After playing for some of the most legendary basketball coaches in state history at Bingham High School and BYU, Jim Jimas became one himself, guiding Hillcrest and Brighton high schools to state championships over a 22-year head coaching career.

Jimas, forever a Cougar hoops hero after making one of the most memorable plays in program history to secure a victory in the NIT championship game over Army, died early Tuesday morning at his home in Salt Lake City.

He was 74.

One of Jimas’ former players at Hillcrest, Marty Haws, said the boyish-looking coach laid the groundwork for most of what he accomplished at BYU.

“Coach Jimas certainly played a big part in my basketball development,” said Haws, father of recent BYU players Tyler and TJ Haws. “Coach is someone that always believed in me and made me think I was a better player than I actually was as a teenager. I carried that belief with me through my whole basketball life.”

Brighton assistant coach Ben Matheson, who played for Jimas’ Brighton teams in the mid-90s and remained close to his family, said the longtime coach passed away peacefully in his sleep after having seen his health decline rapidly the past few months.

“Coach Jimas obviously had a huge impact on my life,” Matheson said. “He was a fierce competitor, but as a player you always knew that he cared about you individually. Winning was important to him, but he also really cared about every guy on his team. He loved all of us, and you could really feel that in the way he coached.”

Jimas grew up in Copperton and played for coach Udell Wankier at Bingham, where he led Class A in scoring his junior and senior seasons.

He played for coach Stan Watts at BYU from 1964-67 and teamed with Craig Raymond, Gary Hill, Neil Roberts, Dick Nemelka, Ken James, Jim Eakins, Steve Kramer, Bill Ruffner, Randy Schouten and others to form some of the best teams in school history. They won the Western Athletic Conference championship in 1964-65, the NIT championship in 1966 and were WAC co-champs in 1966-67.

During that final NIT game in New York City in 1966, Jimas made a late steal and basket at Madison Square Garden to help the Cougars upset Bobby Knight-coached Army for the championship.

In 14 years as Hillcrest’s coach, where he was tutored early in his career by Art Hughes, Jimas compiled a 208-99 record and guided the Huskies to the 4A state championship in 1980. They also had three second-place finishes.

Jimas was out of coaching for four years, then took over at rival Brighton in 1992 and coached the Bengals for eight years.

His Brighton teams posted a 126-60 overall record, won the 5A state title in 1996 and finished second twice. He coached more than 30 all-state players at the Salt Lake Valley schools, and two first-team All-Americans — Haws (1984) at Hillcrest and Garner Meads (2000) at Brighton.

“I will miss coach,” Marty Haws said. “My thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.”

Last year, Jimas was honored before a Brighton-Hillcrest game and the name of the matchup was changed from the “Battle of the Jug” to the “Battle of the Jimas Jug” because he coached at both schools.

Matheson said in 1995 a Jimas-coached Brighton team was ranked highly the entire season, but was upset by Highland in overtime in the state tournament. Jimas inspired his team to win the consolation bracket that year after the loss, and it paved the way for them to win it all in 1996.

“He has been very supportive of every coach at Brighton that has followed him in every way possible,” Matheson said.

Funeral services are pending.

Gordon Monson is wrong about a lot of things, a lot of the time. But The Salt Lake Tribune sports columnist isn’t wrong about how women soccer players should be paid.

His argument (“Hey all you Cro-Magnon men out there, including here in Utah, pay the U.S. women’s team — and all women — the equal salaries they earn,”) is that the U.S. Women’s National Team (recent winners of a fourth World Cup) should be compensated as much as the men’s side (which has an 8-win, 6-tie, and 19-loss record in all-time World Cup play.) What a hot take.

“Uh-oh,” Monson self-chided after bringing up the fact that women everywhere, and especially in Utah, get paid less than men, “we’re getting political here.”

If by “political,” Monson meant “controversial,” he’s not even close. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe the wage gap should be closed. In a poll on the issue earlier this year, SurveyMonkey found just 4 percent of respondents believed men should get more than women. These, presumably, are the Cro-Magnon men to whom Monson was preaching.

But caveman, club thyself. According to The Tribune’s online archives, Monson has penned 40 columns since April 10. Of those, just one — his recent lament that women aren’t compensated the way men are — was about women athletes. While six local athletes from the Utah Royals, including three on the U.S. National Team, prepared for and competed in France, Monson wrote column after column about professional men’s basketball, and none about professional women’s soccer.

In fairness, one of those basketball stories was focused on a woman. It was a tribute to the long-time gatekeeper of the Utah Jazz media room, Sylvia Orton. But that story wasn’t about a woman athlete, it was about a woman who works for a men’s team.

While few journalists with such a poor record when it comes to gender balance would be so bold as to preach to other men about treating women equally, Monson isn’t alone in his hypocrisy. Nearly everyone in the media is complicit. That includes me. As a reporter for The Tribune covering local police agencies and the U.S. military from 2004 to 2011, I should have worked harder to balance my reporting with the voices of more women.

The solution to pay equity in professional sports might indeed be “complicated,” as Monson suggests. But the solution to equity in reporting really isn’t so tough at all.

Last year, Atlantic science reporter Ed Yong revealed he had fixed the gender imbalance in his stories after learning that less than a quarter of his quoted sources had been women. The secret? Just try. My research-themed radio program, UnDisciplined, just celebrated its one-year anniversary on Utah Public Radio. Half of the guests on our weekly show have been women. I report this not to boast — I have a lot of work to do when it comes to achieving a balance that reflects the rich diversity of our world — but rather to point out that, when it comes to gender, it’s really not that hard. We just tried. Monson should try, too.

The Jazz is the undisputed biggest show in Utah. There has been no professional women’s basketball team in the state since 2002. Fair enough. Cover the heck out of the Jazz.

After that, the imbalance stops making much sense.

There are two top-tier professional soccer franchises in Utah. The teams aren’t treated equally by The Tribune, but for the paper’s sharp soccer reporter, Alex Vejar, about one in every three articles is about the women’s side. That’s a commendable start. Vejar, at least, seems to be trying.

Equal numbers of men and women play college sports. Equal numbers play high school sports.

It might be funny to think of Monson as a caveman, sticking an accusatory finger at other cavemen, but the image is useful, too. The cavemen evolved, after all. Monson should, too.

Matthew D. LaPlante is an associate professor of journalism at Utah State University and the author of “Superlative: The Biology of Extremes.” He recently returned from the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, where he and his family attended nine matches, including games featuring every Utah Royals player on a national team roster.

This Pat Bagley cartoon appears in The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday, July 12, 2019. You can check out the past 10 Bagley editorial cartoons below:

• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/07/10/bagley-cartoon-talk-like/" target=_blank><u>Talk Like a Pirate</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/07/09/bagley-cartoon-american"><u>The American System of Justice</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/07/08/bagley-cartoon-penalty/"><u>Penalty Kick</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/07/05/bagley-cartoon-democrats/"><u>Democrats Wooing Who?</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/07/03/bagley-cartoon-pet-peeve/"><u>Pet Peeve</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/07/02/bagley-cartoon-wishing-he/"><u>Wishing He Would Zip It</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/07/01/bagley-cartoon-founding/"><u>Founding Fathers Fun Facts</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/06/28/bagley-cartoon-press/"><u>Press Control</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/06/27/bagley-cartoon-pillars/"><u>Pillars of Democracy</u></a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/06/26/bagley-cartoon-future/"><u>Future Shock</u></a>

Want more Bagley? Become a fan on Facebook.

