup hoops heaven. Its streets produced Gary Payton and Jason Kidd for crying out loud.

So when Curry is pulling off double-crossovers and splashing step-backs from 25 feet out, the crowd isn’t just entertained. It’s more than that, more than merely an entertainer and his audience. In his best moments, Curry represents a fan base, a community. It’s the kind of connection that has fans nodding their heads when they talk about him.

Yeah, that’s our guy.

The Jazz had that for 18 years in Stockton and Malone. They weren’t flashy, but by gum they were dependable. They didn’t call in sick. They showed up. They got the job done in the most efficient way possible, and did it long enough to become known as the best pick-and-roll game in the business.

When national pundits would highlight those qualities, you know what Utahns did? They nodded their heads and smiled in approval.

It’s been a while since that connection was severed. Others tried to replace it. Kirilenko. Williams. Boozer. Jefferson. For various reasons, none of them latched on.

Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter and Gordon Hayward appear to be the next candidates, and young ones at that. It’s a valid attempt. In a state overflowing with college kids, the NBA “kids” could do a bang-up job representing the fans for whom they play.

Jazz fans would love nothing more than that. It’s been a while since they took a source of prolonged pride in the faces plastered on the sides of Energy Solutions Arena. The last few years’ worth of faces have inspired more dissatisfaction than anything else.

Utah needs to get better. They need a star that can carry the team. But if this year’s playoff teams have proven anything, the fit is just as important as the talent.

Here’s what he had to say (full interview audio can be found here):

Just over two years have passed since the Jazz traded Deron Williams to the then-New Jersey Nets, getting Derrick Favors, Devin Harris and two first-round picks in return.

Harris is longer on the team after being traded to Atlanta last summer for swingman Marvin Williams. Favors is still with the Jazz, having played a reserve role behind Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap in the frontcourt.

Meanwhile the value of the draft picks is mostly established at this point. The first ended up being Enes Kanter, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

The second pick, originally Golden State’s, arrives this summer and is slated to be the 21st pick in the first round (as Utah’s luck would have it, the Warriors became a playoff team this season).

As it stands today then, the Jazz’s remaining assets from trading Deron Williams are Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, Marvin Williams and the 21st pick in this summer’s draft.

We put the question to you: two years later, would you do it differently?

“Great for him, bummer for us.”

It would be a bummer for Utah. Hornacek and the Jazz have a relationship the likes of which only a handful of former players and teams have — and even those can have an expiration date.

There’s a reason Hornacek is the go-to TV interview at half-time, and it’s not just because he’s the assistant coach. He has a history. He connects with people, with communities. He’s the  kind of guy who, when he’s talking basketball, fans catch themselves nodding at what he’s saying.

Philadelphia knows this, even if Hornacek was only there for a couple seasons. That’s all any good guy in the league needs to establish an equally good reputation. His time in general league circles since then has only added to it.

Hornacek’s head coach appeal isn’t solely due to his good-guy nature. It’s obvious he knows the game. He played, and he did so on two Finals teams while going up against Michael Jordan.

Unlike similar coaching candidates (see: Isiah Thomas), Hornacek doesn’t come across as the guy who rides his playing days reputation to death. That’s important for a team like the Sixers — or any young team. They’ll be less likely to tune him out.

As a former player, he gets it. He comes across as a nice guy, but he’s old-school enough to know when to lay the hammer down. Young-and-talented talents like Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner need that combination, though Turner could probably use Hornacek’s jumper even more.

The other teams that are or might be looking for a head coach (Milwaukee, Charlotte, Phoenix) could all use what Hornacek brings to the table. If he gets a shot, it will be well-deserved.

Even if Utah loses a comforting presence in the process.

MORE JAZZ COVERAGE

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Greg Miller, Randy Rigby refute report that Kevin O’Connor is stepping down

At least one Jazz fan fed up with mediocrity

Now, after three years that featured two lottery seasons and one first-round sweep, one  fan has had enough, at least according to the e-mail I received shortly after the end of the season.

“I know the drill,” part of it said. “Typically the season ends, a nice spinning story is written about the exit interviews. Then it’s over until the draft, and after the draft an interview with the top draft pick, and then not much until pre-season. This year could and should be different. You guys could step up and raise the big issues that are the elephants in the room. I hope you will.”

Irate fans aren’t anything new, but this wasn’t your typical, venting fan. He stated he’s been a season ticket holder since the Jazz moved to Utah in 1979 — and that he gave up those season tickets after this season came to a close.

