Who do the Jazz take at 3? Who do the Jazz take at 12? Do they draft the 3rd pick with the 12th pick in mind? Or do you pick the "best available?" For that matter, who is the best available? In my opinion you follow what has historically worked for not only your franchise, but in the league for years. Let me back up and I'll get back to this in a moment.
I'm not going to give a Mock Draft here. They are all over the internet by people who know a lot more than me about these players. I'm going to say what I hope doesn't happen in this draft, but looks more and more like it will happen. It looks like the Jazz are going to be picking Brandon Knight at 3 and a front court player at 12. I have seen Centers, Power Forwards and Small Forwards all in that spot.
There is an idea in the NBA that scoring Point Guards win. I don't believe it because I've never seen it. Magic Johnson was an anomaly so I don't want to here about him in this argument. Isiah Thomas had to have the perfect defensive team built around him to win it in Detroit (Dennis Rodman again). Other than those two though, no PG has been the focal point of the teams offense and the "star" of the team and have it work. Let's go back a little.
If we go back 20 years, that puts us at MJ's first in 1991, but let's go back 5 years before to 1986 with the Celtic's last of that era. They beat the Houston Rocket's led by Hakeem Olajuwon with an aging team starring the one and only Larry Bird. After that, you have the Lakers led by Magic and Worthy, and than the Detroit Bad Boys with Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas (Rodman x2). After that is the Bulls for 6 of the next 8 and MJ was the leader with Scottie Pippen as the leaders of those teams (Rodman x3). The other 2 years, Hakeem's Rocket's.
Enter the post Jordan era in the NBA. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Sorry, I fell asleep again thinking about those early years. But here we go, Tim Duncan's Spurs in '99, '03, '05 and '07 (the only year when someone other than Duncan dominated that team). The Laker's winning 3 in a row with Shaq and Kobe starting in 2000 and going on to the Celtics, the Heat, the Pistons, more Lakers and on into this year with Dallas winning it. The Piston's were the only team dominated all year long by a point guard. His domination though is not the same as what some would have you believe. His domination was not in using up possessions in trying to score as much as he could, he dominated by setting up a good offensive scheme and taking the RIGHT shots. Before the pair of Piston guards, you have to go back to Dennis Johnson with Seattle in '79 before you find a team that won the NBA championship with a dominant PG. His contributions were also of a different nature than what is perceived today as a good or even great PG. His were the records that John Stockton broke, steals and assists.
So why is it that all these young PG's want to be the next Daron Williams? Why don't they want to be the next Stockton, Dennis Johnson, Steve Nash, Marc Jackson, or Gary Payton? Hell, if I was an up and coming PG, I'd settle for the next Steve Kerr. He was a five time NBA champion. 3 with the Jordan Bulls and 2 with the Duncan Spurs. I mean who can forget the story of Phil Jackson calling a play at the end of game 6 in the '97 finals and Jordan grabbing Kerr after the TO and saying "they are going to double me, be ready and hit the shot."
For that matter, why are organizations going after these guys with the shoot first mentality? Where has that gotten these PG's in the recent past? D-Will got the Western Conference finals once, Chris Paul has yet to get there. What about Ty Lawson? Not even that close. OK, the younger guys, look what happened to New Orleans this year when the Mavs crowded the passing lanes and confused Westbrook. What about in the east? Derrick Rose may be the one to buck my theory... eventually. But not yet. His team got beat when they faced a team that actually played defense.
I think that to win in the NBA you need 3 things. 1 guy in the middle to mess with the other teams psyche on either end of the court, a distributer in the back court to get the ball to the real playmakers and a dominating wing player. Take this years Mavericks. Dirk Couldn't win the whole thing until Tyson Chandler got there. Great defensive player who can score when needed. With Jason Terry on the wing to open the middle for Dirk and Jason Kidd feeding them the ball, winning combo. And don't tell me the Bulls lacked a middle man. Dennis Rodman is in my opinion one of the most under rated 4's in the history of the game. Steve Kerr once said that with the "worm" under the basket, who wouldn't shoot with confidence? If you missed, he just took the ball out of the air and gave you another shot. That's also why I don't think the Heat will win until they figure the down low issue out. They have 3 players that are all the same, wing players who love the mid range jumper. We can go the Celtics here with Garnet, Pierce and Allen (Rondo was huge here, as a passer). We can go Lakers with Fisher, Kobe and Gasol and before that Fisher, Shaq and Kobe. Go back and look, almost every PG that has won an NBA title has been the "oh yah, I forgot about him" guy on the team.