Whether it’s salmonella in milk or E.coli on lettuce, the next time there is a foodborne illness outbreak in Utah, the state will have a group of food safety superheroes ready to respond.

State officials this week announced the formation of a Rapid Response Team, made up of food safety experts from local, state and federal agencies. The group will be tasked with educating the public, training for emergencies and responding to foodborne illness outbreaks.

The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food received a $1.3 million federal grant to create the food safety group, said Kerry Gibson, the department’s commissioner, in a news release. “This funding elevates our ability to more quickly protect the public from outbreaks that are either life-threatening or disruptive to Utah citizens,” Gibson said.

The Rapid Response Team should be ready to manage outbreaks and other situations as soon as 2020, added Travis Waller, UDAF’s regulatory director.

Utah is one of 25 states where a rapid response team has been created to respond to foodborne outbreak emergencies. Gibson said most states, including Utah, received program funding from the Food and Drug Administration. But some states have funded their efforts themselves.

Bacteria, viruses and parasites are the sources of many food poisoning cases, usually due to improper food handling.

Approximately 48 million Americans get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die each year from food poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A rapid response team was in place in 2017 when two children eating at a restaurant in Pennsylvania were exposed to a toxic chemical from apple juice, the release notes. The children were admitted to the hospital and the state team was notified. The team alerted the public, closed the restaurant and conducted lab tests that determined the toxin to be sodium hydroxide, which can have severe effects on the human body.

There was a similar incident in 2014, when a Utah woman was critically injured when she drank toxic tea at a barbecue restaurant.

The five-year-grant requires the state organize an interagency rapid response drill to assess and improve Utah’s preparedness for an outbreak.

“Much of the Rapid Response Team’s efforts will include setting up two-way communication tools so that we can relay important information to the public," Waller said in the release, “but also connect with citizens, doctors and law enforcement more quickly about issues.”

The man accused of falsely promoting a Salt Lake City appearance by presidential candidate Kamala Harris has been arrested in Wyoming in a stolen vehicle, according to the Utah business executive who says she and her organization were victims of a hoax, possibly a criminal one.

Adrian Hebdon, whose legal name is believed to be Adrian Noe, had worked with The Wave co-working space and social club in Utah’s capital city to plan a July 17 luncheon and a campaign fundraising dinner, that purported to feature Harris, the California Democratic senator. But the Harris campaign says it had no knowledge of or participation in the event, and The Wave now claims that it has been defrauded.

Joanna Smith, CEO of The Wave, said Wednesday that Hebdon, who had convinced her organization that he worked with the Harris campaign, left Utah in her stolen car. In a phone interview Wednesday evening, Hebdon, also known as Noe, told The Salt Lake Tribune that he borrowed the car with Smith’s permission and planned to return it Thursday.

At the same time, he told The Deseret News that he had used the car for an out-of-state trip but had left it at the local airport and had let Smith know that it was there for her to pick up.

Smith said Thursday that she had been informed around noon that Hebdon had been arrested with his husband in Rawlins, Wyo., some 290 miles from Salt Lake City.

Sgt. Jared Frakes of the Rawlins Police Department confirmed to The Tribune that two suspects were arrested in conjunction with a stolen car from Utah. The individuals also have outstanding warrants from other states.

He said the investigation is ongoing and that the suspects are being held in the Carbon County Jail until charges are filed. Since charges have yet to be filed, he declined to confirm the individuals’ names or the car’s registered owner.

Salt Lake City Police Detective Michael Ruff confirmed that the Wyoming arrest was related to the ongoing fraud investigation, but said the incidents are being handled as two separate cases. The Salt Lake Police Department sent out an alert about the vehicle and will now send their case files to Wyoming so that the case can be processed there. As for the fraud investigation, Ruff said a report was filed two days ago about the alleged Kamala Harris event hoax, but said the assigned detective is just beginning to work on the case.

The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department said they are not involved with the case, although Smith said she had also reported the suspected fraud to that agency. Sheriff Rosie Rivera was advertised as a panelist for the advertised Harris luncheon. Rivera has not responded to requests for comment.

It is still unclear exactly how much money Hebdon is alleged to have taken, but both The Wave and the Harris campaign are dealing with the financial fallout of the now-canceled events.

Smith said The Wave is in the process of refunding $17,000 worth of tickets that were purchased for a luncheon that advertised Harris as a speaker on a panel with several women. She also said The Wave spent about $22,000 on costs incurred for the event such as new chairs and a stage.

The Wave’s website on Thursday still listed the July 17 Harris arrival under its “events,” but it says registration is closed. Smith said the company is having trouble with its server and is working to remove the event.

Harris campaign spokesperson Kate Waters said in a statement that the organization has received contributions of $6,000 from at least 18 individuals that have been associated with the falsely advertised events. The campaign is currently working to contact each individual to refund their donations.

Those who purchased tickets for, or made donations in conjunction with the falsely advertised events should contact local authorities, said the statement.

“It came to our attention that an individual who was not an employee of the campaign was working with a third party organization to solicit money for two events that falsely advertised the Senator’s attendance in Salt Lake City on July 17," the statement read. "The campaign has been working with local law enforcement to provide information about the individual in question.”

A 2008 article in the Dallas Observer states that Adrian Noe worked on several political campaigns before he was revealed to be defrauding his employers, friends and co-workers in Texas and Iowa, spending time in prison in the latter state. He worked with Democrats in Texas and Republican politicians in Iowa.

Noe, which appears to be his original name, also has a criminal history in Utah. Court records show he pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor fraud charges brought by Orem City in 2001 for which he spent a few months in jail but eventually was given early release after paying restitution. In 2004, he was charged with felony fraud in 3rd District Court. The warrant remains open, according to the case summary.

Noe/Hebdon on Wednesday evening told The Tribune his only wrongdoing in the Harris fundraising debacle was not being upfront about his background.

“I’m the first to admit that I have made some really horrible mistakes in my life that I’m not proud of,” he said. “How long do I have to start every conversation with, ‘Oh by the way, I was in prison?’”

He confirmed that he previously went by Adrian Swensen and Adrian Noe, but said he changed his name through marriage. Hebdon said after his misadventures in other states, he moved back to Salt Lake City, where he has family, to get a clean start.

He connected with a variety of Democratic groups in Utah, promising fundraising help to the state party’s Black Caucus, to the Young Democrats and to Equality Utah. All expressed dismay that the man they viewed as a friend and ally has turned out, it appears, to be a serial hoaxter.

