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management a huge question mark!!!
Posted by: kim chadwick on March 29th, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.jazz management(kevin o’ connor) will tell you as fans to be patient. Kevin has tore apart a team that three years ago were winning 50+ games a year. He decided to remove players instead of adding the right pieces.just consider a few of these moves. we got bell in place of kyle korver, wesley mathews let go and a star in portland. Boozer well for jefferson , well he fell into that one. eric maynor , brewer gone. williams for a draft pick and favors which is said to be a project and draft pick which has said to be the weakest draft in twenty years.
Look at who we have on our bench, which he was so proud of in november. have not heard him telling us how good he has done now.So now he says give us a couple of years. Sounds like he hopes millerswill let him collect a few million more dollars before the wise up and put blame were it belongs. It seems as if Jerry Sloan saw the future and said to old for this stuff see ya. just to classy to slam the jazz and management. Greg Miller start at the top if we are rebuiding and try some new management because O’connors track record stinks and he is not fooling the average jazz fan. Thats why 60% of season ticket holder ( me included ) refuse to re up. Fix it before it is to late.
Replies: 16
Views: 579
16 Responses
He did what he could with the resources he had available to him. The negative things that have transpired with out teams all lead back to the same thing. Matthews= Money, Brewer= Money, Maynor= Money, Korver= money. Boozer same story. And why couldn’t we get Williams to stay? Because we didn’t have the money to lure the free agents here that we needed to. If you really want to blame some blame the owners.
and who signed them to these contracts, okur $10 million iknow korver from charity softball would have taken 4-5 million to stay . had no offer and i agree it is all about money and if we were in ther shoes we would ask for it to. so i dont totally disagree with you. also believe who you want but mattews said in interview , he never got offer from jazz either seems to be a pattern here hmmmm
Oh Matthews got an offer, his agent just happens to be a slime ball. Okur would have been worth the money had he not gotten hurt as well. If we had the money to attract good free agent we never would have needed guys like Korver or Okur. You can’t really complain about Korver though. Matthews was supposed to have replaced him.
I will admit i would love to be the fly on the wall in the jazz office so we all really now what was going on. just for the record i really hope they can turn it around.
Well I know the dentist that does all the dental work for everybody in the Jazz organization. They talk to the people there. I hear something interesting every now and then.
It’s never fun to be part of a team when they are losing, or going through a down period. I understand your frustration. I think a great many things kind of converged at one time with this franchise. I’m not apologizing for management, because I haven’t been on board with all the choices that have been made myself, but I try to look at each situation on a case by case basis.
I personally believe Jerry Sloan when he said that he just didn’t have the energy anymore to be a head coach. The man is nearly 70 years old, and putting up with spoiled professional athletes is difficult enough for a coach that’s in the prime of his life. The Jazz brass literally pleaded with Jerry to reconsider, but he knew it was his time to step down. I do believe, given a fair shake, Corbin will get this thing turned around, and be a pretty decent coach in his own right. I like the fact that the Jazz picked someone off their own staff, who they had been grooming, and is ver familiar with our organization (both as a coach and player). Too often teams use “retread” coaches, and those guys usually don’t stay in one place long for a reason.
The Jazz really didn’t want to trade Deron Williams. Deron would still be here (regardless of the situation with Sloan) if he had only told managment he was committed for the long haul, and wanted to be a member of this team for years to come. They probably would have drawn up a contract extension the very next day. But, Deron didn’t do that. The Jazz didn’t want to end up like Toronto, or Cleveland, with their star player abandoning ship, and getting nothing in return. I loved Deron while he played here, and I will always be a fan of his. But, the Jazz made the only responsible decision they could under the circumstances, and I believe that Harris, Favors, and the two future draft picks, will one day be viewed as a very important, and positive move for this franchise.
Boozer was a different situation. He really didn’t want to be here. Indirectly, his departure allowed us to get the trade exception that ended up becoming Al Jefferson. That was a brilliant move in my book.
I was very disappointed how the Matthews situation was handled, and felt the Jazz made a huge blunder. Utah could have been more pro-active in the negotiations, and not allowed it to get to the point that it did (similar to how they bungled the Millsap situation, costing themselves millions of dollars). In Wesley’s case, it cost us the player. In all honesty, I think the Jazz really felt Matthews resigning was a given, which is why proceeding that, they allowed Korver to walk. I don’t think it was ever the game plan to lose both guys. They gambled, and they lost.
