From Simmons‘ latest:

Fake Trade 12: Martin/Thomas to Utah for Andrei Kirilenko (expires in 2011), Kyle Korver’s EC, $3 million (not a problem because Utah still saves $3.2 million with the difference in salaries, plus another $3.2 million in luxury-tax money) and the rights to New York’s unprotected first-round pick in 2010.

(Hold on, we have to wait a few seconds for every Knicks fan to stop shaking his or her head. Just a few more seconds. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. And … we’re good.)

I love this trade. For one thing, a Martin-Deron Williams backcourt would be loads of fun (shades of Utah teaming Hornacek and Stockton back in the day). Utah gets damned close to being under the luxury tax. Sacramento gets a gigantic expiring contract for next season (Kirilenko’s $17.8 million), another scrappy, balls-to-the-wall guy (Kirilenko again), an official “this is your team” announcement to Evans AND a lottery ticket for the John Wall Sweepstakes.

So do you do it? The Jazz do have a history of picking up guys who always seem to give them fits. I have to admit I wouldn’t mind watching that backcourt.

In other news, the Jazz are shopping for another point guard to fill out the roster. Naturally, the Jazz are taking a look at Dontell Jefferson of the Utah Flash. Jefferson played college ball at Arkansas with Ronnie Brewer, the Flash run the Jazz playbook, etc. So it was really no surprise to see Jazz GM Kevin O’Connor in Boise last night attending the Flash-Stampede game.

But what about all the other names out there? I wouldn’t mind another round of the Dee Brown Era. You may recall that the Jazz went to the Western Conference Finals with Brown backing up the point. His detractors point out the low PER, etc. but I don’t think Brown’s value is necessarily on the court. He brings the kind of team leadership and vision that this Jazz team doesn’t seem to have.

The Jazz may have dropped a winnable game on the road last night in Orlando, but they definitely don’t have the problems being faced by Vinny Del Negro and the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls had a 35 point lead at home in the third quarter against the lowly Sacramento Kings and somehow managed to lose the game.

Del Negro is obviously on the hot seat and could be fired by the time this post is published. As everyone speculates on his fate, Chris Sheridan reminds everyone that the Bulls once fired another young former player-turned-coach after a slow start. That coach was none other than Jerry Sloan, who is now the longest tenured coach in North American sports.

(I don’t have rights to the picture, but I demand you follow this link and then come back. I love the original caption:

Chicago: Chicago Bulls’ Coach Jerry Sloan, who has been with the team since its inception 13 years ago, talks at a news conference 4/30. Sloan, 37, becomes the NBA’s second youngest coach. Sloan has been unavailable for comment since his appointment was announced 4/28.

He’s been the same guy since day one. Check out the suit on Rod Thorn sitting next to Sloan.)

Sheridan got some great quotes:

And when Sloan got fired, he knew it was coming.

“Rod called me early in the morning, right before I was getting ready to get up. He just said ‘We’re going to make a change,’ and I said ‘That’s fine, there’s nothing I can do about it.’ I recall I may have said something crazy, too, I don’t know,” Sloan recounted in an interview with ESPN.com.

“The thing was, I knew I was going to get fired. Johnny Morris (a former football star for the Chicago Bears and a sportscaster for WBBM-TV) told me ‘You’re going to get fired tonight after the game,’ and he knew before the game. He came down at 6:30 and said ‘Have they fired you yet?’ and I said no, and so we did our usual pre-game interview both knowing that I was going to get fired.

The most amazing part of the story, however, illustrates the secret to any success Sloan has had in his career and in his life.

“I sat my kids down, and I said this might help you one day, how you react to it. You have to learn the good comes with the bad, this is one of those times when things aren’t very good, but I will survive,” Sloan said.

Maybe everyone has already seen this, but Henry Abbott recently linked to some fine work by NBA.com’s John Schumann back in November to see what the numbers say about the most clutch shooters in the league. Were you surprised to see three members of the Jazz in the top ten? Mehmet Okur is #2, Carlos Boozer is #6, and Kyle Korver is #9.

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Memo actually leads the league in the greatest increase in clutch shooing percentage as compared to overall percentage. Meaning Craig Bolerjack is right: Memo really is money in the clutch. Boozer is right there at #3.

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Despite his heroics against the Bucks earlier this week, Kobe Bryant is way down the list at #38. Henry makes the case that even though it seems like Kobe is a cold blooded assassin at the end of games, our perception is skewed due to the total volume of end-of-game shots he takes.

Regardless of the numbers, I don’t think any team wants to see Kobe with the ball at the end of the game and chance to win.