"You Gotta Love It Baby" Official Jazz thread

[smokymountainrain]

Interesting. I'm big on guys who get to the FT line, but have no idea how that ability translates from college to the NBA. Based on this, apparently it translates very well. Harden, Martin, Wade, Anthony, etc, pretty good company for guys who get to the line. It's very encouraging, but the Jazz need to allow him to play his game.

[Jacob]

I haven't seen Burks play, except a few highlights. But I do remember watching Harden play in college and thinking that the way he plays and gets fouled, he's going to make it in the NBA. if Burks has that same style of play, I'll be excited. But Burks is so thin compared to Wade and Harden, does he get to the line in similar ways?

[smokymountainrain]

I haven't seen Burks play, except a few highlights. But I do remember watching Harden play in college and thinking that the way he plays and gets fouled, he's going to make it in the NBA. if Burks has that same style of play, I'll be excited. But Burks is so thin compared to Wade and Harden, does he get to the line in similar ways?

Kevin Martin.

[MarkGrace]

I watched Locke's breakdown vid of Burks last night. It was just game footage, not a highlight reel. I swear the kid drew contact on about every other possession.

[Blueintheface]

Resigning Watson at this point is a no-brainer, right? He's cheap, mildly effective, especially with a young athletic second team. My fear is that the Jazz try and Rodney-Stuckey this Burks kid. I have no doubt he's very good with the ball in his hands but I think he'll be best utilized by coming off ball screens and in transition. And if his ability to get to the line translates he'll be a huge get for the Jazz.

[smokymountainrain]

I watched Locke's breakdown vid of Burks last night. It was just game footage, not a highlight reel. I swear the kid drew contact on about every other possession.

Those videos Locke did, to his credit, were not very flattering for the most part.
Burks, however, looked very good in his video.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

I watched Locke's breakdown vid of Burks last night. It was just game footage, not a highlight reel. I swear the kid drew contact on about every other possession.

After seeing that would you compare him more to Jamal Crawford than Wade, Harden, or Stuckey? What seems similar between Burks and Crawford is that both really do handle the ball well, and that combined with their quickness really allows them to get by defenders a lot. But a critical difference has been that Burks uses his driving ability to create fouls or get a good shot at the rim (at least that's what the stats seem to say), whereas Crawford is in love with an unreliable jumper and so his intent is to create space to then shoot a fadeaway or step-back jumper.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Anything going to go down in the next couple of hours?

Lots of teams trying to make last-minute deals before #lockout anvil comes down. Houston, as ever, burning up the lines.

RT @RicBucher: League office taking hard stand. Has told teams contact w/players after midnight = $1 million fine. And more. Story shortly

Rumors out there that Cleveland is trying to use their trade exception ($14.6 M) because they don't know if they'll still be able to once the new CBA is agreed to.

[MarkGrace]

Jordan Heimer, ClipperBlog: After you trade your franchise player (Deron Williams) and lose your Hall of Fame coach (Jerry Sloan), you're supposed to fall into a protracted rebuilding process … which the Jazz managed to squeeze into six months. A rebuilt core of Devin Harris, Alec Burks, Al Jefferson, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter and Paul Millsap will be one of the league's most sneakily entertaining teams.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=5-on-5-110706

[MarkGrace]

Derrick Favors, F/C, Utah Jazz
7.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 0.6 apg (6.8, 5.3, 0.5)

Favors, who will turn 20 next week, was the NBA's youngest player a season ago, so rapid improvement is to be expected. The average player similar to him did in fact improve by 13.1 percent the following season, barely edging out Cousins for the most projected development heading into Year 2. Favors' numbers are likely to trend upward across the board, though the extent of his development may not be evident unless he's able to carve out additional minutes in a frontcourt that has become crowded with the addition of No. 3 pick Enes Kanter. Favors does have a unique claim to playing time in that he's the best defender of the Jazz's options up front.

[ame="http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/news/story?id=6742324"]NBA: Projecting sophomore stat lines for Blake Griffin, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and other top picks - ESPN[/ame]

If those are Favors numbers next year, Corbin will have failed as a coach.

