Thoughts on Stockton, Sloan

I'm sure you have all heard by now that John Stockton and Jerry Sloan will be inducted to the Hall of Fame this year. A few quick thoughts:

-Jerry Sloan has to be the first coach inducted into the Hall of Fame without ever winning Coach of the Year. Seriously, how did this happen?? It just goes to show that some of the postseason awards are a little silly.

-I find it quite ironic that Stockton (and Sloan) won't be the highlight of this years Hall of Fame class. The shadow of the man they could never quite escape looms over them again this year: Jordan.

-Couldn't they just bump Malone up a year so he could enter with Stockton and Sloan this year? Or let Jordan be the only inductee this year out of respect to how untouchable and important he is to the NBA, and at the same time letting Malone go in with Stockton/Sloan next year? It just feels funny to have Stockton and Sloan separated from Malone.

-Two years ago it seemed weird that the Jazz had only one player in the Hall of Fame, Pete Maravich. But by next year they will have increased that number to five, with Dantley, Stockton, Sloan, and Malone joining Maravich.

-The Salt Lake Tribune has been ranking all the Jazz players in history from worst to first. They are down to their top 10, and here is how I'd rank the players that they haven't ranked yet:

1. Karl Malone
   
2. John Stockton
   
3. Pete Maravich
4. Adrian Dantley
5. Deron Williams
6. Jeff Hornacek
7. Carlos Boozer
8. Mark Eaton
9. Darrell Griffith
10. Rickey Green

Karl Malone as TNT Studio Analysist

Some random thoughts after the Jazz trounced the Mavs at home, 115-87.

-Boozer is planning to return February 17 vs Memphis, the first game after the all-star break.

-Kirilenko is planning to return right after the all-star break as well.

-No matter what trades happen before the break, no rivals in the West will be getting 2 all-stars to join their team like the Jazz are in getting back Kirilenko and Boozer.

-If what Boozer says is true, then the Jazz only have 3 more games without him, tonight at Sacramento, Sunday at Golden State, and Wednesday against the Lakers.

-The Jazz could actually end up making a deep run into the playoffs. If other teams start suffering injuries like the Jazz have had, like if a Gasol, CP3, Duncan, Roy, etc. goes down while the Jazz stay healthy, I like our chances. That likely won't happen but apparently this season anything can happen.

-Williams is back. His crossover when he broke Terry's ankles was just sick. I'll take 34 points and 12 assists any night.

-I'd also like to see Korver start. He was fantastic tonight. I think he is less pressured to provide instant offense when he is with the starting 5 rather than the bench. He is also a great rebounder. CJ might be better coming off the bench. He wouldn't feel as scrutinized, or as easy of a target if the Jazz don't start off well. Make this change happen Jerry.

- Karl Malone wasn't too shabby in the TNT studio. I was hoping he woulnd't embarass himself and he didn't. Malone talked about Lamar Odom too much, but it was neat to see him speak of Stockton and Hornacek in reverent tones. He claimed he didn't play with a lot of great players. Ostertag didn't count? Anyways I wouldn't mind seeing Malone doing more of that stuff, or being more involved with the NBA.

- The Jazz played one of their best games of the season. Maybe they knew Malone was watching. Malone claims he helped bring Millsap to Utah. Millsap has much of Malones game, but his personality is more like Stockton's.

-Malone says the thing that impresses him about the Jazz this season is that they don't complain about the injuries they just keep on playing and trying their best. If the Jazz did somehow end up winning the title this season it would be a great story and example of not ever giving up and pressing forward no matter that happens.

Comparing two Jazz Teams

Well it is now over 10 years since John Stockton sent the Utah Jazz to the NBA Finals. Many have compared the current team to the one back then. Here is ranking the 1998 players to the current players from most similar to least similar.

Jerry Sloan - Jerry Sloan
Jeff Hornacek - Kyle Korver
Adam Keefe - Matt Harpring
Bryon Russell - Andrei Kirilenko
William Cunningham - Jarron Collins
Troy Hudson - Ronnie Price
Antoine Carr - Paul Millsap
Chris Morris - CJ Miles
John Stockton - Deron Williams
Shandon Anderson - Ronnie Brewer
Howard Eisley - Brevin Knight
Karl Malone - Carlos Boozer
Greg Foster - Kosta Koufos
Jacque Vaughn - Morris Almond
Greg Ostertag - Memo Okur

Yes I'd have to say if you match the '98 players to their '08 counterparts, then Ostertag and Okur are definitely the most different. Imagine the '98 team with Ostertag shooting like Okur.

