Rob Mahoney (SI) vs. David Locke

[Inigo Montoya]

Rob Mahoney wrote about the jazz, calling them one of the most disappointing teams this year. Then Locke went off on him in his tipoff, and now we have a showdown - a podcast Locke with Mahoney.

http://weareutahjazz.com/lockedonjazz/

here is the entire article:

Utah Jazz

If anyone knows what it is exactly that coach Tyrone Corbin is doing in terms of managing his rotation, I’d love to know. This was supposed to be a year of gradual change, with the Jazz better incorporating the emerging Derrick Favors, 21, giving a chance to second-year players Alec Burks and Enes Kanter and seeing the next step in the development of third-year swingman Gordon Hayward. Instead, Utah worked its offense through Al Jefferson to a fault and compounded its problems through Corbin’s baffling lineup constructions.

His choices have been a bit better of late, but I fail to trace the logic in Corbin’s strategic decisions — namely his reluctance to balance out the offense away from Jefferson’s post-centric work and the seeming lack of defensive direction that makes matters worse for a team that needs more schematic help than it gets. The Jazz’s young players have produced some fantastic showings when compensating for teammates’ injuries, but otherwise this team has accomplished so amazingly little in the way of legitimate progress.

http://nba.si.com/2013/04/10/nba-disappointments-los-angeles-lakers-utah-jazz/

[Neon Black]

Here's my reaction:

Does it annoy ANYONE else how horrifically bad David Locke's grammar and typing skills are? 1/2 of his job involves new media journalism. He's payed the big bucks by a big time NBA team, yet he's completely unable to use punctuation and uses the caps lock key like an overly excited pre-pubescent girl.

It's embarrassing that he's considered the "voice" of this team.

[Inigo Montoya]

actually, it really doesn't bother me that much. yeah, i would be nice if those grammar mistakes were not there, but given the amount of content he puts out there (written and other), i really don't mind.

[StocktonShorts]

David Locke should not be allowed to publish anything he writes. He is embarrassingly bad at composition.

He's much better on podcasts; having said that, the Mahoney pod was unlistenable. Mahoney was being reasonable and Locke was not. If he conceded anything he quickly buried it under a subject change.

It was, IMO, Locke at his most unflattering. I think any unbiased listener would immediately know which of those guys had an honest objective opinion and which guy gets paid by the team.

Locke tried to pick Mahoney apart for niggling factual errors when the underlying point Mahoney makes is hard to dispute: this team, when compared to their roster and last year's team, has underachieved. Their offensive and defensive numbers are the same or worse and so is their record.

Fan enthusiasm is noticeably down and the brand of basketball they're playing is unappealing

Obvious damage control podcast.

[Fido]

David Locke should not be allowed to publish anything he writes. He is embarrassingly bad at composition.

He's much better on podcasts; having said that, the Mahoney pod was unlistenable. Mahoney was being reasonable and Locke was not. If he conceded anything he quickly buried it under a subject change.

It was, IMO, Locke at his most unflattering. I think any unbiased listener would immediately know which of those guys had an honest objective opinion and which guy gets paid by the team.

Locke tried to pick Mahoney apart for niggling factual errors when the underlying point Mahoney makes is hard to dispute: this team, when compared to their roster and last year's team, has underachieved. Their offensive and defensive numbers are the same or worse and so is their record.

Fan enthusiasm is noticeably down and the brand of basketball they're playing is unappealing

Obvious damage control podcast.

It doesn't really bother me because Locke has always been like that--even before he was the radio voice of the Jazz. When his homerness is showing so badly I just tuned him out--and assumed everyone else did the same.

[meat tray]

For what it's worth, it looks like Mahoney made some significant edits to his Jazz entry. Here is the original text:

If anyone knows what it is exactly that coach Tyrone Corbin is doing in terms of managing his rotation, I’d love to know. This was supposed to be a year of gradual change, with the Jazz better incorporating the emerging Derrick Favors, 21, giving a chance to second-year players Alec Burks and Enes Kanter and seeing the next step in the development of third-year swingman Gordon Hayward. Instead, Utah worked its offense through Al Jefferson to a fault and compounded its problems through Corbin’s baffling lineup constructions.

