SALT LAKE CITY — In the summer of 2006, the Utah Jazz were coming off of their third consecutive season of missing the playoffs. With this came a spot in the NBA draft lottery, a chance to pick another player to bring in some new life and hopefully help get the franchise back to the glory days.

One possible pick was Mouhamed Sene from Senegal. The scouts were drooling over the athletic 7 footer with a wingspan of 7’ 8” player.

He reminded many of a young Dikembe Mutombo. With that reach, he looked as though he could be the defensive shot-blocker that every team loves. The big man was brought in by the Jazz to be evaluated on more than one occasion, a sure sign of interest.

The only thing that kept Sene from being a guaranteed top five pick in the draft was that the scouts called him “raw” and “a project”, he was not a sure fire all-star.

Before the Jazz had the opportunity to select, Sene was taken by the Seattle Supersonics.

JJ Reddick , the ace shooter from Duke who many thought could be the long awaited second coming of Jeff Hornacek, and Brandon Roy, a four-year player at the University of Washington, were also taken before the Jazz had their turn.

The Jazz instead selected the high flying Ronnie Brewer out of Arkansas.

Though he was somewhat of an unknown then, Brewer has become a fan favorite at EnergySolutions Arena for his acrobatic dunks, jack-knife layups and his ability to pick the opponents’ pocket on defense.

On Friday night, in a 110-90 win over the former Seattle Supersonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder) Brewer was a key factor, dropping 15 points and grabbing four steals. After the game, Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan had praise for his young guard.

“I thought Ronnie Brewer played an excellent game.” said Sloan. “We gave him the toughest assignment on defense (Thunder forward Kevin Durrant, sixth in the NBA in scoring at 25.0 points per game) and he played well on both ends of the floor for us.”

That has been Brewer’s assignment since he entered the starting lineup last season. To move around on offense, get easy buckets, and guard the opposing team’s best perimeter player.

He has done a nice job, averaging 13.3 points per game. He is also currently ranked 16th in the NBA with 1.54 steals per game.

Meanwhile, Sene sat the bench on Friday, as is usually the case.

The center has yet to play more than 28 games in a season or average more than six minutes per game. Even when the game was essentially over and the coaches emptied the bench, Sene still sat out.

So, even though they didn’t get their guy, the Jazz have done much better than they anticipated by drafting Ronnie Brewer.

sports@davisclipper.com