Archive for the 'Utah Jazz' Category

NBA at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on May 30, 2008
in Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz
. 0 Comments


Kobe Bryant made his 6th First Team All-Defensive Team this year (he also has a couple of Second Team finishes). And I’m not doubting that Kobe Bryant can be a great defender. He can be if he wants to. Hell, I bet if he wants to be a great Garbage Man, he could be that, too.

My only contention with Kobe Bryant is that he really has not been a great defender in these playoffs. He has been floating around the court, helping out other players, and letting his man take and make open shots.

In the Jazz series, Ronnie Brewer would seem to open each game with a series of dunks, all because Kobe was fishing somewhere else on the court. Then in the Spurs Series, Bruce Bowen seemed to get open shot after open shot, shooting 58% for the series.

Yes, the Lakers took care of the Jazz in 6 and the Spurs in even less, but Kobe cannot float around on Defense against the Celtics. He needs to focus. He’ll either be guarding Paul Pierce or Ray Allen- neither guy Kobe can leave for a second or else they’ll sink a jumper.

Now I never agreed that playing hard on D hurts your offense, as so many sportscasters and sports reporters seem to think, but if it does, the Lakers could be in trouble.

NBA at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on May 31, 2007
in NBA and Utah Jazz
. 0 Comments

And now for the segment that’s sweeping the nation (and by “sweeping the nation” I mean “not interesting for most people”), it’s the Off-Season Preview: Utah Jazz edition.

When I’m wrong, I will admit it. Like when I said Lindsay Lohan would win an Oscar by 22 and Kris Kross would revolutionize rap music. I was also wrong with the Utah Jazz. I thought they had no chance winning that Game 7 in Houston in the 1st Round. I still believe that Houston was a better team. Boozer and Williams are amazing, but I don’t really like any other player on the Jazz (actually, I do like Paul Millsap). Okur is too inconsistent and every other player also has huge weaknesses.

So going into the draft, the Jazz need to upgrade their roster to compete in the West. This year was as far as they are ever going to go, I don’t care how much Deron improves. They have the 25th and 55th overall selections- even with a deep draft, not really anything that will get you someone that can contribute on this team, with 10 decent players under contract already for next year:

G - Deron Williams
G - Derek Fisher
G - Gordan Giricek
G - Ronnie Brewer
F - Matt Harpring
F - Andrei Kirilenko
F - Paul Millsap
F - Carlos Boozer
C - Mehmet Okur
C - Jarron Collins

Obviously the hole is at SG, but I never understood why Jerry Sloan didn’t give Matt Harpring more minutes there. Maybe it’s because he’s too injury prone or too slow, but Allan Houston played SG for a team that went to the Finals. The Jazz would be fine with a Williams, Harpring, Kirilenko, Boozer, and Okur starting lineup with Fisher and Millsap playing big minutes off the bench.

If Sloan thinks Harpring at SG is out of position, he obviously knows Kirilenko at the 3 is also out of position. Since Boozer’s arrival Kirilenko has not lived up to his enormous contract. So, initially you would think to try to trade Kirilenko, Millsap, and some picks for a good SG, but no one in their right mind would take Kirilenko right now, no matter how good defensively he looked in the playoffs. And there are a lot of NBA GM’s not in their right mind, but, seriously, no one would take that awful contract. Unless you want Steve Francis in return, which the Jazz definitely do not want.

So Kirilenko is going to stay a member of the Jazz. Deron Williams and Boozer are untradeable and I doubt they would trade Okur. So, everyone else is tradeable, with Paul Millsap being their best bargaining chip. First you shoot for the stars. Millsap, Giricek’s expiring contract, the 25th overall pick, and next year’s 1st Rounder for Ben Gordon. If I’m Chicago and I can’t get a better low post scorer, I think about this for a second before I say no. Next, you offer Millsap, the 25th pick, and your 2009 1st Round Pick for the 76ers’ 12th pick and Louis Williams. You go for Jeff Green or Nick Young there. I think it actually is a good deal for both teams, but I don’t see Philly wanting to give up their highest pick.

