"You Gotta Love It Baby" Official Jazz thread

[Jacob]

Demarre gets the start tonight...and then says he is p laying for twenty nine other teams.

Corbin is doing a great job.

Lol. And wow. What a mess.

[MarkGrace]

Sure enjoying this season.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Millsap got his feel bads hurt again. Grumpy Paul is back even with him still starting. But he'll pout about things until his minutes get right back to normal, which will surely be the next game since Corbin has no backbone.

[MarkGrace]

Paul Millsap needs to accept his role

Early in the game there were about three possessions where Paul was going out of his way (and the offense) to prove that he could play with Blake Griffin. On one of the plays he made a great shot, but failed on the other two. Even on the make, it was a feat of great effort on his part. (You watch others, like Blake, make the same moves and plays but look effortless in doing so.) In a way this will answer your fifth question as well so I’m going to combine them.

There were a few times in my experiences in the locker room where I feared the question I asked hit the wrong nerve. The majority of those times were each of the three times at locker clean out that in some form or another I asked Paul if he though he was a starter, or would accept a role coming of the bench. In each instance, in a tone best described as terse and stern and a look to match, Paul made it clear he considered himself a starter, period.

In a way you have to appreciate the desire to succeed and the work he has put in to make himself a much better player than he should possibly have ever been. However, Clint Eastwood said it best when in Magnum Force when saying “A good man always knows his limitations.” He is not a starter. He is undersized as a power forward, and under athletic as a small forward. He has improved over his career, but not to the level of a starting four on a winning team. Paul Millsap would be a force and a terror against second unit defenses and bigs. Yet time and again he has made it clear that is not who he sees himself as. This presents a problem in the locker room. When guys like Favors and Kanter continue to improve and show they deserve minutes and even starts, yet are not getting them out of a coaches loyalty to Paul or unwillingness to chance bad repercussions in the locker room.

http://utahsportsnet.com/blog/2012/12/29/jazz-bags-hes-baaaaack/

[Blueintheface]

A unit of soon-to-be free agents with no respect for the head coach; not a recipe for success.

Add in the coaching staff's inability to develop young talent while not holding veterans accountable makes Ty's early-season extension look even more laughable at this point.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

The Utah Jazz, a model franchise for consistency, including a consistent pattern of being one of the slowest teams to adapt in the NBA.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that when it comes to shooting, closer is better. So you probably aren't surprised to learn that players generally shoot better from the corners than any other area beyond the arc. According to NBA StatsCube, 3-point shots from the corners go in 38.7 percent of the time. Three-pointers from the top of the key? Just 34.6 percent. Yes, basketball is a game of inches, too.

This is a helpful reminder that not all shots are created equal. A corner 3-point shot this season has yielded 1.16 points on average. Your average midrange shot? 0.78 points. That might not seem like a lot on the surface, but it adds up over an entire season.

Generally speaking, exchanging just three midrange shots for three corner 3s per game would yield about 100 additional points over the course of a season. To put some perspective on that, 100 points is roughly equivalent to the difference between the sixth-ranked Miami Heat offense and the 13th-ranked Portland Trail Blazers offense last season (85 points separated them). That is why the midrange game is dying and corner 3s are thriving; shooting 15-foot jumpers is a losing affair compared to other shots.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/PerDiem-130101/nba-ranking-team-corner-3s

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Millsap for Patrick Patterson and Terrence Jones?

Houston Rockets | Needs: PF
Potential Trade Targets: Paul Millsap, Ed Davis, Derrick Williams, Glen Davis
Best Trade Target: Millsap

If there is a spot the Rockets need to upgrade, power forward is the one; 82games.com shows that Houston's net production at power forward this season equates to a minus-3.6 PER. In adding Millsap, the Rockets would be rolling the dice that they could get the Louisiana Tech grad to sign beyond this season while improving their playoff chances in 2012-13. Yes, it may seem far-fetched for Utah to trade Millsap to another team battling for a playoff spot out West, but the Jazz would have to listen if the right collection of talent is offered. Millsap is a free agent after the season, and the Jazz don't want to risk losing him for nothing, so a package centered around Patrick Patterson and Terrence Jones could be enough to swing a deal.

Jefferson for Calderon and Kleiza? That would certainly mean a lot of Calderon/Mo backcourts, which would suck a lot. But it'd be great to see the core four play with a PG like Calderon.

Utah Jazz | Needs: PG (and to a lesser extent SG, SF)
Potential trade targets: Calderon, Fredette, Ridnour, Barea, Ariza, Prince
Best trade target: Calderon

Losing Mo Williams indefinitely to a thumb injury has the Jazz depending on Jamaal Tinsley and Earl Watson to run the team, which doesn't exactly have the makings of a playoff contender. Adding a pass-first point guard the caliber of Calderon would significantly upgrade the team, if only for a season. The only question is whether the Jazz would even want to go after a player in the final year of his deal. One potential solution would be offering up an expiring contract in return, perhaps one like that of Al Jefferson, who could help lessen the load on rookie Jonas Valanciunas up front once Valanciunas returns to the court from a broken finger. The Jazz would have to take back another contract like that of Linas Kleiza to make such a deal work.

[MarkGrace]

Patterson and Jones? So we give a one PF for two PF's? That doesn't make a lot of sense.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Surgery for Mo. Out at least 6 weeks.

Corbin mentioned playing Foye, Hayward, and Burks together to spread the ball handling out. Corbin mentioning that means it likely won't ever happen.

[MarkGrace]

So Burks is now back out of the rotation in favor of Carroll. As the world turns...

[Blueintheface]

So Burks is now back out of the rotation in favor of Carroll. As the world turns...

I did like that he brought in Kanter to play with Milsap instead of both bench guys but Carroll playing is a mystery.

[Blueintheface]

Jefferson is such a piece of shit defensively. How can he even address his teammates or question their effort?

[The_Douger]

Jefferson is such a piece of shit defensively. How can he even address his teammates or question their effort?

It's because he is a "leader".

[Blueintheface]

Backside Love. Lol.

[LiveCoug]

Did I read that correctly? ZERO rebounds in 27 minutes for 'Sap?

Also, I wish we had found a way to get back AK for cheap. Oh well.