Utah Jazz First Quarter Report Card: Can The Jazz Be an Elite NBA Team?

The Jazz regular season is already a quarter done. It is time to pass out first quarter grades to Jazz players, coaches, and management.

Deron Williams—Williams is playing like an All-Star, again. It is hard to think that Williams has yet to go to an All-Star game in his career. From the initial balloting it appears that Williams won’t be starting in the All-Star game, but if he continues to plays at this level there will be no way to keep him off another team.

When the game is on the line you want the ball in the hands of Deron Williams. He has been able to take an important next step this season. This season Williams is able to take over games. He is able to put the Jazz on his back for long stretches of the game, and produce wins. This year’s team is Deron Williams’ team. The Jazz will only go as far as Williams is able to take them this season.

Grade—A+

Williams is the best player on the Jazz, and might be the best point guard in the NBA right now.

Wesley Matthews—The rookie who is playing like a veteran. This season Matthews has been able to plug holes, and defend bigger known NBA players. Since his insertion into the starting lineup the Jazz are 11-5.

Matthews is still a rookie and will make some serious rookie mistakes on the court. The difference is Matthews will recover and respond better to his mistakes compared to other rookies. He isn’t afraid to guard anyone in the league, and he is very good at doing the little things to help his teammates while he is on the court.

It is still amazing that Matthews went undrafted, and that he was basically gifted to the Jazz when they were in need of a steady two guard.

Grade—A-

He has exceeded every expectation placed upon him when the Jazz invited him to training camp. Yet, he is still a rookie, and he is still learning and making mistakes.

Ronnie Brewer—His new nickname really should be “Mr. Baseline.” Brewer is an artist in the Jazz offense at working the baseline and finishing around the hoop.

His defense has also improved this season which is a real surprise. Last season Brewer was able to increase his number of steal per game; however, Brewer struggled to stay on his feet and play physical defense against bigger players. This season Brewer is not only playing strong off the ball defense, but he is able to play physical defense and rebound the basketball.

The part of his game which is still lacking is consistency with his mid-to-long range jump shot. There were multiple times last season and this season when teams would simply dare Brewer to take shots.

Grade—B+

When Brewer’s game is going, the Jazz are very tough to beat. Yet, Brewer has the same holes in his game this season as last season. He lacks consistency from the free throw line and his outside jump shot.

Carlos Boozer—Boozer after a terrible start has now turned on beast mode. He was named Western Conference Player of the Week. He is averaging 20.1 points and 11.1 rebounds a game. He is also shooting 54.9% from the field this season, which is over his career average.

He is doing everything on the court he can to not only get back in the good graces of Jazz fans, but also to ensure a big free agent contract at the end of the year.

While there has been some token gestures by both Carlos Boozer and the Utah Jazz front office it seems clear Carlos Boozer is on his way out of Utah at the end of the season. Carlos Boozer is going to want too much money, and the Utah Jazz simply can’t pay him to stay. Nor do the Jazz really want him to stay for that matter.

Utah has invested in Paul Millsap, and they are going to have a high lottery pick which they will most likely use on a young power forward.

This means that the best thing Utah can do is to start shopping around Carlos Boozer now that his trade value has increased. He is going to be an All-Star this season, and he is going to produce for whatever team he is on, because it is his contract year. This will be the best opportunity for the Jazz to move Boozer, and get equal value back for him.

If the Jazz were to move Boozer now it would give the team time to acclimate to the new player in the rotation.

The Jazz can be a very good team, this season, with Boozer on the roster; however, the Jazz could be a better team, in the long-term, if they were to get equal value for Boozer through a trade.

Grade—A

Like him or hate him Boozer is an All-Star this season, and he is one of the major reasons the Jazz were able to rebound from a slow start. Boozer is trying to prove he is an elite post player in the NBA this season. He really needs to stay healthy to prove to teams he can make it through an entire NBA season.

Mehmet Okur—Moneyman has been making it rain from beyond the three point line this season. Okur is shooting 42.9% from behind the arc this season, which is well above his career average. Yet, Okur’s minutes are down from where they are in the past.

Fewer minutes for Okur wouldn’t be surprising if he was still finishing games for the Jazz. Sloan has elected to not finish games with Okur and rather end the majority of the games this season with Millsap and Boozer on the court.

