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Unless he goes crazy in tonight's game, Paul Millsap will finish this season with fewer offensive rebounds than he had in his rookie year, despite playing about 900 more minutes.

Here are his ORB% numbers season by season, with games started in parenthese:

15.1 (1)
12.1 (2)
13.1 (38)
------------------- Paul signs "toxic" offer sheet with Portland
9.9 (8)
7.5 (76)
9.7 (62)
8.5 (77)

His defensive rebounding percentages go like this:

19.8
20.8
21.0
-------------------
18.9
19.4
21.2
18.9

His defensive rebounding numbers are roughly the same, but his offensive rebounding numbers dropped considerably. I don't buy that it's level of competition (starters v. reserves) or you'd think the defensive rebounding numbers would drop as well. I think it has to do with his attitude and his contract. He started seeing himself as a primary scoring option, not a guy who was there to clean up other people's misses.

Thoughts?

Millsap discovered that jump-shooting and facing up to attempt crossovers were a lot more fun than crashing the boards and playing tough defense. I agree that it's all attitude and contract, as evidenced by his subtle whining any time the idea of him being a 6th man or not finishing a game are brought up. I'm pretty disappointed and look forward to his departure.

remember when paul millsap played for the jazz?

i think it mainly has to do with two things.

1. like The59Sound mentioned, is has to do with how his game evolved. as he developed his jump shot and increased his range, his ORB% went down. it is harder to get offensive rebounds when you are the one who is shooting from distance.

2. his role and minutes played are a factor. when he first got to the jazz, his role was mainly an energy guy and a rebounder who out works others to get his minutes - sort of like demarre carroll of PFs, or how kenneth faried cemented himself in the league. so in essence, his rebounding was a big part of what kept him on the court and gave him time. he could also expend more energy since his minutes were limited. after boozer left, he was asked to play more minutes against better competition (more vs starters, less vs bench players) which contributed to the decrease in ORB%. he was also playing more minutes and had a bigger role on both sides so the way he had to spend his energy had to change. he was no longer counted on for only rebounds, energy and defense, but was asked to do more things for longer periods of time. combine that with him transforming his offensive game which took him away from the basket and that combination can explain his ORB% dip.

i remember when people thought millsap was better than boozer, and jefferson better than boozer. jazz were alot more fun to watch when they had boozer, and they were a better team. most of the fans hated boozer for no good reason.
i liked millsap when he was a rebounder, he is a whiner and the biggest prima dona the jazz have. i don't think millsap is a very good player. hopefully this is his last year playing for the jazz.
same goes for jefferson. Wheezy thinks millsap plays good defense, which says alot about what jefferson thinks good defense is, and the jazz record and not making the playoffs this year is a reflection of the terrible defense in utah.
i look at the success the bulls had without rose and i'm pretty upset, i think it's pretty obvious the jazz made a mistake.
basically, the jazz traded koufus, boozer, two first round picks for jefferson. really...wow. that is pretty steep for someone who doesn't pass or play defense.

the jazz were fun to watch because we had deron. boozer was the benefactor.

as for big al's passing, or the comparison to boozer - i urge you to compare his stats to boozer's. they are eerily similar, and almost identical.

the differences are:

1. boozer played for sloan and tibs. big al plays for (gulp) corbin (almost exclusively).
2. boozer played with dwill and rose. big al played with harris and mo.
3. boozer plays with players who cover him on defense. al plays with players who only magnifies his weaknesses and are awful defenders in their own right, like foye and mo.
4. the bulls play in the east. the jazz play in the west. with our record we would have the 7th seed in the east.
5. even after all of this, bulls fans are calling for boozer to be amnestied, while at worse - jazz fans don't want al back.

I like to compare young Millsap to Faried(Sap is not as athletic) but his hunger to do what had to be done was the game changer. Millsap became a prima donna and that was the end of it. If Corbin had any cahones he would have benched Millsap a couple of times in favor of Favors, I just hope Favors keeps his hunger and game changing attitude when he makes the big bucks. He needs Malone as a mentor. I think Millsap should have styled his game after Rodman who was an undersized power forward, just focus on rebounding and defense.

Inigo Montoya wrote:as for big al's passing, or the comparison to boozer - i urge you to compare his stats to boozer's. they are eerily similar, and almost identical.

Source? To me they look nothing alike:

Boozer's assist percentages in Utah went like this (games played in parentheses):

15.9 (51)
18.0 (33)
16.6 (74)
14.2 (81)
11.4 (37)
15.8 (78)

Al Jefferson's look like this:

9.2 (82)
12.1 (61)
12.0 (78)

Assist percentage is an estimate of the field goals that player assisted while on the floor.

