With Jazz season over, GM pulling for Spurs

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Dennis Lindsey is in New York City today, leading a small contingent of Jazz executives in the Big Apple for the NBA lottery, the game of fortune in which the Jazz have a 98 percent chance of remaining exactly where they are, in the 14th slot for next month's draft.

While Lindsey, the Jazz GM, is squarely focused on the draft, the offseason and going to work on the nearly blank canvas of Jazzdom, he still has an eye on the NBA playoffs and especially on his former team, the San Antonio Spurs.

"Now that we've been eliminated," he said, "I want them to win it."

On Tuesday, in the night-cap following the lottery, the Spurs will try to go up 2-0 on the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Finals. Before joining the Jazz last summer, Lindsey spent five seasons with the Spurs as vice president and assistant general manager.

Lindsey said he feels the same attachment with Houston, where he began his NBA career. In San Antonio he either worked with or had a hand in acquiring every member of the roster.

"The Spur in me will never leave," Lindsey said. "It's got to be secondary to Jazz interest now."

— Bill Oram