Sloan considers lineup change for unsettled Jazz

[Reckless]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/jazz/51021 ... e.html.csp

Good question. Hard answer.

That was the consensus response from key Jazz veterans Raja Bell, Ronnie Price and C.J. Miles when asked Monday whether a Utah team prone to slow starts since the season started would benefit from a starting lineup change.

Bell said rotation shake-ups can either soar or sink, and can only be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Price pointed to Memphis’ recent insertion of guard Tony Allen into the Grizzlies’ first unit as proof that a well-timed move can provide immediate improvement, but added that a similar switch for the Jazz could backfire.

Miles? He is just happy that he gets paid to simply play basketball, gladly leaving personnel decisions to Utah coach Jerry Sloan.

“I don’t even know what to say now,” Miles said prior to practice. “Thinking about it is pretty tough — just trying to figure out what you would do.”

Welcome to Sloan’s world.

The resilient Jazz have rallied for a league-high 12 victories this season when trailing by at least 10 points, while Utah has come back from 15 points down seven times and emerged victorious. In addition, a team that has surpassed original expectations has also produced a four-game improvement compared with last season’s squad, while holding a share of first place with Oklahoma City in the Northwest Division.

But the Jazz’s primary leaders — Sloan and All-Star guard Deron Williams — have long been troubled by Utah’s early-game struggles.

Williams was the only player queried Monday who would not comment when asked about a possible change. The response was not new: He has deferred to Sloan all season, preferring to not become publicly involved in Utah’s coaching decisions.

“I want to run more, that’s all I can say,” Williams said.

There are many things that Sloan wants out of his first unit, primarily increased effort and production. But he feels like he is “between a rock and a hard place,” and is still facing the same issues that have halted a change since training camp started.

Williams, Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson are locked into starting roles, leaving Andrei Kirilenko and Bell as options to be replaced.

Prior to Utah’s comeback victory Saturday against Houston, Sloan said that he would consider making a change if the Jazz did not pick up their game. Utah eventually did, led by 23 post-halftime points from Millsap. But it was also more of the same for the Jazz, who trailed the Rockets by 14 points at halftime, appearing sluggish and unmotivated during the first two quarters.

“I don’t think anything’s in concrete,” Sloan said Monday, later stating that he is not infallible and second-guesses himself every day.

He added: “They have to live with my mistakes and I have to live with theirs. It’s not just a one-way street.”

[carrottop12]

I believe Okur the health of Okur is going to determine our line up for the rest of the year. If he can come back and be consistent and not miss games, he has a chance to move into the starting line up and move Millsap to the bench. This opens up the floor for the Jazz which should allow Deron to run a little more then the starters are currently. I don't think Sloan would risk moving Al to the bench because we don't understand his ego yet.

However we could also move AK to the bench, have CJ start which would also allow the Jazz to run quite a bit more, we could still have a pretty strong bench between AK, Memo, and Hayward.

Personally I kind of like the idea of CJ in the starting line up where he will take fewer albeit better shots, and allowing AK more responibilities and more low post opportunities off the bench.

My ideal rotation would look something like this.

Deron/Watson
Bell/Hayward
CJ/AK
Millsap/Okur
Jefferson/Elson

That gives the Jazz more 3 point shooting in the starting line up, and gives our bench a ton of vetern presence against what are usually younger benches in the league. Also Hayward gets some of CJ's shots off of the bench which I think he deserves.

[qman]

If CJ would in fact take better shots that might be a good idea. But I am not convinced he knows how to play any other way.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

I've been thinking for a while now that they needed to insert Hayward into the starting lineup for Bell.

[GP]

I would love to hear who Dwill thinks should start.

[BarneyGumble]

Bell is atrocious. Im very surprised at how inept he has been. He hits the occasional 3 but aside from that, we're basically going 4 on 5 everytime he is on the court.

[DiscoLives4ever]

I'd be very interested in seeing a Williams-AK-Millsap-Okur-Jefferson starting lineup. The only potential weak link in that would be Paul guarding faster 3s, but if he is getting burned you could sub in CJ/Bell for whoever (other than Deron) is playing poorly or in foul trouble.

[leorn]

We may have to wait for a healthy memo to see a shakeup. Perhaps Sloan is waiting for this because it doesn't infer blame on anybody in particular. Instead of a player feeling that the move is unfair or poor judgement, the pill to swallow is that Sloan is making room for a teammate returning from injury--a little less personal and safer imo.

[HolyToledo]

Since DWill wants to "run" more than I assume he would likely mean starting Miles over Bell. I like Miles coming off the bench. Why not start Watson at PG and move Dwill to SG then the team will "run" more. If Dwill wants to "run" more than he needs to look at himself as he is the main slow starter who doesnt push the ball whatsoever until the second half of games.

[carrottop12]

Since DWill wants to "run" more than I assume he would likely mean starting Miles over Bell. I like Miles coming off the bench. Why not start Watson at PG and move Dwill to SG then the team will "run" more. If Dwill wants to "run" more than he needs to look at himself as he is the main slow starter who doesnt push the ball whatsoever until the second half of games.

