"You Gotta Love It Baby" Official Jazz thread

[smokymountainrain]

Scott Machado plays on ESPNU tonight at 7 MST.

[SloanHater]

While we are worrying about GS being too bad, Jazz tie them up in they loss column.
But this is probably just me being stupid again. GS is among worst in the league and Jazz are a sure fire play-off team. (Hater, that was for you).

Good to see all the 'real' Jazz fans jumping off the bandwagon in droves. Anyone with half a brain, not you, could look at the schedule and see that February would be a tough month.

The Jazz went 0-8 in back to back nights. 3 of the 4 second night games were on the road. They played better teams in the East. (You still think the West is better?) They are the youngest team in the NBA.

I saw plenty of bright spots and plenty of concerns. Corbin still relies on a terrible rotation and is worse than Sloan at in game adjustments. Perhaps I should say that he is as bad as Sloan and lacks Phil to help him adjust. Corbin needs to take a page out of Pops' book and accept that his 'stars' (Jefferson, Millsap, and Hayward) should be getting games off or playing less than 20 min. Those 3 may not compare to the Spurs big 3, but the Jazz are deeper and more athletic, so why not play more guys more minutes?

Stupid Tyrone. Stupid Greg.

I'm sure you'll be right back on the bandwagon once the Jazz get a little momentum after their brutal road trip to start March.

I stand by my prediction of 30-35 wins and a 7/8 seed.

GS has been a surprise. Credit to Jackson for the job he's doing. However, Ellis is averaging 38 min a game. Can he keep it up for another 3 months? Guess we'll see. I still would trade the pick for a solid PG. College PG pickings are beyond slim.

[Maximus]

Good to see all the 'real' Jazz fans jumping off the bandwagon in droves. Anyone with half a brain, not you, could look at the schedule and see that February would be a tough month.

The Jazz went 0-8 in back to back nights. 3 of the 4 second night games were on the road. They played better teams in the East. (You still think the West is better?) They are the youngest team in the NBA.

I saw plenty of bright spots and plenty of concerns. Corbin still relies on a terrible rotation and is worse than Sloan at in game adjustments. Perhaps I should say that he is as bad as Sloan and lacks Phil to help him adjust. Corbin needs to take a page out of Pops' book and accept that his 'stars' (Jefferson, Millsap, and Hayward) should be getting games off or playing less than 20 min. Those 3 may not compare to the Spurs big 3, but the Jazz are deeper and more athletic, so why not play more guys more minutes?

Stupid Tyrone. Stupid Greg.

I'm sure you'll be right back on the bandwagon once the Jazz get a little momentum after their brutal road trip to start March.

I stand by my prediction of 30-35 wins and a 7/8 seed.

GS has been a surprise. Credit to Jackson for the job he's doing. However, Ellis is averaging 38 min a game. Can he keep it up for another 3 months? Guess we'll see. I still would trade the pick for a solid PG. College PG pickings are beyond slim.

The west is almost certainly better. The Jazz would be in 8th place in the East right now. Enough said.

[MarkGrace]

The latest NBA player reportedly on the trading block is Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics. GM Danny Ainge has denied the rumor, but Hoopsworld has learned from multiple sources that Ainge has made some calls and is looking to move the young point guard.

Boston is an aging team that needs help in the front-court and a few teams could make a deal that would help both franchises and Utah tops the list. The Jazz have a surplus of young players, including Enes Kanter, Gordon Hayward, and Derrick Favors, but the team has struggled with Devin Harris running the point and a move could give Utah the help it needs.

http://sports.gather.com/viewArticle...81474981126148

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

http://sports.gather.com/viewArticle...81474981126148

That would be awesome.

[Jacob]

Good to see all the 'real' Jazz fans jumping off the bandwagon in droves. Anyone with half a brain, not you, could look at the schedule and see that February would be a tough month.

...

I'm sure you'll be right back on the bandwagon once the Jazz get a little momentum after their brutal road trip to start March.

I stand by my prediction of 30-35 wins and a 7/8 seed.

GS has been a surprise.

Hard to jump off the bandwagon when you were never really on and prefer them to lose. My prediction was that the Jazz would be well below .500, yours was that they'd win more than half their games.

GS is not a surprise. They are the same team they were last year.

Sorry. I should have just left it alone. But it's fun to point out how wrong you are.

[Jacob]

I'm struggling to come up with a good trade proposal for Rondo. What would Boston want in return? He barely turned 26, so he is just entering his prime, which probably ends in 3-4 years since he can't shoot. If Boston is interested in rebuilding, they'd be working hard to move the older guys. Doesn't the fact that they are apparently trying to trade Rondo indicate that they don't have confidence in his maturity, or that he has a serious attitude problem? He is their best player and has a reasonable contract.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to trade for him, especially if we were only giving up Harris and a pick. But I can't imagine Boston doing that. I'm guessing they wouldn't accept anything short of Kanter or Favors with another pick included. I'm not sure I want to do that. If Ainge agrees to that deal, I'd worry about Rondo's attitude. OTOH, I'd trade almost anything other than Kanter/Favors. Maybe Harris and one of Burks/Hayward gets it done with a draft pick. If the Jazz could get a deal that gives up less than that, it was a great deal.

If Ainge thinks Boston can make one more run, then they'd have to consider Rondo for Jefferson and Harris along with the Jazz pick this year. I'd do that trade in a heartbeat because to me, Harris has little value, and Rondo is a more valuable player than Jefferson. But it would be hard to make the salaries work. Maybe the Jazz would have to swap Millsap for Bass too.

The way I'm looking at this is Jefferson and Millsap are gone after next year and if you don't trade them, you get nothing for them. So trade one, or trade them both, but you must trade one. Rondo has 3 years left on his deal, but is potentially a real problem in the locker room with a young team.

