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Utah Jazz: Change a constant for team

Keep up the Great work Jazz! Just shows how great of a coach Jerry Sloan really is!

Same Old win 50. Win in Salt Lake. Lose on the road. Exit first or 2nd round.

I love watching the Jazz play (at home).
They are the best team in the league (at home)
They can beat any team in this league (at home)
They will cream teams in the playoffs (at home)
The Jazz are mentally tough (at home)
They could win it all this year (at home)

Jerry Sloan is the best coach in the NBA (at home)
This is the most talented team in the NBA (at home)

Jerry says "He likes to stick with similar lineups and substitution patterns." Now that comes as a shock!! I would like to see more game decisions and not so much premeditation substitutions. Also the NBA has turned into a league of athletes with not a lot of basketball skills. There are way too many stars in the league who can't make a mid-range jumper. Same as High School. I watched a high school practice yesterday and the kids made 1 of 10 shots doing 15 foot jump shots. They all want to shot the 3 or dunk. The skills are not being developed here like other parts of the world. That's why Manu is so good. He can score from anywhere on the court. Whereas a guy like Korver is one dimensional. We need more guys who can put it on the floor and pull up and hit the jumper.

I luv the jazz style of playing, nothing beats the pick & roll, slow tempo half court plays, our guard running the show and our cheerleader fully dressed LOL nothing beats Utah Basketball

I ran the short version of win scores and then adjusted for 48 minutes. In spite of injuries Harp and DWill have made positive contributions to the team with thier play. The injured DWill is slightly better than Price using this metric. This score will not capture all of the subleties of being PG.

Collins is the only player with a negative (Fez is neutral)contribution for minutes played. In other words when he is playing it hurts the team in absolute terms based on this metric.

Collins may contribute things that are not captured by the common efficency metrics but I would like to see compelling evidence. Sloan likes him as he knows, runs and facilitates the Sloan system well. However, based on most statistical measures of contribution Collins does not fare well.

Hopefully Collins will rebound and shoot more effectively in future games as his elbow improves. However, to me it makes emminent sense to bring KK2 along as fast as possible.

The Jazz seem weak on rebounding, shooting 3s and defending 3s. Those are weaknesses that have to be fixed to win on the road and against the strongest teams.

I ran the short version of win scores for Artest. He is making about the same level of contribution to the Rockets that CJ or Koufos are to the Jazz(adjusted for 48 minutes). Yes Artest plays a lot of minutes, scores 14 points and 6 rebounds but he also costs overall efficiency.

This is why it is imperative to develop both CJ and KK2 quickly. Both have more potential than Artest in his prime.

Very well said

Jazz lost to the Wizards

FANS ARE SO FICKLE!

Jerry Sloan is so boring, his style, his comments,
his attitude. Lets get a coach who supports Utah
full time in the community and has positive
attitude all the time. That would be nice

Biggest Fan of CJ's but to compare him to Artest? Artest could have been one of the greatest players to ever play had he not been a head case. The guy can do it all and lock down anyone on defense from a talent side. From a mental side, he belongs in prison. CJ and KK2 will never have to phsical body and basketball skills of an Artest.

@ Miles

I thought CJ was supposed to be that guy?

You are right about balance in the offensive game of most NBA players, but using Korver doesn't really help your case about not being able to shoot jumpers. Harpring is a great example of how usefull a mid range jumper can be, for a decent player it can litterally add years to your career.

I actually think the Jazz develop the skills you are talking about better than any other team in the league. No other team relies on movement away from the ball and screens to set up open jumpers the way the Jazz do.

@ Better & Artest (same person?)

That is some interesting analysis. It re-enforces what I have been saying all year about Collins, he may be a great guy with great "intangibles" but when it comes to his tangibles, or what he actually does on the court, he is one of the worst players in the league.

It suprises me that the Jazz would be weak on rebounding, especially defensive rebounding. They are doing great on the offensive glass but horrible on the defensive glass. Luckilly that is a problem that is easily fixable with a little attention and effort.

While I agree that the Jazz need better team defence overall I thing the importance of opposing teams 3pt shooting percentage in relation to their overall success is greatly over rated. I think it is interesting that it is really just two players that are dragging down the team 3pt shooting percentage, AK and Memo. Miles Brewer and Korver are all shooting fairly well and Price is not good but not terrible, but AK and especially Memo have been horrible. The interesting thing about that is Memo and AK both have the highest FG% of thier careers.

Libby's on the Label! HA! HA! HA! Jazz over the bucks tonight, downed at the Alamo Friday.

Magnus...I thought Korver was a great example. He stands on the 3 point line and waits for the ball. Can't drive the lane or pull up and hit a jump shot on a regular basis. So I see him as one dimensional on offense. If he couldn't shot the 3, he would be in the D league. Wait.....This is starting to sound like Almond?

As far as CJ.....I have decided he has no skills to play in the NBA. Almond should start over him. Oh wait......Almond doesn't play the 3.

In your article you state, " Sloan, who could win his 1,003rd game as the Jazz's coach tonight at home against the Milwaukee Bucks, says he doesn't like to see players traded away.

He likes familiar faces, especially when they're talented and hard-working."

I guess that means that Almond is neither talented nor hard working."

Why did you take a looser in the draft? I guess it was another Fo Pa on the part of o'conner. That shows a poor scouting team.

Ijust enjoy the game. the jazz are great wether they win or loose. I"ll let all you experts figure it out. I'm sure Sloan get's all his "Savvy' BY REAdng the blogs every night. now don't get me wrong, ssome of you guy's seem to know what your talking about,but then theres some of you just make me laugh. there's only one way to tell the worth of any one player and that is go to their record. go to Sloans record and then quit slamming Him!