This is odd considering Okur’s attribute of being a big-time clutch shooter at the end of games. What is keeping Okur off the court for the Jazz is the fact that Boozer needs to be on the court. There has been a problem with the Jazz’s defense whenever both Okur and Boozer are on the court at the same time.

Both Okur and Boozer aren’t great defenders, but each can play well when they are surrounded with another good post defender (normally Kirilenko or Millsap). The problem is when both Okur and Boozer are on the court it is the same as giving the green light to teams to penetrate and score in the paint against the Jazz. Neither will rotate on defense, and both play defense too much with their hands and not enough with their feet. This means they will swipe at the ball, and that leads to teams scoring easy points from the free throw line.

With Boozer playing so well the past few weeks there really isn’t a reason for the Jazz to elect to finish with Okur at the end of games.

Okur’s season did get off to a rocky start when he injured himself on basically the first defensive play of the Jazz season trying to take a charge. Memo is such an iron horse of a player it is hard to tell exactly how those early nagging injuries have been affecting his play this season.

Grade—B

Memo is still hitting big shots for the Jazz, but he is still lacking the ability to play on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.

Paul Millsap—Millsap got paid in the offseason and it seems to be affecting his game. Millsap isn’t dogging it like many other NBA players after they receive big contracts; rather Millsap seems to be pushing himself too much during games.

Millsap has gotten off to a slow start this season because he has been pressing to prove on the court he is deserving of the new contract he received. The stat which is way down for Millsap is his rebounding. His ability to rebound the ball is what got him drafted, and got him a large contract from the Jazz.

As the seasons progressed and Millsap has relaxed his numbers have improved, although not to same level as last season.

Grade—B-

Millsap has been picking up dumb fouls and his rebounding numbers are down. Hopefully he will improve and return to form as the season progresses.

Andrei Kirilenko—Andrei got off to a great start at the beginning of this season. He started to hit his jump shot like the Andrei of old, and his over/under numbers are among the best on the Jazz.

What has plagued Andrei during his entire tenure with the Jazz continues this season. While he is one of the best players on the Jazz with the ball in his hands, he is also the worst player on the Jazz at taking ill-advised shots.

This Jeykll and Hyde mentality which Kirilenko has is one of the most frustrating things about being a Jazz fan. Kirilenko has the ability to control the game on both sides of the court without taking a shot. Yet, Kirilenko seems determined to play outside of the Jazz offense and defense at times.

Grade—B+

Andrei really did get off to a great start this season. He has been active and his shooting has improved. Injuries have hurt his chances to return to an All-Star level of play. It still remains to be seen if AK can play his active style of basketball and be effective with an injury. The simple fact still remains: The Jazz are a better team when Kirilenko is on the court.

CJ Miles—He came into this season in the best shape of his life. Then he was injured early in the pre-season. CJ even after the injury still looks to be in better shape this season compared to where he was last season. He looks more muscular, and he is able to play more physical defense.

CJ has a very good shot, but he hasn’t been able to bring a consistent shot to actual games. He has the ability to give the Jazz an instant spark of offense; however, he is just as likely to shot the Jazz out of a ballgame. Miles doesn’t seem to have the ability to pick the right time to shoot and stop shooting to help the team.

Miles has struggled with running the Jazz offense the entire time he has played in Utah. He doesn’t set good back screens, and he is stagnate when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. Miles will go to a spot on the floor and stay there waiting to get the ball. This season is more of the same lack of effort from CJ to do the little things to help the Jazz win.

Grade—Incomplete.

It is too early to give CJ a grade due to injuries. CJ does look to be improved from last year in the few games he has played this season.

Ronnie Price—This was the year that Ronnie Price had the inside track to the backup point guard position for the Jazz. Even before he injured his big toe things weren’t going well for Ronnie.

Price’s shooting percentage is way down this season. He is shooting 35.7% from the floor and 22.2% from beyond the three point arc. He struggled to get the Jazz into the offense when he was on the court.

With the way that Eric Maynor is playing it will be hard for Price to earn back his minutes at the backup point guard position.

