"You Gotta Love It Baby" Official Jazz thread

[Jacob]

I heard Evans was skinny, but 6-9 195? Wow. That's a rail.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Was going over some data from previous seasons on the players that have left Utah and those that have joined the team in order to try to gauge how I think various parts of the game will be affected by the changes: rebounding, defense, post scoring, etc. It's hard to look at stuff and not let personal biases totally sway my conclusions. But until I tidy it up, here are at least some of the #'s I pulled on Booz and Jefferson. (#'s are per 40 min where applicable)

SHOT LOCATIONS
Boozer - average over last 4 years

At Rim: 7.9 attempts/game, 69% assisted
< 10 ft: 2.5 attempts/game, 57% assisted
10-15 ft: 2.5 attempts/game, 64% assisted
16-23 ft: 4.5 attempts/game, 83% assisted

Jefferson - avg over last 4 years

At rim: 7.0 attempts/game, 48% assisted
<10 ft: 5.0 attempts/game, 49% assisted
10-15 ft: 3.6 attempts/game, 53% assisted
16-23 ft: 3.0 attempts/game, 57% assisted

Does Jefferson benefit from the offense (and Deron) creating more open looks for him, or his game better suited to creating on the block on his own? Plenty of Boozer's assisted hoops at the rim were off SnR situations. I don't know how efficient Jefferson will be on those. But we should see more sets with a cross screen freeing him for the block, with off ball cross screens and cutters around him...figure the Jazz are going to look more like they did with a young Malone than they did with Boozer. AK would be a great 4 to play off Al in those sets.

DEFENSIVE/REBOUNDING STATS
Boozer - last 4 yrs

Total rebound rate: 20.5, 18.2, 19.1, 19.4
Defensive plays: 1.50, 2.07, 1.64, 1.87 (steals+blocks+charges taken)
Personal fouls: 3.4, 4.2, 4.4, 4.0

Jefferson - last 4 yrs

Total rebound rate: 19.5, 18.1, 17.5, 15.9
Defensive plays: 2.95, 2.79, 2.84, 2.90
Personal fouls: 4.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.3

Interesting to see Jefferson with a lower foul rate while creating significantly more defensive plays. (But does that actually hinder his coach's opinion of him?) But there isn't any way to paint Jefferson as an effective defender, at least not based on what he's shown so far in his career. But maybe we can hope he at least tries...he did draw about 3-4 times more charges than Boozer, so we know he isn't running away from the ball to pretend like he is paying attention to a man that is no threat to score.

[MarkGrace]

Weight last season:

Two sixty five is what I played at last year. And that didn't work out too good playing the 5 spot. I wanted to get up to 275 is my playing weight. Right now, I'm 277. That's the weight I want to play in. That's the weight the GM agreed on. I think I'm a lot better at that weight, as far as playing there in the paint. Because a lot of guys were just pushing me around last year at 265. Even if I'm at the 4 or the 5. I think 275 is where I need to be.

Muscle weight:

Yeah, yeah. Hopefully all muscle.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogs/j...-yeah.html.csp

[MarkGrace]

Few notes from practice

* Deron Williams was very complimentary of Kyrylo Fesenko. Deron said Jerry has not had to talk to him or get on him at all. That he is without question in the best shape he has ever been in since coming to Utah. Most people who talked to Fesenko on media day talked of a different person. Ben Bagley, of 1320, K-Fan, who has talked with Fesenko as much as about any returning reporter said he was much more serious, well thought out and seemed to be in line to take more advantage of his athletic gifts than he had been in the past

* Jeremy Evans continues to be the talk of the players. One player said he reminded him of a Theo Ratliff type. This player said if he can learn how to block shots, which is an art, and rebound some he will be able to play

* More players told me that Gordon Hayward will be fine. His skill set is strong. He is a rookie and that will show as he will be asked to play. Another player said he believes the wing position is the hardest position to come into the NBA and play. If you look back some really good players struggled in their open year or two.

* Sloanism of the day “If you are holding your shorts all you can see is your shoes.”

* Sloan laugh of the day “When I was a player I wanted to be bigger, now I have reached that point.”

http://1320kfan.com/index.php/story/...practice_notes

[MarkGrace]

All of this stems back to the comment made by O’Connor three years ago. He needs to change his body. With the help of some NFL friends, Ray Rice and Courtney Green, who taught him a new mentally in the weight room CJ has done that.

Sitting at 230 pounds for the first time in his career (was 195 on draft night) CJ explained, “I wanted to get that football mentality in the weight room, I wanted to start liking it and start being in their, because you know football guys in the weight room are like ARGGHHH.”

CJ doesn’t do the same thing as the NFL players, but works with the same trainer who alters the workout to fit his needs as an NBA player in contrast to an NFL player. “I don’t do the big heavy weights and some of the agility stuff is different …. I just worked on getting my legs back under me and getting my upper body stronger shoulder to shoulder.

http://1320kfan.com/index.php/story/...the_muscle_man

[MarkGrace]

http://twitter.com/lockedonsports

Some tweets from Locke on the scrimmage.

[MarkGrace]

Overall observations: Clearly still learning the system, first time shooting in ESA; Elson is a really good fit; Evans is a sick athlete; Hayward is going to struggle at rim, but is fearless and is going hard; Millsap and AK were fantastic; Jefferson got more easy baskets in this scrimmage than he got last year. Passing is contagious and this team does a lot of it. Everyone played hard. Watson and Bell are a good defensive backcourt.

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/6aa15u

[YOhio]

D-Will is doing a fine job at instilling team culture to the newest Jazzmen.

