"You Gotta Love It Baby" Official Jazz thread

[Donuthole]

What are the odds of landing 2 HOFs together? Maybe this year is the year we see lightening strike a second time for the Jazz. 2 picks in the lottery would certainly give them their best shot at picking up two potential franchise players of similar age.

Stockton and Malone were drafted in different years. I couldn't tell if that's what you were implying, but I just thought I'd point it out anyway.

[TripletDaddy]

Stockton and Malone were drafted in different years. I couldn't tell if that's what you were implying, but I just thought I'd point it out anyway.

correct. yes, I wasn't saying they were the exact same age, but roughly came into the league at the same time, thereby allowing them to have similar career arcs....as opposed to 5 or 6 years between one arrival and the other.

My only point was that this may be another chance for the Jazz to do something similar....nab two very good players (allegedly...the lottery has its busts)...and watch them develop together along the same career arc....both of them hitting their primes at the same time....and holding the Bird rights to both, thereby creating a financial incentive for both players to stay in SLC.

[cougjunkie]

Good news for Jazz fans, Dwill dressed up as Cal Ripken for halloween:



The girl in the picture is a white Dallas Cowboys cheerleader that dressed up as Lil Wayne.

[MarkGrace]

Where are the pictures of Fes? He brings it harder for Halloween than he does on the court.

[TripletDaddy]

Good news for Jazz fans, Dwill dressed up as Cal Ripken for halloween:



The girl in the picture is a white Dallas Cowboys cheerleader that dressed up as Lil Wayne.

I thought he was someone else? where is that team photo of the Jazz all dressed up for Halloween? I thought it was cute.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

The Jazz were very active during that period around 2004 when everyone was throwing around money. They didn't do nearly as poorly as other teams, but now they're stuck with the tailend of some of those big contracts and they don't have any realistic chance at a championship or even a top 4 seed in the western conference. The good news is that they aren't exactly in salary cap hell after a couple more years. Okur and Boozer are done after this season and Kirilenko is done at the end of next year (correct me if I'm wrong on this).

Unfortunately, they overpaid for Milsap who is indeed a nice player, but with the salary cap coming in, supposedly, in the low 50s next year, having that guy on the books for between $8 million and $9 million is pretty rough.

They at least have DWill, but they need to hit a homerun in the upcoming draft.

[Donuthole]

The Jazz were very active during that period around 2004 when everyone was throwing around money. They didn't do nearly as poorly as other teams, but now they're stuck with the tailend of some of those big contracts and they don't have any realistic chance at a championship or even a top 4 seed in the western conference. The good news is that they aren't exactly in salary cap hell after a couple more years. Okur and Boozer are done after this season and Kirilenko is done at the end of next year (correct me if I'm wrong on this).

Unfortunately, they overpaid for Milsap who is indeed a nice player, but with the salary cap coming in, supposedly, in the low 50s next year, having that guy on the books for between $8 million and $9 million is pretty rough.

They at least have DWill, but they need to hit a homerun in the upcoming draft.

Memo just got a 3-year extension at roughly 10.5 per. Millsap makes 10.3 this year, but then only 6.2, 6.7, and 7.2 in the following three. That contract is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Especially after this year.

[cougjunkie]

Memo just got a 3-year extension at roughly 10.5 per. Millsap makes 10.3 this year, but then only 6.2, 6.7, and 7.2 in the following three. That contract is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Especially after this year.

The problem with Utah is not where they are at next year or the year after with the salary cap, it is over the past 5 years and the horrible deals they have given players.

AKs max contract
Taking on Korvers deal from Philly
CJ Miles contract
Paying Millsap that much money because they panicked.
Harprings 6.5 mill per
I think even Memo is overpaid.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I think even Memo is overpaid.

If you would have seen his 4th quarter defense on Dirk last night you would not be thinking this.

[Donuthole]

The problem with Utah is not where they are at next year or the year after with the salary cap, it is over the past 5 years and the horrible deals they have given players.

AKs max contract
Taking on Korvers deal from Philly
CJ Miles contract
Paying Millsap that much money because they panicked.
Harprings 6.5 mill per
I think even Memo is overpaid.

I don't disagree with most of that. I was merely providing some details that CMBF missed.