“We just can’t keep sending big checks to these guys,” he continued. “This team has a substantial history of poor player selection and management.  The Owner needs to clean house…assuming they have the determination and guts to do so.  Otherwise, this season will become the norm.”

Many fans will nod their heads at this. I did the same thing. I get it. I lived in Phoenix until 2010, just long enough to see a similar drop in trust between an NBA fan base and a new generation of team ownership. Suns fans were — and are — irate that an All-Star core of Steve Nash, Joe Johnson, Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion — all at or approaching their primes — was voluntarily disbanded, one at a time, over a span of seven years in exchange for Boris Diaw, Hakim Warrick, Goran Dragic and Jared Dudley.

The Jazz are in a similar spiral. Stockton and Malone became Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, which is now Mo Williams and a stable of power forwards that are either known-and-unwanted or young-and-unproven.

Following the death of long-time owner Jerry Buss and the Lakers’ embarrassing first-round sweep to San Antonio, fans in L.A. are just starting to experience similar doubts.

It’s hard to remember that in the same city, Donald Sterling was just as reviled for his mangling of the Clippers for over two-and-a-half decades. It wasn’t until drafting Blake Griffin and swinging for Chris Paul that the Clippers became relevant.

With Lob City in full swing, it’s hard to find a cross word about Sterling today — a modern sports miracle produced from two good moves after a slew of terrible ones. Jazz fans are hoping for a similar turnaround.

At least one 34-year season ticket holder, however, isn’t convinced the current management can pull it off.

Al Jefferson and Zach Randolph are extremely similar low post players, so why is one more highly regarded than the other?

Al Jefferson’s career is a mixed bag of great numbers for himself and subpar results for his teams.

The Jazz big man is a double-double machine, able to score in the post and crash the boards with an efficiency few can match. When the Jazz acquired him from Minnesota in 2010, many saw it as an upgrade over the older, departed Carlos Boozer.

Jefferson, however, has also been to the playoffs just twice in his career. His most recent trip was as Utah’s main offensive piece in 2011-12 — which earned the Jazz an underwhelming eighth seed and first-round sweep to the Spurs.

With little team-wide improvement made this year, the Jazz appear headed toward a new era, one with younger big men Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter taking the soon-to-be-free agent’s place.

Jefferson’s reputation both among NBA circles and league fans is varied. Some focus on his stellar presence in the paint. Others look at why his teams have never contended with him as the main cog in the offense.

If Jefferson himself feels such an assessment is unfair, he need only look at another once-undervalued big man’s path to respect: Zach Randolph

Like Jefferson, Randolph paid his dues off the bench for two years before exploding as a double-double man in the post (Big Al put up 16.0ppg and 11.0rpg in his third year, Randolph 20.1ppg and 10.5rpg).

Like Jefferson, Randolph’s personal production didn’t mean all that much when it came to team success. Like Jefferson, Randolph made the playoffs just twice in his first nine years in the league.

And like Jefferson, Randolph bounced among three teams in those first nine years, highly touted upon arrival and gladly rid of upon departure.

Until Randolph landed in Memphis.

The former member of “Jail Blazers” era in Portland didn’t erupt with a career year with the Grizzlies. He didn’t average career highs in scoring or rebounding. Yet somehow, incredibly, Randolph’s “attitude problem” — as well as the whole team-can’t-win-with-him issue — disappeared.

Why? Randolph simply found the right fit (5:15 mark of video below).

It helped that Randolph’s teammates fit around him, as well. Gritty defenders. Willing passers. An identity.

Jefferson, on the other hand, is on a Jazz team stuck between the present and the future, with both sides boasting depth and similar skills at the same position. Utah appears to be leaning towards youth, a decision that apparently has them willing to risk letting Jefferson leave via free agency with nothing in return.

Assuming he does leave, the 28-year-old Jefferson will likely net the longest and most lucrative contract of his career.

For Jefferson, a player whose true value is still unanswered, the fit may be just as important as the money. Playing alongside a frontcourt player whose skills complement Jefferson’s — rather than duplicate them — could do wonders. Just look at what playing with Marc Gasol (instead of Eddy Curry ) did for Randolph.

In the end, it was Randolph’s teammates, not Randolph himself, that made him more valuable..

Don’t be surprised if the same holds true for Jefferson.

On Tuesday night Shaquille O’Neal saw his jersey join those of other former Laker centers. Wilt Chamberlain. Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. George Mikan.

