Jazz/Heat Wed 12/23 5:30 PM MT Festivus Special

[Neon Black]

Ron Boone says the dumbest crap. "It's been a long road trip, and their legs just aren't under them."

These guys are conditioned to play 4 games a week for 6 months before playoffs. And no, it hasn't been a long road trip. It's been 5 games and every team does it. The only thing that makes it long is how unbearable most of it was to watch.

BTW, Maynor >>>>>> Price. Nice salary dump O'Connor.

Dude the economy is bad, how is keeping worth more than a $10,000,000 salary dump?

It's not. I still hold O'Connor and whoever the hell else responsible for being so ultra-conservative to the point of handing out excessive contracts to Harpring and now to Okur, effectively dooming us to scenarios where we are all but forced to let a bright young prospect like Maynor go. I understand that at this point we have to cut our losses, but reaching "this point" in the first place was avoidable.

[Neon Black]

Reading Bill Simmon's column on ESPN.com today had an interesting trade idea which I liked a lot. Trading AK, Korver and the NY pick for Kevin Martin and Kenny Thomas. Thomas being an expiring, but getting a shooting guard who could *GASP* shoot! This would actually make the offense deadly as we would finally have a viable go to shooter that we haven't had since Hornacek retired and Martin is a much better shooter. We would finally have an inside/outside game that would work. I realize this still doesn't address our defensive issues, but I think short of an overhaul, we have to just make do with what we have.

Thoughts?

I agree with everything you said.

As for the Bill Simmons trade idea, did you see the thread dedicated to it? Check it out. As exciting and logical as the trade is (for both teams), I feel like management is just going continue "holding on to our core players" and offering pointless contract extensions in order to put a borderline good team out there every night and pad ticket sales.

I feel insulted as a fan; do they realize that being a borderline contender for so many years is also a form of mediocrity? Fan support will diminish if this goes on.

Damn, that trade would be perfect. Martin could be the next Hornacek, we could afford to hold onto Boozer with Thomas' expiring and then explore other trades...Memo, Millsap, Brewer or CJ.

[drivewayball]

You still want to hold on to Boozer after watching last night's game? Once Joel Anthony started guarding Boozer, about six minutes into the game, Carlos' night was over. Completely over. In a game that probably really mattered to Boozer, he laid an incredible egg.

Words can't describe how foolish it was to extend Okur.

It was as if Brewer and Miles didn't even play last night ... maybe because they didn't.

I'm not one of those who carries love for Fesenko and Koufos. They are only being given credit by some fans because they haven't been given a chance to disprove themselves on the court in games. It's pretty obvious they do a good enough job of stinking it up in practice. Fesenko's brief visit to the floor during the Orlando game the night before was a disaster. I believe he gave up an offensive rebound, fouled his man into a three point play and then fouled on a shot again in the space of twenty seconds. That five points was right around the margin of victory for Orlando.

The Simmons mention of a Kirilenko/Korver and NY pick to Sacramento was mentioned as an example of how the Jazz could place themselves below the salary cap this season only.

Is it part of the Jazz strategy not to attempt to get offensive rebounds? How many times did we watch someone take a jumper with no Jazz player within fifteen feet of the basket? Answer: most of the time.