“I hate ’em, you know,” he said the other day. “I hate the Lakers. They’re so good. I hate them because they win all the time. They’re a tough team. … We definitely talk about it. It’s not a secret. We hate the Lakers.”

...

Williams said he is making a point of passing the ill will along to all Jazz newcomers, as though the emotion is as much a part of team identity as the fresh/retro Jazz logo.

Do Al Jefferson and Gordon Hayward and Earl Watson and Raja Bell know the drill?

“If they don’t,” Williams said, “they will.”

....
Jefferson said he’s quickly throttling up toward the Laker disdain he’s supposed to feel here.

“Hate ’em,” he said. “At least, now I do. My teammates hate ’em, I hate ’em. I have respect for them. But I’ve got to get on that page. You’ve got to beat them to win a championship. So … I hate ’em. Hate ’em.”

[Surfah]

D-Will is doing a fine job at instilling team culture to the newest Jazzmen.

[MarkGrace]

Locked on Jazz—Scrimmage Observations and Post Scrimmage Sound.

2 October 2010 | 3:13 pm

Great crowd today at the scrimmage and the floor looks great.

Overall observations.

The team looked like it has a long way to go understanding the plays. Numerous times when a player had to be told by another player or coach to clear out or run through. The secondary break was really poor. One play in specific Watson is leading the break with Thompson on the right and Evans trailing Thompson. In Jazz basketball, Thompson is supposed to run through from right side underneath the rim and the left side to clear out the area so the trailing man in this case Evans is open for a dunk. Instead, Thompson spots up on the wing, when Evans runs down the lane he is not open and Watson passes to Thompson for a 22 footer that was no good. Three new guys running a play like the rest of the NBA. In the Jazz system that is an Evans dunk. Not today.

The overall energy was very good. They played hard. Coach Sloan was even pleased with that aspect. The players universally seems very respectful and impressed by the effort of their teammates thus far in camp.

Transition defense was not very good overall.

Coach Sloan said, “We had a lot of guys played well.” “I thought some of the young guys did all right.”

Individual Observations

The most newsworthy moment of the day came after practice when Jerry Sloan gave CJ Miles a scolding. “He hasn’t been in his rhythm like you would expect him to be. He has been back a little, he has had things that have hindered him. I just mentioned to him yesterday he has to work harder and not get into such a casual approach to the game, he has to compete to get better.”

Earl Watson had the highest turnover rate of any point guard that played 20 minutes or more last year in the NBA. That was evident in the first half as he committed numerous turnovers. At the same time, it is clear he can help this team a tremendous amount. He is a solid defender. He runs the pick and roll well and from all reports are he is learning the system well.

Jeremy Evans will be the talk of most of the people at the scrimmage. He is an unreal athlete. He impacts plays and gets his hands on lots of balls. However, he needs to get stronger. If you watch him lots of times he doesn’t something amazing with his athleticism but is unable to finish the play due to his lack of strength. However, it was very interesting after the scrimmage to hear Coach Sloan lay the praise on “He is pretty intelligent basketball player, not just his athletic ability his intelligence of knowing and seeing what is going on is not by accident. A lot of people have the athletic ability and can’t do anything with it. Our biggest concern will be about his body.”

Paul Millsap and Andrei Kirilenko were the best players on the floor. AK played exclusively at the 4 and impacted the game a great deal. Millsap was hustle and grit.

Francisco Elson was the most pleasant surprise. He fits this team very well. Coach Sloan said after the game they have liked his skills for a long time. “We have always liked some of the things he does, people have to guard him at the top of the key and he runs the floor well defensively and those things can help us.”

One play told me all I need to know about Gordon Hayward. He got buried on a pick, I mean buried but he stayed in the play and when the ball handler dished off to a post big Hayward got back in the play and blocked the shot. Lots of guys would have died permanently on the pick.

Hayward turned the ball over a few times early on drives. It looked as though he got fouled and the officials let the guys play at an absurd level. Hayward showed the ability to play with others, he never got beat defensively that I can recall. He did miss on three drives to the basket and that will be a reoccurring issue as it is with every rookie. They are getting hit by bigger and stronger guys and they aren’t able to finish. If you recall both Matthews and Maynor dealt with this last year.

Al Jefferson looked good on a pick and pop though the shot didn’t fall. Around the basket he has a super quick release on his push shot and it never misses. He got some easy baskets today more than he might have had all last year.

Sundiata Gaines played well. Jeffers was very active and aggressive.

Evans sounds like quite the intriguing player.

[Donuthole]

Evans sounds like quite the intriguing player.

I'm extremely disheartened (but not at all surprised) to hear Sloan's effusive praise for Elson. As previously mentioned, I fully expect him to be the starter and play about 4x more minutes than merited by his skills/talent.

Also, who knew AK could have such an impact at the 4?

[Jacob]

I'm extremely disheartened (but not at all surprised) to hear Sloan's effusive praise for Elson.

No kidding. But hey, he did once average 5 points per game.

[MarkGrace]

I'm extremely disheartened (but not at all surprised) to hear Sloan's effusive praise for Elson. As previously mentioned, I fully expect him to be the starter and play about 4x more minutes than merited by his skills/talent.

Also, who knew AK could have such an impact at the 4?

Sloan has already said that Jefferson/Sap will start at the 5/4. Though that was about a week ago so he's probably already forgotten by now.

[TripletDaddy]

Boozer injured already? Broken hand, surgery, 8 weeks min.

Looks like he is already in midseason form in ORD.

[il Padrino Ute]

Boozer injured already? Broken hand, surgery, 8 weeks min.

Looks like he is already in midseason form in ORD.

Even I know Boozer is not with the Jazz this year. If ORD is code for Chicago, then never mind.