My Top Ten Favorite Jazz players of all-time

Note: I only put players I remember seeing play on the list. Hence Maravich, Dantley, Griffiths, etc. are disqualified.

1. Karl Malone
2. John Stockton
3. Deron Williams
4. Andrei Kirilenko
5. Jeff Hornacek
6. Memo Okur
7. Bryon Russell
8. Paul Millsap
9. Carlos Boozer
10. Donyell Marshall

BREAKING NEWS: Carlos Boo$er to opt out of contract

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3777170&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines

So my last post was quite timely. Honestly I really don't expect Boo$er to stay with Utah for next season. Remember what he did with Cleveland? He could have stayed and played with LEBRON JAMES so what makes you think he will stay in Utah just to play with DERON WILLIAMS? Millsap will be the man here after this year. And I am excited about it. Boo$er won't get much better but the sky is the limit for Millsap. Yes Boozer is an incredible offensive player and rebounder. Millsap will get better though. And I for one am willing to let some other team pay Boozer max contract money while he spends at least 1/4 of the season on the bench. Millsap is more like Karl Malone than Boozer. Boozer is too weak on defense. Millsap has a more complete game like the Mailman. They even went to the same college. With Williams and Millsap we will have the true heirs to the Stockton to Malone leaders of the Jazz.

3-0 Without Deron

-Denver probably just regained the title of 2nd best team in the Northwest Division with the Iverson-Billups trade. I was not impressed with Iverson at all when the Jazz played Denver this year. Good trade for the Nuggets.

-Deron joined Boler and Booner for the 3rd quarter tonight, and he didn't sound like he will be ready for Wednesday's game like he had originally hoped.

-AK does it again – 15 pts 11 rebs 2 assists and 4 steals.

-Jerry Sloan got win 998 as Jazz head coach. When he reaches 1,000 victories with just one team (Utah Jazz) it will join Stockton's assist record as unbreakable records.

-Millsap was an animal with 24 points and 9 rebounds. It will be interesting to see who the Jazz don't sign out of Boozer/Okur/Millsap.

- Jazz were -3 with Price on the floor compared with +19 with Knight on the floor. I doubt that the Jazz would be 3-0 right now if they hadn't swapped Hart for Knight.

-The defense is looking better, only giving up 86.5 ppg so far this season. The Jazz are also 2nd in the league in point differential (13.0).

08/09 - Best ever for Utah?

Utah takes on Oregon State (who just beat #1 USC) tonight and BYU takes on Utah State tomorrow night. I predict a third straight BYU shutout victory. All signs point to an undefeated BYU team going up against an undefeated Utah team in late November, with both of them ranked in the top 10 (perhaps BYU as the #1 team in the nation?) and both vying for a BCS bowl game. Talk about the best rivalry game ever. If BYU won that game as well, it might just end up in the BCS title game. I've looked at the 6 teams ahead of BYU in the polls and I wouldn't be surprised if all of them lost at least one game between now and the end of the season. The problem is how many 1 loss teams would be ahead of BYU in the rankings? Either way BYU is poised for it's biggest season since 1984, if not ever.

Meanwhile of the professional side of sports in Utah, the Jazz are looking mighty fine in Boise according to head coach Jerry Sloan. Sloan usually rips into most the team for not being into shape but this time he has praised most of the players fitness, such as Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, CJ Miles, Memo Okur, and Morris Almond. This year's team will be EXTREMELY good. Expectations haven't been so high since Stockton and Malone ruled the west in '97 and '98. John Hollinger, ESPN statitician, predicts the Jazz will be the best in the west this year and go to the NBA Finals. Yeah that is right, the Jazz over the Lakers. Go check it out if you haven't already: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/trainingcamp08/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=JazzForecast0809 I am thinking the same thing, but then again when don't I predict the Jazz will win it all?

