"You Gotta Love It Baby" Official Jazz thread

[MarkGrace]

He's sneaky good. How bad is Al's hand?

I don't think it's going to heal. According to him he's just going to have to play with it.

[TripletDaddy]

Thanks, bro. We're just enjoying the ride.

Back off on the Utah Jazz: Your 2010-11 NBA (Preseason)
Champions!

You can't dispute that one baby!

Sizzle, I won't even try to dispute it!

As YOhio says, enjoy this while it lasts, because the euphoric haze will eventually wear off. These are the memories that last us a lifetime.

[scottie]

I would like to congratulate the Jazz on an excellent pre-season. You fans must be very excited about this!

Your "I would like to congratulate the ..." comment reminded me of that guy on Youtube; I searched for cougaruteforum and found this:

[YOUTUBE]X_UrU4SFW9g[/YOUTUBE]

You've probably already seen that 3D, but he mentioned you by name.

[Blueintheface]

If I had to guess I think the Jazz cut to 13 again and Otheus and Sundiata find themselves back in the D-league. I had hoped for more from Thompson, probably due to the loss of Wes, but in limited action I think he's showed he's not ready yet. I'll be there Friday night and I look forward to seeing on the new faces. Should be an interesting year while we all wait for the Lakers/Heat matchup in June.

[MarkGrace]

If I had to guess I think the Jazz cut to 13 again and Otheus and Sundiata find themselves back in the D-league. I had hoped for more from Thompson, probably due to the loss of Wes, but in limited action I think he's showed he's not ready yet. I'll be there Friday night and I look forward to seeing on the new faces. Should be an interesting year while we all wait for the Lakers/Heat matchup in June.

Boom! Roster down to 13.

[MarkGrace]

UTAH JAZZ

There’s no question that Deron Williams is the top point guard in the league. All he needs to demonstrate his remarkable skills is for Jerry Sloan to give him more freedom to fully exercise his mojo.

Is Andrei Kirilenko here or gone? An excellent role player who can hit treys (but takes too many of them) and plays terrific ball-hawking defense.

Paul Millsap is an aggressive but undersized big man. Which is why Sloan has to be careful to avoid mismatches.

Al Jefferson is the X-factor. If he can be convinced/cajoled/threatened into opening up his cramped vision on offense and also to play at least acceptable defense, then AJ will make Jazz fans quickly forget the departed Carlos Boozer. That’s a huge “if”.

C.J. Miles is a valuable shooter/scorer.

Mehmet Okur is slow, defenseless and relatively non-athletic, but has good hands and can knock down 3-balls. Unfortunately, against elite opponents Okur gives up more than he takes.

Raja Bell is 34 and used to be a belligerent defender with deadly 3-point range. But does he have anything left?

Kyrylo Fesenko is touted as being a long-term prospect with a big up-side, but for the foreseeable future he’s still a big stiff.

The Jazz will occasionally out-execute and out-hustle premier opponents when playing in Utah, and be mostly pushovers against the same teams on the road. They’re a good team, but not nearly good enough to even dream of usurping the Lakers.

That's Rosen's take.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/N...y-Thunder-roll

[Blueintheface]

Boom! Roster down to 13.

Best of all, Big Al's hand is fine and he's even expected to play Friday. He should really look out for luggage his teammates in the lane.

[Surfah]

That's Rosen's take.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/N...y-Thunder-roll

Spot on.

[falafel]

Spot on.

Stay out of the Woolsworth!

[Surfah]

Stay out of the Woolsworth!

The only quibble I have with his take is I think Al Jefferson has already made Jazz fans forget about Carlos Boozer.

[falafel]

The only quibble I have with his take is I think Al Jefferson has already made Jazz fans forget about Carlos Boozer.

With that, I agree. It was nice to see Al back Gasol down and then go under his long arms to the basket. That was something Boozer didn't do so well.

[Blueintheface]

Stay out of the Woolsworth!

All of 'em or just this one?

[falafel]

All of 'em or just this one?

Just this one is fine for now.

[Jacob]

That's Rosen's take.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/N...y-Thunder-roll

Seems like a pretty negative take. I disagree in some regards.
UTAH JAZZ

Is Andrei Kirilenko here or gone? An excellent role player who can hit treys (but takes too many of them) and plays terrific ball-hawking defense.

He can't hit treys at a respectable rate. But if Rosen thinks he can, 1 or 1.5 per game is not too many, and that's all AK puts up.
OTOH, AK seems to be in great shape and I have to remind myself that he's only 29. He's in the sweet spot of his prime and I expect him to have a good year.

Al Jefferson is the X-factor. If he can be convinced/cajoled/threatened into opening up his cramped vision on offense and also to play at least acceptable defense, then AJ will make Jazz fans quickly forget the departed Carlos Boozer. That’s a huge “if”.

Based on the little I've seen, I don't expect much problem with AJ fitting into the offense nor at least matching Boozer's D--obviously. Booz is forgotten and I don't expect many to be longing for him.

C.J. Miles is a valuable shooter/scorer.

Prove it.

not nearly good enough to even dream of usurping the Lakers.

How good to you have to be to dream about usurping the Lakers? Jazz could be as good as 2nd best in the west. So I suppose no team in the West can even dream of usurping the Lakers.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Mehmet Okur is slow, defenseless and relatively non-athletic, but

I love the "but". I am really glad we locked him up at a high contract!