Washington • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi believes opening an impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s misdeeds would be risky. She needs to realize that not doing so is beginning to look riskier.

Next week, after special counsel Robert Mueller testifies before Congress, the impeachment question will demand an answer. Even if Mueller manages not to stray beyond the boundaries of his report, the evidence of impeachable presidential misconduct that his investigators found is clear and compelling. Hearing from Mueller’s lips what amounts to a criminal indictment of Trump will surely have more impact than Mueller’s dry and lengthy tome, which few have actually read.

Meanwhile, Trump's abuse of presidential power, including his open defiance of the judiciary, becomes ever more brazen and alarming. The Supreme Court has no army to enforce its rulings. Only Congress has the power, and the duty, to check a president run amok.

I think Pelosi is wrong when she warns that Trump is trying to bait House Democrats into impeachment. Even if he is confident that his lapdog Republican majority in the Senate would never actually remove him from office, I don't believe for a minute that Trump really wants the stigma and shame of being just the third president to be hauled into the dock. He goes apoplectic at the notion that help from Russia made his election somehow illegitimate; there is no way he wants yet another asterisk next to his name in the history books.

But what Trump wants is irrelevant. Pelosi has to ask herself what’s best for the country — and, since this is the real world, what’s best for her party.

I have great respect for the speaker's political acumen. But after Mueller's high-profile testimony, what does she imagine Democrats are going to do for a next act? The House Judiciary Committee voted to issue a passel of new subpoenas Thursday, including one for Jared Kushner, the president's adviser and son-in-law. But does anyone think the White House is going to let Kushner testify without a long, drawn-out fight? The administration's policy of stonewalling congressional demands for documents and testimony may be unlawful, but it's effective. Getting the courts to intervene takes months. Convening a hearing with an empty chair at the witness table might be an effective public relations ploy — once. Maybe twice. After that, it begins to look pathetic.

In terms of using public hearings to command attention and educate the nation about Trump's misdeeds, Mueller's testimony may be as good as it gets — unless the House opens an impeachment inquiry. That could change things dramatically. Congress' power to investigate would be at its height, and courts would recognize the obvious need to act speedily to enforce properly constituted subpoenas.

If Pelosi's strategy is to build public support for impeachment with a series of didactic, consciousness-raising committee hearings, it seems to me she's putting the cart before the horse. Only an impeachment inquiry is likely to produce the kind of witness testimony and documentary evidence that is vivid and compelling enough to shape public opinion.

I know that Pelosi worries impeachment might damage the reelection prospects of the moderate House Democrats who won last year in districts Trump carried. Her concern may be justified. But she should also worry about the overall effect on the Democratic Party — including its eventual presidential nominee — of the House appearing to spin its wheels impotently while Trump continues to do whatever he pleases, trampling constitutional norms in the process. In a contest against the most image-conscious of presidents, I don't think that's a good look.

Beyond the political calculation, there is also the question of what Congress is obliged to do, like it or not.

Mueller's report provides ample evidence that Trump committed multiple acts of obstruction of justice. Whether or not Mueller characterizes the report as a roadmap for impeachment, that's effectively what it is. Pelosi and other Democrats keep saying that no one is above the law, including the president. But the Justice Department's view that a sitting president cannot be made to face criminal charges means that Trump is indeed above the law — unless the one body that can hold him accountable, the Congress, does its job.

Doesn't the lawmaking branch of our government have a sacred obligation to uphold the rule of law? After we hear from Mueller, Pelosi and her caucus are going to have to answer that question. Whatever you think of Mueller's reluctance to draw conclusions, he took his job seriously. Members of the House — beginning with Pelosi — now must do the same.

Eugene Robinson’s email address is eugenerobinson@washpost.com.

Midway • Soaring afternoon temperatures, a pesky wind and a suddenly hot opponent twice his age threatened to rattle 16-year-old Preston Summerhays on Thursday afternoon in the 121st Utah State Amateur golf tournament at Soldier Hollow Golf Course.

Forgive the defending champion for barely noticing.

Summerhays calmly rolled in a breaking 12-footer to save par on the Gold Course’s 18th hole in a Round of 16 match, then escaped when 32-year-old Layton CPA Reed Nielsen — who had made a spirited comeback — missed a 5-footer for par that would have prolonged the match.

Just like that, the tables were turned, and Summerhays was advancing to Friday’s quarterfinals, where he will face Southern Utah golfer Jake Vincent, the reigning Big Sky Conference individual champion.

“I really felt my line,” said Summerhays, who became the youngest Utah State Am champion in history last year when he won at Oakridge Country Club. “I could really see it going in, and I just put a confident stroke on it.”

Nielsen called the putt “very, very impressive,” but didn’t think it affected his nerves, despite leaving his attempt short.

“I hit my line, I just didn’t hit it hard enough,” he said.

Summerhays, who defeated Boston Watts 3 and 2 in the morning’s Round of 32 matches, led by five holes through eight before Nielsen rallied. The reigning Mid-Amateur champion squared the match with birdies on 15 and 16.

“Reed played amazing,” Summerhays said. “It wasn’t like I was giving up holes, He was earning them.”

Defending champion Preston Summerhays drained this 12 footer for par on the 18th hole to defeat Reed Nielsen at the State Amateur and move into Friday’s quarterfinals. pic.twitter.com/JLT5b2wjqm

— Jay Drew (@drewjay) July 11, 2019

Vincent, 21, a rising senior who is from Palm Desert, Calif., should be able to give Summerhays another good test. He knocked off BYU-bound Zach Jones, one of the pre-tournament favorites, 3 and 2 Thursday afternoon.

“I got lucky that Zach didn’t have his best stuff,” Vincent said. “But my game has been trending in the right direction, for sure.”

Vincent has played in the State Am twice before, “because it’s a great golf tournament,” and landed at SUU because coach Richard Church spotted his talent, gave him his only scholarship offer, and got him to Cedar City.

“Without coach Church, I probably wouldn’t even still be playing golf,” Vincent said.

As is often the case, college and college-bound golfers comprise the bulk of the final eight.

Another of Friday’s quarterfinals will pit former Lone Peak High golfer Elijah Turner, who is also bound for BYU, against Cameron Tucker, a Utah State golfer from Bonneville High. Turner qualified for the tournament two days after returning from a church mission to Ghana.

The most unknown quarterfinalist, at least locally, is 19-year-old Zane Brownrigg, a rising junior at Methodist University in North Carolina who is working at Red Ledges Golf Club this summer and is originally from Cincinnati. He downed Moab’s Alec Williams 3 and 1 and will face Utah State golfer Chase Lansford, who needed 19 holes to knock off former SUU basketball star Ryan Brimley.

“I’m hitting it really well,” said Brownrigg, one of the survivors of Tuesday’s playoff for the final nine match-play berths.

In the fourth quarterfinal, BYU golfer Spencer Dunaway will tangle with Steve Croft, 27, a former University of Utah golfer. Dunaway led 2016 State Am runner-up Aaron Smith by three holes through 12, then had to hang on to advance.