As for the Millsap contract, I still don't think that's such a bad contract. It is about half as big as Boozer's initial contract with the Jazz, and nobody cried about that contract until Boozer threw in the towel (again, and again, and again).

I don't think Memo's contract is a bad contract, when analyzed in a vacuum. However, for this team, in the place that it is right now, defensively speaking, that's a bad contract.

[TripletDaddy]

As this season wears on, the title of this thread will become more and more ironic.

I wonder how many fanzz, if any, are currently having to love it?

[JohnnyLingo]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Trade-machine-fun-Carlos-Boozer-for-a-can-of-tu?urn=nba,200140

[Donuthole]

As this season wears on, the title of this thread will become more and more ironic.

I wonder how many fanzz, if any, are currently having to love it?

That's all you'll have to keep you warm at night when this thread surpasses the Lakers thread in about 3 months. Well, that and TripleMami. Oh, and a legit shot at a repeat.

[Jarid in Cedar]

As this season wears on, the title of this thread will become more and more ironic.

I wonder how many fanzz, if any, are currently having to love it?

Loving it is the only thing that keeps some from throwing in the towel.

[MarkGrace]

As crazy as it sounds, I still believe this team is not that far off from being decent. The problem is less about talent and more about finding the right complements for the talent we do have. We bitch and moan about every single player on the roster because of their shortcomings, but every team is this way (i.e. for the most part full of incomplete players), including the best teams in the league. The shortcomings of our guys are exacerbated because the roster doesn't balance strengths and weaknesses.

The roster has just been assembled all wrong, and in situations where we do have the right complements, we have either committed salary in places where it forces us to play the wrong players, or Jerry just refuses to play those players together.

Booz - needs to play alongside a C that eats up space, blocks shots, and can dunk around the rim (read: NOT MEMO!). Because Booz is such a good offensive player (his start this year notwithstanding), you don't need to be as concerned about the offense you get with the 5 you play with him (playing Fes of Koof with him is infinitely better than Memo -- again last night we build our biggest lead with Fes clogging the middle). A guy like Desagana Diop from a few years ago would be a good fit or Joel Pryzbilla from the last couple years.

Sap - less polished offensive game means his complement is ideally a C with respectable offensive skill. A C that you can count on to score 15-20 a game and play solid D. A Chris Kaman type would be ideal.

Memo - has to play with a 4 that is a legit defensive presence and has good size for the 4 spot (read: NOT BOOZER!). KG is a good complement to Memo, though obviously not realistic (I'm just trying to show the ideal pairing here).

Brewer - his J has gotten respectable midrange and a little deeper, but not to the point where you have to guard him out past the 3pt line. He needs to play on the wing (to condense the court and force him to stay at a range where his man will guard him) and be paired with a 2 that can put legit pressure on the defense from deep. Obviously in a perfect world a guy like Kevin Martin would be a dream (all the attention he gets would allow Ronnie to do what he does best: cut back door and lose the D with movement off-ball), but even a guy like Kalenna Azuibuike would work well.

AK - needs to be playing the 4 in the East or a run-and-gun West team alongside a 5 who is a real offensive presence. Playing him on the wing with Brewer is just a disaster for our spacing, despite the fact that AK has shot the ball extremely well early on. For his pairing I would say a guy like Amare would work well, or in the East someone like Bogut or Brook Lopez.

Deron - needs what any guard called upon to be a scorer needs: two wings on the floor that force their defenders to stay home instead of crowding the lane. When you play AK and Brewer together and the defense is cheating in by two steps, he has little space to work with.

Sample lineups:

Deron
Kalenna
Brewer
Sap
Kaman

Deron
Kalenna
Brewer
Booz
Pryzbilla

The two teams listed above are not anymore talented than what the Jazz have now, the skillsets just work together better. Are those teams good enough to win it all? Probably not, but they're a hell of lot better than what we're watching right now.

The six above are who you've built around and committed the most resources to. All are talented yet incomplete players (except maybe Deron), but even goods teams are working with a collection of incomplete players. The problem is that it's been readily apparent for three years (or more) that the roster the Jazz were building did not work well together, yet they've done nothing to seek out the right complements.