Grade—C-

The way Price finished the season in the playoffs against the Lakers most likely bought him another year with the Jazz, but he isn’t taking advantage of that opportunity to find regular minutes in the Jazz’s lineup.

Eric Maynor—Maynor took over the back-up point guard position from Ronnie Price after Price’s toe injury. Maynor has shown signs of promise this season, but he has struggled with consistency this season.

He is a terrible three-point shooter(averaging 19%), and he really lacks a full grasp of the Jazz offense. What Maynor does well is pass the basketball. He has made some great passes this season, and he has been able to give good enough minutes in order for Williams to get some rest on the bench.

Maynor is still a rookie, and still makes some very dumb rookie level mistakes during games. Maynor looks to be a very good player in the NBA, and as he gets more minutes he will improve.

Grade—B-

He needs to learn that it is okay to pass the ball at the end of the quarter. Maynor also struggles to run the fastbreak. He is a good backup point guard and he has shown flashes of brilliance this season when given extended minutes.

Kyle Korver—A favorite of the ladies, Korver played in his first game of the season against the Timberwolves. He didn’t look like he was ready to be back on the court.

The downside of Korver has always been his defense. He has a problem staying in front of faster and bigger guards in the NBA. His shooting ability is what keeps him on the court. Yet, outside of his first year in Utah his shot has struggled.

Last season, Korver suffered from a wrist injury on his shooting hand which hurt his shooting percentage. This season he didn’t look much better in his first game back against Minnesota.

It is too early to give a grade to Korver, but with the emergence of Matthews and the play of Miles it will be hard for Korver to find minutes in the Jazz rotation.

Grade—Incomplete

Korver will need to regain his long range shooting prowess in order to find playing time this season.

Kyrylo Fesenko—Fes has now entered the “puppy zone.”

When you get a new puppy dog you are happy with everything it does. It doesn’t matter if the dog is yawning, scrunching its face, or flopping its ear around—you are just happy that the dog is doing anything. The puppy is cute, loveable, and full of potential.

Fesenko is the new puppy for the Jazz. Every time he walks onto the court you aren’t expecting much out of him, which means if Fesenko does anything while he is in the game it is a bonus. The arena seems to erupt when Fes does the littlest things, like rebound the basketball (for that matter even catch the basketball).

He is being graded on potential, and therefore is on a completely different grading scale.

Grade—A Gold Star

Fes has shown flashes of brilliance, but it will be interesting to see if the Jazz will invest in developing Fesenko in the long term.

Kosta Koufas—Yes, he is still on the team. What it takes for Koufas to get on the court is another story. If your team only has nine healthy players, and you can only get on the court in the last few minutes of a thirty point blowout, then you know your place on the team. That place, in the D-leauge.

Grade—D-league All-Star

Koufas is not ready to be in the NBA. In hindsight staying in college would have been the best thing for Koufas. He needs playing time to develop, but even that playing time might not be enough for him to find a permanent home in Utah.

Jerry Sloan/Coaching Staff—Sloan has managed to right the ship quite a number of times already this season. The Jazz got off to terrible start, and there were many who thought they would simply implode. Sloan was able to get players to buy back into his system, and once again soothe egos for the betterment of the team.

Injuries have plagued the Jazz already this season, but Sloan was able to find a rotation with a nine man roster to win key games. The Jazz are still in contention in the West, and they now have a full healthy roster.

Now that the Jazz are healthy Sloan faces another challenge. His bench seems to be filled with players of roughly the same talent level. Jerry has to find the right amounts of minutes to not only help the team win, but to please Jazz players desires to be on the court.

Getting players to accept their roles is a very difficult task for any coach in the NBA. How well Jerry gets certain Jazz players to accept a lesser role on the team will really make-or-break the Jazz season.

Grade—A-

Considering the state of the Jazz when the season started Sloan has proven himself once again a Hall of Fame coach. He needs to now get his players mentally tough enough to get up for game not only against big named teams, but to be prepared to play every single night. He also has to find a way to get the Jazz to win on the road.

Front Office—The Jazz stood firm during the summer against the media, opposing GMs, and Carlos Boozer’s demands. The reward for the Jazz is now they have a more marketable Boozer who is putting together a strong All-Star season.