[MarkGrace]

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to trade for him, especially if we were only giving up Harris and a pick. But I can't imagine Boston doing that. I'm guessing they wouldn't accept anything short of Kanter or Favors with another pick included. I'm not sure I want to do that. If Ainge agrees to that deal, I'd worry about Rondo's attitude. OTOH, I'd trade almost anything other than Kanter/Favors. Maybe Harris and one of Burks/Hayward gets it done with a draft pick. If the Jazz could get a deal that gives up less than that, it was a great deal.

If the Jazz were to make a deal with the C's, I don't think I'd want them to give up either of the two bigs. I would be fine, however, if it was Burks or Hayward plus something like Harris and one of the two picks we have in this draft. At that point I'd feel fine about being able to replace Hayward/Burks through the remaining pick in this draft. I like Lamb, Beal, etc.

[MarkGrace]

Grades from the rookie/soph game.

Derrick FavorsPF | Utah Jazz
A-
Didn't contribute much to the highlight reel but arguably Team Shaq's most effective player with 14 points in 14 minutes and nary a miss nor a turnover.

Gordon HaywardSG | Utah Jazz
B+
Showed off his hops with a couple of at-the-square shot-blocks and contributed a quiet 14 points to the winning side's cause.

http://espn.go.com/nba/allstar2012/s...uck/team-chuck

Apparently Kenny The Jet spent some time raving about Hayward last night saying he thinks he's a future AS. I think G-Time has legit skills, but I'm not sure about AS because I think he lacks the disposition and spends too much time looking like he just lost his puppy. I'm also getting a bit worried about Favors mentality as well.

[CJF]

If the Jazz were to make a deal with the C's, I don't think I'd want them to give up either of the two bigs. I would be fine, however, if it was Burks or Hayward plus something like Harris and one of the two picks we have in this draft. At that point I'd feel fine about being able to replace Hayward/Burks through the remaining pick in this draft. I like Lamb, Beal, etc.

Milsap, Harris, and a first rounder. I don't know why the Celtics would do it, but the Jazz would be crazy to give up the young core players for a guard who can't shoot.

[MarkGrace]

Milsap, Harris, and a first rounder. I don't know why the Celtics would do it, but the Jazz would be crazy to give up the young core players for a guard who can't shoot.

I'm not sure it's that crazy. How many of those four will end up better than Rondo? He has a major defficiency, but most players do and he's very good (if a bit overrated at times). If you could give up one of the wings, I see why not. You can commit to the core four, but if you can make a deal without giving up Jefferson (who I seem to like more than more Jazz fan do), you could put yourself right back in business in the not-too-distant future. Say you deal Burks, Harris and a 1st rounder, and then land Beal or Lamb in the 1st round. That leaves you with this next year:

PG - Rondo
SG - Lamb
SF - Hayward
PF - Jefferson
C - Favors

That could be a pretty solid group, and you still have Sap and Kanter coming off the bench (which doesn't clear the 4/5 logjam, so maybe you move Sap for a wing or something). And it's not like Rondo and Jefferson are old at 26 and 27, respectively, so you have several years with them leading you while the younger guys continue to grow.

My worry would be, like Jacob said, with Rondo. Historically the PG's that have aged best are either (a) big or (b) good shooters (of which Rondo is neither) as those assets help offset the reduction in quickness that usually sets in approaching 30. I think Jefferson will be less susceptible to this as he succeeds on timing/length/footwork, not his athleticism/quickness. You're also banking on the fact that Hayward regains his touch from last year and Beal becomes the shooter people have projected and not what he's shown this year.

[smokymountainrain]

Grades from the rookie/soph game.




http://espn.go.com/nba/allstar2012/s...uck/team-chuck

Apparently Kenny The Jet spent some time raving about Hayward last night saying he thinks he's a future AS. I think G-Time has legit skills, but I'm not sure about AS because I think he lacks the disposition and spends too much time looking like he just lost his puppy. I'm also getting a bit worried about Favors mentality as well.

I'm worried about Favors mentality as well. He seems to have the athleticism and his skills seem to improving to the point where he has the skills as well to be great. I don't think he has the mental make up to be great. He seems too passive on both offense and defense and he seems lack intensity on both ends of the floor.

In regard to getting Rondo, I'm just not sure I'd want to give up any of the youngsters to get him. But I'm not sure I wouldn't want to either. It's tough. I think Burks and Hayward have special qualities that can separate them from the average good wing player. Burks ability to get to the rim, draw fouls and I think he has special skills as a passer we just haven't seen yet. Perhaps it's only me, but I think Hayward's ability to defend either 2s or 3s at 6'8" is a unique skill that can create matchup problems. I think he has a unique ability to handle the ball and create for a guy standing 6'8". Wings tend to be a dime a dozen and maybe I'm wrong about Burks and Hayward being different, but I'd be scared shitless to give them up for a guy like Rondo, who like Jacob says, probably has 3-4 more good years.

Favors and Kanter - I have fairly major issues with both of them, but it's always scary to give up young big talent for an older smaller player.

I guess all these reasons make it a fair trade - significant risk from both teams - but I might rather try for a guy like Jarrett Jack who has good size and does a lot of things well, nothing really well and is still in his prime and hang on to my young players.

All this is even more reason why Corbin has to play the young guys. The Jazz have to know what they have in them and right now they aren't getting enough consistent extended minutes where we really have much idea.

[MarkGrace]

Holy shit that evans dunk was filthy.

[smokymountainrain]

Holy shit that evans dunk was filthy.

Evans may have had the two best dunks of the night.

[Blueintheface]

Evans may have had the two best dunks of the night.

I liked Williams baseline dunk but yes, I agree.