His choices have been a bit better of late, but I just fail to trace the logic in neutering the team’s offense with the pairing of DeMarre Carroll and Marvin Williams on the wing; the reluctance to give limited playmakers like Earl Watson and Jamaal Tinsley help by pairing them with a ball handler such as Hayward; and the overall disaster that results when trying to run a post-up offense while taking all of the team’s best shooters off the floor. The Jazz’s young players have produced some fantastic showings when compensating for teammates’ injuries, but otherwise this team has accomplished so amazingly little in the way of legitimate progress.

Locke was certainly being bullheaded, but he has a legitimate gripe. The entire second paragraph of the original article is factually incorrect.

The criticisms Mahoney made on the podcast (and in the revised article) around defensive schemes and lack of a dynamic offense are much more compelling, but the original article seemed uniformed and lazy.

[Neon Black]

When you're payed in part to write, Absolutely horrific punctuation and thought construction just isn't excused simply because he puts out a lot of content. It isn't an occasional typo or error. Some of his material is actually hard to understand because of how poorly it's written.

[StocktonShorts]

When you're payed in part to write, Absolutely horrific punctuation and thought construction just isn't excused simply because he puts out a lot of content. It isn't an occasional typo or error. Some of his material is actually hard to understand because of how poorly it's written.

I can handle his run-on sentences and lack of punctuation. What really annoys me is him consistently spelling 'shoot' as 'shot'. Example: "Al Jefferson shots 56% from the left block." It's like fingernails on a chalkboard (if I was really annoyed by fingernails on a chalkboard, which I'm not).

[Neon Black]

I can't stand any of it. I typically don't care, but the man gets paid for this.

[mct]

David Locke should not be allowed to publish anything he writes. He is embarrassingly bad at composition.

He's much better on podcasts; having said that, the Mahoney pod was unlistenable. Mahoney was being reasonable and Locke was not. If he conceded anything he quickly buried it under a subject change.

It was, IMO, Locke at his most unflattering. I think any unbiased listener would immediately know which of those guys had an honest objective opinion and which guy gets paid by the team.

Locke tried to pick Mahoney apart for niggling factual errors when the underlying point Mahoney makes is hard to dispute: this team, when compared to their roster and last year's team, has underachieved. Their offensive and defensive numbers are the same or worse and so is their record.

Fan enthusiasm is noticeably down and the brand of basketball they're playing is unappealing

Obvious damage control podcast.

This is a great post.

I like to imagine that every week Locke meets the bosses in some concrete bunker below EnergySolutions Arena. The bosses' faces are obscured by shadow, but by the bulges of their jowls and the occasional glints of light off their eyeglasses tell you they are all white men past a certain age. They sit behind podiums several feet above Locke, who sweats under a spotlight.

They say with one voice: Why don't they love us?

Locke: I beg them to. I beg and I beg and I beg, and yet still they stray.

The bosses: Then make them love us.

Locke: I will this time. There's this guy Mahoney. It's all his fault! I will chastise him next podcast! It will work! You'll see! Just please don't hurt me!

The fluorescent lights come on. Locke wipes the tears from his eyes. No men sit behind the podiums. In fact, there are no podiums, just popcorn and nacho cheese spilled on an otherwise empty expanse of carpet. The VIP room, duh, and it's 5:30 AM.

Better hurry, Locke will have to drive nearly the speed limit to make it home in time to record tipoff.

[meat tray]

I can't stand any of it. I typically don't care, but the man gets paid for this.

He gets paid to do play by play on the radio. Maybe there are some additional incentives around his podcasts/blogging, but his day job is the radio gig. All of the other content is extra and self-produced.

[d-will8]

David Locke should not be allowed to publish anything he writes. He is embarrassingly bad at composition.

He's much better on podcasts; having said that, the Mahoney pod was unlistenable. Mahoney was being reasonable and Locke was not. If he conceded anything he quickly buried it under a subject change.

It was, IMO, Locke at his most unflattering. I think any unbiased listener would immediately know which of those guys had an honest objective opinion and which guy gets paid by the team.

Locke tried to pick Mahoney apart for niggling factual errors when the underlying point Mahoney makes is hard to dispute: this team, when compared to their roster and last year's team, has underachieved. Their offensive and defensive numbers are the same or worse and so is their record.

Fan enthusiasm is noticeably down and the brand of basketball they're playing is unappealing

Obvious damage control podcast.

This is an awesome post. I agree with everything here. Overall, I just think it's impossible to objectively look at this season and not be harshly critical of Ty, the front office, or both. We have a worse record than last year after an active offseason, which suggests that (A) Ty has misused the roster at his disposal both in terms of the present and the future (I feel like it's pretty damn hard to argue that he hasn't), (B) the front office prioritized short term dividends over long term development to no avail (again, I feel like hard to argue that they haven't), and/or (C) both (A) and (B) are true.