It seems very hard for the Jazz to make a realistic trade that will actually improve their roster, so is it time to trade Boozer when his value is this high? You could easily swing Ben Gordon and the 9th pick (and change) from Chicago. Millsap could fill the void a bit and be a lot cheaper in the future. As much as I would want to try to change it up for the sake of this article, the Jazz should not trade a guaranteed 20 and 10 guy for anything less than another established star.

The Jazz are also going to be over the Cap, but under the Tax, so they won’t be able to sign anyone unless they do the mid-level, which I doubt they will. Ideally, they should sign Morris Peterson to the mid-level, but I say that about almost every team (he’s good, Sam Mitchell just didn’t like him for some reason).

I want to say they should take a shot at Marco Belinelli, the SG from Italy, but I’ve never seen him play, I’d just be taking Chad Ford’s word for it and I hate people who write like that. They can hope one of the Youngs (Nick or Thaddeus) falls to them (which won’t happen), but other than that I don’t see a player who will be much of an improvement over Ronnie Brewer. I say they take Derrick Byars from Vanderbilt and get D.J. Strawberry in Round 2. Sloan will like Strawberry’s toughness and maybe his offensive game will translate to the NBA (I see no chance in that, but, hey, it’s a 2nd Round Pick). One of Byars, Strawberry, or Brewer will hopefully emerge as a starter caliber NBA player and after you re-sign Deron and Millsap, the 2008-2009 Utah Jazz could make a run for a title.

But for this next season, start Harpring at the 2. Leave Kirilenko at the 3 and let him shut down the best wingman on the opposing team, whether it’s a 2 or a 3, and if Boozer is having trouble guarding a quick big man, try Kirilenko there. He is a very useful player, just not worth in the mid-teen millions because he flat out can’t shoot. Golden State wasn’t even guarding him outside the paint and he still would barely hit the rim.

So, anyway, here’s the lineup:

PG - Deron Williams
SG - Matt Harpring
SF - Andrei Kirilenko
PF - Carlos Boozer
C - Mehmet Okur

And just insert Derek Fisher in there for either Harpring or Kirilenko for the crunch time lineup. Millsap will play 25 minutes a night off the bench and the trio of Brewer/Strawberry/Byars would eventually get big minutes (or one of them if they step up) by the Playoffs. Insert this team in 2nd Place in the Northwest and the 6 seed. I don’t see any realistic moves to improve the roster. Kirilenko’s contract and the need to re-sign Deron soon without going over the Tax really limits them.

SPORTS AT RANDOM OFF-SEASON PREVIEWS:

CHICAGO BULLS
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
DENVER NUGGETS
LOS ANGELES LAKERS

Thoughts at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on May 30, 2007
in Los Angeles Lakers, MLB, My Roommate, NBA, Thoughts and Utah Jazz
. 0 Comments

- So, Johnny, what do you think about baseball?

Our sentiments exactly.

- I wanted to say this before the Jazz got knocked out, and that might happen tonight, so here goes: Deron Williams has the worst haircut I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Look at it. It’s all square and nerdy looking. He used to have a thin sideburn line going down past his ear. Now he just shaves it straight across, above his ear, like My Roommate when I met him Freshmen year at Syracuse. It’s disgusting. And Deron is sort of balding in the back, too. It’s awful. He had a cool haircut back at Illinois, but now it just looks like some guy in Utah got to him and showed him how white trash cut their hair.

- Audio of Kobe saying he wants to stay a Laker. We here at Sports at Random may already be sick of this story.

- Two stories that are either creepy or funny: A Cable Guy in Wisconsin has allegedly stole around 1,500 shoes from girls because, as Lt. Graham of Waukesha County said, “He liked to smell them.” He was also convicted of this in 2005, but, obviously, that did nothing towards stopping him (not that he’s hurting anyone (unless they were forced to walk home without shoes and stepped in glass and it got infected and they had their foot amputated. But that’s still not the Shoe Thief’s fault exactly)).

