toddychurch
Well-Known Member
I always liked him.
Felton Spencer died.
- Thread starter toddychurch
- Start date
Damn. Only 55. He always put up decent stats for us. I remember looking back in the Ostertag era thinking he wasn’t so bad. I ran multiple trades on the RealGM trade checker with NY back in the day that returned us Spencer. Mostly, at that point, as salary ballast, busy still.
We traded him for the pick that became Andrei Kirilenko.
We traded him for the pick that became Andrei Kirilenko.
JimLes
Well-Known Member
That's sad. Still quite young.
I've always wondered what might have happened had he not torn his Achilles in 1995. He was having the best season of his career, the Jazz won 60 games that year even with him going down, but the Rockets beat us 3-2 in the first round. Not suggesting Felton would've stopped Hakeem or anything, but it was a very close series and he would've brought more to the table than the 37-year old James Donaldson whom the Jazz signed after Felton went down. Donaldson immediately became the starting center, having not played since the summer.
What a time. The starting center on a serious contender goes down a month before the trade deadline, and the best they can do is bring in a 37-year old who was never more than a bit player in his prime. Nowadays, you'd have an immediate blockbuster, multi-team trade to land some disgruntled player on the Jazz, with 3-4 FRPs going the other way. And Jay Humphries.
I've always wondered what might have happened had he not torn his Achilles in 1995. He was having the best season of his career, the Jazz won 60 games that year even with him going down, but the Rockets beat us 3-2 in the first round. Not suggesting Felton would've stopped Hakeem or anything, but it was a very close series and he would've brought more to the table than the 37-year old James Donaldson whom the Jazz signed after Felton went down. Donaldson immediately became the starting center, having not played since the summer.
What a time. The starting center on a serious contender goes down a month before the trade deadline, and the best they can do is bring in a 37-year old who was never more than a bit player in his prime. Nowadays, you'd have an immediate blockbuster, multi-team trade to land some disgruntled player on the Jazz, with 3-4 FRPs going the other way. And Jay Humphries.
Udidthizz
Well-Known Member
Sad indeed. And I've wondered the same thing.
I barely saw any Jazz games from this era back in the day, simply because the NBA wasn't really covered over here. One or two games a week on a paid cable channel we didn't have at my house. A friend of mine did and occasionally taped a game for me. One of those was the game Spencer tore his achilles. Boston Garden, I can still kind of picture it. I believe we did win after Dominique Wilkins (yes, he was on the Celtics) turned it over late in a close game.
SteakNEggs
Well-Known Member
Rip 
The Fresh Prince
Well-Known Member
Donaldson was a good defensive big in his prime, we just got him 7-8 years too late lol. Like we do most vets. It's Jazz tradition!
Long list of guys I've been excited we've obtained because I thought of them in their former glory.
Tom Chambers
John Starks
Danny Manning
Well, I guess listing it, it really isn't that long. All the other guys I had been following along well enough to know we were getting them later.
Donyell Marshall
Mark Jackson (that went sour fast)
Jay Humphreys
Tom Gugliotta
Beasley
Donyell Marshall was only 27 when we got him. I had really wanted Mark Jackson before we got him (he was typically the person I always targeted in hypothetical NYK trades) and I didn’t have any illusion on him being anything more than a backup to Stockton (though he did, apparently).
JimLes
Well-Known Member
That year, the Jazz could trot out a line up of Stockton-Hornacek-Chambers-Malone-Donaldson. 5 All-Stars!
Of course, if this were 1989 instead of 1995, maybe something more than a first round exit might have happened.
JimLes
Well-Known Member
He had apparently been battling cancer for the past 5 years.
I really liked it when he came out a few years ago as part of an alumni night. I hope the Jazz keep doing that sort of stuff. I know I read an article before Covid saying the team was in contact with something like 90% of former Jazz players in some way.
www.nba.com
I really liked it when he came out a few years ago as part of an alumni night. I hope the Jazz keep doing that sort of stuff. I know I read an article before Covid saying the team was in contact with something like 90% of former Jazz players in some way.
Felton Spencer to Make Jazz Alumni Appearances This Week
The Utah Jazz announced today that Jazz alumnus Felton Spencer will make appearances this week, interacting with fans prior to Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers and hosting a local Junior Jazz clinic on Friday.
www.nba.com
vegas
Well-Known Member
framer
Well-Known Member
There is a while thread on that somewhere. . .
The Fresh Prince
Well-Known Member
Man if we had all 5 of them in their prime, historians would be talking about the greatest team in nba history being the Jazz.
Funny thing is Donaldson looks like he could be Rudy Goberts father, and he's European.
LogGrad98
Well-Known Member
Contributor
2020-21 Award Winner
2022 Award Winner
2023 Award Winner
2024 Award Winner
Marshall could have been the perfect 3rd "star" next to Stock and Malone, but he just couldn't get along with coach, or how tough-nosed and driven the team was. He was not that way and it clashed bad, but his skillset was exactly what we needed. Too bad they couldn't make it work.
I don't remember much friction there. I really liked Marshall the first year and, by the end, I was fairly apathetic about him leaving, but I think that more had to do with thinking we needed to clear the path for Kirilenko.