[smokymountainrain]

NBA: Projecting sophomore stat lines for Blake Griffin, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and other top picks - ESPN

If those are Favors numbers next year, Corbin will have failed as a coach.

And perhaps KOC will have failed as GM. If Favors can't get enough minutes to get at least 10 and 7, that means Jefferson and Millsap are both still around. If Jefferson and Millsap are there, Corbin has to play them big minutes. He will have get Kanter some decent minutes and he will have to give Hayward and/or Miles fairly significant minutes at the 3. With the frontcourt so crowded, either Al or Sap have to go.

[Sizzle]

AK's apparent asking price: $5.8 mil per.

Kirilenko reportedly held talks with Real Madrid, but was turned down due to his salary demands.

According to Marca.com via translation from HoopsHype, Kirilenko asked for $5.8 million each season. That is too much for Real Madrid.

Kirilenko and his agent will probably continue to speak with top teams about a possible contract for next season, unless the NBA lockout ends soon.

[ame="http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/features/rumors"]NBA Rumors - NBA Trade Rumors, Free Agency Rumors and More - Rumor Central - ESPN[/ame]

I'd welcome AK back at that rate.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

And perhaps KOC will have failed as GM. If Favors can't get enough minutes to get at least 10 and 7, that means Jefferson and Millsap are both still around. If Jefferson and Millsap are there, Corbin has to play them big minutes. He will have get Kanter some decent minutes and he will have to give Hayward and/or Miles fairly significant minutes at the 3. With the frontcourt so crowded, either Al or Sap have to go.

One of the other ESPN 5x5 discussions asked what trades should be made. One of them said Millsap for DJ Augustin and Matt Carroll. Carroll has two years left (the last being a player option that he'd likely pick up) so cap relief via his deal wouldn't come immediately but he would be an expiring next year. And I believe Augustin is only under contract for one more year before being a RFA the following.

But the idea was that it gives Charlotte some scoring ability help in the front court, the Bobcats get to hand the keys over to Walker at PG, and the Jazz get a little future cap relief and end up with a good back-up PG who can audition to see if he's better than Harris for Utah in the long run.

[smokymountainrain]

One of the other ESPN 5x5 discussions asked what trades should be made. One of them said Millsap for DJ Augustin and Matt Carroll. Carroll has two years left (the last being a player option that he'd likely pick up) so cap relief via his deal wouldn't come immediately but he would be an expiring next year. And I believe Augustin is only under contract for one more year before being a RFA the following.

But the idea was that it gives Charlotte some scoring ability help in the front court, the Bobcats get to hand the keys over to Walker at PG, and the Jazz get a little future cap relief and end up with a good back-up PG who can audition to see if he's better than Harris for Utah in the long run.

I'd like a trade similar to that. I think the main piece the Jazz get back in a Millsap trade has to be a PG. Similar to the frontcourt situation, I think the worst thing you can do is put Hayward and/or Burks in a situation where they are struggling to play enough minutes. I do think, in that particular scenario, the Jazz would be giving up more value so it would be nice to see a future pick thrown in as well.

[Donuthole]

One of the other ESPN 5x5 discussions asked what trades should be made. One of them said Millsap for DJ Augustin and Matt Carroll. Carroll has two years left (the last being a player option that he'd likely pick up) so cap relief via his deal wouldn't come immediately but he would be an expiring next year. And I believe Augustin is only under contract for one more year before being a RFA the following.

But the idea was that it gives Charlotte some scoring ability help in the front court, the Bobcats get to hand the keys over to Walker at PG, and the Jazz get a little future cap relief and end up with a good back-up PG who can audition to see if he's better than Harris for Utah in the long run.

I think the Jazz can (and should) get more for Millsap than that. Perhaps that is my unrealistic, Jazz-goggled expectations speaking, but so be it. Now if the Bobcats were willing to throw in an unprotected draft pick, maybe I'd be interested. Augustin for Millsap straight up seems closer to fair, but there's no way I think the Jazz should take back a crap contract like Carroll when they're giving up the better player, too.