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Observations from the Milwaukee Game
Posted by: JRN5150 on March 4th, 2013
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Well, that game really sucked for Jazz fans. It had its fun points but the end just ruined it. Here are some things that I noticed tonight.
Things that some guys here usually blame on Al still happened in his absence. We had 2 shot clock violations, Struggled to guard the pick and roll(especially in the first half), guards were killing us with penetration, and Millsap got plenty of post iso down the stretch. I thought that was interesting.
Gordon freaking Hayward. He played like a champ the whole night until 3 mins left in the game. Crunch time struggles… again. He had 2 turnovers and a really ugly attempt at a game winner in the last 3 mins of regulation. I wish he was good for all 48 for once instead of only 45. Hopefully he gets over that quick. I think part of the problem is that we shouldnt have drive to the hole in crunch time. Thats where he makes his mistakes.
Ty Corbin is bonkers. Did you see the expression on Favors’ face while he was on the bench for the last hour of the game? I wouldnt be surprised to hear trade demand in the post game interview (just kidding). But he was MAD and I dont blame him. He was having a career night until ty pulled the plug after three quarters. #firecorbin
Kanter is really coming along after a second consecutive SOLID performance. Despite a very ugly start he turned it around. Its frustrating to watch young guys. I see a play where Kanter gets it in the post and flails around for a little before turning it over. I begin to yell and then he makes a huge play right after. I feel very comfortable with him overall after the last two games. He came up huge down the stretch for us. Excited to see him play more minutes.
Burks played some awesome offense tonight from the PG. Only one problem, In 36 mins he tallied 3 assists and 6 TOs. I think playing SG might suit him better but he definitely needs the ball a lot more to be effective at this stage in his career. I am hoping to see him start for the rest of the year. He certainly deserves it over the PGs and Marvin and even Foye right now.
Demarre Carroll played great again tonight. Nice offense in the first half and hustle plays throughout. Too bad he missed that free throw.
The Jazz need a guy that can hit a big shot from the perimeter. Al is a world class closer. Millsap did a great job filling that role tonight in the post. The problem is that when we need a three where do we go? Milwaukee was set in that situation. Do you guard Jennings? Reddick? Ellis? We need a closer that can hit the big shot from anywhere. Al is limited in his range and Paul is not only less consistent in the clutch but isnt reliable from outside. We need someone to be “the guy”.
Everybody that scored played great. Highlighted by the 3 double doubles in the post and Burks’ great offensive play. It just didnt happen tonight.
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Forgot to add to the second paragraph that those problems would point to the coach if they are happening no matter who is in there.
I do agree about Hayward, too often he goes all the way to the hoop and draws contact, expecting to get a foul that never comes. He needs to stop and pull up and few feet earlier and knock down a short jumper. He started doing that at one point a while back, but he’s gone away from it again.
Although Hayward did some great things, I think you missed the 3-16 shooting for the night. That has to improve.
I think Millsap makes the players around him better, what do you think?
I think Hayward got use to getting those calls. He should have realized the refs were not giving the Jazz the calls and tried to make a shot rather than try to get the foul.
Corbin is just straight trash. So, how exactly does Watson help the team. Foye and Marvin are just OFF, they look out of it. But, nope Corbin will be Corbin.
I give up.
Watson,Foye,Marvin shot a combined 0-15 from the field for a combined zero points total, Jennings and Ellis combined for 54 points and 20 assists… but I’m sure they will all start still.
No Patrick I don’t think that. I think too many people think too much of him, particularly on this site.
We could have the Dream Team in their prime on this roster and we’d still lose because Tyronne Corbin is an epic expletive. But KOC drafted Hayward and that means his job is done for the decade. He is so in love with that draft pick that he feels as though he’s arrived and cemented himself as the best of all time. Anything else we say, he will just go back to that draft and how the fans thought it was a dumb decision.