The Jazz now have many options for how they can deal with Boozer, but most importantly the Jazz have all the leverage to make the decision which is best for the team.

So far you also have to give the front office high marks for handling of the past draft. Maynor looks to be a solid addition to the team. Plus, Matthews was a great find and addition to the Jazz as an undrafted rookie free agent.

There have been some real boneheaded moves by the Jazz management. The marketing department and the ticket sales division have brought inferior products to the Jazz fan base. As a result attendance at Jazz games is well below where the Jazz have averaged in the past.

The hiring of David Locke as the radio play-by-play voice continues to be a terrible move for helping to create interest in the team. Plus, it hurts the creation of new younger fans who simply won’t listen to the worst play-by-play call in the Utah sports market.

The elephant in the room still remains. The Jazz are over the luxury tax this season.

The Jazz are a small market team, and that means they have a limited amount of capital to spend on player contracts. To keep the Jazz in Utah, the Jazz simply cannot go over the luxury tax and be fiscally viable.

The salary cap will most likely decrease again next season. That means it will be increasing difficult for the Jazz to shed the money required to be a non-luxury tax paying team.

Grade—B-

Getting below the luxury tax is the most important task for the Jazz front office. As long as the Jazz are over the luxury tax threshold the front office isn’t doing their job.

Utah Jazz Overall—Watching the Jazz this season is like watching a person who is afraid to succeed. The Jazz have proven they can play with any team in the league.

The Jazz have beaten the Lakers, Magic, and Trailblazers. They have also won the season series against San Antonio for the first time since 1997.

Yet, the Jazz have also lost to Minnesota twice, Sacramento at home, and Oklahoma City at home. All games the Jazz simply cannot afford to lose if they want to compete in the Western Conference.

This lack of consistent play, and the poor play on the road, points to a lack of mental toughness on the Jazz.

The team continues to take steps towards looking like a Jerry Sloan coached team, but right now they don’t have the physical edge which has been associated with Jazz teams of the past.

Overall Grade—B

The Jazz seem to be at a critical junction in their season. A place where they could really step up their game and be an elite Western Conference team or slack off and be a team simply fighting to make the playoffs. How the Jazz play in the next quarter of the season will really set where the expectations should be for the post-season.

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David Locke, Carlos Boozer, and Dishonesty to Fans All Problems for the Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz organization has a few problems.

The Jazz are one of the smallest market teams in the NBA; however, they have the third highest payroll (after the luxury tax) this season.

The Jazz weren’t a strong defensive team last season. This season they brought back all of the same players, and they are still a terrible defensive team!

The Jazz organization has tried to sell the league and Jazz fans on the idea that Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap can co-exist on the same team. The production for both Boozer and Millsap is way down compared to last year.

The major excuse given by Jazz management is that once the team is healthy, then the team will start to compete at a top level. Last year when the team was healthy they played their worst basketball. This season, while Korver and Miles are injured, the rest of the team is healthy, and the team is now playing the same level of basketball they played to end last season. Awful selfish basketball!

This style of basketball isn’t going unnoticed by the Jazz fan base. Salt Lake City has always been one of the strongest basketball cities in the nation. Yet, anyone watching the Jazz’s first two home games against the Clippers and Rockets could see a noticeable absence of fans in the arena.

Traditionally the Jazz don’t start drawing large crowds until after the end of the college football regular season. Traditionally though this affects the upper-bowl more than the lower-bowl of Energy Solutions Arena. This season the lower-bowl just isn’t filling up. There are a lot of patches of empty green seats in the lower-bowl, and that is not good news for the Jazz organization.

The downturn in the economy has slowed ticket sales for the Jazz. Yet, last year the team was able to weather the economic downturn better than this season. So what has changed? Nothing and that is the problem.

Larry H. Miller was able to build the Jazz on a base of comfort and trust. He exemplified the slogan, “You know this guy!” Larry H. Miller was willing to shake hands with fans, and even come on the radio to talk about the team with the fans once a week.

Through this interaction the fans knew that Larry H. Miller was devoted to putting a winning team on the court, and keeping the Jazz in Utah.

Greg Miller who took over for Larry H. Miller after his father started suffering from serious illnesses and eventually passed away doesn’t have that trust with the fans.

