RealGM

Thought this was an interesting read for a few reasons:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/b ... 0/22/jazz/

I thought it was a pretty good assessment, except for the AK paragraph. The AK issue looks to be dead at this point as Sloan and AK are happy with the new lineup and AK's new role as 6th man. Also, I think the jazz have a good chance to make it to the WCF. Only a few more days until the season.....

Interesting stuff. I wonder why he didn't mention Price or CJ at all. They are 2 very important pieces to the puzzle. Also Koufos and his potential. One thing I really hope the Jazz work hard on with Koufos is getting him tough defensively. We don't need another Memo, which I could see him turning into.

I think this scout over-exaggerates Okur's defense. Okur's inability to guard the perimeter is irrelevant, because he's never guarding 2's and 3's. He's always inside on D...he's just not a physical enough defender. But it doesnt kill us. We just need to find a way to address that somehow.

And he's right about our backcourt. And if Kirilenko off the bench is the magic potion, then we can make the Finals again...

Memo is a serviceable defender when he is guarding the big, bruiser type of big man. He struggles when he has to guard athletic players like Tyrus Thomas the other night.

The guy was also exaggerating Booze's game. He does all of the things he mentioned, but not too the extent he made it seem. He seemed to be blaming Boozer's deficiencies on Memo, which is not true or fair.

Glad to see Brewer getting some love this season. "Championship back court". I can dig.

This guy gives boozer way too much credit. I prefer memo's defense to boozer's. Memo appears to at least make an effot. Boozer has a nice post game, but I would not describe him as a physical enforcer. The article mentioned upgrading at center in order to become a championship caliber team. The problem is memo and boozer on the floor defending at the same time. Their lack of lateral quickness gets the team in trouble in certain game situations. Unfortuneatly, because centers are traditionally seen as the defense anchor of the team, memo takes most the heat with regard to poor defense.

so the jazz arent physical?? thats not what i hear from other teams in post game press confrences. boozer is our enforcer?? thats not what i see. the only thing this guy seemed to get right was his view on our backcourt.
i think si used a college scout for this article lol...

GO JAZZ its OUR year

Jazz aren't physical? Since when?

jazzfan1971 wrote:Jazz aren't physical? Since when?

Didn't you get the memo from the kings last year? (scoffs)

Okur's inability to defend perimeter is important on picknroll defense. His shotblocking presence is known very well. At least opponent scouts know it.
Boozer is a beast. Give him little space and he kills anybody.

I like the analysis, actually. The only thing that I don't understand is his conclusion. Last year, we played the Lakers to a veritable standstill in the first 5 games of our series. Sure, we went off the reservation in the first half of game 6 and it killed our chances, but at least we battled back and had a chance to send it to OT on the last possession of the game. Anyone who wants to say that makes the difference between us and LA enormous is going to have to use the same logic when evaluating the Lakers themselves, because they laid a humongous egg in game 6 of the NBA Finals for crying out loud. I feel like that series was amazingly close.

So...not only did we reach the second round of the playoffs LAST year without the benefit of HCA, but we played the eventual conference champs to a standstill through 5 games, and were--by far--the toughest test they faced in the West. There is every reason to believe we will be better this season than last. If so, even with the deficiencies this guy brings up, how can he say that we probably won't even reach the 2nd round, let alone the conference finals. I see a serious disconnect between his body of work and his conclusion. Doesn't make sense to me.