Comments on: Doing Nothing is a Dangerous Business

By: MC Welk

MC Welk — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:40:59 +0000

Relief is only a year away as Harpring, Korver and Boozer will all be off the cap, the Knicks’ unprotected 2010 pick will arrive and AK will be a 2011 expiring. Meanwhile, other top teams could face age, chemistry and shrinking cap issues. Doing nothing for a year actually makes sense this time.

By: Rob Mahoney

Rob Mahoney — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:41:13 +0000

That’s where it gets a bit trickier. There obviously isn’t a simple solution to the salary logjam in Utah, unless they can somehow deal AK. They’ve supposedly been trying to do that for years now, and he’s still a member of the Jazz, so I don’t know how much success they’ll have on that front.

It’s really quite tragic because, as you said, Mark, Deron Williams is a championship-level point guard. There was also some quality young talent in the likes of Brewer and Millsap, but Kirilenko’s contract kept the team from taking advantage of Brewer and Millsap’s rookie deals. Ideally, the Jazz would’ve been able to sign another free agent or make a trade that would involve taking on excess salary, but that money instead went to Kirilenko. I don’t mean to pick on Andrei too much because he’s a quality player, but it’s obvious that the team as currently constructed isn’t floating to the top of the barrel.

I guess this is all a roundabout way of saying that I’m not really sure what the hell the Jazz should do, and also clarifying that I’m not sure that they made that many wrong moves here. Okur and Boozer aren’t the most compatible duo in the world, but they’re definitely good players. The only real misstep in Utah was signing Kirilenko to a contract that not only exceeded his production (pre-drop off), but even his ceiling.

By: Mark Pereira

Mark Pereira — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:59:34 +0000

With that said, I am curious. Mr. Mahoney, what do you advise? Any solution to this mess except “just wait until we get the Knicks’ draft pick!!!”?

By: Mark Pereira

Mark Pereira — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:56:13 +0000

As a fellow Jazz fan I agree whole heartedly that the main problem is their defense. Jerry Sloan’s Jazz have always been about creating turnovers and hard fouls, while getting to the foul line a ridiculous amount themselves. Offensively, the pick and roll is simply nice rich bread and buttery smooth for them. Carlos Boozer qualified the offensive half of Jerry Sloan but gave up a lot of easy baskets and didn’t have that way-too-cliche “scrappiness” on the court. Getting to the WCF was awesome, and Boozer was a HUGE part of it. But I think the administration realized that Boozer truly is an all-star player, but not THEIR all-star player.

I don’t think Millsap is good enough to be a 30+ minutes a game starter. I think he’s a fantastic sixth man to pair with just about any kind of big man complement.

This post is absolutely correct in that this team just isn’t positioned to win it all. I am a Utah Jazz fan, and I am not enraged by this post (mainly because I have a brain). Chris Paul is better than Deron Williams (although can we put this guy in an all-star game for once?!). But Deron Williams is a point guard that can lead a championship team, easy.

We just need to bring back that Jerry Sloan defense, and who can give that to us? Tyrus Thomas is perhaps a Carlos Boozer revert–do what Sloan wants defensively, but offensively would run the pick and roll more like “I Can’t Believe it’s not Butter” butter substitute.

Deron Williams fits perfectly. Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver also are perfect puzzle pieces to the team. Andrei Kirilenko is actually still quite young and can be a perfect puzzle piece. It would be nice if Matt Harpring was 5-years-ago Matt Harpring. This frontcourt is just way overpaid, way too confusing and most of all, all of them are circle pegs jammed so far into a square hole that the administration can’t pull them out without damaging the hole (translation: lose one of the players, miss the playoffs. Keep the players, never win a championship). And I think that is exactly what this post references to, and I, as a Utah Jazz fan, agree.

By: Dushroc

Dushroc — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:19:52 +0000

I just don’t think there is much they can do this year. It’s not like there are many buyers for AK’s contract or even Boozer’s. I think the best they can do is trade Boozer for a cheap asset(draft pick even?) and re-sign millsap for a decent price. They simply need to hope they get an all star with the knicks pick in 2010. From there they could easily have a solid team built around D-Will and the pick with Millsap, Memo, Brewer, and AK making up a solid supporting cast.

By: shan

shan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:51:59 +0000

While I do respect your point of view and the way you package it, it is somewhat puppetish. So many people just regurgitate what has already been said by numerous other sources and try to claim it as their own, its funny. Anyhow you and virtually no one else ever mentions anywhere that we still won 49 games with more injuries than any other playoff team last season and this resulted in a nightmare matchup with the Lakers and an inevitable first round exit for an already mentally shaky Jazz team. We had a miserable rollercoaster of a year and it was hard to forge chemistry after all of that, then the black cloud we know as Boozer came back from his ‘injury’ and tubed us out even more. In actuality, not according to poular theory this Jazz team is one of the most talented teams in the west, but to so many at first glance, we are done because last year we were eigth seed and lost in five. Last year Denver was 8th seed and got swept and they got to the WCF last year with the addition of Billups, he was exactly what they needed.

Let me tell you what my Jazz need, a smiple little fundamental thing called defense. Our days of allowing 100+ from seven man GSW rosters need to be just a distant embarassing memory. By adding Thomas and getting rid of the flatfooted, juevon in Boozer and letting Millsap develop we are on our way to doing this. Basically we trade one marquis offensive player in Boozer for two potentially great defensive players in Millsap and Thomas. Boozer might average 20/10 but he gives up just the same on the other end of the court. Thomas might be the antitheses to Jerry Sloan but isnt every young player? No one likes him at first but they grow to love him and respect him for his sage like approach to coaching. Anyway I have hope for my Jazz, we have some very good, unique and dynamic players on our roster who will surprise alot of people in the future, I hope you are one of them, nice articel, btw, even though it basically says my Jazz suck, its still well written ;)

By: Robinsson

Robinsson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:47:18 +0000

I can’t remember the last time the Jazz made a move that even pleasantly surprised…. they are the supreme conservatives of the league, and have been for years.

The Jazz are like a guy who walks into a casino with $500 and leaves 6 hours later with $485. They never lose the nest egg, or win the grand prize, and ultimately, are just not that much fun to hang out with.