Jazz imploding?

[ColdBlue]

I know it's early, but the cards are looking bad. This whole Boozer situation has been whitewashed by the front office, but the underlying problems are revealing themselves.

This is how I see it:

Our conerstone offensive player (Booze) starts flapping his lips about opting out early last season, goes down with an injury, and our team rallies behind DW and continues to play well and win games.

Booze comes back and disrupts the team chemistry and underperforms and cannot fill the shoes he once held, and we slide into the 8th spot and get destroyed by the Lakers.

Booze realizes his decision to publicly claim he was opting out was a big mistake, and his lackluster return has made his value depreciate to the point where opting in is his best financial move.

The FO makes moves predicated on Booze being gone, but FAILS to pull the trigger and decides status quo is somehow good, like everything will magically work out.

Now we are in no man's land, and have failed to address the team's needs, have wandered into luxury tax penalties with a dysfunctional team that doesn't know what to do.

There are a number of targets to point the finger at: Booze, the FO, or Sloan.

Ultimately, I think this mess is on the shoulders of the FO who completely failed to take control of the situation.

One more thing... Who the **** does Greg Miller think he is with his jackass speech in the home opener? I never liked LHM, but his kid doesn't have half the savvy. I think the Jazz are a victim of nepotism, and if we don't watch out, we will be this year's version of the NYK.

[kebutah]

Actually we are still playing at the same pace as the end of last year (5-11), after Boozer's return. I am getting tired of the same excuses: not competing, individual play, etc.

I worry more about being this decades version of the Knicks, because we do the same things over and over.

I think Einstein said that if you continue to do the same things and expect different results you are foolish.

[Neon Black]

I think Einstein said that if you continue to do the same things and expect different results you are foolish.

That quote nails it.

Sloan refuses to adjust to teams with scouting reports. He refuses to call a time out or make substitutions during an onslaught. He doesn't play to player's strengths. The FO puts the same core of heartless, fragile players on the floor each year.

This franchise seems hopeless.

[DelaneyRudd]

That's fallacious thinking. There's no magical game plan that will make bad players good, lazy players work hard, or what ever. That's just fans pretending like they know anything, thinking the grass is greener. You sound like ****ing Knick fans for crissakes.

[kebutah]

Where does the responsibility lie for selecting bad, lazy or whatever players? It isn't the fans that is for sure, how about the front office and coaching staff.

[QuantumMacgyver]

That's fallacious thinking. There's no magical game plan that will make bad players good, lazy players work hard, or what ever. That's just fans pretending like they know anything, thinking the grass is greener. You sound like ****ing Knick fans for crissakes.

Right on! So many people on this site are hypocritical in their whining. Complain about how the Jazz make no effort to put players with heart on the floor and then whine about the Jazz matching Millsaps offer simply because of his heart. Complain about Boozer opting out and "screwing" us cuz we won't get anything in return and then whine about Boozer opting in and "screwing" us cuz he has no value. Complain about the Jazz not making any moves to get better and then whine about how Boozer hasn't been traded for crap yet. If Boozer had been traded for crap then everyone would be whining about how the FO was too impatient and let Boozer go for nothing.

Denver got Billups for Allen Iverson. Lakers got Pau Gasol for scrubs and picks. Teams are going to be unloading talent late in the year to make a splash in next summers free agent market. These teams are going to be unloading said talent to teams like the Jazz who have expiring contracts. Just be patient. Good things are coming.

[DelaneyRudd]

Where does the responsibility lie for selecting bad, lazy or whatever players? It isn't the fans that is for sure, how about the front office and coaching staff.

There's also issues of plain old luck. It's not like the Bucks are geniuses for selecting Jennings and idiots for selecting Alexander at the same time.

[BarneyGumble]

COLD is right on with his assessment. The Jazz FO dropped the ball big time. And by keeping Sloan around all these years...they've dropped the ball even worse and probably cost us multiple title runs while we had the best PG/PF combo in history....

[Neon Black]

Making in-game adjustments and studying other teams to try and expose weaknesses has nothing to do with magic. No, Sloan and O'connor aren't to blame for his players lack of heart. But you've heard Sloan flat out say that his job is not to motivate. I disagree with that. A huge part of a GOOD coach's job is in fact to motivate your damn players.

I don't claim to know everything the FO knows or tries to do. I'm not going to judge too harshly decision to keep Boozer, I don't want to trade him for garbage either. Maybe he can get on a roll this season and up his trade value. It just seems like some people in the organization are oblivious to the fact that this same core of players has only gotten worse for 3-4 years.

[DelaneyRudd]

That's a huge part of motivating 5 year olds to play soccer instead of pick dandelions.

[outerspacefella]

The decision to keep Boozer is ok. What's not ok is the decision to keep both Boozer and Millsap, and to pair them as 4 and 5. And these assertions are based purely in what we have seen on court for two seasons now. Two 6-8 dudes are not going to get the job done in this NBA. You should keep only one. A bet on Fesenko/Koufos developement (with decent playing time) is way better than to bet on Millsap/Boozer.

[Paper Face]

Meh.

A lot of "Jazz fans" on this board have blue berries instead of stones.

[carrottop12]

I just don't think this team is all that well put together and with the stresses that have come from all the contract issues and the trade issues it might just be too much for this young team to handle.

If there is something going on in the locker room it's hard for me to believe that anyone on the team is leader enough to put an end to it.