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By the fifth and final day of the 2006 pre-draft camp in Orlando, most of the scouts and coaches had gone home. The Utah Jazz contingent remained, hoping for one more look at a chunky power forward nobody else seemed to want. Through the first four days of camp, Paul Millsap appeared out of shape and out of place, unable to create his shot or hold his position. But on the last day, Millsap began to assert himself, demonstrating how he led the nation in rebounding two years in a row at Louisiana Tech. The Jazz staff reasoned that Millsap was not the kind of player built for pre-draft camps, which tend to showcase shooters and drivers. He needed a system.
Millsap fell to the second round, in part because of his unimpressive showing in Orlando, and the Jazz grabbed him with the 47th pick. Millsap made for a sweet footnote, another power forward from Louisiana Tech following the lead of Karl Malone. But the Jazz soon learned that Millsap had more in common with Malone than his alma mater. “They are no-nonsense guys,” – said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, “who work all the time.” Millsap would spend hours shooting 3-pointers in practice, though he rarely attempted one in a game. Point guard Deron Williams would ask him before every season: “You going to start shooting them now?”
Heading into Tuesday night in Miami, Millsap had taken 20 three-pointers in his career and made two.
It’s not that he passed up the outside shot. He barely even stepped out to the perimeter. As the backup to Carlos Boozer, Millsap viewed himself as a designated bruiser, and last season he averaged a workmanlike 11,6 points and 6,8 rebounds. He was quietly studying the Jazz system, preparing to show the world what he was showing his teammates in practice.

Paul Millsap.

The Jazz staged a massive comeback against the Heat on the shoulders of Paul Millsap, who scored a career-high 46 points on 19 of 28 shooting, including three treys in the final minute of regulation.
Millsap has now averaged 24 points on 63 percent shooting through seven games and has established himself as the go to interior presence for the Jazz. Al Jefferson was very quiet Tuesday (28 minutes, 2 points, 1-7 FG) and is averaging 16 points on 42 percent shooting. He’s not going to shoot this poorly all season, but clearly his adjustment process has been magnified by Millsap’s unexpected assertiveness on offense.

Postgame quotes and notes following the Jazz’s 116-114 road victory over Miami on Tuesday.
An inspired halftime speech by Raja Bell fired and woke up the Jazz. Bell was unable to go into detail about his message after the game, since he had to meet his family.
Paul Millsap on Bell’s speech – “When Raja talks, something’s really wrong. So, first of all, we had to pick it up. We didn’t want to come out and get blown out. We knew they was going to try to blow us out of the game, and they tried to do that in the first half. Because we wasn’t physical.
“It was touching. … He don’t (usually take that role). He’s kind of soft spoken in the locker room. But I guess when we needed him, he came through for us. And that actually helped us out.”
C.J. Miles on Bell’s speech – “We came in (at halftime). I don’t want to say our heads were down, but you could see the frustration. Guys were made, which kind of helped spark the fire to play hard. Because nobody likes to be embarrassed on the basketball court. And then you come in with the expectations of people expecting us to get beat. And we don’t like hearing that. At halftime, Raj came in. He said that we had to be tough. We can’t control if we shoot the ball well and it goes in and out, or we get some bad calls — whatever may be. Everything’s not going to be perfect. But we can be tough and we can defend those guys. And in the second half, we showed that. Even if we made mistakes, we were playing hard. And it just carried over into the bench. We came in, and just fed off their energy and tried to take it up a notch.”