I think the jury is still out on Hayward, but when I look at the guys picked in the draft after him, I still think long term, they may have got the best player available at the time they selected. Evans was a steal in the second round. Matching the OKC offer sheet to Miles was also a good decision. For a guy only making peanuts by NBA standards (around 3 million), Miles is a pretty good bargain (as his recent 40pt game shows).
A rookie coach, three young rookie players, and two more on the way, makes for a pretty bright long term picture, but a very dismal here and now. It will require great patience to endure this rebuilding period we are passing through, but Kevin has put together a great team before, so I know he’s capable of doing it again. The D-Will era had a nice five year run, but the Lakers always seemed to have our number in the end. So were now going through a transition, and I suggest, you take the same mental approach as I do. Don’t concentrate so much on the winning and losing, but watch a team of young talent go through the growing pains of becoming a winner. It’s the losses now, that will make the future victories that much sweeter. One day your the kid in the playground taking the lumps, and the next, your the kid in the playground dishing them out.
Spencer you can’t blame it on the millers we have the 6th highest payroll and you are claiming its about money. The only reason it is about money is because he invests in the wrong players and tries to replace great young players with old over the hill players if you do this as an organization you will go no where. thank goodness the ak cloud is going to finally gone that has been killing us for years.
blah…blah…blah
I’m so tired of these anti-KOC rants; I mean he has made some mistakes in the draft (but so have almost all GMs) & AK’s contract could’ve been more favorable & but I do think that he has done a pretty good job of keeping a competitive team assembled considering things like market-size & that almost no star players want to play in Utah.
Let’s play an “if game” for a moment, because that is what many of the criticisms of KOC that are scattered all over 360 seem to boil down to.
If Okur hadn’t been re-signed, he might not have gotten injured & he might be putting up borderline all-star numbers starting for a contender (let’s say the Bulls) & people would be blaming his departure on KOC.
For a former all-star center who can spread the floor offensively, rebound at a good clip, hadn’t missed many games during his entire career, has a championship ring & actually enjoys being in Utah, roughly $10 million is not a bad deal.
Okur got hurt playing for the Jazz in the playoffs last year, the way that some people gripe about him recently (which is another of my new found pet peeves), you’d think he got hurt tripping over a gym bag before the season or something stupid like that, & in any case his injury isn’t KOC’s fault.
Moving on…
As most rational fans long ago understood, matching Matthews contract would have been a ridiculous move at the time, even though most of us really wanted to keep Wes with the Jazz.
The Jazz were already luxury tax bound, Raja seemed like a reasonable alternative & Portland looked as if it were going to have its bluff called & have to eat a more/less bad contract, especially considering the number of talented wingmen already on their roster.
Then, Roy went done & Matthews excelled, while Raja never quite returned to form.
How was KOC supposed to know these things in advance & even if he had known, what was he going to do, push the Jazz payroll to the near Lakers-point?
moving on a little farther…
Personally, I don’t miss Korver the matador or the oft-injured Boozer the Matador II very much, but let’s just pretend for a second that they & Wes had come back this season, while Okur had been let go to help facilitate this, which also means that Fes would’ve become the default starter (or maybe Koufos or Elson), & think about what could have been & see if that is really a great team.
Well, that version of the Jazz had peaked more/less 3 years ago with a much better center & IMO weren’t likely to get any farther than the 2nd round of the playoffs anytime soon without major changes, which would still be undoable even with AK’s contract coming off the books this summer, because the team would still be way over the salary cap & wouldn’t exactly have any tradeable pieces that weren’t integral.
KOC like most of us isn’t perfect or psychic, but he is one of the better GMs in the league.
@jazzking correct me if I am wrong but his bad investments caused the lack of money to be spent. I felt like that was a given. The Okur signing made sense at the time, as did the monster contract AK got. We all thought we had a super star on our hands when AK got that deal. Turns out we were wrong.
For the most part I feel like KOC has done a decent job. His job is all about making intelligent investments(gambling). Sadly for us we have come out on the losing end on a few of the scenarios. I think he is a better evaluator of talent then most give credit for. To his name he has Deron, Milsap, Brewer, Matthews, Evans, CJ, and I am a firm believer that Maynor will one day start for another team. Tomic was a promising trade/pick as well, considering that other teams want to trade for his rights. I am not worried I think KOC will come away with some good players in the next two drafts and significantly improve this team.
Kevin’s main problem hasn’t been bringing in good players, as much as it has been holding on to them.
He’s pretty darn good at the former, but needs some work with the latter. Maybe he should find the talent, and put someone else in charge of making sure we secure it.
