"You Gotta Love It Baby" Official Jazz thread

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Is this going to be the season we finally see the Jazz (er, Jerry) embrace the corner 3? Seeing Bell and Hayward each take one in the Phoenix game highlight got me hopeful. Bell learned the value of the shot during his time away from Utah, and Hayward was a solid baseline player at Bulter.

Per 82games.com, the corner three is "the most lethal shot" in the NBA. They broke down the court into 14 zones, and the corner three produced more pts/100 possessions (118.8) than any other offensive zone. Low paint was next at 117, and the straight-up 3 was third at 105.3. No other areas were above 88.7, and that was the wing three.

Utah could have the best of both worlds if they would use the three-point line more efficiently because of how many shots their offense creates in the low paint. The low paint is the 2nd most efficient scoring zone and is the area with the fewest turnovers. Turnovers are almost constant across the other zones EXCEPT for the corner three, which is much lower since most of the shots going up from that area are of the catch and shoot variety.

Time to get Memo to quit stepping on the three-point line, modify some of the wing positioning so drifting to the corner for pass reception is done more frequently, and with the addition of Jefferson's low post game we might see Utah move up from the 7th and 8th ranks in offensive efficiency they've been in the last two years.

http://www.82games.com/locations.htm

[MarkGrace]

Sap sure hasn't been up to much so far.

[MarkGrace]

Is this going to be the season we finally see the Jazz (er, Jerry) embrace the corner 3? Seeing Bell and Hayward each take one in the Phoenix game highlight got me hopeful. Bell learned the value of the shot during his time away from Utah, and Hayward was a solid baseline player at Bulter.

I hope. Scott Layden refers to it as the "NBA layup," so you've got to think the idea is on their radar.

[MarkGrace]

Um...Jeremy Evans?

[smokymountainrain]

Hayward looks terrible. It's one game - and pre-season at that, but really he's just the same guy who didn't have NBA skills coming out of Butler. Just as I predicted when they were drafted, Evans looks like the better player, not because he's the most skilled guy, but at least he has two above average NBA qualities - height and athleticism - that allow him to do positive things on the court. Hayward has nothing going for him.

Also it was nice to see Jefferson go off tonight - it's obvious he and Deron really enjoy each other.

Oh, and Raja is the same pathetic POS he was when he last played for the Jazz. It's going to be painful watching him play 30 minutes each game this season. I'd rather have Harpring.

[MarkGrace]

Highlights: http://www.nba.com/video/games/jazz/...nba/index.html

[YOhio]

Fes seems to really be taking his wrist injury pretty hard.

Fesenko mentioned that it was not cool that he sprained his wrist, since he just bought new PS3 video games.

Asked about the injury, Fesenko joked: "Blame Ryan Thompson."

Fesenko said he tripped over Thompson while running down the court. Postgame, Fesenko asked the Jazz to put together an investigative TV show based around why Thompson would trip him. Thompson never really gave in to Fesenko's humor.

Fesenko: "X-ray didn't show any broken bones. ... When 280 [pounds] is falling on your wrist, it's not good."

[Coach McGuirk]

Jazz undefeated through 4 of 7 preseaon games. i wonder where they will hang the banner should they win the next 3 games?

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Hayward looks terrible. It's one game - and pre-season at that, but really he's just the same guy who didn't have NBA skills coming out of Butler. Just as I predicted when they were drafted, Evans looks like the better player, not because he's the most skilled guy, but at least he has two above average NBA qualities - height and athleticism - that allow him to do positive things on the court. Hayward has nothing going for him.

Also it was nice to see Jefferson go off tonight - it's obvious he and Deron really enjoy each other.

Oh, and Raja is the same pathetic POS he was when he last played for the Jazz. It's going to be painful watching him play 30 minutes each game this season. I'd rather have Harpring.

I thought what looked clear as day is that Hayward has already learned very well that when he gets the ball on the wing he is not to even consider doing anything with the basketball other than hold onto it and then pass at the appropriate time. There will be no making any basketball moves. Nothing helps a rookie get acclimated to the NBA game better than convincing them they are drones who should be as robotic as possible in their decisions.

[MarkGrace]

Sounds like Memo is ahead of schedule. I hope when he comes back we use him as a bench player and stick with Jefferson/Sap.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Sounds like Memo is ahead of schedule. I hope when he comes back we use him as a bench player and stick with Jefferson/Sap.

