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Utah Jazz: Sloan may toy with starting lineup
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As soon as Boozer is on the floor the other team just runs steady pick n roll involving him. They know what will happen--so do we. He seems mentally incapable of learning to defend it which translated means he won't make the effort.
Alternatively, Millsap has been a joke too.
Although Fesenko is not much offensively he INSTANTLY changes the game defensively. I saw multiple times where he altered shots that did not go in and I saw at least 2 different players dribble into the paint, saw Fess, and then turned around and dribbled straight back out.
When was the last time an opponent ever did that with Booz or Okur standing in front of them?
Never.
All opponents see with those two is a layup which they get uncontested repeatedly.
This team clearly does not believe they can win with Boozer on the floor. Most of them have quit playing any D they were all talking about in preseason.
It just does not work when ALL players are not committed.
This season is already a disaster.
In defense of Sloan/FO I would like to make the following points. They view it all from a longer term perspective.
They know they will move Boozer one way or the other sooner or later. If they can get good play out of him in the short run so much the better.
They know CJ and Korver will heal. That will fix the zone problem.
However, the deeper problems such as NO back up PG, poor defense, PFs who are to short and coaching biases won't fix themselves. Only changes in players and maybe coaches will fix those.
out of the game when he is hot. And put Boozer, on the bench. Please
He gets some blocks but it is usually in help defense NEVER on his own man as they just "get into him" and shoot over the top.
I am no Locke fan but heard some of his stats on the radio yesterday before the game.
AK on the bench the Jazz are -24 against opponents.
AK on the floor the Jazz are +4 against opponents.
Sure that does not mean just leave AK on the floor 24/7 but what it does mean is they are completely defenseless when he is off the floor.
Just saying--we have to get some players on the floor who will defend or our lottery pick will be within one selection of the Knicks pick we are getting.
Kind of quandry though. We have to get Fess on the floor but we obviously lose offense when we do--he and AK are the only players we have that defend the paint at all.
There may be better options than Alston but he would do the Jazz no financial harm and probably would instantly solve 2 immediate problems. He may be worth an extra 5-10 wins this season depending on DWill wear and tear.
SG: Wes Matthews
SF: Kirilenko (sad that he's the best option now)
PF: Koufos
C: Fess
My reasoning:
Yeah, we'll probably get the same result (losing), but atleast they would all play hard and be fun to watch, a la 2004 Jazz team. Wes Matthews is a better shooter than Brewer. Koufos and Fess will add a defensive presence, and HUSTLE. Basically, I'm sick of watching Okur, Boozer, Millsap and Brewer get a free pass because they have experience. None of them are producing this year, so why not try fresh blood?!
Did John actually ever laugh?
He did, however, help the bigs against the post-up players.
Jerry, please do the honest and morally correct thing and walk away. Deep down you know that you offer nothing to the future of this franchise. If you really love this team and it's fans and city/state, then do the right thing and retire.
SG: Brewer
SF: Korver, when healthy
PF: Boozer
C: Okur
Head Coach: Scott Layden or Frank Layden or Jeff Hornecek or John Stockton or Ty Corbin or Tom Nisalke or Hot Rod or Ron Boone or Gail Miller. ANYBODY BUT SLOAN.
My reasoning:
Sloan is poison to the immediate and long term success of this franchise.
Can you hear that in the distance? What is that sound?
CLANK!!!
Ya, that would be yet another WIDE OPEN UNCONTESTED BREWER JUMPSHOT.
It is just unsustainable.
Wide open and he misses more than he makes.
Conversely, we all cringe when our opponents get wide open looks because we know more often than not they make them.
It is not rocket science.
This team has serious personnel problems. There is nothing serious wrong with the coaching..we just have a bunch of players who can't/won't defend and can't score when left wide open.
No coach is suddenly going to make Brewer a shooter. Don't kid yourself. Good athlete but a shooting guard who can't shoot is not going to get the job done.
Every team we see just packs the paint.
We fluked into a win against the Knicks.
WHY?
AK hit his shots from outside. If he would have had just an average night we lose easily. It sure wasn't the defense that stopped the Knicks.
