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All Goran Suton wants now is a good, long night of sleep, before he begins his new career.
Between all the travel and an overnight flight delay, getting stuck in the Denver airport the day before the NBA draft, he arrived home to Lansing tired and weary, waiting to learn his basketball fate Thursday night.
And when the phone rang during the second round, as he watched with his family and friends, he heard the news moments before it was broadcast to everyone else - he was now a member of the Utah Jazz.
"They called right before (it was on TV), like 15 seconds," Suton said Friday from Salt Lake City, where he was introduced to the local press. "I don't remember who called me, but they said, 'We just drafted you.' I just stood there and looked at the TV because the pick hadn't come on. About 10 seconds later, my parents, my brother and my best friend were jumping in the air and hugging me."
Suton will report Tuesday to the Jazz's NBA Summer League team in Orlando. Utah's training camp will begin in September.
"We're excited to have him," longtime Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of Suton. "We know he shoots the basketball very well and works extremely hard. ... He has a great work habit. I think everyone has a chance to play, and hopefully he'll be able to do that."
The Jazz drafted the 6-foot-10, 245-pound forward in the second round with the 50th pick of the NBA draft. Suton became the first Spartan taken since the 2006 draft, when Shannon Brown (Cleveland), Maurice Ager (Dallas) and Paul Davis (L.A. Clippers) all were selected.
During his MSU career, Suton averaged 8.1 points and 6.6 rebounds, but it was his senior season which left the biggest imprint.
In April, Suton helped MSU reach the national title game against eventual champion North Carolina. He was spectacular during the Spartans' NCAA Tournament run to Detroit, averaging 13 points and 10.7 rebounds and getting named Most Outstanding Player at the Midwest Regional, in which he averaged 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds against Kansas and Louisville.
"If you want to do something, turn on the games in the NCAAs and watch him play - that answers a lot of questions to why we drafted him," Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said. "His numbers exponentially improved, and I think he's someone who's willing to work."
A 2004 Everett High grad, Suton also joins the list of former MSU-Lansing products taken in the draft that includes Waverly's Marcus Taylor (2002), Eastern's Sam Vincent (1985), Eastern's Jay Vincent (1981) and Everett's Earvin "Magic" Johnson (1979).
Since 2000, MSU has had 11 players taken in the NBA draft. That total is the best in the Big Ten and tied for sixth nationally.
"I think (Utah) just felt that I played for a top program, I can pick and pop, do a lot of things and play defense," Suton said. "I am just very happy they drafted me."
Suton, who averaged 10.4 points and 8.4 rebounds in his final MSU season, worked out for 13 NBA teams leading into the draft, missing a workout Wednesday in Cleveland because of his flight problems.
Despite a lack of sleep - he got just two hours early Wednesday morning in the Denver airport - draft night proved to be an enjoyable one.
Suton, who'd fled war-torn Bosnia in 1991 and arrived in Lansing in 1999, had plenty going through his mind when NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver called his name around 11:35 p.m. on Thursday. Suton's cell phone quickly blew up with calls and text messages from friends and former coaches - including MSU's Tom Izzo, Everett's Johnny Jones and Eastern's Rod Watts.
"I didn't realize how many people I had in my phone. With all those calls and texts I received last night, it showed a lot of love, and I'm very appreciative of that," the 23-year-old Suton said. "I had those thoughts, about where I've been and what I've done, throughout this whole process. This was probably the most fun time of year for me, trying to get one of the teams to like me and have enough faith to draft me."
JAZZ: Utah has made a qualifying offer to forward Paul Millsap, giving the team the right to match any other offers he receives as a restricted free agent.
The Jazz had until Tuesday to make the offer and there was no doubt they would.
Millsap averaged 13.5 points and 8.6 rebounds last season, playing mostly as a reserve.
HEAT: Alonzo Mourning is returning to the team - as an executive.
Mourning announced that he will soon begin a new job as Miami's vice president of player development, with a wide range of responsibilities, many of them off the court and in community relations areas.
He'll also spend some time mentoring young players, a role he took on in the latter portions of his playing career.
CAVALIERS: Shaquille O'Neal hasn't picked out a house in Cleveland yet. He has chosen a jersey number - his old one.
He is going back to No. 33.
The 15-time All-Star has decided to wear 33, the team confirmed. That's the number O'Neal wore in high school and at LSU before turning pro. O'Neal wore No. 32 when he was in Orlando and while he played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami and Phoenix.