[Neon Black]

I can't stand any of it. I typically don't care, but the man gets paid for this.

He gets paid to do play by play on the radio. Maybe there are some additional incentives around his podcasts/blogging, but his day job is the radio gig. All of the other content is extra and self-produced.

Locked on Jazz is featured on the official Jazz website. And honestly it's really all besides the point. Self produced or not, he's an employee of the Jazz and everything he puts out there, whether via blog or Facebook, both reflects on the organization and is meant to communicate information. He's in the communications field yet he isn't able to communicate clearly. Even if he's only there by extension, it's annoying as hell trying to strain to understand what he's saying half the time.

[SoCalJazzFan]

It's hard not to notice Locke's misspellings and grammer, but by and large I appreciate him (even if he is a Jazz paid employee/homer).

However, while listening to the podcast last night, I couldn't help but think that any informed Jazz fan sitting next to Mahoney could have debunked the vast majority of Locke's arguments.

Locke was essentially arguing that the Jazz don't have any offensive players other than Jefferson and that Corbin doesn't have anything to work with was laughable.

Early on this season I thought that Al was indispensible to the team due to his offense. I have come full circle to where I was at this time last year and realize that he is a serious burden to the team.

-Al's 16 FGAs per game is 16th highest in the entire NBA and more than any other Center in the NBA (starting centers average closer to 10).
-Yet, his PPS is 128th in the NBA and 24th worst among Centers.
-We all know how badly he can be exploited on defense, which pretty much negates the offense he brings.
-The way Corbin uses him pretty much neuters the rest of the team offensively.

As an example, we have three players (Mo, Foye and GH) who shoot about 40% 3pt. Space any two of those players on the same side of the court at the 3pt line as you dump the ball into Al, and let/make Al pass it back out to them just 4-5 times more per game and the Jazz will score 5-6 pts more on average per game. Even dumping it to Marvin, making just 1 in 3 shots, is better than Al making less than half of his. It could also free up double teams, making Al's shooting percentage better. Instead, the Jazz play Al-iso ball, moving 3 or 4 players to the right side of the court (where Al can't pass when he is double or triple teamed and 2-3 opposing players can guard them). Spacing, passing, shooting- basketball basics. Isn't that why the front office got Mo and Foye??? Utah is 10th in the league in 3pt%, yet 27th in 3pt attempts. Utterly baffling given how the offense could still be run through Al and take advantage of this.

The fact that the entire offense is run through Al also hurts the strengths of Burks, Hayward and Marvin Williams (and perhaps even Mo), who are great cutters. These guys might be pretty good at the flex offense if given the chance.

Mahoney's contention that Corbin plays Al too much (whether given his offensive/defensive drawbacks, the drawbacks to the team offense or underutilizing other players, or not preparing the team for the future as Al is pretty much gone next month) was brushed off by Locke.

Locke seemed to completely miss Mahoneys repeated reference to Denver. I think that his unstated point was essentially, look, Denver (#3 in the West) doesn't have an All Star or go to scorer, but they play team ball with a roster on par with Utah's.

It is not that often that national media calls out a coach with specifics. This has happened twice recently.

[Inigo Montoya]

It is not that often that national media calls out a coach with specifics. This has happened twice recently.

^^^^this. and it happened more.

[StocktonShorts]

Locke's argument is essentially that the Jazz's roster is so terrible that for them to have the record they have is proof of the great job Corbin is doing. I love how he opted to defend Corbin while throwing every player on the team AND the front office under the bus. It's everyone's fault but Corbin's (at least for the duration of that argu-cast).

Locke's "draft the starting five" game he plays is often absurd. Take Portland. He says if you put Portland's starters and the Jazz starters up for a draft, that Portland would win out, but you can't do these things position by position. Sure, you'd pick Jefferson over Hickson and Aldridge over Millsap, but to imply that those even out is ridiculous. I'd argue Millsap is closer to Aldridge than Hickson is to Jefferson, so in reality the Jazz should have an advantage in the frontcourt.

Furthermore, what makes this argument REALLY stupid is that it presumes that Corbin is starting the best players when him not starting the best players his a fundamental part of everyone's criticism of him, including Mahoney's!

Mahoney asserts that Corbin isn't playing the right guys and isn't starting the best guys.