And from Ontario, Canada, apparently there has been a Serial Question Asker around the town of Guelph. The problem is, the question is “Will you kick me in the groin?” He’s also not hurting anyone (except for himself if someone actually took him up on the offer). But Police Sergeant Cate Welsh is extremely concerned, despite the question not being an actual crime. “That kind of behavior tends to be a precursor for sexual assault, ” Welsh explained. Yeah, Cate, on yourself. If this was a woman asking to be smacked on the ass would you still be searching for her, Cate? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

And if asking a sexual question is a precursor for sexual assault, shouldn’t Dikembe Mutombo be in jail right now?


(I always thought he said “Dikembe”, not “Mutombo”- but to each his own)

NBA at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on May 8, 2007
in Golden State Warriors, NBA and Utah Jazz
. 0 Comments

I think a key match-up in the GSW/Utah Jazz series is the Benches. No, not Paul Millsap and Matt Harpring vs. Monta Ellis and Al Harrington, but the actual guys who never leave the Bench.

Let’s start with the Jazz. They lost a huge Bench Guy in Dee Brown when he had to step in for Derek Fisher. Dee Brown was an energy guy over on the Bench. He would always be the first one up during a timeout and always be standing and clapping, cheering on his team. But now he’s been relegated to the court with Derek Fisher out with personal issues (and who knows if Dee Brown will come back to the Bench when Fisher returns- Jerry Sloan might need his speed).

The Jazz also have Ronnie Brewer (who might get some minutes this series), C.J. Miles, and Jarron Collins (who played against Yao, but probably won’t get a single minute in this series). Jarron Collins is your only hope in this group, with his infectious Collins smile (Jason was supposed to be so much better than Jarron- but I really don’t see it. Hopefully Brook Lopez won’t have this fate as well (hopefully for him, not hopefully in general- he goes to Stanford, I hate him)).

The Jazz do have Rafael Araujo, though. Acquired in a trade for Kris Humphries, Araujo played in only 28 games this year, averaging 9 minutes in those games. Some time late in the year, the Brazilian native decided to grow just the middle part of his shaved head, and now has developed a playoff mohawk, not unlike GSW’s Matt Barnes. Araujo’s is greasier, though. That makes it sort of a fohawk, combed (or hair sprayed) that way, but he still wears it well. He gets up for every Mehmet Okur 3-point attempt and pumps his fist as he steps forward onto the court, possibly dreaming of his chance to play in order to popularize his gelled up mohawk. He had to step up last game, with Dee Brown actually playing, but he knows his role. Dee Brown is the energy guy on the Bench and when he’s not in the game, Araujo knows to let Dee go out onto the court the furthest to cheer, to get down the lowest to express his emotion. But, oh, when Dee Brown is in the game, that’s Rafael’s turn to shine.

The Jazz do have talent on their Bench (cheering talent), but it does not even remotely come close to Golden State’s. Maybe it’s just the atmosphere, the personality of the entire team, but Golden State has some real Bench MVP’s on their team. Josh Powell is one of the best in the game. He stands up for the majority of the baskets, claps, then sits back down. There is almost no one better than Josh Powell.

It’s a shame for Powell, though, that Sarunas Jasikevicius is his teammate- completely overshadowing him every game. Sarunas is the ultimate Bench Guy- he’s energetic, he’s unpredictable, and he’s unathletic looking- everything you want in a Bench Guy. Just watch any GSW highlight package, you are sure to see Sarunas jumping up and down, screaming in the air, or just standing there like a G, apparently trying to intimidate. There’s no measure of what he brings to the team. You just can’t quantify it. He’s like the Bob Sacamano of the NBA.

Sarunas didn’t play well in Game 1 verse the Jazz,. Admittedly, he’s better on his home Bench, but watch out for him in Game 2. When GSW goes on a 10-2 run in the early 2nd, don’t change the channel when the Jazz call a timeout. Wait for Sarunas to come running out and slap hands with Matt Barnes or watch him put his arms up for no reason. Then you’ll see how such an underdog could have beaten the mighty Mavericks.

