This wasn't what Kyrylo Fesenko envisioned in his second Rocky Mountain Revue.
Getting dunked on -- repeatedly. Powering inside, only to miss a short jump hook. Getting a rebound, only to have it stolen.
Utah's 7-foot-1 center had hoped to prove to the Jazz he was ready to make an impact, but finished the summer league with a long shopping list of things to work on.
"This is a time when young players get better. The summer time is their moment to work on things to get better," said Jazz assistant coach Scott Layden, who coached the Jazz team on Friday. "I believe he (Fesenko) had moments in the tournament where he played well. Tonight when he went back in at the end of the game, one of the things that was said to him was to try to control the backboard. He's a very good rebounder. His rebounds per minute are excellent for a big player. Towards the end of the game, he did a nice job of getting every rebound."
Fesenko finished off the Rocky Mountain Revue on Friday night at Salt Lake Community College by scoring four points in 21 minutes of work. He was 2-of-8 from the field. He had seven rebounds, four fouls and three turnovers as Utah lost to Dallas 82-70 and finished the Revue with a 3-3 record.
In Utah's six Revue games, Fesenko averaged 4.5 points per game, 4.8 rebounds and piled up 16 turnovers.
"I have problems. I need to figure them out," Fesenko said. "I need to work more. I will stay here. I will not go back to Ukraine. I don't know. I have some problems. I need to figure out which ones, but I'm going to stay here and work."
The top priority on Fesenko's check list is conditioning. He will now have a little over two months before the start of Jazz training camp to get ready for the season.
Jazz guard Morris Almond was Utah's brightest spot for the Revue. He finished with 14 points on Friday night and averaged 18.5 points per game for the tournament and was named to the All-Revue team.
"I think it was solid. It was what I expected," Almond said. "It wasn't anything spectacular or out of the ordinary. It kind of sound on both ends of the floor. I played hard."
Kosta Koufos, this year's Jazz first-round pick, scored 14 points on Friday and finished the Revue by averaging 8.6 points per game.
"I need to work on strength, conditioning, offense and defensive skills," Koufos said. "I just play within myself and be patient, play within the system, learn the system and have fun. I felt like I got better every game."
Outside of the Jazz players under contract, Utah didn't strike gold.
Utah's young players were marginal. Tyrone Brazelton, a rookie point guard from Western Kentucky, averaged 6.8 points per game but also averaged just 1.4 assist per game.
Former Utah forward Britton Johnsen, who was in street clothes with an injury on Friday, averaged 7.5 points per game and 3.0 rebounds and Yaroslav Korolev, a 6-9 forward from Russia, scored 11 points off the bench on Friday and averaged 6.0 points per game.
Golden State tied with San Antonio with the best record in the Revue at 3-1. Anthony Morrow, a rookie guard from Georgia Tech, led the Revue in scoring by 21 points per game and was named the Revue's Most Valuable Player.
He was rewarded for his play. He signed a contract with the Warriors.
The rest of the All-Revue team included: Almond, Gerald Green (Dallas), Anthony Randolph (Golden State) and Acie Law IV (Atlanta).
Posted in Nba on Friday, July 25, 2008 11:00 pm
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