That’s right, four of the top seven or eight centers of all time have donned Laker gold for significant portions of their respective careers. That’s not counting Dwight Howard, who may or may not return to his once dominant Orlando form.

Hardly seems fair, does it?

That’s how Jazz fans must feel when they look at their own notorious line of men in the middle, one that didn’t even start until after the Mikan and Chamberlain days and fizzled after the Mark Eaton era.

Here’s a look at each generation of centers for both teams starting in the 1980s:

1980s

Los Angeles Lakers: Kareem Abdul-Jabaar (24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.6 blocks per game)

Utah Jazz: Mark Eaton (6.0 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.5 blocks per game)

Eaton might be the Jazz’s first and only counter to the string of Hall-of-Fame centers Los Angeles has rolled out, though the era in which he flourished made his career even more impressive in retrospect.

Aside from battling the likes of Ralph Sampson, Akeem (later Hakeem) Olajuwon, Moses Malone and Jack Sickma, the former Jazz big man was subject to at least four games a year battling against all-time leading scorer — and former Laker center — Kareem Abdul-Jabaar.

Eaton’s first four seasons in the league were Abdul-Jabbar’s last scoring at over 20 points per game. In those four seasons, Eaton held his Laker counterpart under 20 points in 10 games, including two 10-point outings in the 1984-85 season.

The Jazz, with Eaton and the young-and-talented duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone, could never get out of the Western Conference playoffs, however, while the Lakers went to the Finals nine times in 12 years.

Abdul-Jabaar was involved in eight of those trips.

1990s

Los Angeles Lakers: Vlade Divac (11.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.4 blocks per game); Shaquille O’Neal (23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.3 blocks per game)

Utah Jazz: Eaton, Felton Spencer (5.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 0.8 blocks per game); Greg Ostertag (4.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 blocks per game)

After Eaton retired in the early 90s, the Jazz underwent a patchwork era in the middle that saw Spencer as the starter for three years. He put up career numbers while in Utah, but his progress was quickly derailed by a torn Achilles tendon in the 1994-95 season.

It’s unfortunate that the Eaton-to-Spencer dropoff occurred when the Lakers experienced a similar downgrade from Abdul-Jabaar to Divac, though the latter was hardly a pushover. Divac only made the All-Star team once, and that was as a Sacramento King in 2001. That’s hard to fathom given his production in 1994-95, when the European product put up 16.0 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 blocks per game.

The mid-90s, however, ended up providing the last great crop of true big men, a crop that the Lakers would eventually reap in the form of Shaquille O’Neal as a free agent in 1996.

The Jazz? They countered with Greg Ostertag, who is remembered more fondly than he might be as a member of the back-to-back NBA Finals teams of 1997 and 1998.

Ostertag provided a definitive presence in the paint, something Utah sorely needed against the likes of O’Neal, Olajuwon and David Robinson. Injuries and a lack of offensive production made the position a continued weakness, however, and led to Utah often employing smaller lineups when they could get away with them.

2000s

Los Angeles Lakers: O’Neal, Kwame Brown (6.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 0.6 blocks per game); Pau Gasol (18.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.6 blocks per game)/Andrew Bynum (11.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.6 rebounds per game)

Utah Jazz: Ostertag; Mehmet Okur (13.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 0.7 blocks per game)

The Ostertag/O’Neal era ended in 2004, when Shaq was traded to Miami and Ostertag spent his last two years in the league as a reserve.

Okur’s signing with Utah and Brown’s trade to L.A. marked the first time in the Jazz-Lakers history that Utah held an advantage at center. Not coincidentally, the Lakers experienced one of the least successful periods in franchise history.

Brown, the No. 1 overall pick in 2001, may or may not have been a factor.

Meanwhile, Okur provided one of the few bright spots in the post-Stockton/Malone era until the Jazz returned to the playoffs behind Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. Okur’s ability to stretch the floor on offense while providing decent numbers on defense enabled the Jazz to at least be relevant in the Western Conference.

Unfortunately, the Jazz’s return to the playoffs was immediately followed by the Lakers’ acquisition of Spanish big man Pau Gasol and the emergence of Andrew Bynum.

The result? The Lakers eliminating Utah from the playoffs three years in a row (2008-2010).

Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin has toyed with his lineup, but not nearly as much as fans think. Photo by Scott G Winterton, Deseret News.

Between injuries and voluntary experimentation, Jazz fans have expressed frustration over head coach Tyrone Corbin’s roster/rotation moves. Corbin’s seeming lack of consistency (see Favors’ benching against Milwaukee) has left reporters questioning his decision-making…and Corbin quick to respond.

