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Nice to be Back….
Posted by: Shane on November 27th, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Now that the lockout is unofficially over….let the speculation begin.
The Jazz have several questions to answer, many of which will be addressed before the season begins. Do we use the amnesty now on Okur or Jefferson or save it for later? What free agents could fill much needed holes? Do we bring AK back? Do we trade Millsap? Re-sign Watson?
Details of the new CBA are just now coming out, which will impact the strategy Jazz management will take. Allegedly, the Jazz have already zeroed in on some free agents they want to target. Two free agents I like are Jeff Green from Boston or Thaddeus Young from Philly. Both are SF and would give us some added athleticism. Of course if we re-sign AK, that would change our SF needs.
The pool is weak for free agent point guards, which is why I’m in favor of bringing back Watson. He is a solid player that knows the team and wants to be here. I wouldn’t be opposed to going after Chalmers as a back-up, but I don’t foresee that happening.
Trade speculation is big, but I doubt the Jazz will make any big moves. I would like to see the Jazz target Rondo in a trade deal, but its highly unlikely the Celts will move him this year as they try for one more title before rebuilding. I do feel, however, that Rondo is the best fit of PG’s in the league for the Jazz system. I also think we need to bring in a defensive stopper – I like Ariza or Tony Allen and think both would be good complements to the Jazz’s future core of Burks, Hayward, Favors, and Kanter. Depending on how those four develop, the Jazz will need to address offensive needs through the draft and through the FA market in 2012 and 2013.
It’s clear the Jazz are in a transition of developing young players. The playoffs will be a long shot for this year, but I’m excited for the future of the Jazz and what the young players can become.
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5 Responses
Playoffs won’t be a long shot. We should be in the hunt for a low spot and lets also remember what our last games looked like for us last year. The team started to show its talent, hayward was breaking out and we’ve added better pieces that will make practice and competition on our team that much higher.
Kanter is going to make Favors, Jefferson, Okur and Milsap all have to up their game. He’s going to make them all tougher. I also think we bring in an awesome big man coach and keep Fez, he is just around the corner from growing up and really starting to be a contributor. And please don’t waste time bringing back Elson, he’s done, we have Evans we can give minutes to and though I know he isn’t a power forward or center he still deserves 15 minutes a game and can produce far better than most with the minutes he’s given. Lets get better talent than Elson to help us.
Burks, Hayward and Miles all will have to push each other very hard, and Bell (Should be Traded for not producing and being a baby last year and he is a cancer) he will have to play out of his mind to even have a chance to play in my opinion. I would take AK for 5 mill or less, but it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if we didn’t bring him back either. His inconsistent outside shot and stupid choices down the stretch and injuries really start becoming question marks. I know his stats and I know for the money he would be well worth it, but that’s playing time he’s taking from the youngsters that are our future.
We definitely need to make some additional moves to beef up our options at point, a couple injuries and we’re in trouble and Harris has struggled to stay healthy so we need to work there to add help. Oh and I think Price is done developing, he isn’t adding anything else to his game that helps us and his defense doesn’t offset his other liabilities. He needs to stop getting into d__k measuring contests on the court. So I don’t see him as helping us. I like him but we need more solid talent and a true point guard.
Rondo would be awesome, but we’ll have to give up a lot to get him and I sometimes question his attitude. Not a really dun and outgoing guy that you like to have around the locker room, but he has the experience we need and a lot of heart. I like the idea for sure, but Harris is going to show us he is a force in the league. We don’t need him to be Chris Paul although that would be nice!
Anyway, from what I’ve listed we have what it takes to compete for the playoff’s and honestly if we give this group the excuse of being young and falling back on that instead of putting in their minds that they can compete with anyone right now, then we slow their development process. They need to feel that they can compete right now because they can.
There is no way Fez gets resigned, we have too many big men as it is without him. He gives nothing, no chance he is given a contract.
I don’t understand why people even CONSIDER or are comfortable with the fact of waiving Al Jefferson(the best center this team has had since Eaton) or Paul Millsap? It’s honestly the dumbest thing and i don’t understand it. Jefferson is a machine on both ends and loves it here so does Paul. This new CBA didn’t go as much as the owners would have liked so alot of this for small markets is going to have to depend on loyalty and we have to great loyal players. There is no viable reason or ANYONE better out there to get in exchange(realistically that is). Big Al and Millsap stay, it’s a no brainer
We have guys at 6′8” to 6′11”, but no one that is 7′1” and with his weight.
I would understand if we didn’t resign him, but I think he still has a lot of potential and could offer some big combonations with what we have. 1st of all you can never have to many big men. 2nd of all if we play hard defense with these bigs expect fouls to rack up especially with a young team, which means fewer minutes and higher rotations. 3rd is you can always use a guy like him here or there on the court or in a packaged deal if the opportunity presents itself, and he’s cheap for us.
I want to see the nasty side of Fez and use him like a bruiser… send him out to inflict pain and put people on the ground. I liked how he got chippy last year towards the end of the season.
I wouldn’t be totally discounting Fez being done in Utah, not yet.
Not that he is a center peice… there are so many other better things to talk about, but there aren’t many with his size and still have quick feet like he has. He has a lot of potential, and is someone to have to accent our better talent or to bail us out of bad situations like foul troubles.
I would agree with Colby on Fess. I don’t care if he is a seven footer. He does not have the mentality to make it. It would surprise me to ever see him in the NBA again and if so he will have his hinney full of splinters. Thke only potential he has is to be a clown, which is his best feature.
The fact that Fez both threw a ball at kobe and tried to cheap shot him with the knee makes me want to pay his salary to stay.