Jazz cut Nelson, Suton, Johnson

Salt Lake Tribune

Coach Jerry Sloan arrived at work early on Wednesday morning. The worst part of his job needed to be done, and he admits wanting 'to get it over with.' In the locker room at the Utah Jazz practice facility, Sloan shattered the NBA dream of Spencer Nelson, Goran Suton and Alexander Johnson. One by one, he cut them. 'It's the same story every year,' said Sloan. 'You hate to cut players. You hate to cut guys who work hard and these worked hard.... [But] numbers always get to you this time of year.' This time, the most well-known of the victims was Nelson, a free agent who attended Utah State and failed in his third attempt to stick with the Jazz. 'You can't find a better player than Spencer — a better person,' Sloan said. 'He plays hard. He's just not quite there.' The most surprising cut was Suton, but only because the Jazz used a second-round draft pick on him. Clearly, Suton failed to wrest a roster spot from one of Utah's other young centers, Kyrylo Fesenko and Kosta Koufos. Meanwhile, Johnson lost in his long-shot quest to survive at power forward, which is the Jazz's deepest position. 'We tried to make it clear to people that, unless they could come in and show us a cause to keep them, we were not going to,' said general manager Kevin O'Connor. 'It's not a situation where we had [open] roster spots. But if someone could come in and prove they could help us, then we could have looked at keeping them.' Neither Nelson, Suton nor Johnson delivered the needed knockout punch. In five preseason games, Nelson averaged 3.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in nine minutes. Suton, the 5Oth overall pick in last summer's draft, averaged 1.7 points and 2.5 rebounds in 8.3 minutes. Johnson, who has played 102 regular-season games with Memphis and Miami, averaged four points and two rebounds in 7.8 minutes. Carlos Boozer talked to all three players after they had been cut. 'It's tough,' Boozer said. '... We become friends. They go through training camp with us, they sweat with us, they go through the same tough things we go through. 'Then you come in one morning and know they aren't going to be here. That's got to be one of the toughest jobs for a coach and a GM — to cut guys' dreams a little short.' What did Boozer say to his ex-teammates? 'I told them all good luck and told them they worked their butts off,' he said. 'I told them to keep their heads up and if one door closes, other doors open. I just pray other doors open for them soon. They're all good dudes. They all deserve to be on somebody's team.' Sixteen players remain on the Jazz's roster, including injured free agent Paul Harris and veteran Matt Harpring, who is pondering retirement while trying to rehab knee and ankle in¬juries. The Jazz need to cut at least one more player to reach the NBA maximum of 15.