“I didn’t really come into this tournament with any expecations,” Dunaway said. “I’m not usually a very good match play player. ... I don’t make a lot of birdies. I’m more of a par guy."

121st Utah State Amateur

At Soldier Hollow Golf Course, Midway

Thursday’s Results

Round of 32

Preston Summerhays def. Boston Watts, 3 and 2

Reed Nielsen def. John Owen, 1 up

Zach Jones def. Braydon Swapp, 3 and 2

Jake Vincent def. Masen Ward, 3 and 1

Brennan Coburn def. Cole Ponich, 2 up

Elijah Turner def. Dan Horner, 2 and 1

Cameron Tucker def. Derek Penman, 1 up

John Reid def. Nathan Ouimette, 4 and 3

Ryan Brimley def. Colton Tanner, 1 up

Chase Lansford def. Nick Becker, 3 and 2

Alec Williams def. Mitchell Schow, 3 and 1

Zane Brownrigg def. Thomas Young, 3 and 2

Blake Murray def. Cooper Jones, 2 and 1

Steven Croft def. Kelton Hirsch, 21 holes

Aaron Smith def. Spencer Wallace, 1 up

Spencer Dunaway def. Christopher Cheney, 1 up

Round of 16

Summerhays def. Nielsen, 1 up

Vincent def. Jones, 3 and 2

Turner def. Coburn, 5 and 3

Tucker def. Reid, 3 and 2

Brownrigg def. Williams, 3 and 1

Lansford def. Brimley, 19 holes

Croft def. Murray, 4 and 2

Dunaway def. Smith, 1 up

Friday’s Quarterfinal Matches

Lansford vs. Brownrigg, 7:30 a.m.

Croft vs. Dunaway, 7:40 a.m.

Summerhays vs. Vincent, 7:50 a.m.

Turner vs. Tucker, 8 a.m.

Las Vegas • Russell Westbrook and James Harden are together again, and Chris Paul is leaving Houston to make that reunion happen.

A person with knowledge of the situation says the Oklahoma City Thunder have traded Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Paul in a swapping of top point guards. The Thunder also are getting first-round picks in 2024 and 2026, plus the right to swap first-rounders in two other seasons, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the trade has not been announced.

ESPN first reported the agreement.

Paul is a nine-time All-Star, Westbrook an eight-time selection. Paul has 9,181 career assists, the most among active players. Westbrook has 138 triple-doubles, tied with Magic Johnson for second-most in NBA history behind only Oscar Robertson’s 181. Both members of Houston’s new glitzy backcourt are recent MVPs: Westbrook won it in 2017, Harden won it in 2018. And the trade means that the NBA’s two highest scorers over the last five seasons — Harden with 11,958 points, Westbrook with 10,025 — are now teammates.

Westbrook and Harden were Thunder teammates for three seasons, the last of those being the 2011-12 campaign when that duo and Kevin Durant took Oklahoma City to the NBA Finals. They lost in five games to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat, and Harden departed that summer for Houston — where he’s been an All-Star ever since.

But when the Thunder agreed last week to trade Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers — in a move that essentially sealed 2019 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard’s decision to leave Toronto for the Clippers — it became clear quickly that Westbrook would be on the move as well. And this trade, when completed, will mean that Thunder general manager Sam Presti has added eight first-round picks to the team’s stockpile in the last week or so.

Oklahoma City got five first-round future selections as part of the George trade. The Thunder are getting two more in this trade, and got a 2020 first-round pick in the deal completed earlier this week that sent Jerami Grant to Denver.

It’s the latest bold transaction in a wild offseason of movement that already saw Leonard become the first reigning Finals MVP change teams in the offseason after winning that award, Anthony Davis get traded from New Orleans to the Los Angeles Lakers, All-Star point guards like Kyrie Irving (Boston to Brooklyn), Kemba Walker (Charlotte to Boston) and D’Angelo Russell (Brooklyn to Golden State) change teams, Durant leave the Warriors for Brooklyn, Jimmy Butler go from Philadelphia to Miami in a sign-and-trade, Al Horford move from Philadelphia from Boston.

“Craziest NBA summer by far,” longtime NBA guard Jamal Crawford tweeted.

Paul and Harden were teammates for two seasons in Houston. The Rockets had a 3-2 lead over Golden State in the 2018 Western Conference finals when Paul injured a hamstring, and the Warriors rallied to win that series in seven games on the way to the NBA title. This past season, Houston was ousted in the second round by the Warriors.

The 34-year-old Paul is owed roughly $125 million over the final three years of his contract, including a $44.2 million option for 2021-22. Westbrook, who turns 31 early next season, is owed $171 million over the final four years of his existing deal.

Would you stay with a spouse or significant other if they had repeated affairs? If they were unable to speak the truth and told countless lies? If they bullied and insulted people in a public setting?

How about blaming others for their errors or misdeeds? Would you stay with someone who showed total disregard for human suffering and had no empathy for those less fortunate?

What if they ignored laws and convention, believing that theirs was the only real truth, and only they had the ability to act correct?

What if they threaten people or suggested violence towards people? Would you stay with them?

Then why do you accept this behavior from a president?

Iris Nielsen, North Logan

Submit a letter to the editor

The July 7 article, “Utah’s senators should vote no on Ron Mortensen” written by Utah state Sen. Curt Bramble, David Irvine and Paul Mero was a nasty piece of character assassination.

Ron Mortensen, Ph.D., is a retired career U.S. Foreign Service officer and former Society for Human Resource Management senior executive. He’s also a strong opponent of illegal immigration and has been nominated for the assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

First he was attacked because he disagrees with the LDS Church’s position on illegal immigration. So what? He’s being nominated for a government job, not for membership in the Quorums of the Seventy.

As Bramble, Irvine and Mero are sponsors and supporters, along with the Chamber of Commerce, of the deeply flawed Utah Compact document, of course they are going to object to anyone in a government position who opposes illegal immigration.

The Utah Compact does not make the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. In fact, this document encourages illegal immigration, the hiring of illegal workers, acceptance of illegal immigration and, most important, it encourages us to ignore our laws.

For decades it’s been against federal law for employers to hire illegal immigrants. When employers pay illegal workers under the table, they are not paying taxes, FICA, unemployment insurance or workman’s comp. That makes them tax cheaters.

Or when employers hire illegal workers and put them on the payroll, they are complicit in identity theft and stolen or fraudulent social security numbers. But, just look the other way.

And how many employers who hire illegal workers provide healthcare insurance for them? No need. The rest of us will pay for it.

According to a Yale-MIT study, Sept. 2018, there are probably 22 to 30 million illegal immigrants in our country. We've done a great job just looking the other way.

And last, if we are going to ignore our laws, then we don’t need any laws in the first place.

Susan Rounds, Midvale

Submit a letter to the editor

The Jazz wrapped up first-round action at the Las Vegas Summer League on Thursday night with an 87-78 loss to the Houston Rockets at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Third-year center Tony Bradley had another strong performance, registering game-highs with 23 points and 13 rebounds — eight of which were offensive. He hit 9 of 15 shots and made 5 of 6 free throws.

