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In Hindsight: Jazz Depth in Question at Shooting Guard Position
Posted by: Ryan Tegtmeier on July 17th, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Wesley Matthews was the best option for shooting guard, in my opinion; he has greater potential to be as good as Bell, Korver, or Brewer. These things he can do with steals, 3 pointers, shooting, and defense. He is already showing that. He is also a tough, competitive, and diligent player, from what I have heard in interviews. However, I have read by 3 reliable sources that the Jazz would be over the salary cap by somewhere over 12 million, if you include the penalty, if they were to keep Matthews. I wish that they could’ve kept him somehow for his long term worth as he gets better and knows Sloan’s system more. The Jazz were in dire need of fixing a somewhat thin shooting guard position problem when they signed Bell – seeing that they needed a player that shoots as well as the others that I mentioned above when the offense breaks down at the end of the shot clock. I don’t quite have the answer to that dilemma, but it is a big problem. The Jazz have multiple “tweeners” to fill the small forward position during games in Kirilenko, Hayward, Miles, and Millsap. Miles is a very up and coming player as he already is there, however, he is the youngest player and I would like to see a veteran in the game first rather than youth. Millsap is just as young but a better player all around, in my opinion, Hayward needs to stay with the team to see how far he will go, and Kirilenko is invaluable. My question is can Miles be waived or leave the team somehow to free up the cap space to re-sign Wes? I really don’t know how if that is a good option or not, so that is why I am asking. Please let me know how that works. One more point that I want to make is that the Jazz lost the first 3 games of the Lakers/Jazz series in 2010 by an average of 4.67 points; da Jazzzsss could have easily been up 3-0 going into the last game, which the Lakes handedly beat them in, and won the series in one of the next, if needed, 3 games. So, they have a team that can hang with the Lakes and even beat them in a series; one of their biggest problems, though,was with shooting outside 12 feet consistently a little bit. I’m not sure if I am right on this, I just want to hear your opinions. Please give me some constructive feedback.
Replies: 12
Views: 456
12 Responses
Your an idiot Ryan. CJ Miles is still growing as a player and could end up being a very decent player why waive him to over pay Matthews? Thats the last thing we need to over pay another player. I loved Matthews don’t get me wrong but he is not worth that contract. Yeah maybe after that contract is up and he has grown he may be worth that much but right now he is not. The Jazz are going to play Hayward at the 2 more than likely. The Jazz do not need 3 SG’s. The Jazz need to worry about a backup for Millsap more than trying to sign Matthews. The Jazz Depth Chart as of today is below.
Dwill/Price/Gaines
Bell/Hayward/CJ
CJ/AK/Hayward
Millsap/AJ/Memo
AJ/Memo/Fes
You tell me whats more important, another big or Matthews?
Clearly another big.
Waiving Miles would meen we still have to pay his contract. EVEN THAN he is only making 3.75 a year. Plus why would you wanna lose his 3 point ability? He is by far the most athletic. And you are forgetting about how Deron can easily make the shot with the clock winding down. All I can say is… very poor written article.
I agree that a center is more important. And like I said, I love Miles’ game. I was so disappointed that Wes couldn’t be on the team anymore, though. I guess that you might be right after all; CJ leaving may be worse than Wes staying. I wonder.
this article has so much garbage. It’s mostly false and craziness.
Oh and the Jazz have very good depth if you ask me, maybe not so much at the point or at center but every well else looks fine to me.
Matthews has great potential but no where near worth the contract Portland offered him and considering his reaction when he found out Utah was not going to match, he was truly disappointed but thats what you get for listening to a money sucking agent looking for a good pay day as well. NBA has become crazy with these contacts. It will come to a point where fans will not be able to afford to attend games.
Matthews has potential but he had one good season in the Jazz system. Matthews could just be a system player and we have seen that with guys like Shandon Anderson ETC. Also, CJ Miles has GREATER potential then Matthews and i mean GREATER.
But when will we see that potential in Miles? I’ve been waiting for years for him to come out and start playing with his raw talent out of high school. He only averaged 9.9 points a game last season and that was his fifth season. I do know the Jazz’s main points were to Boozer, Okur and Williams. But if CJ had a better percentage that would help the Jazz the most for the loss of Wes.
CJ improves year by year. Now with the missing scoring in Boozer and Korver he knows he will step up. I think that he will be not quite an all-star but he is one of the top NON all-stars I’ve seen next to Jefferson and JR Smith.
We have a hard enough time getting talent to play for us, or, as with CJ, building a player to be a solid contributor. Why would we dump a several year project in CJ? Wes is good, but i’m getting sick of hearing everyone say they’d practically trade Deron just to keep him. He is actually quite replaceable, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job in acquiring Raja. Wes was not worth that money, and if we didn’t win with this team last year, why do we want to do the same thing again? We ARE very weak at the 2 spot. We have a 34 year old, a rookie who everyone is fantasizing will come in and be perfectly nba ready, and a fairly low-potential guy in Jeffers. We still need a good backup SG and big man before I’ll rest easy.
First off love Matthew!! But no way is he worth that much… Second matthews basketball IQ,heart and toughness is one million percent higher than CJ’s.. Those are things you cannot teach… That’s why Matthews is in the game when it counts in the 4th qrt. As a side note I like CJ but you’re kidding yourself if you think he is better.
@ Casey…play nice. If you disagree, make your point. I don’t agree with Ryan either, mainly because Matthews already signed his contract in Portland and we are financially committed to Miles, no backing out of that now. But starting your comment with “You’re an idiot” is not only unnecessary, it’s just ugly.