Jazz: Utah's Koufos stymied in debut
At the end of a 2-on-1 fastbreak with point guard Kevin Kruger, Koufos took a well-timed pass and made a strong finish. His basket trimmed San Antonio's lead to 44-42, but the Spurs took charge from there and coasted to victory.
"I'm still learning the system," Koufos said. "Every day I'm getting better, feeling more comfortable. You know, I just have to play hard and do my best."
Said Corbin: "He'll learn a little bit from this. It was his first time out there. It will be interesting to see how he comes back tomorrow."
Despite Koufos' abbreviated court-time in his debut, O'Connor likes the potential of the seven-footer who was the 23rd overall pick in the draft.
"Any time you get a big player with skill late in the first round, I think you're happy," O'Connor said. "You know, it was a very unusual year. There were a great number of bigger players taken in the draft.. .. From No. 11 to No. 20, there were probably seven or eight who were drafted."
Koufos was the 11th power forward or center to be selected in the draft. Only one -- Michael Beasley of Kansas State -- went in the top nine. But 11 of the next 14 picks were interior-type players.
luhm@sltrib.comJazz RMR scheduleAll games at 7 p.m. at Salt Lake Community College Today: Atlanta
Monday: Iranian national team
Tuesday: New Jersey
July 24: Atlanta
July 25: Dallas Highlights--George Hill, San Antonio's first-round draft pick from IUPUI, scored 21 points to lead the Spurs to an 82-57 win over the Jazz in the Rocky Mountain Revue opener for both teams.
--Jazz first-round pick Kosta Koufos, limited to 14 minutes because of foul trouble, had five points and four rebounds. Second-year center Kyrylo Fesenko went scoreless in 17 minutes and committed seven turnovers.
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