Kevin O'Connor is on the Clock - Two Years

[Toothless]

Kevin O'Connor may have inadvertently pronounced his own sentence after the pick when he said not to judge him for two years. With Deron's contract coming up, two years is pretty much the window that O'Connor has to succeed or fail with the jazz. Judging by fan reaction last night, he would be wise to be aggressive in making some moves or he may find himself with no supporters except a retiring Jerry Sloan. I think he's done a decent job in putting a playoff caliber product on the floor in almost all years, but not quite putting together a championship team. But with Boozer likely leaving, he is in big danger regressing if he is not super aggressive. He had chances in the draft to be aggressive and couldn't get it done. He will have chances with potential trades coming up. Kevin O'Connor, you are on the clock. Will you get it done?

[QuantumMacgyver]

I wouldn't judge the pick by fan reaction. Remember when Morris Almond was drafted and every fan went crazy thinking he was such an awesome pick. And the last scrawny, dorky looking, white draft pick that the fans booed turned out to be a pretty decent player. I think his name was John... John... Slippy, Slappy, Swimmy, Swan... Samsonite! (Stockton)

[BarneyGumble]

I hate it when people assume being "agressive" with trades means improving your team. Its very difficult to make a trade work out well for all teams involved. Nobody just GIVES you what you want, and sometimes what they want YOU wont give. Am I sad the Jazz couldnt move up and get a big? Yes I am. But I remember KOC got us from #6 to #3 for basically nothing to get Williams, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt before I jump ship. Besides, its our salary cap problems that have put us in a pickle, so ALL Jazz management is to blame for that.

[kebutah]

This is more of the same FO crap. Wait unitl this team is healthy-wait until he mutures-wait for two years then decide-we tried to move up-we tried to make a trade-etc . Or the top of the list wait untl we get to use the NY pick.

There is always something I need to wait for or anticipate in order to justify just making the playoffs but never really being a factor.

[The Sheik]

I have not always agreed with KOC's moves, but there are few things people need to understand.

1. We are a conservative organization. These moves aren't always because KOC doesn't have the stones to make a move.

2. We don't have Paul Allen money to buy draft picks (2-3 mil).

3. We don't have the cap space that Portland and OKC have.

I love what Sam Presiti is doing and how aggressive Kevin Pritchard is, but when Aldridge, Roy, Durant, Green, Westbrook have bigger money deals kicked in we will see how "flexible" they're.

[kebutah]

We paid the luxury tax last year because of FO decisions, and we did it for a second round swept team not a serious contender.

We let the market determine the price of Milsap but rushed to sign a one dimensional center (Memo).

If this team can't compete with other teams financially then maybe they should change their slogan to the best we can afford and admit they are not seriously trying to be title contenders.

[HammerDunk]

Why do you argue like all we have to do is one thing and we beat the Lakers? NOBODY beat the Lakers, and we didn't get blown out of every game. I would understand your whining if it were another team, but we actually beat a team (Denver) that we were never supposed to in the playoffs. You forget that so quickly, it blows my mind. The Lakers can spend as much money as they want to keep their team the way it is, the Jazz can't. I credit them for going into the lux tax at all!

[kebutah]

You missed my point: it isn't how much money you spend; it is how you spend your money.

We beat Denver without their coach and AD was in over his head. We didn't beat Phoenix in one the most important home games of the year.

"We didn't get blown out of every game"- now there is a marketing slogan to remeber.

[babyjax13]

We are one piece away from getting past the Lakers. Every game that we played against them was within four points at some time in the fourth quarter. Is Hayward that piece? I don't think so, but he could be a step in the right direction.

[Toothless]

I actually think we've done well in putting out a product that has been competitive and giving ourselves a chance to win. I also think that we've about run the Deron/Carlos/Memo/kirilinko core about as far as we could. I'm actually glad they didn't blow things up last year and remained conservative to see what this group could do. I also think that it may be time to ask who the other two key pieces are that we can now place with Deron to help us be competitive for the next 5 years. I wasn't hoping for a key piece with number 9, but I was hoping we could do some dealing and maybe add something. It will be interesting to see if we remain conservative-stay-the-couirse this off season, or if we take advantage of some of these teams with LeBron in their eyes trying to dump salary and pick up some other key pieces.

[kebutah]

Unless we use the trade exceptions they won't be dumping salary here. The biggest exception isn't getting a really good player at $7.5M.