Truth is, however, Utah’s lineup hasn’t been any more inconsistent than in years past. The Jazz opened Wednesday’s loss to Cleveland with, according to Basketball-Reference.com, their 13th starting lineup of the season: Mo Williams (returned from injury), Randy Foye (regular starter), Derrick Favors (in for injured Al Jefferson), Paul Millsap (regular starter) and DeMarre Carroll (in for demoted Marvin Williams).

To put this in perspective, Utah rolled out 14 different starting lineups last season — and made the playoffs. Contrast that to 2010-11 (the last season the Jazz didn’t make the postseason), when 21 different starting units took the floor for Utah.

The same pattern holds true for previous seasons, even under former head coach Jerry Sloan. The 2005-06 season saw Utah use 21 different starting lineups. The year before that? A whopping 31.

This year, then, seems relatively quiet compared to Utah’s lottery-bound seasons, though with four losses in their last five games, even mediocre consistency doesn’t appear to be enough to guarantee a playoff berth.

Results-wise, the Foye/Jefferson/Millsap/Tinsley/Williams lineup has proven to be the best (17-10), though the oft-debated big lineup of Jefferson/Millsap/Favors/Foye/Williams was undefeated in just two appearances this season.

As for old-school Jazz fans wondering about the good old days: the 1997-98 Finals team used nine different starting lineups that year.

Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap didn’t go anywhere. The Jazz’ ability to get something in exchange for one or both of them did. Photo by Tom Smart/Deseret News.

You can’t blame the Jazz for standing pat while everyone else was wheeling and dealing. That certainly wasn’t the case leading up to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, when the headline names to change addresses were J.J. Redick, Sebastian Telfair and Jordan Crawford.

The criticism, from media pundits and fans alike, is that the Jazz didn’t make a move despite being one of the few teams that seemingly needed to make one.

That need didn’t stem from Utah’s recent play (the Jazz have won six of their last nine contests). It came from what is becoming a perennial surplus of starting-quality frontcourt players.

Al Jefferson is still here. So is Paul Millsap. Both are productive, dependable veterans. They’re also in the last year of their respective contracts, meaning there is a real possibility one or both could leave…leaving Utah nothing to show for it.

It’s a stark contrast to 24 hours ago (and every day in the previous two years), when the Jazz had the power to exchange at least one of them for a more essential piece. An outside shooter. A pass-first point guard. Something that isn’t a power forward or center.

Instead, Utah waited, until the decision was no longer theirs. If Millsap and Jefferson leave this summer, the Jazz will not miss them for the holes they fill. Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors are waiting in the wings, eager to step in.

What was missed, however, was the chance to control the terms by which Millsap/Jefferson depart and, consequently, the opportunity to profit from them leaving.

Offseason sign-and-trade deals are still possible. The Jazz will have spending money when their post players’ contracts expire.

At that point, however, the power lies with the players, not the team. Jefferson and Millsap have to agree to any contract proposed in a sign-and-trade. Free agents have to agree/want to come to Utah. After a certain point of trying, there’s only so much the Jazz will be able to do before it’s out of their hands.

Let the record show that at 1:00 p.m. MST on Thursday, Utah chose to let that be the case.

In any given week, I could be in California’s state capital playing about as many minutes as The Jimmer, writing stories with the Laverne & Shirley theme rattling through my head in Wisconsin or soaking in the scenery and sun of South Beach (uh, I mean laboring diligently in grueling Miami conditions).

Three years into this particular assignment, I’ve become convinced of one undeniable life truth relating to my travels:

Cosmic forces have conspired against me making it to Toronto.

Sound dramatic?

Sure, but consider the facts and you’ll see why I wonder if Canada will collapse or spontaneously combust if I actually make it to Ontario’s metropolis.

• 2010-11: HELP! I’M STRANDED IN BUFFALO!

Two seasons ago, Mother Nature, the United Parcel Service, the Buffalo tourism department and my packing/memory ineptitude came together to keep me separated from my passport and from the team I cover.

Instead of making it to what apparently is a terrific international city, I ended up being stuck in Buffalo for two days. In the winter. By myself. It was like getting stranded in Wendover when Las Vegas was the intended destination.

This misadventure started when I forgot to stuff my nightstand (or at least the passport inside) into my luggage. We had a couple of days to spare because the Jazz played in New York before Toronto, but, alas, UPS found new ways (snowstorm, silly employees, etc.) to bungle my shipment.

