State of the Jazz

It seems that the Jazz have been a three headed beast as of late with Okur, Millsap, and Williams leading the way. Nobody else has been a huge contributor game in and out like them. I am starting to wonder about this season. Most viewed it as our big shot to win the NBA title. I'm not sure how wide open that window is currently. Of course there is still plenty of time left in the season, and there are a lot of games to be played. But now word has it that Boozer might need surgery. I just don't see how he could opt out of his contract if that happens. You'd have to imagine that he would stay one more year to have a great year so that teams will be more willing to pay him. And as good as Millsap is this year and as good as he will become, as of right now we still could use Boozer's offense.

If this turns out to not be a title run year (which it easily could still end up being) it certainly isn't a rebuilding year either. Just a regrouping year. Besides Memo, the 4 other starters are young, very young. Millsap, Brewer, and Williams are all going to be key cogs of this team for a very long time. If the Jazz fail to make a deep run in the playoffs, I'm sure it won't be the last shot that Williams has at an NBA title with the Jazz. This team will only get better and Millsap has proven he can put up Boozer-esque numbers while playing much better defense and staying healthy. And remember the Jazz have the Knicks first-round draft pick in 2010, which could be a very high pick. And we all remember the caliber of player the Jazz were able to select the last time they had a top 5 pick.

The Return of Williams

-The biggest story of the night was the unexpected early return of Williams. He helped the team while not reinjuring himself. Williams clearly isn't at 100% but he didn't embarrass himself. He had 9 assists to go with 7 points.

-Brewer is starting to receive tons of playing time. He scored 16 points in the 4th quarter, a quarter that used to be exclusively Korver's. Brewer is going to be a guy who gets 38 minutes a night in this league. He has 10 steals in the past 2 games, not to mention his 9 assists and 6 rebounds.

-Koufus looked good tonight. I think he will be in Utah for a long time. He even had 2 blocks. Maybe the Jazz let Memo go and keep Boozer and Millsap and Koufus. It is way too early to tell.

-Kirilenko and Millsap are wrecking havoc on other team's 2nd units. NBA.com rates the Jazz bench as the best in the league and I agree. They score more points than any other team's bench.

-Good victory, especially after Sunday's tough loss at the Knicks. The Jazz regain their winning road record and put their current road trip at .500.

-I wonder if Williams felt obligated to play since Okur left the Jazz very shorthanded. The guy is just a winner.

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.

Depressing stat

Thanks to ESPN for pointing this out. The Jazz are the only NBA team this season to lose on the road to the Knicks, the Wolves twice, and the Heat. Had they not lost those four games they would be in first place in the Western Conference. Every game really does count. That is just a little something to chew on as the Jazz take on the Spurs tonight.

The Bigger the Better the Jazz

The Utah Jazz take on the Milwaukee Bucks tonight.

There have been two thoughts in my head about the future of the NBA and the Jazz.
First, The Jazz hold a future first-round draft pick of the New York Knicks. I believe that it is up until 2010. If the Knicks do not turn around their franchise quickly, then the Jazz could easily end up with the #1 draft pick in the 2010 draft, and even if they don’t then they could end up with a top 5 pick.
Jazz fans - be sure to root against the Knicks and hope Isiah Thomas keeps messing around there. So I got to thinking, who would the Jazz draft with this pick? Their biggest weakness now is probably in backup positions, now that Ronnie Brewer has officially cemented himself as the starting shooting guard with his breakout season. But when you draft in the top 5 you don’t draft for a backup anything. My guess would be that they grab a small forward, because AK’s contract will be up and Matt Harpring’s knees won’t last that long, and presumably that small forward would be able to play shooting guard in case none of the Brewer/Korver/Miles/Almond group turn out as the Jazz hope. That would be the ideal situation, but the Jazz should probably end up taking the best available player so that they don’t repeat Portland’s infamous choice of Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan.



Second, LeBron James will be a free agent in a year or two I think. I would be shocked if he stayed in Cleveland even though they did make it to the NBA Finals last month. I know it is a long shot at best but if the following happened LeBron could end up on the Utah Jazz.
LeBron would have to do the following:
-Realize that he is becoming like Kevin Garnett was in Minnesota - an MVP caliber player stuck on a team with no help.
-Want to play for an up and coming team that is loaded with good players (The Jazz are the 2nd youngest team in the league)
-Not sign with a team coming to the end of it’s run (like the Spurs or the Suns.)
-Realize that with all the endorsement money he gets, he doesn’t have to be like Kobe and sign a contract for all the money he can. If he does that then the team won’t be able to provide him with adequate teammates.

The Jazz franchise would have to do the following:
Open up cap space. Williams will get max money next year, and with him, Boozer, Okur, and AK-47 there will be no room for King James.
The best solution is get rid of Kirilenko. Trade him now that his value is higher and get a player who’s contract will be up shortly.
Harpring’s contract should be up as well and with Kirilenko’s and Harpring’s money they could sign LeBron and he would take over that position.

Ok so that will never happen. But if it did, David Stern would have to give the Jazz the championship trophy for the next 8 years. Look at the starting lineup:



PG Deron Williams
SG Ronnie Brewer or Kyle Korver or Morris Almond or C.J. Miles or 2010 #1 draft pick
SF LeBron James
PF Carlos Boozer
C Memo Okur

That is four guys who could go off for 30 points any night. How many games would that team win? All 82? Of course not, but they would come close. That looks like an all-star lineup rather than a regular NBA team’s starting lineup. Well this happening is extremely unlikely but it sure is fun to daydream and speculate isn’t it? That’s one of the fun parts about sports, until you realize that it is just that - a dream.