Al Jefferson

[myrak433]

good move. but now what? are you all planning on starting Him at PF and Okur at the five? if so is Millsap coming off the bench? Is Okur moveable now? what about Kyrylo Fesenko? and what would it take from Atlanta to get one of Kyrylo Fesenko, Okur, or Millsap?

[Matt007b]

lotsa questions..

I think Jefferson starts at center, and Milsap/AK/Whoever will be at power forward. Okur is injured but most likely will come back as a center/PF depending on what Sloan does. Last year he liked to bring AK off the bench and he could do it again this year with AK at the PF position.

Never know what Sloan will do with the rotation, but far as I know - KOC is in negotiations with Fesenko's agent right now to bring him back. Fesenko had a decent showing in the Denver series and Sloan clearly picked Fesenko to play over Koufus.

Okur.. most fans on this board want to get rid of Okur's contract and trade him (I don't..) but can you trade an injured player? (I don't know..) but I don't see us moving Okur especially being as thin as we are at center. We really only have 1 center under contract with Jefferson.

Milsap is off limits..the Jazz had to pay a price to match Portland last year..and now we'll see the benefit from it (his contract was front loaded..now it's a bargain so of course every GM would love to trade for him including you I bet..). Plus a front line of Milsap and Jefferson should be pretty good. I don't see us trading Milsap for any reason unless the offer was insanely good. Maybe Fesenko (and I'm a big fan of his..) if contract talks stall or he doesn't pan out since we have another center waiting to come over next year (Ante Tomic)

hope that answers some questions (not a know it all but that's my guess.. I don't see us moving anyone right now)

[kebutah]

Don't forget the CAP hit for Milsap is bigger than the salary hit. The bonus is amorized by percentage across all years coverd in the contract, excluding options.

[BarneyGumble]

Millsap is the guy that will get the pick and rolls with DWill. His pick and pops have improved as he's extended his range each season. Millsap will become the offensive staple of the Utah Jazz. I see Jefferson being a lane clogging machine who will also get his number called on offense once he learns our system. I would expect to see Aj start at 5 and Millsap at the 4 with Ak at the 3. Okur will be our 6th man IMO. Its a pretty nice problem to have.

To answer your question, I would see Okur as the most expendable.

[Purch]

Take Okur please I beg of you.

[DelaneyRudd]

How to get Fesenko: offer him money, hope Utah doesn't match.

[kebutah]

That link seems to go to some drug transaction ???

[DelaneyRudd]

It's Dan Dalto. You stay away from Dan Dalto young man. He's nothing but trouble.

[erudite23]

I believe that for the right team (Orlando, Boston, Miami, Portland) Okur would be a hugely valuable piece, and his contract is eminently reasonable when considered relative to what guys on the open market got this year. The length is also quite palatable. As such, he should be considered an asset rather than a potential salary dump. He could be a Rasheed Wallace-type finishing touch to a potential champion in the right situation. He's still a really good player, and on the right team (next to an athletic shot blocker who can guard the pick and roll and step out against face up 4s, as well as with an interior scoring threat of some kind that would open him up on the perimeter) he would be bring a ton of good things. That said, if we could get decent value and get him off the books for 2011-2012, I would do it right now. A mid first round pick would have me hook, line and sinker, while a 20-25ish pick would be close to enough to convince me.

[Luigi]

If Okur is going to be a finishing piece, he'll need to prove he's healthy first.

I think I'm in the minority when I truly fear starting Millsap and Jefferson. Those two are going to have serious trouble protecting the paint. They'll rebound just fine, but teams are going to get inside and finish on us like we're a jv squad. Okur does his fair share at preventing that (at least in the man to man context), and I don't see a replacement forthcoming.

If Fes really steps up, or if we get a real center back in an Okur trade, I'd be much happier.

[The59Sound]

Okur gets too much crap as a defender, but to say he's our defensive glue and the paint will collapse without him is a bit much to me.