But seriously this year could be the year. Boozer and Okur will be super motivated because it is their contract year essentially, with both of them likely to opt out of the rest of their contracts. D-Will has been improving at an exponential rate, and it is scary to think what he'll be like this year. Sloan says he will play Kirilenko more at the power forward spot this year, where he is much more effective. All 4 of the shooting guards are in tip-top shape, and all want to contribute as much as possible. Remember how good the Jazz were after they acquired Korver? They posted the best record in the league after that. And now they will have him right from the get go at the beginning of the season. Having a 3 point shooter who opens up the middle and who will make all the free-throws at the end of the game is an amazing benefit.

So, a BYU/Utah football game with the winner going to a BCS game, if not the national championship, and another Jazz finals appearance, if not their first championship? It doesn't get better than that folks, and that would easily top the 97 and 98 years where the Jazz went to the finals and the Utes ended up in the NCAA title game as the best sports year in the state of Utah.

2010 Lottery/Deron Williams

As several Jazz fans are aware, Utah has the New York Knickerbockers 1st round pick in the 2010 draft. Will the Knicks be the worst team and give the Jazz the #1 pick? Obviously nobody knows. The Knicks were headed nowhere under Isiah Thomas and having a top five or top ten pick in the draft would have been almost certain had Isiah stayed in charge. But they just hired Donnie Walsh as team president and Mike D'Antoni as the head coach, not exactly what the Jazz were hoping. The Knicks have players such as David Lee, Eddy Curry, Jamal Crawford, and Quentin Richardson who are alright players not to mention Stephon Marbury and Zach Randolph. Luckily Marbury and Randolph are severly overpaid and the Knicks have really bad payroll issues that don't look to be resolved unless someone wants to take on a really bad contract. So the Knicks likely can't afford a big-name free agent. I think the chances are still very good that the Jazz could end up with a top 10 or 5 pick. Wouldn't it be something if they got the number one pick? For me, it doesn't need to be the #1 overall pick to make me happy I mean remember what Kevin O'Conner did last time with the high lottery pick of #6 in 2005? He traded up and got the #3 pick and took Deron Williams, the team's undisputed leader and best player. So I trust the Jazz management to get something done with a good lottery pick.




Speaking of D-Will he seems to be a genuine great guy. Williams was all over the place this summer and not because he had to. He is one of the rare athletes who lives in Salt Lake year round. He genuinely likes it here. Malone would always run off to Louisiana, Jerry Sloan goes and plays with his John Deeres, and Stockton, well we never knew what Stockton was doing because he was so private. But check out some stuff he did over the summer, and not because anybody forced him to: (from
Deseret News)


"Williams appeared at Sam's Club this summer, as a guest, not for walking-around cash (he doesn't need that with a new $70 million contract), but because they asked him. He wanted to meet the people and he did — roughly 2,000 of 'em. Not once did he roll his eyes." "He said, 'We need to do more of this.'"


" Last weekend, Williams was in Champaign, Ill., for the Fighting Illini alumni game. Williams established a scholarship foundation, and the fundraiser attracted former players such as Dee Brown, Roger Powell, Kendall Gill and Nick Anderson, as well as Phoenix Suns' chairman Jerry Colangelo, Illinois coach Bruce Weber and former coach Lou Henson. A regular Memory Lane moment. His reason for the foundation? Yup. He wanted to give back."


"He also appeared at the Carmen B. Pingree Center for Children with Autism last week to play with the kids. Really play. Because he has an extended family member who is autistic, it was something he volunteered. "I was briefing him beforehand, telling him, 'Deron, some of these kids may not notice what that gold medal is, or what it stands for. Some of them might not understand what the Jazz are,'" said Williams' marketing director, Steve Wright. "He said, 'Steve, I got it. I know. If I can touch them for even five minutes, I'm there.'" Proceeds from his celebrity golf tournament next week will go to the school."


If the Jazz end up losing Boozer or Okur or Korver next summer, (although they'd be crazy to leave) Deron plans to try to attract free-agents and show them SLC isn't such a bad place and the Jazz are one of the NBA's elite franchises. Sounds like a plan to me, who wouldn't want to play with D-Will? The Jazz are lucky to have one of the game's top 5 best young players who happens to be a great human being as well.

