Overall team - Exceeded most expectations from NBA analysts. Quality wins over the NBA elite - Miami, OKC, Lakers and even the gimme Spurs game. Sparkling home w-l record, 9-4 divisional record, playoff berth in first full season after last season's drama. On the negative side, very poor road record, embarrassing losses to bottom-feeders, Corbin & Bell, Malone and Miller drama both reflected a little poorly on the organization.... Grade: B
Front office - Solid draft that looked a little better then than it does now, good trade of Memo Okur ( depending on what is done with the TPE), solid signings of Howard, Carroll, Tinsely and Watson. Grade: B
Coaching - Corbin finishes the year 6 games above .500 but is summarily swept out of the playoffs. Should have deployed big men lineup much earlier in the year, but imo handled Bell and Miles' situation rather well ( if you're going to not produce and whine, you can sit the rest of the year..). Gave decent minutes to Kanter and Burks, and wasn't afraid to sit Harris when he wasn't performing. Still seems a little over his head, but all in all a slightly better than expected first year. Grade: B -
Players:
Al Jefferson - Drives some crazy with his now you see now you don't defense, and baffling inability to draw fouls / contact in the paint. Still, one of the most effective offensive low-post players in the NBA. Genuinely interested in improving, showed mild improvement in passing out of double-teams. Very team-oriented and solid fit in organization. Lowest fg% of career ( by a fraction), but exceeded career averages in ft%, reb, ast and blocks. Grade: B
Devin Harris - seemed completely lost and disinterested during the first third of season, came on nicely toward the end of the season. Highest fg% in the last 5 years, highest 3fg% ever believe it or not, lowest ppg and apg average in 6 years. Terrible at getting to the line. The team has to be looking at him regarding what if any trade value is left.. Grade: C-
Paul Millsap - epitomizes the Jazz brand, but had a really rocky 2nd half of the season. Frequently seems to be overmatched against taller PF's, but seems to hustle non-stop on the court. Top-5 in the NBA in steals, healthy 16 and 9 contribution. 80% from the free-throw line, lowest fg% of career. Grade: B-
Gordon Hayward - Flashes of real brilliance on both sides of the ball were offset by many set plays that seemed to disintegrate into pick and nothing - Gordon will catch the ball on the wing, do nothing for several seconds, and then try to improvise against the shot clock. 3 pt accuracy plummeted, but his FT % improved nicely. Lower than expected rpg and spg stats, in my opinion. Grade: B-
Derrick Favors - While I think some fellow Utah fans are mildly irrational about his improvement arc, he's unquestionably the top defensive player on this squad, and likely top-10 in the league next year. He was one missed shot under 50% FG for the year, and improved his FT% nicely. Only averaged 1 bpg in 21 mins per game, but anyone would argue he deserved 30+ mins a night. Interestingly, a -21 in the annual +/- rating. Here's a question - would Utah fans now accept the Deron Williams trade if it was just for Derrick Favors alone? The fact that 50% or more would tells all you need to know about our occasional irrationality while understating that this guy can be really, really special. Grade: B+
Alec Burks - What surprised me the most this year was his composure, and his uncanny ability to get to the line - drawing fouls as if he were a mid-career star player in his limited minutes. Wouldn't hurt him to put on 10-15 lbs of muscle. Not afraid to drive to the hoop ( hence the high # of foul calls in his favor) compensating for a wobbly outside shot ( 33% from three). Needs to improve FT% ( 72%) and A-TO ratio (dead-even @ 1).. Grade: B-
Enes Kanter - Seemed to hit the rookie wall faster and heavier than Burks did. Has the makings of a spectacular rebounder, and seemed to miss an exorbitant number of shots at the rim, but to his credit, rebounded a lot of those misses, only to miss again.
Only 8 assists and worse, only 23 blocks in over 800 minutes on the floor is rather worrisome. Still, lots of time yet to develop, and seems to be coachable. By a wide margin, the worst +/- rating on the team, probably to be expected for a rookie C. Grade: C-Demarre Carroll - Ronnie Price replacement (yes I know they play different positions) - immediate fan favorite, shows lots of hustle on the court, but the impact of his play usually results in fairly pedestrian box scores. Will be nice to have around next year ( if in fact it happens) but expectations should be fairly low. Grade: C+
Jeremy Evans - Grade for All-Star weekend - A - the rest of the season provided a few highlight reels but in short he's about a zillion lbs too light to play meaningful minutes. It seems like other teams caught on to the alley-oop after the All-star break. Grade: C+
Jamaal Tinsley - very pleasant surprise. Recorded the top 2 or 3 season highs in assists, and seemed to be exactly the type of veteran presence in the locker room that the team hoped (but weren't sure) they were getting. A little shot-happy, and not particularly accurate most of the time.. Still, a pleasant surprise, all in all. Grade: B If you'd have asked me between Tinsley and Josh Howard who would have meant more to the team, I would have mistakenly said Josh Howard - Grade: C
Earl Watson, CJ MIles and Raja Bell, aka the players whose jerseys will be on the 80% clearance rack next year @ Fanzz... - Earl was great the first two months of the season, and tailed off quickly. CJ's inconsistency had just become too consistent, and Raja's bridge burning will likely mean we'll get < 0 for him in the offseason. Grades - Earl - C+, CJ is at a C- and Raja's 3 pt range improvement saves him from an F at a D-
