Mark's Thoughts: 2007-08 The Most Talented Utah Jazz Team Ever

The current Jazz roster 1-12 most talented ever in Utah...




The 1997-98 season was the historical high point for the Utah Jazz. The team made their second straight finals appearance, Karl Malone was the MVP for the second straight season, and they had the best record in the NBA. Karl Malone, John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek were the big three leading the way to the NBA Finals. What made the trip to the finals more amazing was the supporting players that the Jazz had around the big three. After Malone, Stockton and Hornacek the talent level on the team took a serious hit.

The 2007-08 Utah Jazz team is deep. Normally, when teams are making the stretch run to get into the playoffs coaching staff shorten the rotation. An eight man rotation seems to be the number of choice for the majority of NBA coaching staffs. The Jazz only have thirteen games left in the regular season, and Sloan is still using an extended lineup. Minus garbage time minutes, Sloan has used a ten man rotation in the last two ball games. Why is it so hard to shorten the rotation this season? The Jazz have huge amounts of talent on the bench. Players are still fighting players off to get playing time.

C.J. Miles, Jaron Collins, Jason Hart, and Ronnie Price are all reserves that have shown they are ready to go in the game and produce. That is something that will earn playing time on a Sloan coached team. Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver and Matt Harpring have all pushed the starters on the Jazz for minutes on the court. This abundance of talent can be a chore for a coaching staff too handle, but they would much rather have to many, than not enough quality players on a team. With this depth the 07-08 Utah Jazz are the most talented Jazz team ever.

Some in the media have made the argument that Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer right now are better than John Stockton and Karl Malone. Williams and Boozer are not yet Stockton and Malone. Both Williams and Boozer are still young and adding elements to their games. Boozer is nowhere near the defender that Malone was. Also Malone's ability to run on both sides of the ball is something lacking in Boozer's game. Williams is becoming better at running the offense, but there are still long stretches were the team seems to be out of sync. Keeping the offense running well no matter who was on the court is something that made Stockton great. There is a gap between Stockton/Malone and Williams/Boozer, but it isn't a huge gap.


Taking away the top two players from both the 97-98 and the 07-08 teams, it becomes clear that the 07-08 team has vastly greater talent when looking at the rosters.

97-98 Roster ................................................ 07-08 Roster
Jeff Hornacek............................................... Mehmet Okur
Bryon Russell................................................ Ronnie Brewer
Shandon Anderson ...................................... Andrei Kirilenko
Adam Keefe....................................................Kyle Korver
Howard Eisley................................................Paul Millsap
Greg Foster....................................................Matt Harpring
Antoine Carr..................................................C.J. Miles
Greg Ostertag............................................... Ronnie Price
Chris Morris...................................................Jason Hart
Jacque Vaughn..............................................Jarron Collins



Bryon Russell would be the best way to compare the remaining talent on the two teams. He was the fourth guy on the 97-98 Jazz team. (averaging 9.0 pts 4.0 rebs 1.2 ast 1.10 stl .38 blk per game) If you were to put the 97-98 Russell on the 07-08 Jazz he would be fighting C.J. Miles for minutes. If you were to take the fourth best player on the 07-08 Jazz, Andrei Kirilenko (averaging 11.2 pts 4.8 rebs 4.2 ast 1.15 stl 1.57 blk per game), he would have been playing nearly 35-38 minutes a game, and might have been the missing piece to put the Jazz over the top for the title. Most of the 97-98 team wouldn't make the Jazz roster this year. The 97-98 team only had three people averaging double digit points per game (Malone, Stockton, and Hornacek) the 07-08 team has six. (Boozer, Williams, Okur, Brewer, Kirilenko, Korver)

One aspect that can't be put into stats that the 97-98 3-12 players had was grit. They were hard-nosed and nasty. They would get into players faces and fight for every loose ball. That is a quality that has surfaced from the 3-12 players at times this season, but has not be consistent like it was in the 97-98 season. While this trait manifested itself in the 3-12 players on the team, that grit came from the top, Stockton/Malone.

If you were to place Williams/Boozer on the 97-98 team, then the grit of the role players would go away. Williams/Boozer would also have problems getting as much out of the rest of the team, and achieving the same success that Stockton/Malone had with the 97-98 team. Likewise if you placed Stockton/Malone on the 07-08 team, start sizing the rings because the title would be coming to Utah. Why? The grit leadership factor would improve the intensity of the team, which has seemed to waiver this season. Teams would have a hard time stopping the pick and roll of Stockton and Malone with Okur/Korver spreading the court, and Kirilenko/Brewer making hustle plays. Malone would sure up the defense in the middle, and the experience of Stockton would cut down on pointless turnovers.


The fact that Stockton/Malone would make the team better isn't taking anything away from Williams/Boozer who will be stars in the NBA for years to come. It is more of a complement of the 3-12 players the Jazz have on the roster this year. Top to bottom there are more weapons on this Jazz roster than ever before. If the Jazz can bring their top effort they can beat any team in the league on any given night. If Boozer/Williams are having an off night other people on the roster can step up and carry the team, something that can't be said for the 97-98 roster with Stockton/Malone.

Does the abundance of talent mean that the 07-08 team is better than the 97-98 team? No. It is debatable which team is better, but it is obvious that the talent level 1-12 on the current Jazz team dwarfs the 97-98 squad.