We here in Utah were spoiled by having the best prototypical PG in the history of the game in Stockton and we took what we had for granted. The issue the Jazz had was they never had that 3rd piece until it was almost to late. Plus they ran into the buzz saw that was 23. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but you even look at the teams that lost most of these finals. The teams that repeated all had the same combo. The teams that showed up one year just to go back to the obscurity that is the middle ground of the NBA are the teams that thought they could buck the system. I.E. The Nets (with a younger, Kidd and Harris), the 76ers (AI), I would place the Sonics here too, except they had Payton, Kemp and Schrempf. So they had the combo that worked, but when they got to the finals, they were awestruck by the Bulls and were completely out matched. I mean Gary Payton asked MJ for his auto graph after Game 1.
All in all, I guess I am saying that I think the Jazz are in for another D-Will type era if they draft another scoring PG and I'm not really looking forward to that. But I would love feedback to see what you think and who you think they should get.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Utes first Pac-12 season
9/1- Montana St
9-/10- @ USC (Div)
9/17- @ BYU
10/1- Washington
10/8- Arizona State (Div)
10/15- @ Pittsburgh
10/22- @ California
10/29- Oregon State
11/05- @ Arizona (Div)
11/12- UCLA (Div)
11/19- @ Washington State
11/25- Colorado (Div)
So there it is, Utah's first Pac-12 schedule. I'm going to be a little biased here but also use some reason. I don't see anything that keeps Utah from being a major contender in the South Division and maybe even going to the Conference Championship game in the first year. First let me say that Utah is lucky not to have to play the 2 best teams in the conference in Oregon and Stanford, than indulge me as I break down the schedule.
Montana St gives Utah their first win and puts them at 1-0 and let's them not show to much of what they will be doing offensively. That will play well with them facing their first conference opponent the next week. I think Utah will be pumped up for it and I think Lane Kiffen is a moron. A low scoring win for the Utes putting them at 2-0, 1-0 in both the conference and division. Than Utah hosts Washington, who is coached by Steve Sarkisian, former BYU QB under Norm Chow and also, former USC QB coach under Norm Chow. This game will also be a close win for Utah, making them 3-0 and 2-0 in the Pac-12. Than they face the most dynamic passing attack they will face all season in Arizona State. This game will come down to the pass rush of Utah. If they can get to the QB, they can keep it close and fight for the win in the 4th quarter, however, if they can't get to the QB, they will get blown out because they don't have the talent at CB to keep the Arizona St. WR's covered to long. I'm going to say Arizona St. in a close game making Utah 3-1 and 2-1 in conference and 1-1 in the South Division. The Utes get a slight rest from the Pac-12 schedule here and go to Pittsburgh who will be trying to find themselves under new head coach Todd Graham. My first instinct here is Utah and move on, however, after thinking about last years meeting, and also how well Utah played against Notre Dame last year, I'm going Pittsburgh in a close, hard hitting battle making the Utes, 3-2. Utah gets to 4-2 at Cal and wins another at home against the high flying Beavers the next week making them 5-2 and 4-1 in the Pac-12. Utah goes into Arizona and beats them in another hard hitting match up getting to 6-2 overall, 5-1 in conference and 2-1 in the South division, all the while trying to chase down the Sun Devils. Then Utah goes to UCLA and puts up 45 points on them, just so Coach Chow can show his distractors what they did in not letting him run his own offense. Also adding 1 more win in each column, overall, conference and division. Than they go to Pullman and play the Cougars. With my affinity for Washington State as well, I'm just going to say it will be a win and leave it at that. Utah is now 9-2 overall, 7-1 in the Pac-12 and 3-1 in the South Division coming home to face their bitter rival, the Colorado Buffalos. And, as history shows, Native Americans eat Buffalo meat, (I'm sorry, I had to go there, at least once) Utah wins this one going away making them 10-2 overall, 8-1 in the Pac-12 and 4-1 in the South division. That puts them in a tie with Arizona St. for the top spot in the division losing the chance to play against Stanford in the Championship game.
