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It ended with a spectacular if meaningless slam by Ky Fesenko that illuminated and personified the whole Revue in a nutshell. Like a giant cat, Fess covered half the court in two graceful bounds and nearly ripped the rim off the backboard.

So much talent, so little to show for it.

Like all learning experiences, it means nothing if the lesson is forgotten, if the pain and embarrassment is measured and doled out, gradually leaking away as the healing balm of time heals.

This was a wake up call of huge proportions for a young man with immense talent and natural gifts on the basketball court that boggle the mind. The good thing is that Kyrylo Fesenko plays for the Jazz, and the bad thing is that Ky Fesenko doesn’t quite seem to know what that means.

It means the same for all three of the contracted players of the Utah Jazz, a chance to secure financial security, a place in history, and find a home away from home, a haven where they are admired, even worshipped, as a sports hero among the mountains of the Wasatch.

Countless times during the revue I looked on the court, and the two tallest, the two biggest, and the two most talented players were wearing Jazz uniforms. The third was a slender young man of lesser proportions who scored almost at will, driving gracefully and effortlessly to the hoop time after time.

A lock for fame, money and the NBA title for the Utah Jazz, no doubt.

Not yet.

Each has flaws, each is a work in progress, and each can reach the goals the Jazz and indeed what their own hearts have settled on as their immediate future. Playing time, a spot on the Jazz roster, and the good graces of a crusty coach who views young rookies as necessary evils.

While young rookies is the very definition of an oxymoron, to Jerry Sloan and the Utah Jazz these young men are the hope and indeed the very future of the franchise. On their shoulders lies the hopes of Jazz fans and a storied team who has never won the big one, yet is tantalizingly close to attaining that goal.

I write about what I see, and often that involves using imagination, for where these kids are now, is not the same place they will be in a month, in a year, or in their careers. They’re at the stage in life where huge gains are made in brief moments, where breakthroughs and setbacks are the natural state of life, as they settle into the men they will be in maturity.

For Ky Fesenko, this was a major setback. For Kosta Koufos, it was a simple learning experience, and for Morris Almond, it was a chance to prove he belonged.

The surprising thing about these three tests, is that all of them were positive for these young men and the Utah Jazz.

Fess is not going back to the Ukraine, he’s staying here and working on his game. Matt Harpring has pledged to take the big kid under his wing and show him what he needs to become the player that lies within. For once, after seeing Fess walk out of the Jazz locker room the night before, I think he realizes this is it. It’s time to grow up, to sink or swim, and his fate is in his own hands, and lies with no other. I despaired at what I saw from Fess during the revue, because I can see what he could be, and that’s to be one of the best big men in the world. He’s that talented, and that far away from where he wants and we want him to be.

Koof, as his teammates call him, is spurning the chance to play for the Greek team in the Olympics, because he knows his real future lies in the NBA, not with the Greek Olympic team. He too is staying in Salt Lake and working on his strength and his basketball skills. There will be other chances for Olympic Gold for this 19 year old kid, but his chance for NBA immortality is now. The Jazz need him, and knowing what kind of young man he is, I have no doubt whatsoever he’ll get there. I have extremely high hopes for the young man, for the fire burns brightly in his heart. With his talent, and desire and work ethic, I think he’ll be just fine, thank you. Actually, more than fine.

Mo has a much harder road to travel than the two big men, for there are several other players with more experience ahead of him in the pecking order for the Jazz. And yet, despite that, and despite the worries about him being one dimensional, I think he will be a very valuable player and play a big part in this talented Utah team, for he showed me something that surprised me a little during the Revue, though I haven’t talked about it.

This young man burns inside. He wants to be the best, and it shows. Perhaps he tried a little too hard to show he can score during the review. I can buy that. I also can buy the fact that he showed tremendous improvements athletically and defensively. That he’s one of the brightest and most intelligent of young men to play basketball is well known. I think for him it’s a simple matter of seeing what he needs to improve, and it will get done. The fire, the intelligence, the desire; they’re all there, and it’s just a matter of time until he becomes who he wants to be. I wouldn’t bet against him.

They say the trainer who saw the Champion in Seabiscuit looked in the horse’s eye, and knew right then and there the horse would win. He simply didn’t want to lose.

Even though Mo Almond has a very tough road to follow with all the competition ahead of him, I saw the fire in his eye.

Sometimes that’s not enough, sometimes even the most promising of athletes never achieve their potential.

For these three men, as I look back on the last week, I’m very encouraged as I write this the day after the Revue. I think they’ll all make it, and become who they can be.

Time is the great decider, and the hopes of the Jazz and Jazz fans ride with these three young men. They all have the talent, do they have the right stuff?

I guess we’ll find out. I think they do.