"Would we have liked to improve our team? Yeah," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's vice president of basketball operations. "But we also feel comfortable that this team is getting better. . . . We've said from the start that we would be better at the end of the season than at the beginning, and what just happened on our road trip is a pretty good sign."
 
O'Connor had "a lot of discussions" with other teams as the trade deadline approached, but "nothing made a lot of sense."
 
Veteran guard-forward Bryon Russell drew some interest, and the Jazz listened to a handful of offers. Boston made a couple of attempts for Russell.
 
Before the Jazz's trip to Indiana, Philadelphia, Toronto, New York, Cleveland and Denver, the Celtics offered Walter McCarty, Randy Brown and a first-round draft pick.
 
When the Jazz backed away, the Celtics offered McCarty, Roshown McLeod, rookie guard Joseph Forte and the draft pick. The Jazz were probably more intrigued by this offer, as they would almost certainly would have taken Forte with the 23rd pick in last summer's draft if Boston hadn't grabbed him at No. 19.
 
By the time the Celtics made their second offer, though, the Jazz had started their winning streak and Russell was playing a major role. In fact, he played at least 38 minutes in five of the six games. His previous season high was 36 minutes.
 
So the Jazz backed away again, and Boston went in a different direction.
 
Wednesday, the Celtics acquired Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk from Phoenix for rookie Joe Johnson, Milt Palacio, Brown and the draft pick.