There are many reasons Jazz fans are wary of Greg Miller. Greg was has been in charge of running the car dealership arm of the Miller corporation, and too many customers have been burned by shady business practices at those dealerships. Greg never claimed to be a fan of the game like Larry, and that means he will look at the Jazz organization much more like a business trying to make money first.

Some changes which reflected this business first approach to the Jazz: The decision not to televise preseason games, the move away from televising any games on KJZZ, not accommodating long time season ticket holders during last season’s playoffs to try and make a quick buck, and resorting to gimmicks instead of relationships of trust for selling tickets.

The opening speech Greg gave before the start of the season reflected the tension between the fans and the new head of ownership. Greg gave an awkward speech in which he somewhat threatened fans. He stated the team would stay in Utah as long as there was proper fan support. While some might say his intentions was to complement fans for supporting the team in the past. The message was very clear; the team with the third largest payroll needs to sell some tickets— or else!

A good example of the disconnect between fans and management is the hiring of David Locke to take over the radio play-by-play duties for the Jazz. When the announcement was made there was a large outcry over the hiring of Locke. Many locally remember him from his days of calling WNBA basketball games were worried about the direction the team wanted to go.

Management and Locke supporters made the claim that Locke was one of the best hires the Jazz could make. This is the same man who was fired after a single season in Seattle doing the same play-by-play job. The arguments that the Sonic fans used for firing him were similar to the complaints of Jazz fans before he took over the radio job.

Locke doesn’t have a play-by-play voice. He focuses too much on the stats and not enough on the game. He just turns the broadcast into an extension of his show. He forces his opinions down the throats of the listeners to the radio broadcast, instead of telling the facts of the game.

I wanted to give Locke a chance to prove his doubters wrong. I wanted to give him a listen during a game. I made it five minutes or so of actual game time before I turned it off (it might have been longer or shorter I wouldn’t know with Locke giving the call). I had no idea what was going on in the game!

Locke wasn’t giving a live description of the game; rather it was more like listening to him carrying on a conversation while the game just happened to be going on in the background. You could hear the crowd react to something in the background, but Locke would continue his thought and then fill in the three or four plays which had occurred.

I ended up calling my sister to know what was going on in the game. In a single sentence from my sister I knew the score, who was playing well, and what was going on in the game. She started to give me actual play-by-play, while she is no master wordsmith she was an instant improvement over David Locke.

I wanted to give Locke the benefit of the doubt.

No one is instantly great at a new job. Yet, according to Locke’s own website he has been doing radio play-by-play since 1998. This is not new to him. He is just terrible!

It just seems as if David Locke doesn’t understand that we as a radio audience cannot see the game. We are relying on him to describe the game like a storyteller. Giving us a detail description of how the players move on the court so we can imagine the court in our mind. Locke seems to think a description of the game would take away from his analysis.

So what are the Jazz fans left to do about the Locke situation?

There are only thirty or so NBA radio play-by-play jobs. This means that there are a lot of people who would try to get a limited number of jobs. According to simple economic principles the Jazz should have had a lot of great possible hiring options, due to the scarcity of quality radio jobs. The Jazz organization made a bad hire.

The organization has to defend its hire, instead of just finding a better solution. The team will tell fans to support Locke because he is part of the Jazz organization now. This builds more distrust with the fans, and will drive more away from the team.

Jazz fans are not dumb. The fans in Utah are very basketball savvy and they know good basketball and bad basketball when they see it. They also know when management isn’t being straight with them.

Locke is a terrible play-by-play guy. Boozer is having a terrible affect on the Jazz and Millsap while he is on the court. The defense of the Jazz will not be fixed when everyone “gets healthy.” Boozer and Millsap are both undersized and it is hurting Utah’s point production in the paint. The status quo will not be good enough to compete in the Western Conference, and might not be good enough to even make the playoffs.

Greg Miller needs to learn a lesson from his late Father. Larry H. was always upfront with the fans. He didn’t try to sell anything that wasn’t there. If the Jazz weren’t performing on the court he was the first to admit it. Larry H. proved he was on the side of the fans. He was concerned about putting a quality product on the court, and knew if he treated the fans right the fans would do their part.