Boozer seems to do better at C when combined with Millsap or Koufos at PF.
AK/Mathews are needed to open the inside game from the outside. They will have to be paired with Brewer from time to time as they can not play 48 minutes.
The biggest problem is PG. If DWill can't go or go well, AK may have to play point forward.
Maybe change the pace to super slow and use Fez Koufos on the inside. Make it a defensive struggle/slow down game? That would milk more minutes out of DWill, AK and Mathews.
Sloan is going to have to actually coach this game and that means make some adjustments for the players who are actually playing well and forget his usual rotations.
Sloan has always kissed Boozer (and most VETs). It is time he started playing people who will actually play hard.
PG: Deron
SG: Korver
SF: CJ
PF: Boozer
C: Fes
This is the best "jazz" lineup. Excellent point guard, two shooting wings, a scoring power forward, and a big (hopefully defensive) center. Also the bench becomes very good here.
PG: Price
SG: Brewer
SF: AK
PF: Millsap
C: Memo
Sprinkle Kuf and Mathews in the mix, and I will take that 2nd team against anyones backups in the league. Both the starters and 2nd team have a good mix of talent and hustle and defense (relitively speaking).
PG: Deron
SG: Mathews
SF: Brewer
PF: Millsap
C: Memo
and second unit:
PG: Price
SG: CJ
SF: AK
PF: Boozer
C: Fes
Something needs to be done and replacing unmotivated players with different unmotivated players will still be a loss.
I hope the Jazz and Knicks both keep losing. Two top picks in the draft is way better than a one a done 8th seeed in the playoffs. Especially if the Jazz get a new coach.
Fire/Retire Slown please.
I predict Slown will be the next coach gone. Out of a job before Chirstmas.
PG: Williams
SG: Matthews
SF: AK
PF: Millsap
C: Fesenko
Matthews and AK have been shooting it well enough from outside and I think this group would be good defensively.
or this...
PG: Williams
SG: Brewer
SF: AK
PF: Okur
C: Fesenko
I would really like to see Fes and Okur on the court together more. They havent used it much this year but when they have it has been effective. This is probably the starting lineup I'd like to see most right now.
Before Boozer got hurt this was his team to some extent and it reflected his mood swings. After he was out for ever the team moved on and it became DWill, Okur and to some extent Millsap's team. With Boozer back the chemistry leadership is unsettled (at best).
Things are so bad right now Sloan does not need to worry about Egos. He has and needs to worry about keeping the right combinations on the floor at all times in spite of having limited options.
The Jazz are desparate for this win. Who starts is not relevant. What is relevant is keeping a combination of players on the floor who maximize the net score. Sloan will have to constantly change the mix of players to both maximize scoring and defense all night in order to win.
In my opinion that is what he should have been doing for several years instead of just running his preset rotations by the clock.
It is long past time for Sloan to scrap his Vet bias and ego management and actually coach the game to win.
When you have a team that is this disfunctional and Sloan has made all of the decisions in the last 3 years it is pretty obvious who you hold accountable.
What ever you do DON'T hand the team to Phil. He can't run it better than Sloan. Corbin or Layden, maybe?
The next season the Jazz substituted AK for Miles and the next season the Jazz's +/- was about -18 for over 700 minutes. Now Boozer was injured so during that time the Jazz Millsap played in that lineup.
The point is Boozer and Okur cannot be successful together. You need one defensive big man. Sloan cannot make them play defense.
The Jazz need to trade either Boozer for a small forward so we can have AK back play PF some times and get Fess more minutes
1-Sloan out(Take a hint from New Orleans..)
2- Take Boozer and Okur with him or bench them.
3- Get a shooting guard who can shoot
4- Hire Jeff Hornacek to coach
5- The Utah press need to quit making excuses and actually report the sports news and quit kissing up to the Millers
6- Keep praying the Knicks are as bad as the Jazz
Starters:
PG: DWill
SG: Mathews
SF: AK
PF: Memo
C: Fez
you could have a rotation of big men for the 4/5 depending on matchups, and soon as Korver/Miles are healthy, nice depth at the wings.
I believe that starting line-up is the best combo of Offense & Defense.
What do you all think?
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