Worried Jazz Fan

[Marsbar]

A question for you fellow Jazz fans out there... Do you believe the Jazz will change its offense for next year? I ask this because I am somewhat worried about how effective we will be without a significant post presence. Yes, I am assuming Boozer is as good as gone. Going through the players on the team that will command the minutes I come up with:

Williams - all around great player
Brewer - Slasher
Miles - Slasher
Millsap - Slasher
Okur - Slasher (joking... Shooter)
Kirilenko - Slasher
Korver - Shooter

There isn't a single player there that can effectively work with his back to the basket. I will grant that *sometimes* Okur can have success at it depending on his matchup, but it never looks pretty. After Okur I think the next best post presence is probably Koufos.

Don't get me wrong... I love Millsap's hustle. But, the Jazz's offense (everyone healthy) last year wasn't as fluid when Millsap replaced Boozer. I realize the Jazz won a lot of games last year when Boozer was out... but even being heavily biased I can recognize that it lined up perfectly with the Jazz hitting the easy portion of their schedule.

I know offense isn't everything, but lets be honest: the Jazz will not be a defensive force when your 4 & 5 are both undersized.

Anyways... I've rambled enough... what are your thoughts? Will the Jazz mix it up next year? Or am just worrying too much, and we are stronger in the post than I think we will be?


Regards,
Marsbar

[The Sheik]

When was the last time Boozer really played with his back to the basket? He has been shooting from the perimeter more and more. Or facing up a PF and taking him off the dribble. We have Okur to run the P&R as well as Millsap. Our offense will go down a little, but its up to Brewer, CJ, Memo, Korver and AK to step up. The biggest concern or scare for Jazz fans should be our rebounding. We are a significantly worse team without Boozer. AK, CJ and Brewer need to wake up and hit the boards.

[Paper Face]

The off season is not over.

[DelaneyRudd]

Millsap isn't a slasher, he's a banger. He can hit mid range. What this desperately needs is CJ becoming a dual threat. He just has to get respectable from 3. That will open up so many things for him.

[schneiderjazz]

Let's just say we trade Booz for Tyrus or Haslem or anyone that's not an offensive force. Our offense will suffer a bit, but it's not like we're the Magic. We don't feed Booz in the post and swing the ball around until we get an open 3 pointer. There's always a lot of cutting to the basket in the Jazz offense, so what we really need is guys to cut hard and the bigs setting up good screens for easy baskets. We also can post up Deron, Sap, AK and Okur. Are they as good as Boozer? Of course not, but Deron is one of the bigger PGs in the league, Sap can hit the fadeaway now and then, Memo has a nice spin move now and then and AK can draw fouls. We'll likely be seeing lots of pick'n'roll with Deron and Sap and pick'n'pop with Memo. I'm gonna sound like Sloan, but if we stick to the offense, we'll get our buckets. I'd like to see Memo playing a little PF this year too with Koufos or Fes playing C. Memo usually kills it playing the 4. Jazz need to step up their defense and especially they need to be stronger mentally. I don't think I can take one more season of jekyll and hyde.

[StocktonShorts]

Paul has improved his step-back jumper, but I'm anxious to see how he is running the pick'n'roll with Deron several times a game all year long.

[DaveMustaine]

Utah really just needs to tear that team apart and change their image. They have a lot of players that I really like on that team; like: Brewer, Williams Kofus, Harpring, and Millsap, but they need to get rid of all of the soft players on their team. Boozer should be just the start, Kirilenko, Okur, and Miles need to find their pansy playing asses onto another team. I still think that getting Thomas and Hinrick would be fair for Utah, I hope they can get something like that.

[CAE15]

Utah really just needs to tear that team apart and change their image. They have a lot of players that I really like on that team; like: Brewer, Williams Kofus, Harpring, and Millsap, but they need to get rid of all of the soft players on their team. Boozer should be just the start, Kirilenko, Okur, and Miles need to find their pansy playing asses onto another team. I still think that getting Thomas and Hinrick would be fair for Utah, I hope they can get something like that.

Well okur isn't going anywhere, clearly he is in utah's plans for the next 3 years.

Im hoping this is the year that CJ just goes off, he more then a slasher, the kid can flat out score, now if he can get some consistency everyone will see why we matched OKC offer last year.

