Season report

[kwill]

Sloan-- For the Last 20 years his set substitutions bothered me, but this year he has let hot players play much more than any time in his coaching career. He still needs to ride the hot hand more than he does, but I see improvement.

Boozer-- After the playoffs last year and the Olympics I thought he was done as an allstar. However, this year he has been amazing on offense and his rebounds are fantastic. He still pushes off way too much and he can be abused when guarding quick players out on the floor. I do think he is trying harder on defense but it is still below average. He has suffered more than any other players not having D-Will in the game. If Deron was playing he might be averaging 25 points a game. I hope he is not badly injured as that could really hurt the Jazz.

D-Will-- should not have come back, but you have to love his fire. He actually hurt the Jazz in the two games he played this year but everyone expects great things from him. The one knock I have on Deron is his inability to play with AK. They are like oil and water on the court.

CJ Miles-- Started the season very slow, almost timid. I think he was afraid to make a mistake because Sloan would pull him. The last three games or so his offense has exploded. It has been really fun to watch, except when Sloan takes him out. He still gets beat too much on defense and is caught reaching causing him to foul at a high rate.

Brewer-- Gained a lot of muscle in the off season. His outside shot has improved and his side to side quickness has improved. Brewer has been inconsistent with his scoring, however. Some games he does not seem as interested as other games. You have to love his steals.

Price-- He had a good game tonight but he looks to shoot way to much for my taste. He is fast and has more energy than the energizer bunny. Sometimes I hate watching the last play of a quarter because I know Ronnie is going to dribble out the clock and shoot a highly contested shot instead of giving the ball to anyone else.

AK-- In my opinion he has been the MVP of the team so far and worthy of allstar consideration. AK does so many things for this team its amazing. Moving him to the 6th man was a stroke of genius, but for the wrong reasons. Sloan runs plays for AK with the second unit. Sloan allows AK to handle the ball with the second unit. Sloan actually allows AK to post up smaller players with the second unit. My problem is that AK could do all these things with the first unit if he was allowed. Clearly Deron and AK don't see the game the same way and don't play well together. Deron and Boozer dominate the ball and forget what a weapon AK can be. Forgetting about AK makes AK pout and become less effective both on offense and defense. When Deron comes back expect AK's numbers to go down. Until then it has been a joy watching the old AK again.

Brevin-- Wow, was I wrong about this kid. I had no idea how well he would fit in. In my opinion he has vastly outplayed price. He is a much better passer and he does work really well with AK. The thing that impresses me the most has been his defense. He's much quicker than I thought and he makes a lot of steals when he comes to double team. Quick hands.

Millsap-- has been amazing. His jump shot is vastly improved over last year. His energy is through the roof. His blocks have been amazing and his defense is great. He still fouls too much and sometimes he takes shots that make you think he's on drugs but color me impressed with his game. The Jazz should be trying to lock him up now before this stock gets so high they wont be able to resign him.

Kover-- Hurt his wrist before the season and has not been shooting as well as he can. He does still stretch defenses because teams respect his shot.

KK-- The rookie plays hard. Sloan rides him hard. He plays NBA caliber defense right now. Sometimes he starts looking for this shot and Sloan benches him to remind him that his job is to hustle, play defense and get rebounds. He could be a steal.

Memo-- Has had a rough year so far. I hope his dad gets better and his back starts feeling better. When healthy Memo provides this teams with numerous mismatches. I would have loved to see shaq try to guard memo at the three point line.

Collins-- Played shaq pretty well but has been injured most of the season. It would not hurt my feelings if he was cut or traded.

Harpring-- Is an okay player, but the problem is that any time he plays he is taking away time from CJ or AK. He just does not deserve any time right now. I know he is not playing many minutes, but he shouldn't be getting any on this team. He could probably go to several other teams and help them, but not the Jazz.

Fess-- His lack of maturity is amazing, but Sloan must simply find ways to get him on the court for small stretches of time. Sloan has been highly critical of his effort in practices, but you can't teach size. Fess is a huge player and he needs court time to improve. I would be careful about giving up on this guy too soon.

Almond-- Shocked is the only word for the decision not to exercise their option. The Jazz made a mistake when they failed to pick up his option. They lowered his trade value making him hard to trade. Almond is receiving unexpected court time right now as the Jazz highlight him and try to generate interest in a trade.

[d-will8]

Yeah, as much as I love Deron and as great as he is, it's disappointing that he seemingly prevents AK from playing the way he's capable of. I'm not sure if that's Deron's fault, AK's fault, Sloan's fault or some combination of the three, but while Deron makes everybody else on the team better, his presence makes AK worse. For AK to play like the all-star caliber player than he can be he needs the ball a lot more than he handles it when everything is running through Deron and Boozer. Hopefully, playing with the second unit will allow him to continue to shine once Deron gets back, but we'll see. If we get Deron back at 100% and AK keeps playing like he is now, we could be scary good.

[edfmx86]

nice post.

[Conceptcoop]

Can the Jazz afford both Milsap and Boozer?

As a Bulls fan, living in Utah, having watched Milsap quite a bit, I want the Bulls to do everything they can to land this guy this off-season! Is he UFA or RFA?

Thanks.

[nghedman]

Out to pasture and wait time for the Bulls. I may be wrong but I believe the Jazz gave Milsap an extention, he is tied up for a few more years.

[kwill]

Paul Milsap is a restricted free agent at the end of this year. The Jazz have the right to match any salary he receives. The problem is that Boozer, Okur and Kyle Korver can all opt out. This puts the Jazz in a real pickle. Some people say get rid of AK, but if you do that and Carlos leaves to go to Miami anyway, the Jazz are devastated. Some people say well don't re-sign Okur, the problem is that Okur holds all the cards. If Carlos opts out Memo does not have to. This would force the Jazz to keep Okur. In my opinion if Carlos opts out and all reports (including Deron Williams) says he will, it might be in Okur's and KK's best interest not to opt out. This means the Jazz may have to trade or allow several players to leave. On top of that list is Paul Milsap. The Jazz could also try to trade Harpring and Collins but that doesn't really help unless a team below the salary cap wants these players. Unless the team wanting Harpring and Collins is under the cap the Jazz would have to take back equal salaries.

In my opinion it all hinges on Boozer's decision. If he opts out, I believe Okur and Korver won't. That means they must let Carlos walk for zero compensation or they sign him to a max or near max deal and lose Milsap and others. Of course they could just go over the tax level and keep everyone, but I doubt that happens because we are a small market team.

By the way this is not knew stuff. Many people, including myself, have seen this coming for months. Many news articles have been written about the up coming Jazz implosion. If the Jazz truly feel they can go all the way this year it might be worth it to shoot for the moon and try to win the championship. That means, however, that the Jazz must be able to beat the Lakers, the NBA and the refs. That is a tall order.

If I were the GM I would be trying to sign Milsap to an under market contract extension of 4 years and 20 million dollars right now. I'd keep playing hard basketball until we get closer to the trade deadline. If the Jazz are playing great and I thought I had a real shot at winning the whole thing I keep the team together and let Boozer walk at the end of the season for nothing. If the Jazz still can't win on the road this year I would look to trade Boozer closer to the trade deadline. Even though he can and will opt out of his contract, the Jazz would get a young stud in return and maybe a good pick or two. That does not mean I want to trade Boozer and I don't value his skills, I just don't want to lose everyone else.