The Utah Jazz were first known as the New Orleans Jazz, hence the name. Their first real star was the 1977 scoring champion, shooting guard Pete Maravich. Due to numerous injuries and a bad supporting cast, he couldn't lead them to more than 40 wins during his time there. The Jazz struggled heavily finiacially and on and off the court. One problem was that they couldn't get a venue they could regularly play at. Every Mardi Gras, they had to spend a month out on the road. These problems were resolved when they moved to Salt Lake City, Utah for the 1979-1980 season. They got their first winning season there, in 1984, taking the team ten years to do so! Even while having superstars Mark Eaton and Adrian Dantley, the team was desperate for money. In 1984 and 1985, they made vital draft picks that saved the team. The fantastic duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone. In the 19 year stretch they were on the team, they always won more than 40 games in a season and notched three 60+ win seasons. With the team not quite good enough to get to the finals, moved along slowly, getting to the Western Conference Semifinals and Finals. The team finally accomplished what it was looking for and made the finals in 1997. They were up against the Jordan-led Bulls. They unfortunately lost to them 4 games to 2. They then made it to the finals for the second year in a row, matched up against the Bulls again. They lost to them once again, 4 games to 2, and have not contended well since. Their overall record is 1679-1409 (.544). Their best season was their 1996-1997 season where they cruised through with 64-18 (.780) and their worst season was their 1974-1975 season, where they got 23-59 (.280). They have retired ten jerseys. 1 (Frank Layden), 4 (Adrian Dantley), 7 (Pete Maravich), 9 (Larry Miller), 12 (John Stockton), 14 (Jeff Hornacek), 32 (Karl Malone), 35 (Darrell Griffith), 53 (Mark Eaton), and a microphone for broadcaster Rod Hundley.