RealGM

...and try to weigh all the possible downfalls of our team.

And I don't mean flippantly tossing out a idea before stomping into the earth or something like that. Let's see if we can get a comprehensive list of possible problems that could cause us to underperform the expectations that the board is carrying into this season. That is to say, lets count the ways that we could possibly NOT finish with 54+ wins, a top 3 seed, HCA for at least the first round (and most likely the second), and a WCF finish. I think that's the boards general consensus for where we stand. Some, like myself, expect us to emerge as a dual powerhouse with the Lakers and be clearly the cream of the crop along with the KoMes.

So let's see what we can do. Let's not be captain's of the obvious and list things like "DWill and Boozer get staph infections and have their legs amputated", but, say, if there is a key injury to a certain part of the squad that would superficially be easy to overcome, but could in reality derail the season, than feel free to mention something like that. Let's cover everything, and then stand back and look at it objectively and see whether or not--and how much--we should be concerned.

Again, please no mentions of obvious injuries or ridiculous far-fetched things. Just legit issues. I'll start:


Contract Years
Many in the media are asserting that having as many as 8 players who could potentially be looking for new contracts next summer could provide an impetus for the players to go into "get mine" mode, for the purposes of their next contract, and lead to a general breakdown in team work and selflessness roster-wide. In an interesting twist, this item is often used as a premise for why teams may do better than expected, because the player(s) in the position can be expected to play with heightened determination, intensity and focus under this scenario. However, on a Jerry Sloan team that demands and gets selflessness and teamwork out of any player who expects to see the court, and with players who all have a rep for being team-oriented (or, at the VERY least, neutral), this somehow becomes a concern. But I digress.



Now let's see more ideas.

Let's make this good.

Low Post Defense:

That's the biggest thing right now. If the Jazz can't find a way to play remotely decent low post defense right now they will get killed in the playoffs by putting slashers on the free-throw line because of terrible rotations.

Hi everyone.

I am worried about AK coming of the bech. A year ago he wanted out because he didnt play much. Now he's a bench player. I know, we all know, that it doesnt really matter that much who starts the game, but who finishes it and how many minutes you play.

So, I am worried about AK gets a little distracted and the situation causes some trouble. I hope I am wrong.

Regards,

Denizfeital wrote:Hi everyone.

I am worried about AK coming of the bech. A year ago he wanted out because he didnt play much. Now he's a bench player. I know, we all know, that it doesnt really matter that much who starts the game, but who finishes it and how many minutes you play.

So, I am worried about that and AK gets a little distracted with that and the situation causes some trouble. I hope I am wrong.

Regards,

I don't think AK coming off the bench will be a problem, Deniz. What might be a problem is if Sloan reduces his minutes even more. AK should play 30+ minutes a night. I think it's a good idea trying to develop CJ with the starting line-up, but so far he has done nothing to earn AK's minutes.
I think erudite makes a pretty good point with the selfishness thing. Hopefully Sloan just benches whoever starts to play dumb.

I disagree that CJ has done nothing to earn the starting minutes.

So far in the preseason you might make that argument, I admit. But last year it seemed like CJ took complete advantage of the sparse minutes he received. He had some games that were very telling of his potential. I felt like AK was better last season but still not living up to his potential, which annoys me.

Hopefully he embraces his new role as prime leader and creator off the bench, and hopefully CJ steps it up and breaks out brewer-style....consistently.

ele.ven wrote:I disagree that CJ has done nothing to earn the starting minutes.

So far in the preseason you might make that argument, I admit. But last year it seemed like CJ took complete advantage of the sparse minutes he received. He had some games that were very telling of his potential. I felt like AK was better last season but still not living up to his potential, which annoys me.

Hopefully he embraces his new role as prime leader and creator off the bench, and hopefully CJ steps it up and breaks out brewer-style....consistently.

Well, with respect, how is having games that indicated he has potential equal to deserving starter minutes? I guess I just disagree with the general premise, also, that he's taken advantage of the many opportunities he's gotten. Every time he gets his "big chance," he underwhelms in my opinion.

My concern is once again under performing against bottom tier teams.
Nothing annoys me more than to watch them come out flat against teams that they should have no problem beating by double digits.
Last year it seemed like they thought they could coast against the crappy teams, they would come out flat, and the other team would get on a roll and all of a sudden they are in a dog fight and end up loosing.

They need to come out strong and not let crappy teams get rolling.
Step on their necks right from the get go.

Another concern,
I also am not impressed with CJ, I would have rather had Korver in the starting line up.
Either he or Brew could have played small forward.
Will Korver take it personally come contract time?

My concern is something that Hollinger harped on a lot in his preview of the Jazz. Their fouling. I hope they can reduce the number of fouls they commit in a game, and play better defense. There are definitely times when a player needs to be fouled, and I hope they can take advantage of those situations and give hard fouls when they are needed as well, but you can do that and still trim the foul numbers. If we have another playoff series like we did against LA in terms of fouling, then we lose.

And like Ida, I am worried about our road play against weak teams. I am hoping that 1 more year of experience might help to fix that, but I am not so sure. That killed us last year, and if we can address that issue, we might win 5 more games this year.

Jazz struggle from the line.

Our whole system is predicated on getting easy points, then we leave far too many at the line. It makes no sense. This team has plenty of talented shooters, there is no reason to be missing so many free throws.

Winning on the road.

Even if our interior defense sucks (and I don't expect it to improve much, if at all), no reason why we shouldn't be able to outscore teams like the Wolves and all those Eastern teams that we lost to on the road last year. A 1-9 road month? I can't see it. I want at least 25 road wins this season. And if we win 35 at home, that should be good enough for the 1 seed.