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Sleepless Fesenko inks Jazz contract

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Jerry S | 1:26 a.m. Aug. 16, 2007
After consulting with basketball minds greater than mine I have come up with a plan for the upcomming season.

First of all, I have been convinced that point guards should play the point. No longer will you see Kobe, Ray Allen, Gilbert, and Lebron heating up in games on guys 3/4 a foot shorter than them. My plan is to play williams for 38-40 minutes a game and split the remaining time with our two new POINT GAURDS.

Second I will give three guys the oportunity to play at shooting guard (Brewer, Alomond and C.J.). One of these three will come out of the preseason as the starter and I will bring the other two off of the bench. Playing time will be based upon effort and results. However this year I won't send a guy to the bench for a month (or to the D-leauge)for not knowing who to check in for.

Third. I plan give my best effort to find a way to "Coach" Kirelenko into playing the type of basketball he is capable of. If by the all star break he is not playing well, he will be traded for whatever expiring contract we can get or he will be boughtout of his contract and shiped back to Russia with love. Millsap will be ready to pick up any minutes at the three that Kirelenko's pschological and Harprings physical problems may provide

Fourth: We have a problem at the power forward spot. The problem is that one of our guys in an all star and the other is a future All-star. If we are going to keep them both on the team and get Millsap the minutes he deserves I plan to play him more at small forward. This is a trend that you will see more of as Harprings Knees are replaced and Kirelenko is traded for expiring contracts.

Center: Fess will get up to speed with NBA rules and style in provo for the first half of the year. He's a project that may take less time to materialize than we all thought. In the mean time, Arujo will get 10- 15 munites of playing time in which we plan to see him plug the middle, and shut down most of the premire bigs in the league. We even plan to see him average abou eight points a game once he gets his confidence back.

Two players not mentioned in this article will be traded prior to, or soon after the season starts. So long Giri and Collins.

kev | 1:55 a.m. Aug. 16, 2007
Hi russ
Jimmy's Sneakers | 7:21 a.m. Aug. 16, 2007
Jimmy wants to be the first in welcoming the newest player of the Orem Fla... er, umm, I mean Utah Jazz.
Comments continue below
Phil J | 9:04 a.m. Aug. 16, 2007
Jerry S,
Playing Millsap at the '3' spot is a huge risk. The guy is not fast enough defensively 18-20 ft. away from the hoop. He is amazing in the paint out to 15 ft. out. Any further and he is going to get killed by faster 6-5 or 6-6 guys who can face the basket and drvie or pull up. I won't even talk about his lack of ball-handling skills. Rather than be effective, he becomes a liability at the '3' If he plays the '3' he will fubar the offense. Millsap needs to play the '4'.

Also, a great RMR does not dictate a future All-Star. He had serious foul troubles in real NBA games (not even reff'd by Donaghy). If he wants to be an All-Star he has to figure out how to stay on the floor. But, given that you are the coach, you know these things already. Oh and FYI, Araujo will not be in the league, let alone a Jazz uniform.
Joe Blazer | 9:18 a.m. Aug. 16, 2007
Fess is awesome, he will shut down Oden for sure.
Hoffa Lady | 9:35 a.m. Aug. 16, 2007
Good plan, Jerry S. You should be a coach, or something! Trade Giri and Collins; keep Araujo!
Anonymous | 10:10 a.m. Aug. 16, 2007
u can have 'em all...I'LL TAKE JERRY!
Jdizzle | 11:17 a.m. Aug. 16, 2007
Jerry you have some good thoughts but you failed to mention a couple of things...
1. Not one of the above mentioned SG's are ready to start in the NBA. Maybe by mid-year but only if someone performs a miracle.
2. Williams is playing for Team USA and we all know that means the likelyhood that he will get injured this year is doubled.
3. Your crazy, Giri's not going anywhere and neither is Collins say good-bye the Araujo.
Jazzman | 2:08 p.m. Aug. 16, 2007
Please, Please, Please, get rid of Araujo. He is terrible and is maybe.....maybe good for a foul or two. (which he does constantly.)
Mike | 2:28 p.m. Aug. 16, 2007
don't forget that those consitent fouls that Araujo commits are also consistently turn overs because their offensive.
jman | 4:13 p.m. Aug. 16, 2007
The only thing that is for sure, is that AK47 is out of ammo. His style of play suits run and gun teams that are up-tempo and don't worry about defense and set plays. Other than a couple of good games in the playoffs, he has been nothing short of a liability to the Jazz. I was hoping Utah would have traded him off for a veteran forward who could come in and give Utah a few productive minutes and fill in the leadership shoes that Harper left behind. J. Howard was still an option last I checked, and regardless what Phil J. says, Milsap could play the 3 spot very nicely taking someone like Memo out on the perimeter and allowing Milsap to do the banging inside. Being a better rebounder and scorer than AK was last year should more than make up for the other team getting a few points out of their 3. The team chemistry would be better without the Russian crybaby.

