 John Amaechi signed a 4-year deal with the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Friday (Photo: MAP)  |
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Utah
Jazz sign John Amaechi |
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After passing a medical in the morning, he met the media in Salt Lake City that afternoon. Amaechi, who had previously been courted by the Jazz last summer prior to signing on for an additional season with the Magic, now faces the exciting prospect of lining up alongside NBA veterans Karl Malone and John Stockton, plus the talented young Russian forward Andrei Kirilenko - their 1999 first-round draft pick - who recently arrived in Salt Lake City from CSKA Moscow. The news certainly caught the Orlando media on the hop, as they had expected Amaechi to re-sign as a free agent, but the big man spots at the Magic have become very crowded, with this week's acquisition of both Horace Grant and Patrick Ewing, in addition to their recent draft picks Steven Hunter and Brendan Haywood who play the power forward and centre spots respectively. By his own admission, Amaechi had a tougher time with the Magic this past campaign, but still posted an average of 7.9 points and 3.3 rebounds a game during regular season play. As per team policy, salary details were not revealed, but Amaechi is expected to ink a multi-year deal with the Jazz. A product of Joe Forber's youth development programme in Manchester, John Amaechi will now likely find his name posted on the lists of the UK's sporting high earners, but one suspects it's not money that's the motivating force in his world, having passed on a sizeable offer from the LA Lakers last summer. After graduating
from Penn State in 1995, Amaechi had a brief initial spell in the NBA with the
Cleveland Cavaliers, which he followed up by playing for European teams in Greece,
Italy and France, as well as the 1997/98 season spent with the Sheffield Sharks
here in the BBL. |
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John
Amaechi interviewed at the BBL Finals in May: 