Jazzed up?

Every once in a while, I go onto sports fan blog sites (much like this one) and read what people are saying.  It amazes me how incredibly stupid some people are.  When I read that Memot Okur is actually hurting the team by being on the floor, I pick up my jaw and chuckle at the moron.  

If you've been reading this, you know where my passion lies, football, mostly college football.  But I enjoy and follow just about all the major sports.  I can't break down film, or things of that nature with basketball, but I believe I know enough to say a few things (or b.s. my way through it).

Let's start with the basics, Point Guard (John Stockton, Magic Johnson) is position number 1, Shooting Guard (Dwane Wade, Reggie Miller) is position number 2, Small Forward (Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant) is position number 3, Power Forward (Karl Malone, is there another?) is position number 4, and Center (Shaq, Wilt Chamberlin) is position number 5.  So, everyone got it?  Good, now we can move on.

Spacing is key to basketball on every level.  It really matters where the 5 is standing when the 1 has the ball.  Let's say that you have two post players on the same team, I.E. Shaq and the Mailman in '03-'04, if Shaq is in the low post and Karl Malone goes within 4 feet of him, he brings an extra defender with him creating a jam in the middle.  That than dissolves the called play and the 1 (Derek Fisher) has to "improvise" and usually passed it to Kobe who shot it no matter who was covering him or who was open.  That is why the Piston's won that series so easily, they disrupted the Lakers spacing.  It's really hard to describe what it should look like with a diagram, but you might get my point.

With the Jazz, I have always screamed for a defensive center.  I have always been a fan of Alonzo Mourning, I used to think he would have been a great fit with the Jazz.  He didn't care about offensive stats, although he was great, he wanted to shut down the other team.  I thought that if you put him next to Malone, it would be a great team.  The problem is spacing.  If Zo was on the '97 or '98 team, the Jazz may have taken the Bulls to seven games, but I doubt it.  I think they would have lost to houston the first year.  Because of spacing.  The great thing with Memo, he has to be defended.  You have to respect his shot, you don't get that with some center's.  Think back when the Jazz had Ostertag, or even Mark Eaton.  There were many plays that started with them standing above the three point line.  Why?  The couldn't hit those shots, in fact, you almost didn't have to defend them.  But it created spacing for the other guys to work.  But now, the Jazz have a "softer" forward in Boozer, so more spacing is needed.  What I mean by softer is he is either unable or unwilling to push another player around.  He chooses to use his skill, which is great, to get around the other big men.  That only works because Memo and Korver are keeping their guys out on the perimeter.  Without Memo, the other team can put both big men underneath and jam up the middle, which everyone tried to do to the "old" Jazz, but karl Malone was to damn good to be stopped by a double team.  He would either split the D and score or make a quick pass outside to a waiting Hornecek.

Also, without spacing, the Jazz's first and secondary plays would not work.  Have you ever tried a pick and roll with a big body underneath?  From when I played, I was usually the big guy in the way.  The Pick and Roll is designed to eliminate one defender, not create traffic.  Also, the double screen, or circle screen, or whatever the Jazz call it (I call it brilliant), could never work if you had both Boozer and Memo underneath.  Could you imagine Kyle Korver running baseline, bumping into Memo, turning toward up toward the foul line, bumping into Booze, running back underneath the basket, bumping into Memo, whose defender is standing there guarding three people, than curling back toward the foul line and again bumping into Boozer?  Jerry Sloan would come unglued!  You would not see those three playing in a Jazz uniform again.  Just ask Gordon Giricek, he didn't like to run that play the right way.  Where is he now anyway, I forget.  

So to make a short story long, Memo creates proper spacing.  It works because the defender has to think about the "money shot".  He is an adequate defender, which is more than what can be said about Boozer, so you don't lose much with him in defending.  At least he boxes out half the time, which is a forgotten skill.  (Also, a really important and under-rated skill, REBOUNDS WIN GAMES!  If you want to here my Dennis Rodman rant, let me know and I'll prove that he was the key to the Bulls victories over the Jazz)

So, in my opinion, keep Memo and Milsap, let Boozer sign elsewhere.