By C. Jake Williams

April 14, 2008 | Maybe I was wrong about Kyle Korver. Maybe he was exactly what the Utah Jazz needed in December.

Owning a 16-16 record and facing a Portland team with a 13-game winning streak, the Jazz looked to their newly acquired sharpshooter for an emotional lift. Korver scored 11 points that that last day of 2007, one more than the Jazz's margin of victory.

In the literary world, we call this foreshadowing.

The Jazz were a .500 team before Gordon Giricek's departure and Korver's arrival, but have won 78 percent of their contests since Korver's debut.

The Jazz had a differential of +3.31 points per game before dealing a disgruntled bench player and first-round pick for a proven shooter, but have averaged 9.68 more points per game than their opponents since Korver stole every single Utah female's heart.

That +9.68 differential would give Utah outright control of second place in the differential battle, by the way. Only Boston's +10.3 is better, and the Jazz's current full-season mark of +7.3 is tied with Detroit's.

Korver has played well since coming to Salt Lake City, averaging 9.9 points and 1.5 three pointers per game. His impact on another player's game, however, has perhaps been more important.

The reason I didn't like the Korver trade as it was going down was simple: It didn't seem to solve Utah's main problem. I felt the Jazz could never truly compete for a championship with a 3-point shooting center. I felt the Jazz needed a change at center, and didn't predict Korver would catalyze that change.

I was wrong. Okur has played possessed basketball since Dec. 31.

Okur's rebounding and scoring numbers have increased, as has the number of threes he buries per night.

I thought a center should corral more than 5.1 boards per game, and with Korver on the roster, Okur has averaged 9.0, an increase of 76 percent.

I thought Okur could score more than 11.83 points per game. Since the swap he's averaging 16.09, or 36 percent more.

I thought Okur needed to take his game inside the paint. Okur has gone from 1.17 treys per night to 1.85, but the Jazz are 36-10 with the increased bombing.

Whether the Jazz can continue their winning ways in the playoffs, where any deep run will require defeating a dominant center's squad, with a player like Okur down low remains to be seen.

Maybe I was right about the Korver trade. It's possible that all these regular-season wins are only the result of rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg, so to speak.

But a +9.68 differential and .783 record are hard to argue against.

More likely, I was wrong.

The Jazz have two regular-season games left, Monday against Houston and Wednesday at San Antonio, before the playoffs begin.

Utah is a virtual lock for the Western Conference's 4th seed, but a lower overall record will likely mean their 5th seed opponent owns their playoff series' home-court advantage.

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