Veteran big man Willie Reed was the only other Jazz player to score in double figures, totaling 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting. Rookie Miye Oni had eight points, but shot just 3 for 9. Utah hit a respectable 44.9% of its shots overall, but made only 8 of 27 (29.6%) from 3-point range.

The Jazz were without the services of second-round picks Jarrell Brantley (right hamstring tightness) and Justin Wright-Foreman (personal reasons). Tre’Shaun Fletcher (left hip soreness) was also out.

Chris Clemons led the Rockets by totaling 19 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Having gone 2-2 in the opening round, the Jazz will now wrap up their Vegas trip with a consolation game on Saturday at 2 p.m. MDT against the Charlotte Hornets.

LAS VEGAS — Three thoughts on the Jazz’s 87-78 loss to the Houston Rockets from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. Tony Bradley’s fit against the Rockets

With Justin Wright-Foreman and Jarrell Brantley out, much of the evaluation goes towards Tony Bradley and Miye Oni. Oni finished with eight points — shooting 3 of 9 from the floor and 2 of 6 on three-pointers — which certainly is not a standout game, but not a revealing game, either.

Tony Bradley’s game was more interesting: 23 points — on 9-of-15 shooting — and 13 rebounds, again, very nice numbers in competition. He’s hustling down the floor, he’s rolling on lobs, and he’s always been good at catching and finishing against lesser competition, and certainly showed that tonight. As always, Bradley’s primary rebounding contribution is actually on the offensive end. He doesn’t always make it on the first attempt, but might on the second or third. On Thursday night, that meant eight offensive rebounds on the scoresheet.

Given that we know he can do that, I was more intrigued by evaluating his other skills. The Rockets, like a lot of teams, try to get their summer league teams to play basically like their NBA team in order to evaluate them. Because there’s only a two- or three-day training camp with nearly all new players, rather than an established group of NBA players, what this means in practice is setting up a couple of plays and offensive and defensive principles to try out. For the Rockets, that means a lot of perimeter play and forcing switches on both ends.

That meant Bradley was isolated on the perimeter a few times, and to mixed results. Early in the second half, scoring guard Chris Clemons — the single best scoring guard in college basketball last year, albeit in a smaller conference — found himself one-on-one against Bradley, and then just drove by Bradley for an easy basket, despite his 5-foot-9 height.

But then later in the half, there was the same situation, and Bradley took a step or two back, and he did a better job of staying in front and contesting. These are the situations that he’ll face in the NBA, and will find them with more capable players than Clemons.

Again, he’s still 21, so there’s time to figure this stuff out. But he’s still filling out the outlines of what he is as an NBA player, and he again showed that Thursday.

2. Chris Clemons’ free-throw technique

Again, he scored 30 points per game last year for Campbell, and even shot 8.6 free throws per game last year. But look at where he shoots free throws from:

As a former member and huge fan of the Big South, I’ve seen Houston’s Chris Clemons play plenty of times. He’s been shooting free throws from the elbow for a long time. It’s a strange tactic, but he feels hes more comfortable from that spot and he’s been effective. pic.twitter.com/XHFfgGwzX9

— All Day Ball - Darius B (@AllDayBallNews) July 10, 2019

What a weird thing to do! Why does he feel more comfortable from there? That’s an insane thing, right? The elbow is further away, and if it goes off the backboard, it’s probably not going in, and it just seems like you’re going to miss it more often, right?

But don’t worry: Clemons had the highest free-throw percentage of his career last year using this technique, 86.9% from the line. He knocks them down consistently from several feet wide of the middle and a foot back. Good for him! Anything is possible.

I also think of the incredibly specific self-confidence it takes to shoot free throws like this. You’re very sure you’re a good shooter from exactly one spot, but you also don’t think that you can hit it from 15 feet away in the center of the court. If you think you can do anything, like most NBA players do, don’t you take it from the center?

I’m fascinated.

3. Russell Westbrook and James Harden traded for each other

It’s Game 4 of summer league with significant players injured, so I’m taking a special “Well, the Jazz were playing the Rockets anyway” exception to write about something that doesn’t have anything to do with Thursday’s game.

On Thursday night, the Rockets traded Chris Paul and two first-round picks, plus two first-round pick swaps to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell Westbrook.

What a weird trade! Those two, only two years ago in 2017, were battling it out for NBA MVP status, with Westbrook finishing No. 1 on the strength of the triple-double performance, which then seemed like a much bigger deal than it does now. Now, all of the Rockets fans that have been denigrating Westbrook for years have to support him. What a turnaround.

For OKC, it makes a lot of sense: get off a huge-money long term contract and get four(ish) first-round picks in the mean time. They can keep CP3 and be semi-competitive, or try to trade him for some return. Either way, they’ve set themselves up pretty well given their future that seemed to have a hard ceiling a couple of months ago.

I’m not sure Houston is any better. Westbrook very well may take advantage of additional shooting and spacing the Rockets present that the Thunder never had, but both Westbrook and Harden are so bad off the ball: neither of them ever cut, screen, or really move around. They’ll need to stagger them, but I’m not sure one by themselves presents a super compelling Western Conference option.

It is more interesting and chaotic, though, and for that, we salute all of the Rockets, Thunder and especially the NBA. What a good league.

Boise, Idaho • The Trump administration will not pursue lethal measures such as euthanasia or selling horses for slaughter to deal with what officials say is an ecological and fiscal crisis caused by too many wild horses on rangelands in the U.S. West, an official said Thursday.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management Acting Director Casey Hammond told the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board that those options are not on the table.

"It's not an option that's being discussed," Hammond said. "I don't think it's anything the president would be supportive of, so it's not part of the calculation that we're making."

The agency is preparing a report requested by Congress on potential solutions for the wild horse problem.

Federal officials say the nearly 90,000 wild horses in 10 Western states are more than three times appropriate levels. Officials estimate that up to 18,000 foals are born each year.

Another 50,000 wild horses are being held in corrals at a cost of $50 million annually, which is more than half of the Bureau of Land Management's budget for its Wild Horse and Bureau Program.

The six-member panel agreed that killing wild horses to control the population wasn't something they were interested in doing, but also cited the ecological destruction to rangelands and the potential for wild horses held in corrals to exceed 100,000 if current policies continue.

"Our window for being able to act and not have to go there (euthanasia) by force at some point, regardless of what our interests are, are closing," said board member Celeste Carlisle.

Hammond agreed that the wild horse and burro problem was approaching a critical juncture.

"I'll be honest with you," he told the board, "the smart political thing in this program is really to do nothing. Other administrations were just brilliant. We don't have that option to do nothing. We have to take on this, and we're going to take some lumps."

Potential solutions that have been considered include new sterilization methods, aggressive adoption efforts and holding more horses in corrals.

The federal government became responsible for managing wild horses and burros following passage of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 amid concerns of inhumane treatment of wild horses and the possibility they might be wiped out.