I agree with Spencer and Jason. KOC had good decisions and bad decisions, but the balance is certainly positive. I am pretty sure that within some years we will see that the DWill move was brillant not only because he will not going to resign (and will not do that with the Nets in 2012), but also because he will have to undergo wrist surgery. I am also confident that we will see Hayward’s selection as a quasi-steal … a guy who has capacities and a hard working mentality always ends successful.
DWill to Boozer’s cycle ended shorter than Stockton to Malone’s cycle. Jazz Basketball remains the same and will provide the frame for the development of our young troop. It will last years. And it is good as a fan to be part of a story since chapter 1.
The Bottom line is this. D-Will to Boozer, did we get a ring? Nope. We had the peices and they failed. Now those peices are gone and we are with new pieces. I never liked Boozer glad he is gone. Liked Korver, but he was eithe on, or off. 5 mil player, well if we wouldnt keep Wes Mathews, you knew we werent keeping Korver, Mathews was way better from the start.. Mathews, loved the guy, he was the only mistake, and you cannot control crooked managers. Memo, would have been worth the money had he not gone down, cant forsee injuries. You want to cry over the others who were let go, what numbers is brewer putting up. Bell is putting up same numbers as Korver, just takes his old body 10 more minutes to do it. But he is putting up average numbers for Bell with better shooting percentages, so you cant complain about that. Overall KOC is on the positive side, rather than down in the hole like you guys would project.
Biggest thing, he got us Al for Boozer. Cry over Boozer fools, I love Al and Milsap and what is slowly coming together. End of next yr this team should start shaping up. If not then blame him. But at the begining of this season we were winning games. Why did that end. If you can win games at the begining of the yr it should only get better. It didnt, we tanked and KOC did something about it. It will take time, if you dont want to give it to him, go cheer the laker or miami. Dont let the door hit ya.
A true fan cheers his team with tears in his eyes even when they are down and loosing. Its a family thing, you dont only cheer them when they are winning. If you want to win all the time, then change teams nightly and pick the big winner over the way underdog. I am a Utah Jazz fan, and though I hate loosing, I sure do Love my team. You will hear me cheering win or lose…. Thats from the players, to management. Looking at the bigger picture, KOC has done very well, and I will be patient. Who do you think Brought you many of the guys you cheered for in the past.. The ones your crying about losing, it was KOC. Its gotta be tough on him as well..
franchises dont make money losing. don’t make money can’t pay bills. can’t pay bills , lose franchise. I compare it to my own business, if i bring in clients because they promise the world and produce for six months than fall off the table and I over pay for a product , that won’t last to long before I’am
out of business.
Most businesses blame failure on employee’s and bad decisions made below. I believe it starts at the top. I love the jazz and hope the turn the ship around. Have bought season tickets for years and done there charity drives.( which most fans don’t) They ask all the time for donations and what the franchise can do. The Miller’s are great people and i think they will figure it out or they will sell.
Kim, it’s impossible for any franchise to have winning seasons every year of their existence. Losing is part of sports. It’s happens to every team in every sport at some point. The Lakers have had losing seasons, and Bulls have had losing seasons, and the Celtics were terrible for almost a decade. For the most part, even recently, the ESA is pretty full on most game nights, all things considered. It would take more then a couple losing seasons before the Millers ever started losing substantial revenue, because they have their hands in so many other ventures, that when one is struggling a bit, another, like the car dealerships, may be thriving. I wouldn’t worry about the Jazz leaving town anytime soon, even if the losses keep piling up. If they can afford to go into the luxury tax the last couple years, like they have, then they are obviously doing pretty well financially. If a rebuilding period isn’t your cup of tea, then take a year or two away, and enjoy the game again when the team is back to being a contender.
Fire KOC
You can fire KOC if you like. But think, how many losing seasons have we had with him here. He’s been with the Jazz for 12 yrs now.. Last yr, he knew we would be losing Boozer and brought us Al. Mathews was a mistake, but I still figure he is scoring in the positive. By end of next season, we will know for certain, and will be able to give accurate grades. But We love Al, and we love favors, and Milsap. Who got you those players? He even brought us Hayward, Harrison, Evans. Price was exciting to watch at one time.. Watson, I can give or take. Bell, has flopped, but even as a flop he is posting average figures and a better shooting percentage for the season, so whet did you guys expect? I say give it till next seasons end, if we are still at the bottom of the pile, then hang him.. Until then, you have to give him enough rope to do a proper job..