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Giricek, Jazz officials to meet this morning

I find it interesting that San Antonio and Phoenix have both in made serious inquiries about Giri. Why would these championship contending teams want such a bad apple?

Because he's not a bad apple. Giri does what he does, and those teams would love to have him doing what he does on their team.

So why can't Sloan send Giri in and let him shoot 2-3 jumpers every game and see if his outside jumper is on, and then if it is let him stretch the defense for 12-15 points. This won't happen every game, and when he's not on sit him down and try him next game. Every contending team loves to have a guy who can knock down shots, and sloans trying to run this guy off.

It's too bad that SlowN can't figure it out.

Jimmy predicts that Giri and Sloan will kiss and make up for the time being realizing that it is in both of their best interests to play nice so that Giri can be dealt before the trade deadline.

There is no doubt that Gira is a very talented player who can score in spurts when he is on. So, what is the problem? Jerry Sloan can't make him feel comfortable with his role.

There is no question that the Jazz have talented players that could benefit by a pat on the back rather than repeated kicks in the pants. Note the difference in Kirilenko this year. Sloan does not know how to compliment a player - he is never satisfied. He may be a great coach, but he does not how to relate to, or handle people.

Is it time for Sloan to go? I think the majority of the Jazz fans believe so. Who should replace him? That's a good question. I believe Jeff Hornacek would be ideal if he would accept. He has the image the Jazz need and good relationships with players. He puts his family first and that might interfere with coaching the Jazz.

If someone needs to go, it's Sloan, not Gira. The Jazz should explore with Hornacek the possibility of taking over the coaching duties and let Jerry put on his John Deere hat and head into the sunset!

I say let Miles have the backup two guard position. He's largely playing within the offense, and he's doing say effectively. He's still young, and will tend to have ups and downs as the season progresses, but he's shown to be more effective lately than Giri has at any point this season.
I like Giri, but I don't see Miles developing with this constant shifting of game playing status that's plagued all the two guards since Bell left. We know what Giri can do, he's below average on defense, has a better than average jump shot moving toward the basket, he doesn't set hard screens, doesn't play well without the ball, is a fair to partly cloudy three point shooter, and lacks consistency on all the above. Miles shows better promise for the future, but the Jazz will never see it if they don't remove the temptation for Sloan to shake up the rotation every time a guy makes a mistake. May be Giri would play better if he weren't looking over his shoulder all the time, but I can see that Miles does. Sorry Giri, but I wouldn't mind seeing you go to a good situation somewhere else.

I can't believe all the people defending Gordon Giricek, all the while proclaiming their disdain for Jerry Sloan. I'm sorry if all of you can't handle a coach who is tough and expects perfection. It was mentioned that Coach Sloan never seems to be satisfied, I would hope not. The minute a coach becomes satisfied is the minute his team stops progressing. By demanding perfection Sloan is demanding that his team progresses everyday.
Gira, has been inconsistant at best since he has been with the Jazz. He is very much like Greg Ostertag, very rarely doing much to help the team, but he does have his moments. It seems some of the Utah Jazz faithful liked Ostertag even though he was mediocre at best and now Gira. I guess the Jazz faithfull have fallen in love with mediocrity. Gira doesn't care about the team, he cares about his stats only. Time has come to send Gira packing.

RE:Send Gira Packing A good coach demands and demeans his players. A great coach shows and teaches his players. We all know how Sloan has been. You can't really say that during Stockton and Malone era that he had to coach because those two were smarter than he was and ran the teams the way they wanted to and taught there team mates what to do. With this group he has to coach and it is frustrating for him because demanding and screaming is not getting it done. Can Sloan Coach? Absolutely he can, but he has to change his attitude and philosophy with such a young team. They need direction not retribution from him. I still think he is a great coach and I want him to stay but he needs to reevaluate and see if what he is doing is working. As far as falling in love with mediocrity goes what do you expect from us fans when management does nothing to upgrade this team and we have had only two finals appearances in 20 years. Management has made us the King of it.

Of what he (Send Gira Packing) mentioned is right. Also, the fans always mentions that Sloan never gives our young players a chance, well since the incident happened, I believe that Sloan was wishing that someone would step up and I feel CJ who is one of our young talents is stepping up and I believe that coach Sloans wishes are coming true.

talked with Giricek? Do you really think he only cares about stats? Give me a break. He's a shooter so of course he's looking to shoot the ball. He gets in trouble because he doesn't understand what Sloan wants from him. Who else are we going to let roam the 3 point line? There are only 2 or 3 players on the entire team who have the ability to consistently knock down a 3 point shot and Giricek is one of them. I don't see why the Jazz can't play him 15-20 minutes a game and let him take a few 3s. With the way other teams shoot 3 pointers against the Jazz, it would be nice to have another outside threat, but the way things are looking he will probably be sent packing and a team like San Antonio or Phoenix will pick him up and have yet another player who will kill the Jazz from the outside.

He (Send Gira Packing) is correct. Those of you who think Gira is someone who can shoot 3's consitently are also correct. He does shoot them consistently, what he doesn't do is make them consistently.
ID Jazz - if these overpaid babies can't do what Sloan asks of them then they need to rethink their choice of occupation. Gira has been in the Jazz system for what 4 years or more probably 5 or 6 years, he has been to numerous practices and that is where the teaching takes place. I doubt Sloan does as much yelling at players in practices and he and his assistants teach. But, out on the floor, during a game what they practice needs to be executed properly in order for the Jazz to do well. If you watch Gira what you will find is someone who wants to prove he is a tough defender so he goes one on one. Often he finds himself out of position to give proper help defense and play good solid team defense. Same thing goes offensively. He is often out of position because he wants to shoot. He doesn't want to play with in the team system.