Wild horses were rounded up and sent to slaughterhouses during much of last century, often for dog food. Currently, Congress prohibits the sale of wild horses for slaughter, and only sick or injured horses are euthanized. As a result, herds have rebounded.

Wild horses are generally viewed as iconic symbols of the West, but officials say they have few predators and quickly overpopulate what rangelands can support. Officials also say they consume food on rangelands used for raising cattle and can cause problems for native wildlife, including threatened and endangered species, and have the potential to contribute to wildfire and invasive species problems.

Hammond also said rangeland dominated by wild horses violates the BLM's mandate to be a multiple-use agency under the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

"That's our primary responsibility," Hammond said.

Most wild horse herds roam on BLM lands. Other activities on those lands include such things as hunting for big game, mountain biking, raising livestock and mining.

The advisory board meeting in Boise is tasked with making recommendations to the BLM and U.S. Forest Service regarding management of wild horses and burros, which the federal agencies can accept or reject.

Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. • Authorities say a body has been recovered from the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park and it’s believed to be that of a California man reported missing from a commercial river trip last month.

Park rangers say the body was recovered Wednesday below Lava Falls, transported to the rim by helicopter and transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiner's office for positive identification.

Based on evidence found with the body, park officials say the body appears to be that of 66-year-old Peter Francis Schwab, of Healdsburg, Calif.

Schwab was last seen on June 28 after a sightseeing day hike at National Canyon on the Colorado River.

The National Park Service conducted a multi-day search and rescue operation and is investigating the incident.

The Las Vegas Aviators belted six home runs en route to a 13-3 rout of the visiting Salt Lake Bees on Thursday night.

Salt Lake starter JC Ramirez, who was making his seventh Major League rehab assignment start from the Angels, surrendered four of the home runs, including back-to-back homers in the first inning that gave Las Vegas a 3-0 lead.

The Bees pulled to within one run with a run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Ty Kelly and a solo homer by Jose Rojas, his 18th of the season, in the third. The Aviators scored 10 runs from the fourth to the seventh to put the game out of reach. Salt Lake added a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Kaleb Cowart.

Ramirez (1-2) went five innings and allowed seven runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Salt Lake did have two sacrifice flies, but went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position. Rojas led the Bees with two hits, including a home run, and one run batted in to extend his hitting streak to seven games, while Brennon Lund added two hits, one of which was a double.

The girl steps up to the lectern and begins, simply, “Hi, my name is Savannah.”

In reality, Savannah, then 12, wasn’t allowed to finish her testimony, which she tried to deliver in May 2017 to her Eagle Mountain congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — to declare that she is a lesbian.

In virtual reality, Savannah, now 15, delivers the whole speech without having her mic turned off — and the viewer, wearing a pair of goggles in a VR art installation featured in this year’s Damn These Heels LGBTQ Film Festival, is sitting in a pew listening.

“It’s actually quite inspirational, the fact that I’m an inspiration for this kind of coming-of-age type of filming,” Savannah said. [The Salt Lake Tribune is not using her last name, in accordance with her parents’ wishes.] The VR video, shot last summer, provided “that validation, to be surrounded by all the people that loved me, and being able to finish that testimony that I really wanted to finish that day.”

The short film, titled “Savannah,” is one of four virtual reality works that will be shown in the festival’s VR Lounge, on the mezzanine level of the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City.

The festival, marking its 16th year, kicks off Friday with the opening-night screening of the documentary “Changing the Game,” about transgender athletes seeking fair treatment in competition. The festival continues with a full slate of films Saturday and Sunday, and the VR Lounge will be free to the public both days, from noon to 5 p.m. (On-site registration is recommended; otherwise, it’s first come, first served.)

“We are not following the virtual-reality lounge rules,” said Carol Dalrymple, who with Dane Christensen founded InterSpacial Collective, which is designing Damn These Heels’ lounge as an immersive experience.

Where VR lounges are often just a space with people standing around with gadgets strapped to their heads, Dalrymple and Christensen decided to create more of an immersive media arts/film installation.

“We are weaving emerging immersive mediums such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and depth-sensing cameras with physical space, and with traditional mediums such as audio recordings and 2-D film to create an experimental and exploratory experience for the audience,” Dalrymple said.

When guests arrive at the Rose Wagner’s mezzanine level, they will come up on rows of church pews. They will be invited to sit and read a card with instructions and questions on which they can reflect. Then they will put on headsets that will allow them to watch and hear the short “Savannah,” which Dalrymple directed.

The space is called The Sanctuary, and is meant to replicate a place of worship, meditation and reflection. The idea is to reclaim the space by examining how faith, sexuality and identity intersect.

“We are definitely exploring with both physical and metaphorical use of space,” Christensen said. “I would even say it’s the spaces in terms of our identity and expressions of faith but also, where do we go to cultivate those?”

Behind the pews sits an old wooden dresser. In its drawers are props for the guest to try on in front of a mirror — which is actually a screen attached to a picture frame, with a hidden depth-sensor camera that will display a live holographic image of the viewer.

While guests are looking at themselves in this altered mirror, they will hear over a headset a radio profile, produced by former KUER reporter Jenny Brundin and aired on NPR, of a transgender woman — also named Jenny, coincidentally. In the profile, Jenny discusses how she struggled with her identity as a man and came to terms with her true self, even as she lost part of her self, her marriage, career and religious community.

The holographic mirror, Christensen said, is “really trippy and almost a little bit weird, but it encourages this blending of the reflection and how others see you and how you see you.”

Dalrymple and Christensen co-directed “Judith,” a VR short about a woman who painted for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for her entire career, but stayed closeted most of her life. In the VR Lounge, Judith’s story is also told through an image of her art as it is being created, and visitors can make their own contributions to it using a “virtual toolbox.”

The fourth piece is “Faithful,” which screened at Damn These Heels last year as a 2-D film and appears this year in the 3-D space of VR. It centers on Marylu and Lauralie, a loving, committed couple who are active in their Latter-day Saint ward. Christensen directed the film, and is experimenting with the 3-D capacity of 2-D films in VR.

“We are still at our infancy as a culture how to present VR in a compelling way, and the idea of having an externality that reflects the internality of the story is a cool approach to that,” said Davey Davis, program manager for the Utah Film Center, which presents Damn These Heels.

“I love that they took a specific angle of faith and identity,” Davis added, noting that many of the films in Damn These Heels deal with how LGBTQ people deal with their religion, particularly in Utah.

For Savannah, being at the center of a VR documentary was a fascinating experience. “VR is very futuristic for me,” she said. “Especially seeing how it’s going to become a type of filming from now on.”

——

Damn These Heels turns 16

The 16th annual Damn These Heels LGBTQ Film Festival, bringing stories about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people from around the world.

Where • Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City

When • Friday through Sunday, July 12-14

Tickets • Available through arttix.artsaltlake.org

Program • Online at utahfilmcenter.org/DTH2019

Coverage of downtown Salt Lake City arts groups is supported by a grant from The Blocks, a cultural initiative of Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County.