Some of the games I think could go the other way, I debated on the Arizona, Pittsburgh, Washington and even USC. It could be the other way real quick to, this is the Biased Sports Report though and I reserve the right to be a practical homer. And of course, this is all dependent on Jordan Wynn's play in the new offense, which I think fits him MUCH better than the spread option, which no one thought was ever an option with him back there. But as is, here is my breakdown of the division.
PAC-12 South Division:
Arizona State: 10-2 overall, 9-1 Pac-12, 4-1 South
Utah: 10-2 overall, 8-2 Pac-12, 4-1 South
Arizona: 7-5 overall, 5-5 Pac-12, 3-2 South
USC: 6-6 overall (Lane Kiffen fired), 4-6 Pac-12, 2-3 South
UCLA: 4-8 overall, 3-7 Pac-12, 1-4 South
Colorado: 3-9 overall, 1-9 Pac-12, 0-5 South
This is all from someone who has not attended any spring games or practices of any team outside of Utah but who followed the Pac-10 as a fan of Washington State over the years and I truly believe Utah is in a sweet spot to surprise people this year. They don't have to play Stanford or Oregon and they get the toughest Division opponent at home. USC and UCLA or both going through some tough times and I don't see it getting better this year and Washington isn't quite there yet. Man, that North division looks to be scary for a while. My prediction is the Stanford to the Rose Bowl and Oregon to the Fiesta Bowl with only 1 loss. Mean while, Arizona State and Utah or left out of the BCS but both get to play tough opponents in bowl games and show that the Pac-12 is no longer USC and the rest.
9-/10- @ USC (Div)
9/17- @ BYU
10/1- Washington
10/8- Arizona State (Div)
10/15- @ Pittsburgh
10/22- @ California
10/29- Oregon State
11/05- @ Arizona (Div)
11/12- UCLA (Div)
11/19- @ Washington State
11/25- Colorado (Div)
So there it is, Utah's first Pac-12 schedule. I'm going to be a little biased here but also use some reason. I don't see anything that keeps Utah from being a major contender in the South Division and maybe even going to the Conference Championship game in the first year. First let me say that Utah is lucky not to have to play the 2 best teams in the conference in Oregon and Stanford, than indulge me as I break down the schedule.
Montana St gives Utah their first win and puts them at 1-0 and let's them not show to much of what they will be doing offensively. That will play well with them facing their first conference opponent the next week. I think Utah will be pumped up for it and I think Lane Kiffen is a moron. A low scoring win for the Utes putting them at 2-0, 1-0 in both the conference and division. Than Utah hosts Washington, who is coached by Steve Sarkisian, former BYU QB under Norm Chow and also, former USC QB coach under Norm Chow. This game will also be a close win for Utah, making them 3-0 and 2-0 in the Pac-12. Than they face the most dynamic passing attack they will face all season in Arizona State. This game will come down to the pass rush of Utah. If they can get to the QB, they can keep it close and fight for the win in the 4th quarter, however, if they can't get to the QB, they will get blown out because they don't have the talent at CB to keep the Arizona St. WR's covered to long. I'm going to say Arizona St. in a close game making Utah 3-1 and 2-1 in conference and 1-1 in the South Division. The Utes get a slight rest from the Pac-12 schedule here and go to Pittsburgh who will be trying to find themselves under new head coach Todd Graham. My first instinct here is Utah and move on, however, after thinking about last years meeting, and also how well Utah played against Notre Dame last year, I'm going Pittsburgh in a close, hard hitting battle making the Utes, 3-2. Utah gets to 4-2 at Cal and wins another at home against the high flying Beavers the next week making them 5-2 and 4-1 in the Pac-12. Utah goes into Arizona and beats them in another hard hitting match up getting to 6-2 overall, 5-1 in conference and 2-1 in the South division, all the while trying to chase down the Sun Devils. Then Utah goes to UCLA and puts up 45 points on them, just so Coach Chow can show his distractors what they did in not letting him run his own offense. Also adding 1 more win in each column, overall, conference and division. Than they go to Pullman and play the Cougars. With my affinity for Washington State as well, I'm just going to say it will be a win and leave it at that. Utah is now 9-2 overall, 7-1 in the Pac-12 and 3-1 in the South Division coming home to face their bitter rival, the Colorado Buffalos. And, as history shows, Native Americans eat Buffalo meat, (I'm sorry, I had to go there, at least once) Utah wins this one going away making them 10-2 overall, 8-1 in the Pac-12 and 4-1 in the South division. That puts them in a tie with Arizona St. for the top spot in the division losing the chance to play against Stanford in the Championship game.