NBA at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on April 27, 2007
in Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA and Utah Jazz
. 1 Comment

Oh, so that’s why that game was on NBA TV.

Two series began yesterday, while one ended without ever starting. The Pistons went up 3-0 on the Jameer Nelson (d’oh) led Magic while Yao McGrady lost to the Jazz and the Lakers are going to win it all, Baby!

I will move right off the Pistons/Magic series (all I would like to say is Dwight Howard has really let me down with his lack of progress this year- what happens if he gets a knee injury? Is he going to be Jerome James then?) and get right down to business with what happened in that Rockets/Jazz game yesterday. I know Jeff Van Gundy and Jerry Sloan coached games can look ugly- but HOLY SCHMIDT, I take back everything I said about moving Yao and T-Mac to NBA TV- it deserved to be on Versus. It was the first time in the history of the NBA Playoffs (which is almost 3,000 games) that only 4 players scored from one team (ESB). Yao had 26, T-Mac 24, Battier 11, and Skip 2 My Lou had 6. No bench points. Even more amazing was that only 3 other players shot the ball at all, missing all 12 shots they took- but looking at that again, maybe it’s not such a big deal when the Suns only play 8 guys total. Carlos Boozer, once again, showed that Yao can’t guard him- in fact, no one can really guard him, despite my thinking that PG’s could cover him when he was coming into the League. His 22, 12, and 4 led the way for the crazy Mormons.

Now onto the Los Angeles Lakers. This promo from the Lakers flagship station before Game 3 pretty much sums up what it’s like to live in LA and listen to these fans every day: PROMO. New York and LA fans are as fickle as anyone (chanting Kwame Brown’s name, now rooting for A-Rod), but it just seems to me that LA fans are just dumber. Straight up. They just say the stupidest things- and they don’t really know sports. Now, obviously there are exceptions, but 80% of the callers in LA wouldn’t even be allowed on the air on “Mike and the Mad Dog”. I guarantee the Lakers fans will just see the win and then not talk about the still much needed changes. Having Kobe on your team is like plugging a water leak by putting your finger in it and not actually fixing the problem (or the other popular analogy of building a fence against our border rather than fixing the problem before it comes to that (that’s right- go into Mexico and cut off all Mexicans’ legs)). Kobe hides so many problems with this team; like no bench play, the PG spot, and Luke Walton about to be demanding a big contract (I know he’s hurt, but he should definitely get less than Gooden and Wilcox). So it’s over 48 hours of overly positive Laker talk, followed by a Sunday night loss at Staples and a Monday morning “the world is ending” saga.

I could just change the channel or pop in a CD- but I’m sure you don’t want to hear all about how much I’ve been enjoying the 70’s style music of E.L.O. and Supertramp lately. It’s just really good music. I like Rap (Biggie, Tupac, Tribe, not Akon and Ne-Yo), the Standards (Sinatra, Deano), and then maybe this piano-rock 70’s music, in that order. It’s fantastic. I think it’s replaced 80’s Pop in my musical palate.

NBA at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on April 26, 2007
in Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz
. 2 Comments

Game 3- when Teams stop being polite- and start getting real.

Three series truly start tonight, despite most people thinking they are already over. I have always thought of Game 4 as the most important game in a 7 game series, but Game 3 is when the series actually starts.

In a surprising move, the NBA has Detroit vs. Orlando on TNT in the first game of the night (as opposed to on NBA TV). I’ve been saying Orlando will only win one game, Game 3, in this series. Then we shall see in Game 4 if this really will be a series, or if Detroit will step on their throat. Games 1 & 2 were closer than expected, so I see Dwight Howard getting 20 boards this game and Grant Hill going for 15, 7, & 7. Overall in this series I see Darko not showing he should get more than the mid-level and Jameer Nelson not even coming close to showing he should get an extension offer this summer. Ride his contract one more year and let him become a restricted free agent- no one will be banging down his door.

