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Utah Jazz News: Kirilenko Elected President, Withey’s Deal

By Ryan Aston

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Following his June retirement announcement, former Utah Jazz star Andrei Kirilenko launched a campaign to become the new president of the Russian Basketball Federation. The organization had fallen on hard times in recent years, prompting the former NBA All-Star to take action.

Those efforts culminated in the nomination on Tuesday when Kirilenko was announced as the new president at a conference in Moscow.

Kirilenko’s official nomination is expected later this week. After rumblings that Russian national team general manager Dmitry Domani would also run, the former Jazzman found himself unopposed in Tuesday’s election.

Kirilenko will now be tasked with rebuilding the sport in his home country, where its popularity has waned in recent years. The Russian men’s senior national team won the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics, but the program has since fallen into decline and has been subject to corruption and FIBA suspension.

As president, Kirilenko is aiming to restore the outfit to good standing with basketball’s international governing body. He also intends to rebuild the national program from the ground up by renewing the RBF’s focus on youth basketball.

Kirilenko on the importance of youth basketball, via James Ellingworth, Associated Press—

"“Right now, we’re choosing from 20, 30 people (for the national team), but I want there to be a big number, I want it to be 300, so we have the privilege of choice,” he says. “Focusing only on the Russian pro game while neglecting youth basketball is like ‘trying to fix the roof when the foundations, the walls are not there.'”"

More Details on Jeff Withey Contract

In a move that surprised some, the Utah Jazz came to terms with former New Orleans Pelicans center Jeff Withey on Monday. With the signing, the team has filled all of its roster spots for training camp.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the center has a good shot at being on Utah’s opening night roster. While this initially seemed to be an unlikely scenario, new details on the terms of his contract lend credence to the notion.

From Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders–

Assuming Withey did receive the reported $200,000 guarantee, it’s entirely possible that the Jazz see him as more than training camp fodder. For comparison, guard Treveon Graham’s guarantee was for $75,000. If Wojnarowski’s assertion is correct, as the dollar figure suggests it might be, it puts the Jazz into an interesting numbers game.

Counting Grant Jerrett, the injured big man who many expect will be cut, the team has 13 players with guaranteed deals on the books. This leaves only two openings on the 15-man roster with players like Withey, Graham, J.J. O’Brien, Jack Cooley, Bryce Cotton, Chris Johnson and Elijah Millsap all competing to claim a spot.

Given the players that will be with the team and the dearth of roster openings, the 2015-16 edition of Jazz training camp could be one of the more intriguing ones in recent years. Most of the team is already in place, but the competition for the remaining roster spots should lead to some interesting battles.

Next: Utah Jazz Ink Jeff Withey to Two-Year Deal

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