Boozer (2012-2013).........Big Al (2012-2013)
PPG: 16.2.....................PPG: 17.8
RPG: 9.8......................RPG: 9.2
APG: 2.3......................APG: 2.1
SPG: 0.8......................SPG: 1.0
BPG: 0.4......................BPG: 1.1
FG%: 0.477...................FG%: 0.494
FT%: 0.731...................FT%: 0.770
3P%: 0........................3P%: 0.118
MPG: 32.2...................MPG: 33.1

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/carlos_boozer/
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/al_jefferson/

i was comparing the last season only. it is not fair to compare boozer in his prime with deron and under sloan to al with mo and under corbin. say what you want about sloan - he knew how to construct, run and execute an offense.

Boozer was very vocal, and that's one of his best attributes as a ball player.
Jefferson seems quiet as a mouse. You don't want your last line of defense being quiet.
Compared to boozer, allot of players will seem quiet though.
But jefferson is not a leader, while i think boozer, while not being a perfect player, is a pretty good leader.

Again, the jazz traded boozer, koufus, and two first round picks for fat al wheezy. I think the fans ran boozer out of town, and some clutz is going to defend the fat al and milsap when the results are in, the jazz would've been better off keeping boozer over jefferson, plus they would have koufus who is a starter now for a play off team, and two first round picks.

it's so bad it makes me say, fire koc.

and milsap is a bigger prima dona than boozer was. i can't stand millsap. i too think he should've developed his game around rebounding and defense. that's it. boozer was more of a team guy than millsap is now. milsap complains about every call like he's kobe or lebron. he's just paul milsap and he doesn't get the calls because everyone knows he isn't an allstar. never will be. yet, people once thought he was that quality of a player, and i'm pissed because i watch every jazz game no matter who they run out there, and i want to watch a good team, and the jazz would've been better off with boozer, koufus, and two first round picks, than fat al wheezy.

if you kept boozer, you'd still had to pay him 15.3M next year and 16.8M the year after that. and you'd still wouldn't be any closer to an NBA championship, and you wouldn't be able to move him in order to give Favors and Kanter more playing time, which they will get starting from next year.

it scares me to think that favors and kanter are learning from fat al, learning to suck, to not draw fouls, to not defend the pick and roll, to not pass, etc. boozer is a much better mentor, look at his work with taj gibson in chicago, who plays alot like boozer. it scares me to think that favors and kanter are learning from fat al. i'd rather have boozer mentoring kanter, because kanter used to watch boozer when he was a jazz fan, and you see a little boozer in kanters game, so even if boozer sucks the next two years, at least we would've had three good years of boozer and i'm sure we would've won at least one play off game.
if katner played like boozer, he would be a perennial allstar, because he is bigger. except, now they are learning from fat al, who just sucks, fat al doesn't play winning basketball, ever. milsap does sometimes, but milsap showed his true colors this year, he is a big sucking prima dona.

yeah, god forbid that kanter and favors will learn from the big man with the best footwork and post moves in the league.

both favors and kanter draw a lot of fouls, so there is no need to worry about that part of their game.

gibson does not play like boozer.

if you had boozer for the next two years, you would impede the progress of kanter or favors even further instead of unleashing them next year. you'd also be with very little financial flexibility because of boozer's contract, and won't be able to be a player in the 2014 strong free agency class.

kanter and favors are 20 and 21 years old. no need to talk about them like their fate is sealed and that they missed their chance of being allstars.

as for al not playing winning basketball - the record of the jazz in the past 2 years says otherwise, since in both years the jazz are above .500. i'd say it has to do more with the coach who is not coaching winning basketball.

all it would take is winning one playoff game to be closer to a championship than we are now, i'm pretty sure the jazz would've won at least one play off game the last three years.

so you'd prefer winning one more playoff games (not series, games) by having boozer, even if it means impeding kanter and favors' progress even further by two more years, eliminate the jazz's financial flexibility for the next two years and excluding them from pursuing top free agents in 2014, and still be eliminated in the first round?

is your real name Isiah Thomas by any chance?

jeffferson only plays one side of the floor, the left. boozer plays both sides of the floor because he can shoot with either hand, while jefferson can't. jefferson just sucks, he doesn't pass or play defense, if he did those things I would say he plays winning basketball, but he doesn't pass or play defense, so i say he doesn't, i disagree with anyone who says jefferson is a winner. on the other hand, boozer is a winner, if you disagree with that you can't disagree with the facts, that boozer has already won alot more than jefferson has or ever will.
the bench has more credit for jazz wins than the starters which inculdes jefferson.

i am scared that favors and kanters progress has been stunted. corbin and learning from fat al are responsible.

I'm pretty sure the jazz would've won a series with boozer. he helped get the jazz to at least the second round like every year, and chicago also has gotten out of the first round...while jefferson is still waiting to win a playoff game.

BringtheD wrote: on the other hand, boozer is a winner, if you disagree with that you can't disagree with the facts, that boozer has already won alot more than jefferson has or ever will.

so it really doesn't matter who are the players you are playing with and who is the coach you are playing for, or in which conference you are playing.

what has been done has been done, but i wanted to rant about jefferson and boozer. to me, it was obvious three years ago, and it's obvious now. the results are in, and i don't think there is a debate. boozer is better than jefferson. and the jazz would be better with boozer, koufus, and two first round picks than fat al.