Color blind Jazz

I’m noticing quite a few mock NBA drafts, this year, which have the Jazz selecting one of three players with the No. 9 slot: Nevada’s Luke Babbitt, Butler’s Gordon Hayward or Kansas’ Cole Aldrich.
While it’s true their skills fit around where the Jazz will be picking, it also seems convenient to expect the Jazz to go with a semi-large white guy because, well, people figure it fits. Utah often gets hung with that label. As an East Coast writer once noted, “Utah is the place where big white guys go to die.”
But is that true? Is it a trend?
Not particularly, at least when it comes to drafting. Since moving to Salt Lake in 1979, the Jazz have used their highest (first round) pick six times to draft a white player. They took Danny Schayes in 1981, John Stockton in 1984, Eric Leckner in 1988, Greg Ostertag in 1995, Sasha Pavlovic in 2003 and Kosta Koufos in 2008.
They also acquired Curtis Borchardt in exchange for Ryan Humphrey on draft night in 2002.
By comparison, the Los Angeles Lakers drafted four white players with their top first round pick (Vlade Divac, Sam Jacobson, Mark Madsen and Sasha Vujacic) in that span, while Boston drafted Kevin McHale, Greg Kite, Mike Smith, Eric Montross and Jon Barry.
There have been a couple of times when the Jazz drafted white players, but traded the rights. They took Andrei Kirilenko in 1999′s first round (No. 24), but not until after they had taken Quincy Lewis at No. 19.
It appears safe to say the Jazz are pretty much like everyone else. They don’t draft by color, but potential. If they think he can play, they bring him on.