[Soul Patch]

Offense shouldn't be a concern. We have a great offensive system and capable players to run it. Like Sheik said, we need to be more concerned about our defensive rebounding. If we have Koufos and Fesenko off the bench at the 4 and 5 we should be ok but having AK and Koufos off the bench will hurt our rebounding quite a bit. We were spoiled having Boozer and Millsap as they are both beasts on the boards and there wasn't a significant drop off (Millsap moreso on the offensive end).

[d-will8]

I wouldn't worry about the offense. Defensive rebounding and defense in general are much bigger concerns. Say what you will about Sloan, but his offense produces a lot of easy shots, especially with a point guard like Deron running the show. It is true that, without Boozer, Deron would be the only player on our team good enough offensively to be a top two option on a championship caliber team. However, we'd still have plenty of weapons and a few guys who I believe are capable of stepping up in a big way, starting with Memo, who's always played extremely well in Boozer's absence. Then there's C.J., who has all of the tools to be a big time scorer in this league.
I also think Millsap has a lot more offensive talent than most people give him credit for. He's a strong, crafty finisher with incredible hands, solid footwork, the ability to put the ball on the floor and an improving mid-range jump shot. Granted, he's no Boozer. He may never be, but he's a hard worker who's improved his game every year and will continue to do so, especially if we consistently run plays for him and put him in pick and roll situations with Deron.

[kamazilla]

As far as offense goes, hopefully Boozer's departure will allow Koufos meaningful meaningful playing time and touches down low, and AK more touches in the flow of the offense. It will definitely allow Millsap himself the space to gain the seasoning needed for improvement. Additionally, Memo usually performs better when he plays a larger role in the offense. Overall, Utah still has a lot of weapons to execute its offense and we should see a well balanced attack next year. The problem, though, is that not having a consistent scoring threat on the blocks means fewer open shots when our opponents double down low.

[erudite23]

Good first post.

The answer to your question is, well...several answers. First of all, there are a lot of ways you can go about being a good team. Ultimately, that's all we want. I think we improve somewhat defensively with Millsap starting over Carlos, as long as we can get a guy to do a decent job of replacing Sap himself off the bench. So that will help.

Offensively, though, there are a ton of ways one can go about being a great team. Case in point: who was this year's top offense? LAL? Nope. Cleveland? Nope. Phoenix? Close, but no. Who?

Portland.

Now, that might shock you (here's the link, btw: http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... _2009.html) but the measure of a good team is how many points it scores relative to the number of chances it has to score those points, right? Being good at putting the ball in the hole is just one way to be a good offensive team. Shooting a high%, getting easy buckets and draining the ever important 3 ball are the best known ways to be a good offense.

There is another way, though, and one that can be just as devastating. That one involves creating more opportunities, rather than focusing on maximizing the ones you have. Bad passes, shot clock violations, traveling, charges....all these things lead to turnovers, which take away the number of shots you get at the basket. Limit these things, and you increase your opportunities, thus increasing your total production. On top of that, every time you miss a shot there is a rebound. The more of those you get, the greater and greater your opportunities at the hoop become.

Portland mastered this philosophy. They dominated the offensive glass, finishing 1st in the league with a 32.6 ORR. Not just that, but they limited TOs as well, coming in with the sixth lowest TO rate in the NBA. All these extra shots at the hoop combined to make up for the fact that they were just 8th in FG%, even though they weren't much of a three point shooting team, and the fact that they weren't good at getting to the line or hitting their shots once they got there. Extra possessions made them great.


Did they have a low post presence? No. The closest thing they had is Aldridge, who had one of the lowest percentage of shots in the immediate hoop area of all starting big men in the NBA.


So, while I understand your concern, there is nothing that says you HAVE to have a guy like that to be successful. Boston just won it all without one, as KG is much more of a high post guy who takes jumpers. Cleveland doesn't have much of one, as Ilgauskas has really faded in that dept over the last few years and mostly just jacks up Js now.



...and even with all that, who is to say that Millsap doesn't have a back to the basket game? When Boozer came here after his second season, his own coach was outspoken in saying that he wasn't ever going to be anything more than an energy guy offensively. He didn't have much of a low post game at that time either. He developed it. Millsap has shown some signs. He is still very young, and hasn't had much opportunity to develop his in game offense beyond the basic garbage guy stuff. He could still become much better. And if he doesn't and this season suffers for it, the Jazz have options down the road. We just need to grow in whatever direction is available.