As far as Hoffa is concerned, nobody works harder than he does in and out of practices. Yes he does get into foul trouble, but he has earned the respect of Jerry and the other coaches with his desire to play and as far as I am concerned earned his right to play on the team. If they want to let someone go, Collins would be my first choice. To me, he is a skinny version of Ostertag, lazy and unmotivated.
Clairvoyant | 5:02 p.m. Aug. 16, 2007
AK will have a great year....
Anonymous | 5:57 p.m. Aug. 16, 2007
The thing about Hoffa is that he has no talent. I know he works hard and that's great but what good is he if he gets worked over by everyone. I don't want to pay someone to just foul. Collins can at least give you SOME productive minutes.

And Jerry Sloan since coaching is so easy for you I don't know why you just don't take over. First off on your second point Brewer doesn't give effort that's why he was on the bench most of the season, C.J. still has not signed, and Almond is not ready to be a starter.

I like your third point but you are going to have to trade him for a contract that matches his dollar for dollar which is tough to do with his contract. An example would be Garnett's trade. Minnesota took on 7 players.

You can't trade Giri because he is the only shooting guard that has showen that he can shoot a jump shoot.
Anonymous | 9:58 p.m. Aug. 16, 2007
well mat harpring can shoot a jump shoot
Fess4pres | 1:43 p.m. Aug. 17, 2007
I think Fess is going to be a stud! Trade Collins and Giri to get a decent two guard, keep Haffa on board to back up Memo and get physical with Timmy Duncan and company, and let Fess play in Orem for a couple years to beef up and get more polished.
Tyson | 4:14 p.m. Aug. 17, 2007
Good for Jazzman!! Araujo is terrible!! Get rid of him!! Holy smokes... why is everyone sayin that Fess needs to play in Orem?! He's better then the NBDL! Let him back up Memo! He's do tons better then Araujo!
Kevinator | 6:10 p.m. Aug. 17, 2007
Get rid of Gira and Collins and bring Hafa off the bench backing up Memo/Booz
Terry M. Haimes | 11:26 a.m. Aug. 20, 2007
The Jazz need Araujo,Collins and Geri. Nobody can stop up the middle like Araujo except Shaq. Jazz have an undersized scoring front line that plays soft (except Millsap on the soft), size and muscle are needed ie Araujo and Collins. Fess may be the answer down the road but not now. Gri is one of the best shooters around and he plays hard. Williams needs to do a better job of delivering the ball to him. Watch last years films, Williams was consistently late making passes to Gri.

Don't worry about AK47, he is the only human I have ever seen that can play all five positions. He is essential for the Jazz to win a Championship. I hope Sloan will play him at the 2 more this year so he and Harpering (knees will last longer than you think) can be on the floor together.

If CJ and Brown can find a home they are gone. I assume they can still take the qualifing offer.

I just hope Ainge don't wake up and sign Hoffa.
TonganKid | 11:28 a.m. Aug. 20, 2007
If we could start a 7 foot lazy oger..we can definitely start this kid. He Got Game! something the O'guy had none of!
BigPoet | 4:46 p.m. Aug. 20, 2007
Are the Jazz leaning toward keeping Araujo or telling him goodbye? Who can tell me?

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