SALT LAKE CITY — His timing couldn’t have been better in late October, 12 years ago. Sweet-tempered Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko had signed a six-year, $86 million maximum contract.
It seemed a sensible move, but equally important, it needed to be done. Kirilenko had made the All-Star team eight months earlier. With Carlos Boozer having arrived from Cleveland that summer, the Jazz hoped to quickly rebuild after the departures of Karl Malone and John Stockton.
So the team made Kirilenko just the third NBA player that offseason to get a max deal. The previous season he ranked third in blocks per game and fourth in steals.