What can Brown do for me? Buffalo instead of Toronto, that’s what.

An overnight delivery evolved into an over-three-days delivery.

On a positive note, I got my passport but it didn’t arrive until the morning after Utah left Canada. I still made it to Niagara Falls, though. I also got to visit the birthplace of Buffalo wings, the Anchor Bar.

I almost bought this for Mehmet Okur during my two-hour trip to Canada after finally receiving my passport. Big Al should get one for Enes Kanter.

My boss is still trying to forgive me, however, for the fact that I watched the Jazz-Raptors game I was sent across the continent to cover IN TORONTO from a Buffalo Wild Wings sports bar in upstate New York.

Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin called me “Buffalo” when I finally caught up to the team two days later in Minnesota. In fact, he still zings me with that nickname on occasion.

Jazz fans on Twitter, bless their hearts, love to remind me about Buffalo too.

• 2011-12: NBA KEEPS ALL OF UTAH OUT OF CANADA

Last season was even more elaborate. Hundreds of NBA players and dozens of franchise owners colluded to stage a lockout that was simply a guise to keep me away from the Land of Ketchup Chips, Bare Naked Ladies (the band) and Pamela Anderson’s native home.

This fact came to light when the Jazz weren’t given a trip up North in the revised 66-game slate.

Although it seemed sketchy, I was willing to overlook the missed Toronto trip (and zero Florida visits) when I realized Utah didn’t have to travel to Detroit or Milwaukee in the winter.

• 2012-13: YOU’RE HAVING A BABY … FAR, FAR AWAY FROM CANADA

This season, cosmic forces really outdid themselves.

This time around, the NBA schedule-maker and The Stork teamed up to plan a special delivery to take place in my family right around the time the Jazz played in Toronto.

My wife had our first three children about 10-14 days before her due date, and the Jazz’s four-game East Coast trip so happened to fall right in that time frame.

She didn’t tell me I couldn’t go on this trip. BUT she also didn’t tell me I could return from the trip if I chose to leave her in Utah to fend for herself with a newborn and three other kids, either.

Baby Jack is the best reason to miss Canada.

Turns out, my wife, Heather, delivered our fourth child last Thursday. I’ve been on paternity leave playing Mr. Mom ever since, and will be until the Jazz return from Washington, D.C., on Sunday.

Because I’m gone so often and my wife couldn’t care less about watching sports, we don’t even have cable or satellite in our house. My family didn’t get back from the hospital until Monday evening, either. So not only did I miss Toronto, but I missed watching Al Jefferson hit that 3-pointer to force overtime in the Jazz’s triple-overtime thriller on Monday night.

I’d say maybe next year, but you have to wonder what schemes are being hatched to prevent me from getting to the Air Canada Centre in 2013-14.

Yeah, of course you do. My wife does, too. The biggest thing she got out of that silliness about Jefferson’s 10-foot-by-12-foot kingdom-sized bed was that our queen-sized mattress set is about two sizes too small.

I couldn’t resist poking fun at Jefferson by making a veiled reference to the bed at the end of our interview at Tuesday’s practice.

He’d just talked about how the Jazz have expectations of making the playoffs and advancing and how they have great team chemistry and how good his communication is with Coach Corbin, when I asked if he was going to watch the Mavericks-Lakers game with any teammates.

6-1 Mo Williams looks like a toddler on his parents’ California Queen while posing on Al Jefferson’s 10-by-12 kingdom-sized bed.

The Jazz host Dallas in Wednesday’s season-opener, so I figured some of the guys might watch it together.

Sure enough, Mo Williams, the 6-foot-1 athlete who had this awesome photo taken of him sprawled out on Jefferson’s enormous bed, was coming over to Jefferson’s to watch some opening-night hoops.

After Jefferson told me I’m “nosey” (he laughed) and informed me that I’m in charge of bringing the food (celery and carrot sticks anyone?), I couldn’t resist asking him if he had a 900-inch television set.

Heck, if I owned a $23,000 bed and could afford it, heaven and my wife know I would have as large of a screen as Sony makes.

Despite rumors, this is not Big Al’s TV set.

“No,” Jefferson said, shaking his head and chuckling about the question. “I’ve got a 12-inch TV.”

I’ve got a 120 square-foot bed to sell you if you believe Al Jefferson actually owns a 12-inch TV.

By the way, Jefferson had one rule for Williams on this night, too. “He’s got to leave his phone and (camera) stuff in the car.”