Best Jazz Players Of All-Time

1-Karl Malone: Malone was the MVP twice, he is the second leading scorer in NBA history, and he is arguably the greatest power forward ever. Plus he talks about himself in third person. Malone and Stockton led the Jazz to their only twi NBA finals’ appearances. Malone loved to hammer dunk it early in his career and later on in his career he developed an unstoppable 20 foot fade away jumper. Malone was an amazing defender as well. Also he was perhaps the most durable player in Jazz history. He missed more games due to suspensions than to injury.

1-John Stockton: How can you pick #1 between Stockton and Malone? I sure can’t. Stockton is the NBA’s all-time assists and steals leader and nobody will ever break his records. He helped make Utah one of the most consistently best teams in the 1990’s. He was also an outstanding defender. Most Jazz fans consider him to be the best point guard of all-time.

3-Adrian Dantley: Perhaps one of the most underrated stars of the NBA. He was a fantastic scorer. He shot 56% field goals for the Jazz and he even averaged more than 30 points a game for four seasons. He leads the Jazz all-time with his 29.6 point per game average.

4-Pete Maravich: Piston Pete Maravich was the Jazz first real star. He was a three-time all star and he was the first Jazz player to have his number retired. The only Jazz man in the Hall of Fame (but not for long.)

5-Mark Eaton: Mark Eaton was one of the tallest players to ever play for the Utah Jazz at a whopping 7 foot 4 inches. He set the record for blocks in a season for the NBA (456). Not much of a scorer but an amazing rebounder and defender.

6-Darrell Griffith: He was a great scorer for the Utah Jazz. He averaged over 20 points per game for five seasons. He was perhaps the best three point threat that the Jazz ever had. Nicknamed Dr. Dunkenstein.

7-Jeff Hornacek: Jeff Hornacek was acquired from Philadelphia for Jeff Malone. Hornacek was the best free-throw shooter and a great outside shooter as well. A great team player and role model.

8-Deron Williams - The best young point guard in the league. He was the main factor in the Jazz run to the Western Conference Finals last year. He just wants to win and he can single handedly take over the game when he needs to. An amazing scorer who could lead the NBA in scoring if he wanted to and a great passer plus a decent defender. Poses the best threat of anyone to move to #1 on the list and a pair of NBA titles would do just that.

9-Carlos Boozer - Williams and Boozer are like the new Stockton and Malone. Boozer is one of the best offensive players in the league and an amazing rebounder. He is very clutch and he is deadly with his left hand as well. The biggest knock against him is that he is not a very good defender. Could move up very high on this list as well with an NBA title or two.

10-Andrei Kirilenko: AK47 is one of the best all-around players in the league. His shot blocking and overall defense has made him into a great tool for Jerry Sloan. Kirilenko is also the first non center to lead the Jazz in shot blocking. Kirilenko can score when needed, he is a great free-throw shooter and is improving his 3-point shot.

Just missed the cut:
Jeff Malone
Thurl Bailey
Mehmet Okur
Rickey Green
Bryon Russell
David Benoit
Matt Harpring

Felton Spencer and Greg Ostertag (kidding!)

Stockton and Malone

The Jazz have two big holes: they don't have a defensive stopper in the middle and they don't have a great back-up point guard. Ronnie Price is alright but Deron Williams is having to play way too many minutes. The Jazz have as good of a shot as anybody at winning a championship this year, especially if they obtain home-court advantage in the Western Conference Playoffs.


It is a shame that Malone and Stockton didn't win a title. You know they only retired a few years ago. If Michael Jordan made a comeback (twice) why can't Stockton and Malone. I guarantee Malone would still be the most fit player in the NBA. Stockton probably still plays some games and he kept himself in excellent condition as well. I think the problem is that you can't add players at this point of the year if they want to play in the playoffs so of course this wouldn't work. But imagine Stockton coming in to spell Deron Williams for 10-15 minutes a game. Malone could easily provide 20-30 minutes, and could even play most the game if Memo or Boozer got in early foul trouble. He would shut down players in the inside. Plus Malone could tutor Boozer and teach him how to defend and Stockton could teach Williams all the little aspects of the game that can be so important. You cut Hart and Collins, add Malone and Stockton and you get a championship ring for everyone. I'd add Hornacek to the list but he said he couldn't make it down the court more than twice with his terrible knees. This would all be fun to watch but of course it will never happen.