Disco, Really? Find me one person not in a rookie contract making what Millsap makes and who out performs him on a nightly basis. For that matter maybe you should look and compare him to Al, Boozer, and other players getting anwhere from a third more to twice as much pay and for what? an extra 2 points, and 2 rebs? Really? Favors has played one game, where I could say he is ready to take the starting roll, and that happened last night. Take Al off the team and keep a 3 man rotation of Sap, Favors, and Kanter and it wont matter who starts because there are minutes for everyone.
Hayward had an off night shooting but his efficiency was still good 13 pts on 16 shots because he’s getting to the free throw line at an elite level. He also had 7 rebounds and led the team in assists with 5. The Bucks defense was keying on Hayward and he wasn’t getting much help on offense. He was having to create his own shots, and he was creating offense for other players. The Jazz shot poorly overall. If they had shot better Hayward might have had 10 assists. He had a lot of pressure on him. In addition, his mother and father were at the game. That might not have been a plus for a young guy.
One reason he doesn’t get foul calls on drives is he still has a bad habit of fading away from the contact in order to get the shot off. It’s a habit he picked up in college. NBA refs don’t give calls to players who fade the contact. That’s why Burks goes straight at players even when he’s over matched. Hayward has improved on that tendency somewhat. When he eliminates it, he will move from the top 5% of NBA players in number of possessions used at the free throw line to the top 1% in NBA. That’s huge, and he’s going to be there in a year or so. Great scoring players have that ability. Free throws is what gives them the big numbers more consistently than seen from others.
There were a hundred things that could have changed the outcome of game.
I’m not a Corbin fan particularly. I think he relies too much on veterans that are as inconsistent as the younger players. Corbin’s biggest problem in coaching the Jazz is their inconsistency. If a golfer hits a slice every time, then their consistency in hitting improperly means they can be helped with coaching. If they hook, slice, shank and occasionally hit a good shot, they’ve got a real problem in figuring out what to do to fix it. The Jazz do all of those things and from game to game no one knows what to expect.
Corbin has a staff of coaches. They’re not idiots. They’ve all be around the NBA for many years. Corbin listens to his assistants. If any of them had an idea about how to get consistency out of this team, Corbin would listen. The entire coaching staff is baffled.
In the off season the Jazz will lose several players. If they get a PG who fits (Mo and Harris have not and wouldn’t have ever fit.) then it will help with the inconsistency.
When the team comes back next year, it will be younger. (Remember Corbin likes veterans, so he’ll push for some. Lindsey wants to rework the Jazz in his image and he’s not afraid of youth.) Young teams are always inconsistent so next season is likely to feel like this one. Sometimes the young guys will look and feel brilliant and sometimes they will look like they are young.
The big difference in my mind is this. Right now this is an inconsistent team with a mix of veterans and youth. It’s a middle level team and that’s all this mix is going to be.
Next year’s young guns teams will still be inconsistent but it will be moving up. If the Jazz can resign the core young guys with extensions, in 3 years or so these guys will be making real runs into the playoffs. The one thing that is an if is if Lindsey can find complementary players that make the core better and not veterans who demand playing time regardless of how it impacts the core or who simply play for stats.
The Jazz have to spend $55 mil in salary approximately to meet the minimum payroll. That means they’ll have pay veterans close to $30 mil next year. The problem is after that the core guys new contracts are going to take up a lot of that money so they Jazz likely won’t sign anyone to a long term deal over two years. This summer Favors and Hayward can sign extensions, which then tells the Jazz how much they have left in 2014-15 for free agents. Marvin’s player option is one key to how much they’ll have to spend next year, but given his numbers I expect he’ll opt in and stay with the Jazz hoping to improve on his stats before a contract year. I also think the Jazz may resign Millsap for 5 years in the 8 mil range with most of it guaranteed.
Not being able to sign younger veterans to longer term contracts is a problem so it’s going to be a difficult balancing act for Lindsey. Finding complementary players on short term deals is iffy. D Carroll turned out to be a hit. Raja, Mo and others no so good.
As far as the game goes, my preference would have been to see Favors replace Millsap in the overtime. Millsap’s ankle was impacting his game. Either way if the Jazz had lost, half the fans would have been complaining that the experience of Millsap was more important.
#Firecorbin. No more bullsh*t excuses.