Williams and the Jazz blow out Paul and the Hornets

The Jazz with Williams now have 9 wins versus the Hornets 2 with Williams and Paul playing head to head. Sure people will argue that Paul is better than Williams but head to head there is no doubt who the better player is. Sure Paul had more points tonight (Williams was battling the flu) but the point guard isn't supposed to lead his team in scoring every night, he is supposed to get his teammates the ball and get them involved. Williams usually shuts down Paul, tonight Paul had his best stats vs Williams, but the Jazz still blew out the Hornets. I would love to see the Jazz play the Hornets in the playoffs. We play better against them than any other Western power. By the way Millsap just keeps getting better and better. 27 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal. Carlos who?

Hot Rod Hundley called his 3,000 game tonight and the stars really aligned for him. Not only did the Jazz play against New Orleans but DirectTV stopped showing KJZZ tonight so he probably had a lot more people than normal listening to him on the radio.

Jazz vs Warriors

I always like it when the Jazz play the Warriors. Everyone always gets great stats. Millsap picked up his 18th straight double-double. Koufos scored 11 points. Williams had 25 pts. 15 assists. Williams looks like he is at full strength now. I am sure excited to see him school Chris Paul on Wednesday when the Hornets come to the Energy Solutions Arena. The Jazz seem to always beat the Warriors and they always play well against the Hornets. I think D-Will has only lost something like 2 games to Chris Paul and the Hornets. D-Will has to be upset about Chris Paul getting all the attention and we know how Williams plays when he is upset and how Williams destroys Paul when they play each other.

Twins owner Carl Pohlad died

Carl Pohlad, the Twins owner died yesterday at age 93. I was not very pleased with him when he tried to get the Twins deleted from the league although he was likely very frustrated with the inability to get a new stadium built. People have labeled him cheap but he did sign Puckett to the biggest MLB contract ever at that point in time, and supposedly he never has told management that they couldn't spend money on someone. He was a deeply loyal man, and under his ownership the Twins won 2 World Series. It was frusterating watching the Twins have a low payroll and constantly lose players to free agency while Pohlad was one of the richest 25 men in America, but I don't know what goes on behind the scenes. It is interesting to see how people feel about Pohlad now that he is gone.

Projected 2009 value of Twins roster

It looks like the Twins are content to go into 2009 with virtually the same team that they had in 2008. I can't necessarily disagree with the decision. Bill Smith has not shown to have much talent in signing free-agents or making good trades. In his first year at the helm he signed Mike Lamb, Adam Everett, and Livan Hernandez, and traded for Craig Monroe, Delmon Young, Brendan Harris, and Carlos Gomez, while giving up Johan Santana, Matt Garza, and Jason Bartlett. It is not crazy to think that the Twins would have made the World Series if he hadn't made those moves. The Twins clear strength is in drafting/developing players, especially pitching, and trading for other teams minor-leaguers such as Santana, Liriano, Bartlett, Casilla, etc.

Also it seems that the Twins would like to improve at 3B or SS or their bullpen but teams asking prices have been too high. Would you give up Denard Span and Kevin Slowey plus a good prospect just for Rockies 3B Garrett Atkins? I wouldn't. Would you give up Francisco Liriano and Delmon Young for one year of Mariners 3B Adrian Beltre? I wouldn't. It seems the Twins have been looking for help, but the other teams want a ridiculous amount of talent from the Twins. And remember the Twins have one of the youngest teams in the majors. Think about all the young stars that emerged last season. The future is bright and without further ado I'd like to rank from most valuable to least valuable I think each player will be to the Twins in 2009, the final year of the Metrodome.

Joe Mauer
Francisco Liriano
Justin Morneau
Scott Baker
Joe Nathan
Kevin Slowey
Denard Span
Delmon Young
Jason Kubel
Nick Blackburn
Michael Cuddyer
Glen Perkins
Jose Mijares
Carlos Gomez
Boof Bonser
Brendan Harris
Nick Punto
Brian Buscher
Craig Breslow
Jesse Crain
Mike Redmond
Matt Guerrier
Matt Tolbert
Jason Pridie
Phil Humber

Millsap to return

Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that Paul Millsap participated in practice and will be ready to go tomorrow night in the game at the Lakers. He will have to wear a brace but he doesn't think it will bother him too much. Jarron Collins will also be available for the game tomorrow. Needless to say if the Jazz beat the Lakers at the Staples Center it will be the biggest win of the season so far, and having Millsap back will be a huge help. Surely Boozer isn't milking his injury and he doesn't want to have surgery but perhaps he could get some tips from Millsap on staying healthy, playing through pain, and returning quickly from an injury.

One other note, Millsap actually extended his double-double streak to 16 games while he was injured. It stopped at 15 games but the NBA figured out that he actually got 10 rebounds in his last game, not 9 like had been recorded, so he is up to 16 games. John Stockton has the record for most consecutive double-doubles at 18 games. Millsap's streak is also the longest since Kevin Garnett's streak in 2006. Millsap is a huge part of this team, maybe even it's MVP so far. He has scored more points than anybody else for the Jazz this season.

Looking back at the 1999 NBA Draft

2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the 1999 NBA Draft. I've always liked to go back and look at old drafts and see who were the biggest busts, the biggest steals, and who were some of the first picks. Here was how the 1999 draft ended up.

Top 10:
1. Elton Brand - Chicago Bulls
2. Steve Francis - Vancouver Grizzlies
3. Baron Davis - Charlotte Hornets
4. Lamar Odom - LA Clippers
5. Jonathan Bender - Toronto Raptors
6. Wally Szczerbiak - Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Richard Hamilton - Washington Wizards
8. Andre Miller - Cleveland Cavaliers
9. Shawn Marion - Phoenix Suns
10. Jason Terry - Golden State Warriors


Other notable picks:
13. Corey Maggette - Seattle Supersonics
16. Ron Artest - Chicago Bulls
18. James Posey - Denver Nuggetts
24. Andrei Kirilenko - Utah Jazz
57. Manu Ginobili - San Antonio Spurs

Jazz picks:
19. Quincy Lewis
24. Andrei Kirilenko
28. Scott Padgett
58. Eddie Lucas

This is one of the better draft classes the NBA has had. 9 all-stars is not too shabby. The Jazz and the Spurs definitely got the two steals of the draft. The top 10 is rock solid, and Bender would have been a great player as well if not for injuries.

And here is how I think the draft would look like in a do-over:
Brand, Ginobili, Kirilenko, Davis, Marion, Artest, Hamilton, Terry, Francis, Odom, Miller, Maggette, Szczerbiak, Posey.

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.