No. Al and raja are the reason we don't run more often. Raja is old and not a finisher at the rim, Al is just big and a little slow. He also isn't much of a finisher in transition.

[HammerDunk]

They made some interesting observations about Paul Millsap yesterday on the radio. It appears that he is not only the most consistent player game to game, but he is also very consistent quarter to quarter, and in almost all situations, as well as being clutch as all get out. He shoots nearly the same FG% through all 4 quarters, which is far from the truth for DWill or Al.

They didn't mention this idea, or I didn't hear it if they did, but I think it's blatantly obvious that this team needs to go to Millsap in the first quarter to try and help those slow starts. I want him to get more touches early, and then work Al into the game later on. Let Al establish himself defensively in the first quarter, as he can block shots much better than we had anticipated. Let Deron get into pass/playmaker mode rather than scoring mode. AK needs to make more cuts to the hoop, and I am in favor of dropping Raja to the bench in favor of Miles because he can run the floor much better, and I think Raja is playing with low energy. I think this is a big key to overcoming the first quarter problems. Not only will it help the slow starts and jumpshot only mentality this team seems to have in the first quarter, but I think it will help the Jazz establish themselves at the foul line early on to set a good precedent for the rest of the game.

[Spottieottie]

CJs great and all off the bench, but if starting him is the difference between being up 3 or being down 7 after the 1st I think it might be worth it.

[The59Sound]

CJs great and all off the bench, but if starting him is the difference between being up 3 or being down 7 after the 1st I think it might be worth it.

I highly doubt it is.

Re: HD on Millsap

In my opinion, it's pretty clear we need to run the offense through Millsap a lot more, like we did earlier in the season. As soon as Al started getting more comfortable, we went away from that, and I don't think it was to the team's benefit.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

If Deron wants to run more than he needs to get out and push the ball up the floor. It drives me nuts how slow he is to bring the ball up the court...Price and Watson both push the tempo when they come into the game and Watson pushes the tempo a lot better than Deron does when he is running the point with Deron running the 2 guard.

I'm still a firm believer of putting Hayward into the starting lineup over Bell. He can do everything Bell can do but better (which is really sad honestly). He also gives us a really long/big lineup and we all know the longer/bigger your lineup is the better when playing in the WCF. It also gives him a confidence boost and a lot more PT to give him some more experience. I think AK and Hayward work really well off of each other too.

Rotation should be:
D-Will/Watson/Price
Hayward/Price/Bell
AK/Miles/Millsap/Evans
Millsap/Elson/Okur/Evans
Jefferson/Okur/Fes

You would practically remove Bell from the rotation.

[babyjax13]

If Deron wants to run more than he needs to get out and push the ball up the floor. It drives me nuts how slow he is to bring the ball up the court...Price and Watson both push the tempo when they come into the game and Watson pushes the tempo a lot better than Deron does when he is running the point with Deron running the 2 guard.

I'm still a firm believer of putting Hayward into the starting lineup over Bell. He can do everything Bell can do but better (which is really sad honestly). He also gives us a really long/big lineup and we all know the longer/bigger your lineup is the better when playing in the WCF. It also gives him a confidence boost and a lot more PT to give him some more experience. I think AK and Hayward work really well off of each other too.

Rotation should be:
D-Will/Watson/Price
Hayward/Price/Bell
AK/Miles/Millsap/Evans
Millsap/Elson/Okur/Evans
Jefferson/Okur/Fes

You would practically remove Bell from the rotation.

I agree completely, but I would not mind having CJ instead of Bell either.....

[jazzfan1971]

I think Bell is giving us exactly what was expected of him when he was signed. maybe some of you had too high of expectations.

[DiscoLives4ever]

I think Bell is giving us exactly what was expected of him when he was signed. maybe some of you had too high of expectations.

This.

Bell's greatest qualities don't show up on a stat sheet. I think it's no coincidence that since resigning him we have battled back from large deficits so many times and have been winning much more consistently on the road.

[HammerDunk]

I think Bell is giving us exactly what was expected of him when he was signed. maybe some of you had too high of expectations.

This.

Bell's greatest qualities don't show up on a stat sheet. I think it's no coincidence that since resigning him we have battled back from large deficits so many times and have been winning much more consistently on the road.

Which is why I like him finishing games, but I think he is dragging them down in the starting lineup.

[BarneyGumble]

I think Bell is giving us exactly what was expected of him when he was signed. maybe some of you had too high of expectations.

I love Raja Bell and his leadership...but yeah, I expected more than 42%fg and 8ppg out of a veteran that gets 30 minutes each night.....

[kebutah]

Why would you expect more? According to basketball reference his career averages are 10.2 pts and 43.5% in about 28 minutes. He is a 34 year old veteran who only played in 6 games last year and he is getting paid about $3M per year. His stats look decent for what he is paid. I agree he is not a playoff quality starter at SG but he isn't paid like one either.