Some of the games I think could go the other way, I debated on the Arizona, Pittsburgh, Washington and even USC. It could be the other way real quick to, this is the Biased Sports Report though and I reserve the right to be a practical homer. And of course, this is all dependent on Jordan Wynn's play in the new offense, which I think fits him MUCH better than the spread option, which no one thought was ever an option with him back there. But as is, here is my breakdown of the division.
PAC-12 South Division:
Arizona State: 10-2 overall, 9-1 Pac-12, 4-1 South
Utah: 10-2 overall, 8-2 Pac-12, 4-1 South
Arizona: 7-5 overall, 5-5 Pac-12, 3-2 South
USC: 6-6 overall (Lane Kiffen fired), 4-6 Pac-12, 2-3 South
UCLA: 4-8 overall, 3-7 Pac-12, 1-4 South
Colorado: 3-9 overall, 1-9 Pac-12, 0-5 South
This is all from someone who has not attended any spring games or practices of any team outside of Utah but who followed the Pac-10 as a fan of Washington State over the years and I truly believe Utah is in a sweet spot to surprise people this year. They don't have to play Stanford or Oregon and they get the toughest Division opponent at home. USC and UCLA or both going through some tough times and I don't see it getting better this year and Washington isn't quite there yet. Man, that North division looks to be scary for a while. My prediction is the Stanford to the Rose Bowl and Oregon to the Fiesta Bowl with only 1 loss. Mean while, Arizona State and Utah or left out of the BCS but both get to play tough opponents in bowl games and show that the Pac-12 is no longer USC and the rest.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
D-Will to the Nets
First off, I'm going to say a lot of things that I had been planning on saying for a while, but my internet went down twice. Now I'm back and rolling so here we go.
First off, I'm going to abstain from a lot of what I've been thinking about the lack of defense from our point guard position and with one exception. I think when Jerry Sloan was saying "help the helper," I think he meant to take the guy your guarding into the help defense, not away from it. That's all I will say about that.
I guess I'm not really going to say all I wanted to say. It's not conducive to rag on the ex, serves no purpose and only hurts feelings. So Deron Williams, I raise a glass to your health and wish you well. Have fun in Brooklyn.
What we gave away was an incredible PG who can create for himself or for his teammates, on his terms. A big guy who can dominate with his size and strength. What we got was a little PG who is also a really good facilitator. He is small, and quick. I have always liked Devon Harris and am looking forward to see what he can do in a system that is designed for a passing guard (if it stays similar under the Milk Man). The other piece we got was 6'10", 245 lb. Power Forward Derrick Favors. This is also a win, kinda. He is young, (not yet 20) and big. He is a project that can only get better under the tutelage of Ty Corbin playing behind Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. I like the acquisition of another big with actual size, but now we have 3 PF's sharing 2 positions. Big Al can and does play the 5, however he is really a 4. Paul can kinda play the 3, but not really. I would love to see a line up of Harris at the 1, AK at the 2, Paul at the 3, Favors at the 4 and Big Al at the 5, just to see it. It would rival the Lakers for size, I don't think it would work very well, but I still want to see it just once.