In the game relegated to NBA TV, Houston will go up to Salt Lake City and play in the unfriendly confines of the EnergySolutions Arena (Delta Center). Carlos Boozer will have a 2nd Team All-NBA, MVP-like performance and lead them to victory (oh yeah- also, Deron Williams will get 10 assists and Mehmet Okur will hit 50% of his 3’s- but it’s all on Carlos Boozer).

In the final game of the night, back on TNT, the Suns will come to Staples to either step on the throat of their lowly opponent or allow the dam of “Lakers can win it all” talk to break free and wash through this city, the Ciudad. It truly is amusing- the sports talk in Los Angeles. There is realistic expectations in every other sport in this town- the Dodgers, the Kings (if anyone talked about them), the Angels, etc., etc.- but the Lakers? Such brash judgment after every game. The end of the world to Championship glory- all in just a couple of days. I bet Kobe goes for 40 tonight and tomorrow all I hear about is how the Lakers can “Kobe” the Suns 2 more times and then the supporting cast can win another one for them to take the series (I really can’t believe it is commonplace now to use Mr. Bryant’s first name as a verb). Lakers Fans can only hope Phil Jackson reads Sports at Random.

NBA at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on April 23, 2007
in Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, NBA, Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz
. 0 Comments

Two games tonight. Why, in all your wisdom, King Stern, would you put the two most boring series on in the same night?

ORLANDO MAGIC AT DETROIT PISTONS

The fans in Detroit are booing Darko Milicic hard. Because that makes sense. They blame him for being a bust- and not Joe Dumars for picking him. (I guess it makes sense- the Ford Family and the Lions are also in Detroit. Something strange must be going on up there.) Darko said, “I don’t really care. Back home fans used to throw baseball (bats) at me. They used to try to kill me back home.” Looks like the bleach blonde look goes as far in Serbia-Montenegro as it does here.

Anyway, Game 1 saw Detroit win by 8- while Orlando pulled within 3 twice in the last minute and also missed 18 free throws. This is why I don’t see Detroit coming out of the East. They will play better, though. Orlando will win Game 3 in Orlando and that’s it.

UTAH JAZZ AT HOUSTON ROCKETS

Deron Williams almost had a triple-double in the 1st half. Then when the game ended, he still only almost had a triple-double. The Jazz fell apart (or T-Mac and Crew pulled it together) in the 2nd half and the Rockets won Game 1. I’m going to go with “the Jazz fell apart“. (you want to talk about a game changer- click that link, watch that video- that is Houston’s first lead since the 4:21 mark of the 1st Quarter- and they never relinquished the lead after that moment. Crazy)

Utah will play better at home and I see this series going 6, with Tracy McGrady finally getting to the 2nd Round- but he won’t be the reason. Name me anyone who can cover Yao Ming in the West. Or in the East for that matter.

NBA at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on February 22, 2007
in NBA, Philadelphia Sixers and Utah Jazz
. 0 Comments

UPDATE (2/23/2007 10:25 AM): I’ll admit when I make mistakes. Sometimes. This would be one of the times. Billy King was just trying to get under the luxury tax and Utah saw a chance to move up in the draft and had the money to do this trade. The pick is the Knicks 2nd Round pick that Philly had, so the Jazz will be getting the Knicks’ pick, which will probably be 10-15 spots better than theirs.

Finally a big trade! Philadelphia trades Alan Henderson, cash, and the right to swap 2007 2nd round picks to the Jazz. If you are expecting a “for” after that last sentence, there is none.

Philly apparently just wanted to really get rid of Henderson and his $1 million expiring contract. The Jazz are expected to waive him. But they do get a very high second round pick next year. Oh, Billy King, you have outdone yourself once again.

So, that’s all the trades for this year. Sorry to make a sarcastic comment about no big trades in the beginning of this post like EVERYONE else in the sports world. God, I hate people.