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Good question. Hard answer.

That was the consensus response from key Jazz veterans Raja Bell, Ronnie Price and C.J. Miles when asked Monday whether a Utah team prone to slow starts since the season started would benefit from a starting lineup change.

Bell said rotation shake-ups can either soar or sink, and can only be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Price pointed to Memphis’ recent insertion of guard Tony Allen into the Grizzlies’ first unit as proof that a well-timed move can provide immediate improvement, but added that a similar switch for the Jazz could backfire.

Miles? He is just happy that he gets paid to simply play basketball, gladly leaving personnel decisions to Utah coach Jerry Sloan.

“I don’t even know what to say now,” Miles said prior to practice. “Thinking about it is pretty tough — just trying to figure out what you would do.”

Welcome to Sloan’s world.

The resilient Jazz have rallied for a league-high 12 victories this season when trailing by at least 10 points, while Utah has come back from 15 points down seven times and emerged victorious. In addition, a team that has surpassed original expectations has also produced a four-game improvement compared with last season’s squad, while holding a share of first place with Oklahoma City in the Northwest Division.

But the Jazz’s primary leaders — Sloan and All-Star guard Deron Williams — have long been troubled by Utah’s early-game struggles.

Williams was the only player queried Monday who would not comment when asked about a possible change. The response was not new: He has deferred to Sloan all season, preferring to not become publicly involved in Utah’s coaching decisions.

“I want to run more, that’s all I can say,” Williams said.

There are many things that Sloan wants out of his first unit, primarily increased effort and production. But he feels like he is “between a rock and a hard place,” and is still facing the same issues that have halted a change since training camp started.

Williams, Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson are locked into starting roles, leaving Andrei Kirilenko and Bell as options to be replaced.

Prior to Utah’s comeback victory Saturday against Houston, Sloan said that he would consider making a change if the Jazz did not pick up their game. Utah eventually did, led by 23 post-halftime points from Millsap. But it was also more of the same for the Jazz, who trailed the Rockets by 14 points at halftime, appearing sluggish and unmotivated during the first two quarters.

“I don’t think anything’s in concrete,” Sloan said Monday, later stating that he is not infallible and second-guesses himself every day.

He added: “They have to live with my mistakes and I have to live with theirs. It’s not just a one-way street.”

HolyToledo wrote:Since DWill wants to "run" more than I assume he would likely mean starting Miles over Bell. I like Miles coming off the bench. Why not start Watson at PG and move Dwill to SG then the team will "run" more. If Dwill wants to "run" more than he needs to look at himself as he is the main slow starter who doesnt push the ball whatsoever until the second half of games.

Spottieottie wrote:CJs great and all off the bench, but if starting him is the difference between being up 3 or being down 7 after the 1st I think it might be worth it.

UTJazzFan_Echo1 wrote:If Deron wants to run more than he needs to get out and push the ball up the floor. It drives me nuts how slow he is to bring the ball up the court...Price and Watson both push the tempo when they come into the game and Watson pushes the tempo a lot better than Deron does when he is running the point with Deron running the 2 guard.

I'm still a firm believer of putting Hayward into the starting lineup over Bell. He can do everything Bell can do but better (which is really sad honestly). He also gives us a really long/big lineup and we all know the longer/bigger your lineup is the better when playing in the WCF. It also gives him a confidence boost and a lot more PT to give him some more experience. I think AK and Hayward work really well off of each other too.

Rotation should be:
D-Will/Watson/Price
Hayward/Price/Bell
AK/Miles/Millsap/Evans
Millsap/Elson/Okur/Evans
Jefferson/Okur/Fes

You would practically remove Bell from the rotation.

jazzfan1971 wrote:I think Bell is giving us exactly what was expected of him when he was signed. maybe some of you had too high of expectations.

DiscoLives4ever wrote:

jazzfan1971 wrote:I think Bell is giving us exactly what was expected of him when he was signed. maybe some of you had too high of expectations.

This.

Bell's greatest qualities don't show up on a stat sheet. I think it's no coincidence that since resigning him we have battled back from large deficits so many times and have been winning much more consistently on the road.

jazzfan1971 wrote:I think Bell is giving us exactly what was expected of him when he was signed. maybe some of you had too high of expectations.