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Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the talent level of these two different combinations of players. I really like our big man rotation this year, Jefferson is fantastic, Millsap is as good as he ever was, Favors is a beast and Kanter has been holding his own. Boozer-Okur could absolutely score with anyone, but I think that if Deron had been playing with the team we have now it wouldn't even be close.

Our guys aren't THAT good yet. Are you talking Memo and Boozer in their prime or today? Memo is a shell of his former self.

Prime. Their defense was just god-awful, they certainly had the edge on offense.

I'll take Boozer/Okur/Millsap. The defense was pretty terrible but they were so solid on rebounding and offense. I think what they did outweighs what we are getting now.

Of course if Favors and Kanter develop into what we all hope for them to be, I think they would be the better combo with Millsap.

pretty close but I go with todays guys because of better defense especially shot blocking. Dwill made the old three look better than they really were.

I'll take this group for the fact that Jefferson looks like he cares about the outcome of the game.

Fido wrote:Our guys aren't THAT good yet. Are you talking Memo and Boozer in their prime or today? Memo is a shell of his former self.

I was going to start a new thread but it seems applicable here.

Boozer seems to be a shell of his former self too. What happened tonight? 4 points and 6 rebounds in 25 minutes against the Wiz.... sheeeeeesh.

I like this line up of bigs better. Especially in a year or two.

I want to say the current group but it might be because I'm one of the 'what have you done for me lately?' guys.

4>3 That simple.

Boozer/Okur/Millsap. Much better rebounding and much better offense. Defense about the same or just slightly worse.

HappyProle wrote:Boozer/Okur/Millsap. Much better rebounding and much better offense. Defense about the same or just slightly worse.

You seriously think Boozer/Okur played any defense whatsoever. They might be the two worst defensive big men in the game, even back then. They were good offensive players and rebounders but Kanter a 19 year old kid that never played college basketball already plays defense better than Okur or Boozer ever played.

HolyToledo wrote:

HappyProle wrote:Boozer/Okur/Millsap. Much better rebounding and much better offense. Defense about the same or just slightly worse.

You seriously think Boozer/Okur played any defense whatsoever. They might be the two worst defensive big men in the game, even back then. They were good offensive players and rebounders but Kanter a 19 year old kid that never played college basketball already plays defense better than Okur or Boozer ever played.

Kanter barely plays right now and we haven't seen enough of him to say one way or another. Okur was no worse than Jefferson; Boozer is about the same as Millsap. Favors can be a really great defensive player, but he's still raw and foul-prone. So if you weight the quality of defense by how many minutes the guys are playing, I'm sticking by my statement.

From Basketball Reference, for 2007-2008, Defensive rating (est. of points allowed per 100 possessions):

Boozer: 103
Okur: 107
Millsap: 103

For last year:

Jefferson: 108
Millsap: 108
Favors: 108

In fact Jefferson has had four straight years of a defensive rating of 108.

So far this year -
Jefferson: 100
Millsap: 99
Favors: 101

I don't know if they'll keep it up, but those numbers are a lot better than what they have been in the past.

For what it's worth -
Kanter: 101

babyjax13 wrote:So far this year -
Jefferson: 100
Millsap: 99
Favors: 101

I don't know if they'll keep it up, but those numbers are a lot better than what they have been in the past.

For what it's worth -
Kanter: 101

Let's wait until we've got a bit more than 10 games in 14 days to go off of. I also wonder if league-wide we'll see scoring down this year because of the lockout.

Don't get me wrong, I'm encouraged by what appears to be defensive progress from these bigs, but I'd still take the offensive execution and rebounding of the previous goons.

I agree, I just think that it's a bit unfair to completely discount what they've done so far. I do miss the Boozer P&R as well as Memo spreading the floor, but I think we have a lot more opportunity to win with these guys (well, not now after losing Deron, but someday....)

Boozer was terrible defender, the thing is he didnt care much about it, Al is at least trying do some thing. Memo from his last healthy Jazz season was great he score he even defend what was quite amazing knowing what his def was before, but i still like much more our present front court then what we have before, plus Fav and Undertaker are just starting

That's the big thing for me: say what you will about Al (and I do), but the guy TRIES to play defense and I always feel like he's very invested in the game. Boozer could look so disinterested out there.

Talking about offense...

Maybe if we had Deron Jefferson, Millsap, Kanter and Favors would like a lot better, and maybe Okur, Boozer and Millsap a little worse.

Watching the games, I think teams have real problems to score inside vs us when Favors and Kanter are in the game.
Bynum and Gasol scored yesterday 26 togheter. With Boozer and Okur, only Gasol would have scored that.

Boozer (and Noah) have been benched for the entire 4th quarter for 2 games in a row now. Not getting the job done on defense can certainly limit your playing time.

I'll take defense over offense any day of the week.