A West Jordan man is facing federal charges, accused of selling fentanyl pills to a Murray woman who overdosed and died in 2016.

Investigators built the case using cellphone records and a source, who said John Aaron Favro, 24, sold his pills to participants in Utah’s drug court, a diversion program aimed at those with addiction issues.

The two-count indictment was unsealed Thursday, and originally filed July 3. Favro could face a 20 year to life sentence for distributing a drug that lead to a death.

On Nov. 21, 2016, a woman — identified in court documents only as M.K.K. — was found dead from an apparent overdose in her Murray apartment. She had a history of drug abuse, and had not been heard from for three days. Next to M.K.K. on her bed was a shoe box with two small blue pills with the label A215 — an imprint signifying oxycodone. A toxicology analysis found high levels of fentanyl in her blood, and the Utah Medical Examiner ruled she died from fentanyl intoxication.

In January 2019, the federal complaint said, M.K.K.’s parents helped DEA agents link their daughter to Favro. On the family’s cellphone plan, the parents found a call from their daughter to a number, placed just before she took an Uber ride on the last day she was heard from. The parents called the number in January, and learned it belonged to Favro — who said he hadn’t seen M.K.K. since Nov. 18, 2016. Later, Favro called the parents, saying M.K.K. owed him $400, which the parents wired to him.

In January, according to the complaint, DEA agents talked to a confidential source who said they believed Favro supplied fentanyl to the woman. In 2016, the source was participating in the state’s drug court program, and noticed a person, identified as A.T., who was high. The source asked A.T. how they were getting high without getting kicked out of the drug court program — and A.T. said “drug court staff did not check for fentanyl in the urine analysis tests.”

Kele Griffone, director of Salt Lake County Criminal Justice Services, which runs the drug court program, said Friday that the vendor contracted to do urine analysis tests in 2016 did not test for fentanyl, because it was not as widely used then as it is now.

The company the division contracts with now includes fentanyl among the drugs tested for by urine analysis, she said. The tests are performed randomly, and participants “don’t know what they’re geing tested for,” Griffone said.

Some 21,000 drug tests were performed on drug court participants in 2018, and another 8,300 in the first six months of 2019, Griffone said. There are around 550 participants in the five drug court programs run by Salt Lake County, she said.

The probable cause statement says the source repeatedly asked A.T. for fentanyl, and in October 2016 the person said a person he called “Slim,” would supply it. The source went to buy fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills from “Slim,” who, the statement says, was Favro.

In October 2016, M.K.K., who was participating in drug court after using heroin, had relapsed. The source told M.K.K. that they had a fentanyl supplier, and together they bought six fentanyl pills for $100 — and started to do this daily.

DEA agents interviewed A.T. this April, and he admitted that he referred customers to Favro. DEA agents also analyzed an exchange of text messages on Nov. 17, 2016, between M.K.K. and the phone identified as Favro’s — with messages like “I got money,” “How much?” and “Fifty..can I get two?”

Favro has faced drug possession charges at the state level five times since 2014. In the most recent case, he was charged with possession of marijuana and heroin after an April 7, 2019, hit-and-run accident. An arraignment hearing for those charges was set for July 3, the same day the federal charges were filed.

The executive order that President Donald Trump issued on Thursday was a face-saving attempt to repackage a political loss. Much more important, however, it reflects the administration's stepping back from the brink of a truly historic rejection of the principle that the courts decide the law under our constitutional scheme.

The administration for several days had suggested it was busy concocting a workaround to the Supreme Court's determination in late June that the rationale for placing a citizenship question in the 2020 census was pretextual and could not stand.

The Justice Department initially had the reflexive and professional response of accepting the court's decision in full. Then suddenly, set to action by a tweet from the president, it embarked on a weeklong effort to come up with some alternative rationale, a course of conduct that undercut its already weakened credibility with the two district courts that had assumed control of the question.

It is important to understand just what a radical course of action the administration was flirting with. The attorney general of the United States declared that he had been in regular contact with the president about the question, which the president was determined to see featured on the decennial survey.

"I agree with him that the Supreme Court decision was wrong," Attorney General William Barr said.

Thankfully we are not going to find out for certain, but what is the possible import of insisting that the Supreme Court got it "wrong" here? Barr's affirming of Trump's repeated assertion that the court had erred, while promising to produce some executive remedy for the error, portended a response that was not faithful to the court's mandate. Certainly, such a course would not have been out of character for the headstrong and constitutionally uninformed president.

There have been in U.S. history, on very few occasions, suggestions from the executive branch that it needn't fully enforce Supreme Court decisions. Abraham Lincoln famously took the position in debate with Stephen Douglas that the Republican Party might not be bound going forward by the principle announced in the infamous Dred Scott decision. Likewise, Attorney General Edwin Meese entertained at least intellectually the legitimacy of a cribbed response to Supreme Court holdings.

But as Lincoln made clear, he was not advocating the idea that the Supreme Court's holding could be disregarded in the particular case. On the contrary, he made plain his acceptance of the specific holding that Scott remained a slave.

Likewise, even segregation-forever politicians including George Wallace reluctantly acquiesced to the court's authority to resolve individual cases, which is the indisputable core of the judicial power.

Here, Barr and Trump's proclamation suggested a far more anti-constitutional gesture of essentially ignoring the court's resolution of the actual case. Such a response would have been tantamount to challenging the bedrock principle of Marbury v. Madison that "it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is."

That would indeed have put the country unequivocally at the razor edge of a constitutional crisis. If the executive branch disclaims the courts' authority to resolve disputes, we would be in wholly uncharted territory outside the ability of the Constitution to resolve.

So it is an enormous relief that the administration, presumably Barr in particular, concluded such an approach was a bridge too far, even as it meant telling the president that he had to give up on his crusade to inject the citizenship question into the census and take a high-profile loss (which of course he attempted to repackage as a victory).

At the news conference, Barr was at pains to dismiss as "rank speculation" the idea that they were seeking essentially to ignore the Supreme Court's resolution of the case. Informed speculation would be more accurate. The president's express derogation of the court's decision combined with the unsuccessful flailing toward a bogus new solution left little room for confidence that Trump would respect this most critical, but ultimately fragile, constitutional norm.

In the event, the administration stepped away from adding to Trump’s dubious constitutional legacy the distinction of being the first president to set his shoulder against the Supreme Court’s canonical role, unquestioned for more than 200 years. Be thankful that the country was able to escape that particular constitutional train wreck.

Harry Litman, a Washington Post contributing columnist, is a former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general. He teaches constitutional law and national security law at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law and the University of California at San Diego Department of Political Science.

The funny thing about great expectations is some people think they’re favorable, that they are an advantage, that they are useful and good, that they are important for success. Others consider them the enemy, that they are disadvantageous, that they are a burden and bad, that they lead to disappointment.

The Jazz now get to figure out what they will be for them.

Friend or foe.

Good is no longer good enough.