[Soul Patch]

Millsap is the second best help defender on the team, he'll be fine protecting the paint. And Jefferson blocks at least twice as many blocks than Boozer and Memo. If anything our defense will be improved.

[carrottop12]

Our shot blocking will get a lot better as both Jefferson and Millsap are superior shot blocker to Memo and Boozer. And Millsap is the best man defender of the four of them.

Mix that with AK getting into the rotation at the 4 again and I think we have a much better defensive squad down low than last year.

[Luigi]

Yeah, I tried not to overstate Okur's defensive effect. He's not anchoring anything, he just does a good job at keeping other bigs away from the basket and shooting bad shots. I don't think Millsap does that as well. I see Boozer v Jefferson as a wash: neither do enough.

Plus Millsap isn't very large. He plays big, but length gets to him on both ends. I hope you are all right about this, because I think we're going to see Millsap log big minutes for the next three years. If we are really going to contend for a title, we'll need elite interior defense. With or without Okur, I think that's going to take a backup bigman in the rotation who specializes in that department, but I do think we are a bit closer to the end goal with Okur than we are without him.

[countrybama24]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-qJrsXZPRk[/youtube]

Okur is not a better post defender than either Jefferson or Millsap. He can maybe guard 7 footers better than millsap, but his help defense is awful, and he also is pretty bad in the post anyways. To say that he is our defensive glue just boggles the mind.

Keep in mind that video is of Perkins, who ain't Yao Ming.

[Soul Patch]

To be fair, Okur does a hell of a job on Yao Ming. In fact I'm convinced Yao really wants to quit because Jefferson and Okur are on the same team now.

[carrottop12]

Apparently Jefferson accidentally the whole thing all over Yao if you know what I mean.

In 8 games.

AJ: 18.8/10.6/1.8/1.4/1.5
Yao: 16.8/6.1/2.3/1.5/0.5

[Luigi]

To be fair, I never said he was our defensive glue. I don't want to be misrepresented here, so I'm going to talk your ears off one more time (my apologies). I've held to one point only: that I think he's our best man defender out of all the bigs. I'll admit to his failings as a help defender and point out he is probably more prone to and-ones than any of our bigs (which is almost impossible considering they are out bigs!).

He's got the best positioning out of all of them, and he uses his weight better too. Especially against bigger players (which we desperately need to defend). Millsap and Boozer play defense with their arms. Okur keeps his hips between his man and the basket. He doesn't get backed down as often and he doesn't let them shoot over the top of him as often. He's our only average to above average defender we have as a big man, and that is only a virtue of his man to man defense. But I think that's important enough to hold onto him. Replacing Boozer for Jefferson has a small defensive meaning to me--we'll trade a block for a steal, but keep the same weaknesses we had before of being out of position and rotation.

I'm less impressed with Millsap as a defender. He blocks a few more shots coming from the weakside, but I don't see that as a major boon to his defense. In fact, I think he gets scored on more than Boozer, and the only reason for that is because he's short. He's tough, motivated, and strong, but he's too slow to guard the 3 and too stunty to be an above average defender at the 4. Maybe that will improve with time, but if I'm right about the reasons for his failings, they aren't going anywhere and he'll have to find another way to compensate.

(Offensively, Okur and Millsap are very different players. But Okur's game is more valuable given Jefferson's abilities.)

So I'm not saying Okur is all defensive first team, just that he is above average in one regard, and that our bigs are so bad that way, that he is valuable to us because he is a bit above average.

[jazzfan1971]

Okur is pretty good when he's motivated, like in the playoffs. If he's unmotivated, like when the foul count is against him, he's a little porous.

But, put me in the camp that thinks he's a pretty good man defender for the larger centers in the league. He crushed Yao. He'll be good against the likes of Bynum or Kaman or Bogut. Plus he's a pretty solid rebounder, he wont get a ton out of his area, but, he's pretty sound at getting the rebounds he's susposed to get. Just a good player overall.

He's gonna struggle in some matchups and be good in others, but, his offense will always spread teh floor.