I think so far it seems Jefferson will indeed be a better combo to both Millsap and Okur than Boozer was. (If they all can up their rebounding to make up for that deficiency)

Memo coming off the bench to the play the 4/5 with Jefferson will be solid. I'm intrigued by the team even with $9 M sitting on the bench rehabbing.

My real hope is that Fess can keep progressing, and that we'll see some nights with Fess, Jefferson, AK, Miles, and Deron on the court together. 7'1", 6'10", 6'10", 6'7", and 6'3".

[MartyFunkhouser]

I think so far it seems Jefferson will indeed be a better combo to both Millsap and Okur than Boozer was. (If they all can up their rebounding to make up for that deficiency)

Memo coming off the bench to the play the 4/5 with Jefferson will be solid. I'm intrigued by the team even with $9 M sitting on the bench rehabbing.

My real hope is that Fess can keep progressing, and that we'll see some nights with Fess, Jefferson, AK, Miles, and Deron on the court together. 7'1", 6'10", 6'10", 6'7", and 6'3".

I do think the team will be better with Jefferson over Boozer. I don't think Jefferson is a much better player, but he is a better fit for the Jazz. Why can't David Kahn gift us a nice player like he did for the Jazz. We trade with Kahn and all we get is this lousy Luke Babbitt.

[Jacob]

I thought what looked clear as day is that Hayward has already learned very well that when he gets the ball on the wing he is not to even consider doing anything with the basketball other than hold onto it and then pass at the appropriate time. There will be no making any basketball moves. Nothing helps a rookie get acclimated to the NBA game better than convincing them they are drones who should be as robotic as possible in their decisions.

That is what it looked like. I was impressed the few times Hayward drove and made some very nice passes. But he doesn't seem involved, or asserting himself in the offense. Probably similar to what we saw from CJ for a long time, except Hayward appears to have better ball handling and passing skills.

Contrarily, Nichols, playing the same position, forces his offense way too much.

[Jacob]

And why are Nichols and Hayward starting? I can understand trying to get Hayward time with the good players, but I though that pre-season was a time to get your 1st unit working well together, etc. The trib beat writer said last night that it looked like the 2nd unit getting set and includes AK, Bell and CJ. I say there is no way those 3 start on the bench.

Also, while he didn't put up the stats, I thought AK looked great.

[MarkGrace]

Just read this scout's take on Hayward:

Gordon Hayward. I admit when I saw Hayward going in the top ten picks in mock drafts, I thought it was borderline absurd. Sure, he'd carried Butler on their improbable run to the NCAA title game as their sometimes lone offensive catalyst, but everyone knows players who reach the Final Four are often massively overrated in the draft (especially the melanin-challenged ones). Then I ran the numbers. While Hayward was horrid from distance last year (dropping off from 45% on three-pointers as a freshman to 29% last season on a similar number of attempts), every other facet of his game was eye-opening. He's a beast on the boards; he's aggressive getting to the line; he's a decent enough playmaker and could fill in as a point-forward in a pinch; and he was outrageously efficient as a scorer. And it's hard to believe he won't rebound from his year-long shooting slump, and return to the form he displayed during his freshman campaign. But really, this is about all you need to know about Hayward; 6-foot-8 guys with moves and handle like that will always have a place in the NBA. Put it all together, and Hayward just might end up being the best small forward out of this year's class.

He also played extremely efficient in summer league, so while he's struggled in the last couple of games to find his shot, I'm not terribly worried about the kid. From what I've read, most people have felt that he's looked pretty good in other facets of the game, and I think the scoring will come as he settles in. Jerry said last night that he'll probably in the rotation from the get-go, and that seems to make sense since the flex basically demands competent passers from the wing, and he'll be the best combo of handle/passing out of all our 2/3's pretty much since day one.

Evans I'm pretty anxious to watch play. Based on what I've read, he sounds very Hakim Warrick, and by that I mean he doesn't appear to have a true position, but he's an elite athlete so you can kind of just stick him out there and have him make something happen. Sort of a pogo stick without any refined basketball skill. He'll by 23 around the start of the season (crazy that he's pretty much the same age as CJ) and as rail skinny as he is, I doubt he'll ever get the frame to be a full-time 4. OTOH, pushing that age and still with no discernible perimeter skill, it's hard to imagine he could ever be a legit 3 (the position AK seemed to suggest he's most suited for physically). But he's working with Dr. Hornacek and hopefully we get to see his shot sooner or later.