If Giricek really cared about the team, then he would simply play within the offense and do as he is asked by Sloan, wouldn't he? Is he really that good that the coach needs to cater to him, to just let him play outside the offense? There are only a few players that are good enough to allow that to happen (Kobe, Wade, Anthony), and even they are more effective when they stay within an offense. It's very simple for Giri, play within the offense, show some effort on defense, and you get your 15-20 minutes per game. Andre learned his lesson and look how well he is playing now for the most part.

Gira would get 12 to 15 minutes a game if he played some D. He's an easy pick, plays soft and it doesn't bode well for an NBA player trying to get time on a contender caliber team. Once Almond gets out of the D league and gets some confidence, he will get playing time. If he can't play defense, he will end up like Gira. Look at Brewer. He's not a great shooter, but he's productive with steals, changing shots and plays a team game. He's not getting sent home either.
Sloan doesn't do a lot for building a players confidence because a player has to earn or build that confidence from within. That way they will have it when it really counts.

The game has changed so much that sloan cant handel todays players. Yes his style works only for awhile and a few players. The Jazz will never be consistant with OLD IRONSIDES.

There are quite a few players in the DLeague who would love to play for the Jazz at the two and they appear to have better shooting stats than Gira.

GIRI FACTS:
Scoring:
Before coming to Jazz: 12 PPG
After coming to Jazz: 9 PPG

Assists:

Before coming to Jazz: 1.8 APG(too low for a 2 guard)
After coming to Jazz: 1.4 APG

Minutes:

Before coming to Jazz: 30 MPG
After coming to Jazz: 20 MPG

3 Point %:

Before coming to Jazz: .363
After coming to Jazz: .300

Basically he has not improved in any category. This is what irks me most. Today, I see the same player that in '03 did not know how to work in the Jazz system because he was newly traded. For this continued mediocrity there is no excuse that Giri, or his supporters, can give other than selfishness or an inability to learn.

When you are beaten out of minutes by a second year player and a 20 year old there has to be action. And remember this: C.J. was deep in Sloan's doghouse and now has minutes. Why? Probably because he now works within the system. Giri is no Kobe, or LeBron, or TMac. He cannot go 1 on 1 with anyone..he needs the system yet fights it.

Sloan needs to retire. The guy is a dinosaur who has no coaching ability on the personal level. We need a coach that can reach and communicate with players instead of simply carrying a heavy stick.

Here we have our most consistent outside shooter sent packing home for NO LEGITIMATE REASON while teams zone us to death in the 4th. Personal grudges should never cost us games, and Sloan's grudge against Giricek has done that.

Jerry Sloan has proven he can coach. But, in 20 seasons we can see his flaws too. It seems once a player gets on his bad side, that's it, there's no reconciliation. Greg Ostertag was a journeyman center who spent most of his career with the Jaxx and in Jerry's dog house. However, with Ostertag, I doubt Utah could have made it past the Lakers and Rockets to two NBA finals. He handled the defensive dirty work inside while Stockton, Malone and Hornacek provided the offense. In Ostertag's final game--at home-- the Jazz were out of the playoffs, how does Sloan say thanks for all of Greg's years of loyal play with his team? Does he start Ostertag in the final game of his career? No.. he comes off the bench and plays under 15 minutes for the game. Nice guy, Jerry Sloan. The difference between Gordon Giracek and Jeff Hornacek is John Stockton. If Gira goes to Pheonix, he'll be in a system and play with a point guard that will allow him to be a double figures scorer consistently.

Jerry gives players as much sympathy as he got. He wasn't the most talented, and he made the best of it. Anyone who's ever played a sport knows how annoying it is to be the hardest worker and see talented low-lifes doing nothing. While Osterfat may have worked hard in certain playoff series he did not deserve Jerry's respect, and did not care enough to earn it. He was being paid huge amounts of money, and I'm sure Jerry figured that was enough compensation for him.

Kirlinkio was in the doghouse, now he's not. Brewer was in it, now he's not. Miles appears that he may be leaving the doghouse, only time will tell.

All you have to do to leave the doghouse, is to work hard and play well.

+1 to homeytennis.
let almond light them up!!!!!!

Giri shot .426% from 3pt range last year. Last season THAT WOULD HAVE MADE HIM 11TH BEST IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE!!! He unfortunately just missed the necessary amount of 3pt shot attempts to be included in the overall ranking. Yes I know his percentage might drop some with more attempts but he was very close to making the threshold so this is fairly representative of his capability.

That tells me 2 things: 1. Giri can shoot the deep ball 2. He can shoot while Jerry is the coach.

All this either or crap is a wasted discussion. Lets deal in reality.

Giri needs to suck it up, play within the offense, stop traveling every time he puts the ball on the floor, and play hard on D. Sloan needs to run some plays to get Giri his 3's because he is one of the best 3 point shooters not just on our team but in the league if given the opportunity. Both have some blame here. Rarely is it all ones fault like so many try to make it out to be.

I also believe he would shoot the lights out from 3 given the green light on another team.

Listen folks Gordon Giricek is not going to be a consistent double digit scorer these days in any system especially not Phoenix. Who would he replace in phoenix Raja Bell- good luck with that. The only reason San Antonio and Phoenix would want Gordon is it could help them out with their salary cap problems at the end of the season. Neither team would be looking to re-sign him. He'll be playing a second or third role on most teams in this league and maybe a starting role on a couple of the bottom feeders of the league.