Comments about ‘Utah Jazz were shorthanded on Sunday’

It figures. Go with familiarity. Maybe Benoit or Donaldson are in shape. Polyniece plays all year around. Mikki Moore is a shell of what he was. How will he help us? He is a jump shooter,. He has not played well for 4 years now.

Typical Sloan and O Connor....

I love AK but how fragile can a guy be? Okur, the same. I miss the days of watching Stockton and Malone (include Horny in there), just play! This team has a couple of guy's that just seem to miss alot of time. I have no idea how painful the issues are I'm sure, but these two just make me scratch my head.

The Jazz are still missing that piece of the puzzle that win's a championship. KOC and Miller both know they need to spend the extra money to shore up the Jazz weaknesses. Spend the money Miller! The seats will be filled! Full fill your dream to win the NBA championship for Utah and let it be.

This is where giving away good players like Ronnie Brewer really hurts. This team seems injury prone for the last several years now. The Jazz have given away 2 good players this year, without getting anything in return, and now they don't have the bodies to fill up the roster when people get injured.

This is twice now that Koufos has gone to the D-league, only to see a rash of injuries immediately after...

Why all the injuries? Is it simply bad luck? Is it the players? Or is there something else? Back in the Stockton/Malone era, the Jazz seemed to have fewer injuries than anyone else in the league. Was it a matter of people following the lead of gritty leaders and playing through pain? Was there some conditioning coaching change, and our new staff doesn't know how to prevent injuries as well? Or maybe players of old just stayed in better shape on their own because of Malone's shining example?

Maybe it's just bad luck, but there really seems to be something different.

The Jazz have more than enough talent and depth to contend for and even win, an NBA championship. What they lack isn't more talent, what they lack is a total commitment every single night. In other words, in my opinion, what the Jazz lack is that heart that championship teams have. The Jazz are good and they will win more than they lose (while teasing us into believing that they can win it all). Without that total commitment and "heart" they will never be a championship team. This may be one one of the better Jazz teams from top to bottom that we have ever experienced (my opinion of course). When they are focused they can and will beat anyone. When they are focused I love to watch them play. Most of us can predict with some regularity when the Jazz will win and lose. Most of it based on their schedule. Pretty good, even great, against the better teams... no focus and losing against weaker opponents. All that being said, Go Jazz, I love you... most of the time.

You're right on. Those players don't care about winning or winning a championship.

Time to start preparing for the playoffs. And that means the best players need to be ready to go. And right now, that's not happening.

1. Point. DWill is playing pretty well most of the time. Can't argue with his numbers, but he still needs to push the ball up more. Price does pretty well when he's in - certainly light years better than our last two backup points. Gaines fills in pretty well, but still needs more time on the court.

2. Shooting guard - thank goodness Wesley Matthews is getting the time he needs. He's had a couple of real breakout games. Just needs to keep working on defense, assists, keeping from getting blocked on his drives, and minimizing t/o's. For a rookie to be playing this well is amazing. Korver's still #2, but I would give Jeffers a lot more time. He couldn't play any worse than our other backups.

3. SF - Get healthy, AK. Start Korver when he's not, and back AK up with Korver first and not miles.

4. PF - Boozer/Milsap is working fine.

5. C - Give Fex/Koufus lots of time to get them ready.

Boozer...not to make excuses but I'll make one anyway! Lakers never said a word about Bryant and Bynum being out...they just won 5 straight including the Jazz...Cavs beat the Spurs without Lebron. Since giving away Brewer this is now one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA.

Thank you, but the point that I am trying to make is: Of course the Jazz players and coaches care about winning and losing, and we all know that they play with pain almost every night... (you make a $100,000 dollars a game then you better play). For what ever the reason, and I certainly don't have the answers, they just don't have the "heart" of a Stockton or Malone, or the emotion and guts to put it all on the line every play. Players that can do that (like Matt Harpring for instance) are special players, or actors, or office workers or construction workers, etc. They may not have the most talent but you at least know what to expect, and who you can depend on night in and night out... who do you want on your team? I personally want the ones that will "play" with the heart and commitment of a champion. The individuals with a "no quit" attitude on every play, not just when it suits them. The real winners in life and on the court. Thanks again.

Uh dude isnt Brewer out with a pretty bad injury?

hey you forgot Miles,our secret weapon

True, Brewer is injured at the moment. But that injury probably wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been traded. Not that he was injured because he was traded, but he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Brewer has been injury free throughout his career up until now, and trading him away gave away one more player who could contribute in these types of situations.

I'm not complaining about the Brewer trade either. I'm just pointing out that this was the kind of problems that should be expected when you make trades that don't get you anything in return. It is almost unheard of to trade away a starter and get nothing in return. The Jazz are looking at the future and ignoring the present, and that comes at a price.

The real problem is that it's hard to get players to come to Utah. Players are turned off by the small market and the expectations of the fans. Fans here would never put up with a Kobe Bryant or a Gilbert Arenas, and players know this. They avoid Utah because they don't want to adhere to our standards.

The Jazz weren't shorthanded...they were just short!!

And they really aren't playing any worse on defense than they ever were, even without Brewer. The Jazz traded him because they couldn't afford to match another overpaid contract this summer. If Brewer had ever developed a jumpshot he'd still be here.

You're living in some fantasy world if you think the fans here wouldn't "put up" with a Kobe Bryant. He'd be a fan favorite here as soon as he put on a Jazz jersey for the first time.

It's interesting to me to read all of the posts and see how many people believe that they have an answer to problems that the Jazz may have. Right trade, wrong trade, right market, wrong market, right coach or wrong coach. Some of the opinions are valid opinions about what some of the Jazz issues are. As far as that goes, they all may be valid in their own way. As well intentioned as these observations and opinions may be however (I believe that all opinions and ideas are valid until proven differently) I still stand by my previous statements about the lack of "heart" that this team exhibits on a consistent basis . When this team discovers that "heart" (if they ever do) they will become world champions. I believe that they can discover it just as I believe that this determination and heart lives in all of us.

As the Four Tops would sing, "Its the Same Old Song."
They are frustrating to watch and cheer on because of their inconsistancy...Their players are too soft,
Sloan is too mechanical, and the coach does not do the obvious like play Fesenko. If I had season tickets, I would want a refund.

These are the kinds of things you come to expect with the stupid NBA schedule. Nothing like 3 games in 4 nights in 4 different cities, with travel, hotel beds and the like to screw up your body! The NBA needs to put in their next collective bargaining agreement a 65 game schedule and no back to back games!! Then maybe you wouldn't see these Dog games in March!!

How many shots did Fes have blocked last night? How rebounds were taken from him? Smaller players taking it to him. He needs to play with more aggression. He has to want it. Fes is big but has a very small heart and even smaller desire.

@steve, one reason why i think we have so many injuries, is that you can speculate sloan doesn't have the proper order in his substitution patterns, he plays people at the wrong times, this leads to situations where players get injured, for various reasons, physcoloigcal and physical, physcosomatic reasons as well. he overplays some players that shouldnt' get as much time as they do, and he underutitlizes players who really make a difference, thus, it leads to confusion for everyone, and since we are running at below optimum levels, the injuries come up out of the non-necessary conditions of needing everyone healthy, because of sloan, it wouldn't matter anyway.

Good point Jazz Cop. Good one. Couldn't agree more.