Locke counters by saying, effectively, "The Jazz's starters on any given night are worse than the other team's starters."

Locke really needs to un-embed himself from the team. He's getting defensive and territorial and it is clouding his views.

[mct]

There's something particularly "Utah" about the way Locke is behaving. He sees the national media polluting the minds of Jazz fans, and he must act! He then sets up a debate which is inherently unfair because all rules and assumptions are defined by him. "Disappointing" means losing more games than expected. Winning the current game is the only objective. Coach's authority should be respected above all else; therefore, the starting five must be the best five. To tank is to sin. Never overdip. Et cetera.

The only problem is that Mahoney disagrees with some of these fundamental values. Many fans do too, and it's ironic that Locke's attempt to change their minds only fuels more dissent.

He reminds me of the father on Freaks and Geeks, grasping for ways to instill values in his children.

"You know who used to cut class? Jimi Hendrix. You know what happened to him? He died! Choking on his own vomit."

Except in Locke's case it's:

"You know who experimented with losing? The Kings. You know what happened to them? They lost all their fans. Got sold to another city."

[SoCalJazzFan]

A point that I think Locke is totally misconstruing (both in this podcast on regularly on his site) is the pairing of Millsap and Favors.

Locke implies that Favors somehow drastically reduces Millsap's shooting percentages, and that the unit can't seem to score.

I looked up 5 man units on 82games, and of the top 20 most used combinations, Millsap and Favors have only played together 35.5 minutes this season. It has been the "big" lineup of Millsap (SF), Favors (PF) and Jefferson. Duh, no wonder Millsap is shooting worse, he is taking outside shots/3pters in those conditions.

Locke acts as if it is completely unfeasible to play Favors and Millsap together, either due to the lower shooting percentages or wondering how Jefferson could possibly be substituted back in.

Classic case of missing the forest from looking too closely at the trees.

Personally, I would really like to know how Favors at center and Millsap at PF with an otherwise ordinary lineup (Mo, GH and/or Foye and/or Marvin) would perform. Probably important in determining how to move forward in the offseason as well (either in attempting to sign Millsap or other PFs and even a center).

[meat tray]

A point that I think Locke is totally misconstruing (both in this podcast on regularly on his site) is the pairing of Millsap and Favors.

Locke implies that Favors somehow drastically reduces Millsap's shooting percentages, and that the unit can't seem to score.

I looked up 5 man units on 82games, and of the top 20 most used combinations, Millsap and Favors have only played together 35.5 minutes this season. It has been the "big" lineup of Millsap (SF), Favors (PF) and Jefferson. Duh, no wonder Millsap is shooting worse, he is taking outside shots/3pters in those conditions.

Locke acts as if it is completely unfeasible to play Favors and Millsap together, either due to the lower shooting percentages or wondering how Jefferson could possibly be substituted back in.

Classic case of missing the forest from looking too closely at the trees.

Personally, I would really like to know how Favors at center and Millsap at PF with an otherwise ordinary lineup (Mo, GH and/or Foye and/or Marvin) would perform. Probably important in determining how to move forward in the offseason as well (either in attempting to sign Millsap or other PFs and even a center).

Locke's point about Millsap and Favors is that Millsap shoots a worst percentage when Jefferson is off the floor, so that would exclude the big lineup:

http://weareutahjazz.com/lockedonjazz/2 ... zz-season/

[RyanStorm]

Here's my reaction:

Does it annoy ANYONE else how horrifically bad David Locke's grammar and typing skills are? 1/2 of his job involves new media journalism. He's payed the big bucks by a big time NBA team, yet he's completely unable to use punctuation and uses the caps lock key like an overly excited pre-pubescent girl.

It's embarrassing that he's considered the "voice" of this team.

Couldn't have said it any better!!


He does have decent stats and knows cool stuff, but he does seem like an illiterate journalist who relies more on cool stats than actual basketball analysis.


In defense to Utah, we brought in 3 new starters, and our main PG got injured and were still in playoff contention. I don't think any other team could survive without starter PG(except Spurs, Celtics, and

Dallas, Minnesota, Portland and what about Philly, were all disappointments considering their roster. We all had major injuries, yet Utah is the only one left.

I also want to put Lakers in this category, cause it took cheating ass refs and destroying Kobe to overtake us, but to me, LAKERS are biggest disappointment in all of League. A 1 billion dollar club not in playoffs spot at all until late into the season, and still might not go!!! They just sacrificed their most valuable asset just to slip into 8th.