We also got 2 1st round draft picks. New Jersey's (unprotected) this year, and Golden State's (lottery protected) next year. So we can use those to trade up like we did to get D-Will, or use them so we have 4 first round draft picks over the next 2 years. 3 really, I mean come on, when are the Warriors not in the lottery. This is where of Kevin O'Conner shines, or plays. I can't decide whether or not he likes to just play with "future considerations", or if it's just something that comes up so often with the Jazz that even he shakes his head and laughs. But we've got a lot of good players from moves like that. AK for one, Big Al for another.
This is a turning point for the Utah Jazz and I hope that we as Jazz fans can go through a growing pain with these guys because it could work. I don't like this excuse, but these guys are really young. Gordon Heyward is barely 20, Favors is the youngest player in the NBA at not yet 20. The dude is still a teenager for heavens sake. I'd like to see this same lineup next year with a year under their belt, well, maybe a different 2 gaurd, (love ya Raja), but other than that, no change. Even resign AK. Not for 17 mil, but bring him back please!!!!
Go Jazz!!!!!
First off, I'm going to abstain from a lot of what I've been thinking about the lack of defense from our point guard position and with one exception. I think when Jerry Sloan was saying "help the helper," I think he meant to take the guy your guarding into the help defense, not away from it. That's all I will say about that.
I guess I'm not really going to say all I wanted to say. It's not conducive to rag on the ex, serves no purpose and only hurts feelings. So Deron Williams, I raise a glass to your health and wish you well. Have fun in Brooklyn.
What we gave away was an incredible PG who can create for himself or for his teammates, on his terms. A big guy who can dominate with his size and strength. What we got was a little PG who is also a really good facilitator. He is small, and quick. I have always liked Devon Harris and am looking forward to see what he can do in a system that is designed for a passing guard (if it stays similar under the Milk Man). The other piece we got was 6'10", 245 lb. Power Forward Derrick Favors. This is also a win, kinda. He is young, (not yet 20) and big. He is a project that can only get better under the tutelage of Ty Corbin playing behind Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. I like the acquisition of another big with actual size, but now we have 3 PF's sharing 2 positions. Big Al can and does play the 5, however he is really a 4. Paul can kinda play the 3, but not really. I would love to see a line up of Harris at the 1, AK at the 2, Paul at the 3, Favors at the 4 and Big Al at the 5, just to see it. It would rival the Lakers for size, I don't think it would work very well, but I still want to see it just once.
We also got 2 1st round draft picks. New Jersey's (unprotected) this year, and Golden State's (lottery protected) next year. So we can use those to trade up like we did to get D-Will, or use them so we have 4 first round draft picks over the next 2 years. 3 really, I mean come on, when are the Warriors not in the lottery. This is where of Kevin O'Conner shines, or plays. I can't decide whether or not he likes to just play with "future considerations", or if it's just something that comes up so often with the Jazz that even he shakes his head and laughs. But we've got a lot of good players from moves like that. AK for one, Big Al for another.
This is a turning point for the Utah Jazz and I hope that we as Jazz fans can go through a growing pain with these guys because it could work. I don't like this excuse, but these guys are really young. Gordon Heyward is barely 20, Favors is the youngest player in the NBA at not yet 20. The dude is still a teenager for heavens sake. I'd like to see this same lineup next year with a year under their belt, well, maybe a different 2 gaurd, (love ya Raja), but other than that, no change. Even resign AK. Not for 17 mil, but bring him back please!!!!
Go Jazz!!!!!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
I love Karl Malone!
Karl Malone is the man! I love how honest he is about his feelings. The man doesn't know how to hide his passion and that's a beautiful thing. In an interview with NBA TV he again said that "my coach has never quit anything." I don't know what happened inside the organization and I am scared of the implications of what could have happened, but I want this post to be about the Hall of Famer Karl Malone. He said in several other interviews that he wants to continue Coach Sloan's legacy in coaching. I would love to see him sit on the sidelines for the Jazz. He knows the system that Ty Corbin is likely to continue, but more than that, he knows how to be tough and won't allow the players he coaches to be weak. I am going to break down the Jazz players from not only last nights Phoenix game but from what I've seen the last little bit, and a lot of that could be fixed with someone going in and kicking some ass in practice. Karl Malone could fix a lot of the crap that's going on in the locker room as well as the front office. My advice to Ty Corbin, BRING IN THE MAILMAN!
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