How many utah jazz players are mormon

When Kazmir was traded, Mitchell was seven years old. Mitchell cried and cried and cried. After that, David Wright, who played for the Mets from until his recent retirement, became the player Mitchell most looked up to. He always paused to take a photo with fans. Mitchell loved it when Wright let him hold his cleats in the locker room: "It made my day," he recalled. Mitchell wanted to be like that: Not just the baseball star, but that type of baseball star.

A David Wright poster was the first Mitchell hung on his wall as a kid. So if you're looking for a reason why Mitchell does things like drop by a fan's house for a July 4 barbecue , or why he shows up at a local high school's pep rally, or why he asks a young fan in the stands in Boston to rebound for him after spotting the youngster wear his jersey , it's because of those days he spent around the Mets. That's what made him recognize the difference between a superstar athlete who is a good guy -- David Wright -- and a superstar athlete who is not.

But if you're looking for a reason why Mitchell remains so grounded despite his meteoric rise to fame, or why he seems like such a damn authentic human being, people who've known Donovan Mitchell since before he became an NBA star always point to his mother. True, Brewster Academy also had a nationally prominent basketball program. But for Nicole Mitchell, basketball was far from the point. The point was to make him a well-rounded man, not a one-dimensional athlete.

I missed big tournaments because I had to do a project, had to finish it -- and she knew I wouldn't finish it after the game. That pissed me off, pissed my coaches off, but they understood that that was what we were about. I missed games to go be in concerts -- I played the drums. My mom was not always into just basketball. In today's generation kids start so early they lose track of being a child.

She kept me being a kid. Yet a kid who is a superior athlete can often get too full of himself. That's what happened with Mitchell by the time he was a sophomore in high school. His mother noticed that he was putting sports before school. She noticed that he'd rest up for baseball games or basketball games instead of focusing on classwork.

She told him that sports would run out eventually, and that he needed to prepare for that. Mitchell ignored her. One week after his mother told him that, Mitchell was playing in a baseball game when he dashed toward a pop-up in the infield. He collided with the catcher, breaking the catcher's jaw and his own wrist. His baseball season was over, and so was his upcoming AAU season. But that freak injury changed him -- not just Donovan Mitchell the athlete but Donovan Mitchell the person.

He stopped playing baseball to focus on basketball. He realized athletic success is earned, not given: "That's what pulled up that dog inside of me," Mitchell said. He hated it at first. He missed the city.

He missed his friends. But soon he realized this place would expand his horizons. Friends' parents were on Forbes lists of the country's richest people. That's the first thing Brewster basketball coach Jason Smith noticed about Mitchell. A spot opened up on his team a few weeks before school was to begin, and a college coach Smith knew recommended he look at Mitchell.

Smith hadn't seen him play -- Mitchell had just finished rehabbing from his broken wrist -- but he heard Mitchell was a good kid. They're hungry and motivated, with a chip on shoulder. He hadn't been anointed from the time he was 12 to be the next great thing. That's what they got: A star athlete who was a student -- a person -- first. The eye-popping moments with his dunks would come soon enough.

The very first open gym at Brewster where college coaches were invited, Mitchell was warming up and threw down a vicious dunk. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim and a half-dozen other college coaches stopped and stared. Their disbelieving expressions said it all: "Who is that? At the end of his junior year, he ran for senior prefect -- similar to class president -- and he won. That's typically a job reserved for students who've been at Brewster since ninth grade, but classmates took an instant liking to Mitchell.

He was in the school musical. He met with the headmaster frequently in his role as prefect. He gave tours to visiting students -- and not just basketball recruits -- in his role in the Gold Key Club. Palmer, who taught Mitchell in an American history class, says he's the type of guy he'd want to date his daughter.

It's because of his honesty, his authenticity, his plain-old decency that struck his teachers as much as it has struck the fan base of the Utah Jazz. When Mitchell turned in a subpar essay for Palmer's class, Palmer handed it back to Mitchell and told him it wasn't good enough -- that it wasn't up to Mitchell's standard. Instead of complaining, Mitchell admitted he fell short. When he got to Louisville, there was the same adjustment period as when he got to Brewster.

His jump shot didn't seem like that of a future NBA player -- too flat, without the proper arc. He didn't feel like he belonged as a Division I player. He thought about quitting. His mother made the hour drive to Louisville to lift his spirits, and Mitchell spent hours upon hours in the gym, working on that shot. Mitchell declared for the draft after his sophomore year.

He went to the NBA combine and impressed, yet the feeling lingered that he was undersized -- a tweener at best in the NBA. He flew to Utah to work out for the Jazz. Before he visited, he didn't want to go there. He didn't know anything about Utah. Plus, the Jazz were picking 24th, and he wanted to go higher. I've always been used to skyscrapers. I didn't want to go see mountainous areas as a kid -- I wanted to be around town, around New York, around Connecticut.

When I came here that was my first time really seeing mountains. It's peaceful. It's quiet. It's so much of what I'd never seen before. Chris Burgess Duke University University of Utah He is aware that, as a member of one of the best college teams in the country, he is a role model.

Kresimir Cosic The 6-footinch Cosic played center for B. He averaged After leaving B. He was also an Academic All-American twice. He played a After serving as a Mormon Missionary in Santiago, Chile for two years, he played basketball at Brigham Young University for three seasons, from Verl Heap Heap was a standout basketball player at St.

He was an all American, and was the star on the team that won the NIT. Man, that was a great game. In fact, the number of Church members that have won NBA championships can be counted on one hand… okay… two fingers.

Danny Ainge won two championships with the Boston Celtics in and Mark Madsen helped his Los Angeles Lakers team win championships in and This means that Mormons account for a meager. Not exactly a slam dunk. As previously mentioned, Danny Ainge won two championship rings with the Boston Celtics and helped lead his team to the NBA Finals 6 different times through his year career.

Brother Ainge is the only individual on this list to have had a long-standing career in the NBA and continue to work in upper management for the NBA as the General Manager for the Celtics. If you are a member of the Church and live in Boston, you might know him as Bishop Ainge. In an interview with the NBA , he talked about balancing working for the Celtics, family, and his service as a Bishop.

Danny Ainge is an outstanding example to those around him of what it means to be a member of the NBA family, and an eternal family. He played two years in the NBA and professionally in Europe. Brother Durrant has served as a full-time missionary in Madrid, Spain, bishop, counselor in the stake presidency, high councilor, mission president, and currently serves in the Sunday School general presidency.

After his inspiring General Conference talk, Brother Durrant made my starting lineup. Mark Madsen won a couple of expensive, shiny rings, and during his championship acceptance speech in downtown Los Angeles quickly became known for his goofy dance moves. During his speech, he showed off his Castilian Spanish that he learned while serving in the same mission as myself and Brother Devin Durrant, the Spain Madrid Mission It must be a Madrid missionary thing.

Mark Madsen retired a millionaire at the age of 34 after a 9-year career in the NBA. Brother Madsen is a true follower of Christ. Jimmer Fredette took the nation by storm when he became the NCAA leading scorer during his senior year by shooting near half-court jump shots. Little did I imagine, that would be essentially the last I would see of Jimmer shooting 35 footers.