"You Gotta Love It Baby" Official Jazz thread

[CardiacCoug]

Better vid.

[YOUTUBE]M_CVAJBIwTA&sns=tw[/YOUTUBE]

One dribble. Pretty incredible.

[Blueintheface]

Our starters continue to suck ass six games into the preaseason. Hayward barely touching the ball but Marvin, Velma, and Provo keep holding and missing.

[Blueintheface]

By all means keep Tinsley on the court. He's the glue.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

"Tinsley's shot not falling tonight."

From the department of the redundancy department.

[Blueintheface]

14 pt halftime lead. Not a single substitution in the quarter, down 4. Awesome, Ty. Still no subs.

[smokymountainrain]

Wow. Starters taken to the woodshed in that 3rd quarter. Harpring won't admit it, but Millsap absolutely got his ass kicked by Blake Griffin.

[smokymountainrain]

Now Corbin wants to teach the starters a lesson to the detriment of getting bench players some valuable time in the pre-season.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Wow. Starters taken to the woodshed in that 3rd quarter. Harpring won't admit it, but Millsap absolutely got his ass kicked by Blake Griffin.

I just barely tuned in. Did Harpring keep talking about the match-up between Millsap and Griffin like Millsap would cement his place as a superior PF if he could just out play Griffin for a quarter or two like he did while announcing the games last year?

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Now Corbin wants to teach the starters a lesson to the detriment of getting bench players some valuable time in the pre-season.

"We've seen Burks play the point. We know what he can do."

When does Corbin say, "We've still not seen Jefferson play defense. We know what he can do."

[smokymountainrain]

I just barely tuned in. Did Harpring keep talking about the match-up between Millsap and Griffin like Millsap would cement his place as a superior PF if he could just out play Griffin for a quarter or two like he did while announcing the games last year?

Pretty much the same.

"Griffin wouldn't admit it, but Millsap has to be the player Blake most hates to play against in the league."

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Pretty much the same.

"Griffin wouldn't admit it, but Millsap has to be the player Blake most hates to play against in the league."

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Burks with 3 straight made jumpers including a three.

[MarkGrace]

It was your typical Utah season on many levels, as the Jazz exhibited virtually every trait that most older Utahns now can recite by heart: an insanely high foul rate, a very high rebound rate, lots of free throws and only a rudimentary understanding of where the 3-point line is and how it might benefit them.

lol. But Hollinger seems high on the Jazz in general.

There's a mile-wide gap between "having a chance to do big things" and actually doing big things. Having said that: The Jazz have a chance to do some big things.

On paper, no team is better set up for the future. The Jazz have four talented young players, all of whom are on rookie contracts and all of whom play different positions. The only spot not represented among that group is point guard, the easiest position to fill.

And otherwise, the Jazz are almost completely unencumbered contract-wise. They have two hugely productive frontcourt players on the final year of their respective contracts in Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, have other veterans on expiring or nearly expiring deals and could have as much as $30 million in cap space entering this summer.
HOLLINGER'S PLAYER PROFILES

Additionally, they've put themselves in good shape by hiring the well-respected Dennis Lindsey from San Antonio to be their new general manager, with former GM Kevin O'Connor moving into an oversight role.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/preview2012/story/_/page/hollinger-uth-forecast/utah-jazz-outlook

Ford also high on the Jazz.

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Western Conference looks like it will be a three-team race again this season between the conference defending champion Thunder, the newly reloaded Lakers and the aging but timeless Spurs.

Other upstarts, such as the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers will make noise as well. And no one is quite ready to write off the Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies.

But if you look beyond 2012-13, a dark-horse contender is quietly emerging in the mountains, one that could be the NBA's team to beat in the near future.

In August, John Hollinger and I ranked the Utah Jazz No. 4 in our Future Power Rankings. When Hollinger and I aggregated the numbers, it raised a few eyebrows -- including ours and those of a number of observers around the league.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8506808/nba-there-future-golden-age-utah-jazz-coming

[Blueintheface]

lol. But Hollinger seems high on the Jazz in general.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/preview2012/story/_/page/hollinger-uth-forecast/utah-jazz-outlook

Ford also high on the Jazz.


http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story...ah-jazz-coming

I do like their optimism, though they obviously don't know Ty Corbin's veterans-first policy and are assuming an increase in rookie minutes and development. This is going to be even more exaggerated this year because legitimately the Jazz have 10 players on this roster that would be a part of any team's major rotation and Ty will inevitably choose the wrong 5 for the bulk of the available minutes.

I could agree with their take if I was convinced Lindsey was planning an immediate trade for some redundant pieces but until then I remain skeptical. Meanwhile the preseason rolls merrily along with the rookies languishing in obscurity.

[MarkGrace]

Oh, I think they're aware of it.

One other thing that stood out, however, is that Corbin, in his first season as head coach, favored his veterans to a near-comical extent. The most notable manifestation was his decision to start Raja Bell and Josh Howard on the wings, even though Bell was plainly finished and Howard had seen much better days as well. This maneuver kept the vastly better Hayward as a reserve for much of the year and left first-rounder Burks as a fringe fourth wing player. Playing with three other starters who had strongly positive plus-minus numbers, both Bell and Howard still managed to land in the negatives.

A more humorous twist came midway through the year, when Bell and Corbin began feuding, even though Corbin was basically the only thing keeping Bell in an NBA lineup. When eventually injuries knocked Bell and Howard out, the Jazz hit another gear with Hayward starting, Burks playing more and Paul Millsap occasionally featuring in a monstrous frontcourt with Jefferson and Favors.