For the first time in a long, long time, those expectations are ascending to a crest of title contention for Utah’s NBA team. People who cover the the league for a living, not just here but from other parts of the country, are praising the Jazz and considering them a legitimate threat, even in the most difficult West. Even in Vegas, odds for the Jazz to win an NBA championship have moved in a positive direction.

Over the past two seasons, the Jazz have been a nice story, a gritty collection of players who were connected and unselfish and defensive-minded and woefully short on offensive firepower. They did the most with what they had, despite having lost their best player to free agency and building around a promising youngster who needed seasoning and … help.

Well. In the best offseason in club history, that reinforcement has arrived, coming not just in the form of additional talent, but in the form of talent that bolsters the exact weak spots the team was vulnerable to/suffering from in postseasons past. Namely, shooting, playmaking, and rocksteady toughness and explosiveness at point guard. And most of what they gave up to get that bolstering — Derrick Favors, most notably — they covered with additional savvy moves.

You know what the Jazz did. They traded for Mike Conley. They signed Bojan Bogdanovic. They signed Ed Davis. They signed Jeff Green. They signed Emmanuel Mudiay.

By Jazz standards, they went berserk.

We’re talking about an outfit that last offseason did … nothing. They traded for nobody. They signed nobody. Their plan was to grow from within and preserve their financial flexibility.

Not anymore. It’s as though somebody, something awakened the Jazz, stirred them from their slumber. They realized that in a modern NBA in which great players — of which Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell are included — have the power, and the best way to keep those stars wanting to stick around is to give them the support they need.

The timing was also right on account of Gobert’s and Mitchell’s contracts emaining somewhat under control compared to what they will swell to in a couple of seasons. Money could be responsibly spent in the present and … it was.

The Jazz now have blown past solid at both ends.

Under the direction of Quin Snyder, an offense that had been known for creating open looks but not consistently taking advantage of them — think the Rockets playoff series — can do exactly that. Picture what Conley will do when he is left open the way Ricky Rubio was. Imagine Bogdanovic left the way Jae Crowder and Favors were. See Bogdanovic on one side and Joe Ingles on the other, splashing away.

And if defenses emphasize guarding those guys, beam up on the big screen in your brain what that will conjure and enable — open lanes for Mitchell to drive to the basket and more opportunities for Gobert to roll for a dunk. An attack that once could be jammed by switching defenses, forcing the Jazz — Mitchell, in particular — to go one-on-two or one-on-three with the shot clock running short now has reliable options for greater effectiveness and efficiency.

All with Davis and Green, alongside Royce O’Neale, coming off the bench.

It could be expected that Mitchell, with his health fully intact this offseason, unlike his situation a year ago, can go throttle up with the physical aspects of his game, adding better court awareness, more bang-on reading and recognition. Lining up with Conley and Bogdanovic and Ingles and Gobert, there’s a wide berth for him to have the best season of his burgeoning career. He, more than any other Jazz player, will benefit from the roster changes.

At the defensive end, Davis will make up for the loss of Favors, Conley, even at 31, is a better defender than Rubio was, more likely to stay between his man and the basket, easing the burden on Gobert to cover his own man and an opponent getting loose on penetration from the perimeter. And it wasn’t that long ago that Bogdanovic was doing at least a decent job taking a crack at the impossible — covering James during old playoff matchups.

Yeah. Expectations are great.

On the other hand, with the Lakers pairing Anthony Davis with LeBron James, the Clippers hauling in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Rockets trading Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook, putting Westbrook with James Harden, the Nuggets adding Jerami Grant … um, the Jazz could cause a whole lot of problems, but also face them, as well.

Don’t sleep on the fact that Golden State, even without Kevin Durant, still will have four All-Stars on its roster, once Klay Thompson properly rehabs his knee, which is likely to happen a month or two before the playoffs start.

And we haven’t even mentioned Dame and his Blazers.

Those lofty expectations, then, can go either way for the Jazz.

That’s the thing about having the best offseason in team history. It sets the Jazz up for one of two possibilities during the regular season: It will either launch them toward and through a monumental campaign, or it will slice them down, being on the business end of a swinging cutlass, leaving them distressed and disheartened by what might, what should have been.

There’s little room for anything in-between.

GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” with Jake Scott weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.

Provo • New BYU basketball coach Mark Pope promised a more difficult non-conference schedule when he replaced Dave Rose a few months ago.

Facing UCLA and then, possibly, Kansas in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in November certainly fits that description, although Rose set up the Cougars’ entrance into one of the country’s most prestigious early season tournaments years ago.

Pope’s Cougars will face UCLA and new Bruins coach Mick Cronin on Nov. 25 at 9:30 p.m. MST on ESPN2 in the opening game of the 36th annual event at the Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui. The BYU-UCLA winner will meet the Kansas-Chaminade winner on Nov. 26.

The teams on the other side of the bracket are Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Dayton and Georgia.

“It’s a great schedule — an unbelievable schedule,” Pope said on May 16. “It is going to be fun.”

Virginia Tech will also have a new coach, having hired Mike Young from Wofford.

Combined, the teams in the Maui Invitational have 16 national championships and 44 Final Four appearances.

“You guys know that I am a sucker for blue bloods,” Pope said, noting that he traveled to Duke and Kentucky as UVU’s head coach. “I am excited to see if we can get some blue bloods [into the Marriott Center]. I still don’t know yet how impossible that is, but I am dumb enough to want to do it.”

Playing them in Hawaii isn’t a bad way to go, either.

UCLA leads its series with BYU 11-10, and won 86-79 in its last matchup with the Cougars. BYU will be making its fourth appearance in the tournament.

In other BYU basketball-related news this week:

• Former BYU star and men’s basketball assistant coach Lee Cummard is returning to the Marriott Center Annex offices, but this time with the women’s program. Head coach Jeff Judkins announced Thursday that he has hired Cummard and Melanie Pearson Day to replace some assistant coaches who went to UVU.

“I am really excited to have Melanie and Lee as assistant coaches,” Judkins said. “Both were great players and both will work hard to help our program continue to be successful.”

Day played three seasons at UCLA and one at BYU. She was on BYU’s Sweet 16 team in 2001-02 and was an assistant coach at UNLV from 2004-07.

Cummard was a graduate assistant for two years under Rose before replacing Heath Schroyer on the bench prior to the 2018-19 season.

“Lee is making a similar adjustment to what I did in transitioning from coaching the men to the women,” Judkins said. “He will be a great teacher for our players.”

• BYU has received the Team Academic Excellence Award for the third-straight season from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Teams must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.

• Jimmer Fredette has left his NBA Summer League team, the Golden State Warriors, and will reportedly sign to play for a team in Greece. Meanwhile, former Cougars Elijah Bryant and Eric Mika have had some good moments in the games in Las Vegas.

Bryant is on the Milwaukee Bucks’ entry, while Mika is playing with the Sacramento Kings.

Mika had 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting and 14 rebounds in a recent game against Miami, while Bryant turned heads with a 31-point, seven-rebound performance in 25 minutes against Minnesota.