Did O'Connor "Fleece" King?

With their loss to the Heat, the Rockets will fall into the lottery, denying the Nets a mid first round pick in the 2012 Draft. The pick will now be a lottery protected pick in 2013, which at this point looks like a considerably weaker draft. Worse, at least in an ironic sense, is that the Jazz, led by Devin Harris, could very well make the playoffs.

That's all led veteran Jazz writer Gordon Monson to suggest, "the Jazz fleeced the Nets", noting in their last win, Harris and Derrick Favors finished with a combined 37 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. Enes Kanter, taken with the Nets pick in the 2011 Draft, had another nine points. (The Jazz also have a nearly $11 million trade exception from the Nets' other deal with the Jazz, the Mehmet Okur trade.)

Monson talks with Kevin O'Connor about his decision to make the deal was driven by simple question Deron Williams wouldn't answer, "Are you in? Are you in?" and never getting the response he wanted. Now, getting the right answer to that queston is up to Billy King and Mikhail Prokhorov.

• Is Kevin O’Connor building the Utah Jazz into a title contender? - Gordon Monson - Salt Lake Tribune