SALT LAKE CITY — By the very nature of his position on the court, Jazz point guard Mo Williams is a commander-in-chief, so to speak.
He’s also a “decider,” a “unifier” and, yes, when the ball’s in his hands he’s even got veto power.
In short, the guy who dressed up as President Barrack Obama for Halloween is considered by some to be the president of the Jazz locker room.
“I’d have to go with Mo Williams for the president (of the locker room), because he talks a lot,” center Al Jefferson said Wednesday, the day after Obama was elected to a second term in office.
“Vice president would probably be Paul (Millsap) because he doesn’t talk at all.”
Williams accepted the nomination, as did Millsap.
“Absolutely, I’d be very proud to serve my Utah Jazz teammates and organization,” Williams said.
Millsap wasn’t quite as excited by the nomination, but said he’d do his duty.
“I guess I accept it,” he said nervously. “I agree with Mo (as president), he’s the talkative one, he’s got all the ideas.”
Politically speaking, Williams and Millsap truly are leaders inside the Jazz locker room. Each man, along with Jefferson, has been named captain by head coach Tyrone Corbin, the Jazz’s real “decider.”
Legally, however, there’s just no precedent for being a locker room president.
As a matter of fact, all the political talk prior to Wednesday night’s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers was just that: talk. None of it was particularly serious, not compared to actual matters of national leadership.
“We’re out of our jurisdiction when we talk about that,” Millsap said.
Millsap and other members of the team said they do — or did — discuss politics on occasion but the debate never got heated. In fact, he said most tended to have the same opinion, although other points of view were welcomed.
The truth is, most players were hesitant to share their private political views on a public stage.
When asked who should be the “president” of the Jazz, guard Randy Foye wisely said: “Kevin O’Connor.”
Actually, O’Connor, formerly the Jazz’s general manager, is officially known as vice president of basketball operations.
Foye’s response was brilliantly political in nature but he also conveyed his desire to keep his opinions to himself.
Talkative, just as his teammates claimed, Williams did impart his own wisdom.
“You’ve just got to believe in your leader,” he said. “You’re not (always) going to agree with him but you have to believe in him. If it was the other way around, I’d have to believe in him also.”
Tonight, Williams and his Jazz teammates will need to believe in themselves if they’re going to pick up their first road win of the season. They visit the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center for a game carried nationally by ESPN.
Utah (2-3) lost at New Orleans, San Antonio and Memphis earlier this season.
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