It is time for the organization to be more upfront with the fans. Stop trying to sell us on the team, and just talk to the fans about the team. There is huge support for the Jazz in the community; we are already sold on supporting the Jazz. The only thing the Jazz are doing is destroying the trust they have with their fans, and ruining another season by taking no action.

The problem with the Jazz is doing nothing. Unless the Jazz do something, nothing is all which come of this season.

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How Much is Boozer Worth?

How much has Boozer made per game as a Jazz man?

The Jazz signed Boozer to a $68 million contract, for six years. It looks, and if you listen to what Boozer actually says(Cleveland fans just lit something on fire at the thought that anyone would take Boozer at his word), Boozer is going to opt out of his contract next season. The Jazz would owe Boozer $12.6 million next year, if he doesn't opt out.

With those numbers in mind how much have the Jazz paid to boozer for each of the games which he has played? So far Boozer has played 257 games as a member of the Utah Jazz, out of 410 games. Or roughly 62% of the Jazz's regular season games. Subtracting the $12.6 million from the overall $68 million, and not calculating the playoff games and pay, Boozer has earned $215,564.21 per game. If Boozer had played in every game he was contracted to play in, which would be asking quite a bit considering a normal players injury pattern, Boozer would have earned $135,121.96 per game.

Just a comparison here are some per game earnings this year. Paul Millsap who many considered could replace Boozer next year, if Boozer does opt out, makes (including the six games he missed due to injury) $9,726.60 per game.  

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Utah Jazz: Is It Time to Hit the Panic Button

If the Jazz continue to play poorly panic button talk will increase...

The Panic Button.

It seems that no matter how good a team is in the NBA there is a moment during the season that teams will think about pushing it. Every team has a different threshold that must be meet before pushing down hard on the button and thinking that the current season is a lost cause. Some like the Timber Wolves, Grizzles, and Thunder need to have the ball thrown up for the opening tip of the season. Others like the Clippers seem not to care enough to even find the panic button to push. The way that the current Jazz season has unfolded it might be time for the Jazz to start looking around for the panic button.

What does it mean to "hit the panic button?" It means that the current formulation and make-up of the team isn't working. That there needs to be some serious changes to the face of the franchise in order for it to take another step forward. In some cases this means taking quite a few steps back. The 76ers trading Allen Iverson to the Nuggets, or Shaq being traded from the Lakers to the Heat are two examples of teams taking a considerable number of steps back. Neither the 76ers or the Lakers received anything in return for their superstars, and both were far worse in the short term due to the deals. The Suns trading Marion for Shaq last season or the Harris for Kidd deal are examples of teams trying to trade a know commodity in hopes that an unknown piece will fit and take the team to the next level. in the case of both trades last year they proved poor decisions for the teams giving up known commodities.

The Jazz have problems.

Injuries to Kirilenko and Boozer have left the Jazz very thin for post players. Millsap and Okur have also been battling injuries all season, but have managed to stay on the court, for the most part. Yet, if either Millsap or Okur gets into foul trouble post-scoring comes to a grinding halt.

The Jazz have not been able to make defensive stops. This is a problem that started for the Jazz last season, and seemed to be resolved at the early stages of this season. The defense of the Jazz was the leading factor to the Jazz getting off to a quick start. Injuries, and lack of concentration have allowed other teams to put up big numbers against the Jazz, especially when the Jazz are on the road.

The Jazz need to make a decision about the current Jazz roster. Can these players that are currently on the roster take the Jazz to where they want to go, an NBA championship? If that answer is no, then it is time to hit the panic button and the Jazz need to start moving players. The time to make these moves are before the coming trade deadline.

If the Jazz do nothing they run the risk of not getting any value for the players that can opt out of the contract this season (Okur, Millsap, Korver, and Boozer). The Jazz organization is also saying that they think that once all the players on the current roster are healthy that they will be able to not only make the playoffs but win a championship.

The Jazz need to start playing better regardless of the injuries that they suffered. Yet, if the Jazz continue to play poorly then the front office of the Jazz will be looking at the panic button until the February 19th trade deadline. Each loss will put more pressure on O'Connor to push the button and make a big franchise altering deal.

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