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By Chris Tomasson
Senior NBA Writer | Follow on Twitter: @christomasson
SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah forward Paul Millsap strangely was left off the NBA All-Star ballot this season. He figures it was just another career slight.
Millsap dropped into the latter part of the second round in the 2006 draft despite having been the NCAA's only three-time rebounding leader ever at Louisiana Tech. He never could crack the Jazz's starting lineup regularly until this, his fifth NBA season. And now, even though he had been pegged as a starter for this season, he wasn't on the ballot chosen by a media panel for the Feb. 20 All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
"Coming into the season, they didn't think I was going to be as good as I am right now, so they left me off,'' Millsap said in an interview with FanHouse about the move that led to an apology from one of the ballot's selectors, NBA.com's Art Garcia. "It's a reoccurring process where things like that happen. After a while you just get used to it, and people undermining you.''
Millsap figures he'll just use the snub to give him even more motivation, as if that's needed. After scoring 22 in Friday's 117-105 win over Orlando at EnergySolutions Arena, Millsap is averaging 18 points as well as 8.1 rebounds per game.
Actually, in the summer of 2009, Millsap didn't get any slights when it came to Portland signing him to a lucrative offer sheet when he had become a restricted free agent. He got a four-year, $32.5 million deal, which the Jazz matched.
But the 6-foot-8 Millsap, who averaged 16 points and 10.6 rebounds in 38 games as a starter in 2008-09 when then-Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer was out due to injury, returned to Utah to once again come off the bench. Boozer had elected not to opt out of the final year of his contract.
"I'm not going to say there was no frustration because there was,'' Millap said of returning to a reserve role last season, when he played less and his stats dropped from 13.5 points and 8.6 rebounds to 11.6 and 6.8. "I felt like I could have been playing more time and I felt I could have been a starter. But, at the end of the day, I had to be patient and wait my time. So that's why I'm in the position I am right now, because I was patient. I didn't come to the man (Utah coach Jerry Sloan) saying, 'Look, I need to play more time.' I sat back and learned and continued to watch, and I think I'm better.''
The result last summer was Utah making an offer to Boozer when he became a free agent, but not being willing to match the five-year, $75 million deal Chicago tendered. So Boozer was off to the Bulls, where he's averaging 14.2 points and 6.5 rebounds in six games after missing the first month of this season due to a broken hand.
Jazz officials weren't heartbroken about Boozer bolting because they knew what they had in Millsap. And they then acquired Minnesota's Al Jefferson, who has moved in as the starting center with Mehmet Okur still out due to a torn Achilles suffered last April. Okur, whom Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko said is looking good in practice and is "very close'' to returning, could be back this month.
"He's worked very hard to make himself a better player. He dedicates himself every day to trying to do what we ask him to do. What more can you ask from a player? He's had to work from the bottom up. He didn't start at the top"
-- Jazz coach Jerry Sloan on Paul Millsap "It showed their confidence,'' Millsap said about the Jazz having faith in him and not willing to pay what the Bulls did for Boozer. "One thing about the Jazz is they're fair. They're going to be fair with you and especially if you come in here every day and work hard and they see that you kind of become a better player.''
If there's anybody who knows about hard work, it's Sloan. He's liked Millsap since watching him at a pre-draft camp in Orlando in 2006, when he noticed how he never let up. The Jazz then took Millsap with the draft's overall No 47 pick.
"We love Paul Millsap,'' said Sloan, whose Jazz (17-7) lead the Northwest Division and hardly seem bothered by the loss of Boozer. "He's worked very hard to make himself a better player. He dedicates himself every day to trying to do what we ask him to do. What more can you ask from a player? He's had to work from the bottom up. He didn't start at the top.''
Millsap sure didn't. Of the 46 players selected ahead of him in the 2006 draft, exactly half are no longer in the NBA or never made it in the first place.
"It made me hungrier,'' Millsap said of being drafted so low, which he attributes to being regarded as undersized and having attended a small college, even if Louisiana Tech did produce some guy named Karl Malone. "It made me appreciate things more. It made me appreciate this game more. You're out there working for everything you get.''
Even when he made the NBA, Millsap was initially looked upon mainly as a rebounder. He averaged 6.8 points and 5.2 rebounds as a rookie in 2006-07.
Millsap began to blossom offensively during the stretch when he replaced Boozer two years ago. That led to the big offer sheet from Portland.
"I used to play against him all the time, and he went from the scouting report as being a rebounder to stepping his game up to another level,'' said Jefferson, who played the previous three seasons with the division rival Timberwolves. "I knew he was good and was just getting better. When I got (to Utah), I see the reason why he was good (was) because he worked harder than anybody to take his game to another level.
"He's had to, going in the late second round and having to prove himself. ... Paul all his career has been having to prove himself, and he still doesn't get (the respect he deserves). He's wanted to earn the respect as far as referees.''
Kirilenko agrees with Jefferson about Millsap still trying to earn his due. Kirilenko, who calls Millsap the team's best defender, said he's "very underrated around the league.''
With all his hard work, Jefferson said Millsap added a jump shot. Millsap, whose field-goal percentage of 55.6 is on pace to be a career best, now can hit the medium-range shot with consistency and is 4-of-7 from three-point range this season after having been 2-of-20 in his career.
Millsap said he was more diligent than ever last summer. He knew expectations would soar with his place in the starting lineup secure due to Boozer's departure.
"A little bit,'' Millsap said of pressure entering this season. "I knew I probably was going to get my opportunity this year, and I just wanted to come in the best of shape as possible. So that's where the pressure came in.''
Millsap spent the offseason utilizing strength and conditioning coaches. He honed his shot.
It didn't take long for Millsap to show he has taken another big step. He had 30 points and 16 rebounds in an Oct. 31 win at Oklahoma City. He totaled 46 points and nine boards in a Nov. 9 overtime win at Miami on a night that began to make him less of a secret.
"I think that's the game that kind of put me out there,'' Millsap said. "It was a good feeling.''
The feeling wasn't as good the next week when he wasn't announced as being on the All-Star ballot, although that decision had been made long before his outburst against the Heat. But it was just another event to continue to provide Millsap with motivation.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter@christomasson
