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Jazz mourns Mark Eaton (1957-2021) | NBA

A few hours before the 3rd round against the Grizzlies, the Jazz is mourning the death of one of the key figures in its history. Former pivot of the franchise in the 80s and 90s, Mark Eaton passed away at the age of 64. According to KU TV, he died during a bike trip on Friday evening.

Mark Eaton was a physical freak. Height: 2.23m. Weight: 134 kg. A real giant, one of the few who could hinder the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the great era on the West Coast. And since the end of his career, he had been enjoying a peaceful sports retirement as a restaurateur in Park City, Utah, which he had never left since his Draft in 1982.

Mechanic by training

Mark Eaton’s story begins in Southern California where he grew up peacefully and showed water polo skills which he preferred to basketball. But without realizing the exceptional potential he represents with his old-fashioned physique, the great Mark decides to take a mechanic’s degree from a university in Phoenix before returning to work at his home in Anaheim.

It was there that he was discovered by a local high school coach, Tom Lubin, who convinced him to come and give his team a try at Cypress. Eaton complies and finds a vocation. He crushes adversity and from his second season takes his people to the state title.

Twice drafted!

Although drafted by the Suns, he prefers to polish his moves with the Bruins of UCLA, the big men training university par excellence (Abdul Jabbar, Walton, Love, Moiso, Gadzuric, uh… we’re kidding!). But he saw very little playing time and therefore found himself drafted a second time three years apart in 1982.

The Jazz smelled the good move in 72nd pick and will not regret this decision. Eaton is going to make a big splash in the league. Taking up the legendary axiom of Red Auerbach: “size cannot be learned”, Frank Layden, the exuberant coach of Utah, quickly makes it its holder.

His block average increases stratospheric during his first three seasons. Rather aim: 3.4 then 4.3 and finally the top with 5.6 cons of averages per game during the season 84-85. Imagine yourself for a second! Almost 6 blocks, plus 11 rebounds, (and 10 points), in 34 minutes of play, this is a line of stats that sends heavy and its 5.6 cts per game still remains an NBA record today.

Best Defender and All-Star

And in fact, the league crowned the best defender of the year. Eaton will be present in the All Defensive Teams 5 times (3 times in the first, 2 in the second). With its lumberjack body and its cretaceous albatross size, its deterrent capacity makes it a major asset in the constant improvement of Jazz with obviously the emergence of the duo Stockton – Malone.

After a few years of less success, Eaton resumed his march forward in 1989, the season during which he won his only All-Star selection.He was again voted best defender of the year with averages of 10 rebounds and 3.8 blocks by match.

His career ends almost logically because of numerous knee and back injuries, the friendly dinosaur becomes fossil again. But if he stays in Utah to take care of his farm and a restaurant, he doesn’t stay very far from basketball either for the TV commentaries or through the association of retirees of the league. . Without forgetting his Jazz where he had befriended Rudy Gobert, his worthy successor as a pivot of Jazz but also best defender of the NBA.

A month ago, Sports Illustrated had just published a report on the very strong ties that united them off the field, especially for long bike rides …

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