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Keep the team, fire the fans!
Posted by: Kalab on January 23rd, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.The recent post about letting Sloan go has pushed me over the edge. I cannot believe how fast loyalty fails in “jazz nation”. I realize that its frustrating around here lately but I have seen suggestions to trade every player except Williams and Okur. Players like watson and hayward, with tiny contracts who come out every nights and play their hearts out. And another thing, what could you possibly gain by getting rid of Fez? At his salary, do you honestly think you could improve the team? I even read a hate post forMatt Harpring. Whats that about?
Some quick thoughts;
I was looking through the wins and losses for the last couple seasons because I wanted to see if there was a pattern to losing streaks this time of year. While I didn’t really put my finger on one, I did notice something interesting. The season we went to the conference finals, we had two four game losing streaks, and one that was fivegames long. So four L’s here doesn’t mean the season is a complete failure. In fact four losses on the road is not that big of a deal at all. It sucks because we could have made up some real ground in the standings by beating some teams that we should be beating. And that it feels like the fans are the only ones who get how important even mid season wins are. The effort was lacking and we feel like we deserve better than that.
But the point I want to get at, is that I am really disappointed with many of the fans. Paul Milsap, in my opinion, has not been the same player since the all star snub. And I am not so sure Deron Williams isn’t a bit upset that he is losing the “popularity contest” known as the all star voting system. The sting of playing for a small market team I suppose. Which is why we need to really get behind our team! We need to get back to being the sixth man so to speak. Let the team know how important they are to us. That when they win we win, and when they lose we care. Stop posting that we want to get rid of them. Stop posting possible trades you put together. Stop posting line up changes that say a guy needs to go to the bench and stay there. In fact stop back seat driving the team all together. Because we all have our opinions but to to be completely fair a win in LA on tuesday or one at home one against the Spurs and all the fickle attitudes will change back to love again anyway. So instead of being negative angry fans, lets let this road trip be what ever it becomes and welcome the team back to the arena on wednesday with a sold out crowd and hundreds of signs that say we love our team, we love our coach, and we believe that this season is going to be one of the best in Jazz history!
And as a final note; GO MATT HARPRING!
Replies: 15
Views: 552
15 Responses
Glad to see someone else isn’t freaking out. I mean really? 4 loses and you want Sloan’s head. Its very disappointing. Would you rather have a new coach every year and probably have a record more like say the Timberwolves or the Kings? Firing our coach would be the dumbest thing ever. Its not Sloan’s system that is broken it’s the Jazz’s mindset at the moment and nobody can fix that for them but themselves.
In Larry Miller’s book “Driven” he explained that the reason the team had been so strong for such a long time is that it was loyal. From top to bottom. You work with players you dont just replace them. And you dont fire your coach after a minor speed bump.
Good post..I met a man years ago from the Boston area. He said a true dyehard fan is loyal to the bone. You support them no matter what. He did that and after many many years the Red Sox finally did win the World Series. Maybe the Cubs are next?? But then he saw the Celtics win thirteen NBA Championships also.
Great post! I agree, and is it just me or does it seem like Jazz nation is’nt as crazy this year as we usually are, come on guys let’s get together and be that crazy, obnoxious crowd the rest of the NBA hated.
I agree about supporting the team no matter what, but the definition of “fan” is not someone who sits by and blindly accepts whatever the team does. A four-game losing streak, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that big of a deal; what IS a VERY big deal is the fact that the Jazz are more than half way into the season and STILL haven’t been able to figure out their fundamental issues. I don’t care if the Jazz had found a way to miraculously win all four of those games, like they have for many of their wins this season, I would still be disappointed if they had played the way they did.
I haven’t missed a single quarter of a game this year, and even if they lose the next 10 games I don’t plan on missing any either. Having said that, I’m not blind to the fact that change needs to happen. Being 40 games into a season, a team shouldn’t still have the problem of trailing by double digits in every game, especially to bad teams. I was overjoyed to see Sloan put Hayward into the starting lineup. It’s a good start, although it will come with some growing pains with Hayward being a rookie and so tentative, but more needs to happen. Sloan deserves his share of the blame, but it’s much more the players’ fault. The players need to work together and run the offense and execute better. The Jazz have a long way to go.
taco’s on point. you can be a loyal fan and expect better results.
but, for what it’s worth, the people who continue to demand firing sloan are out of their G-D minds.
It’s not time for Sloan to go it’s time for Deron to start taking accountability
Agreed, Sloan has been through much worse and yet he’s still around. losing 4 in a row and you want him gone… psh. I think it’s just something that was going to happen, I would of thought we would’ve lost more at the beginning of the season rather than mid season, but hey, it was going to happen.
The Jazz usually have to hot spurts during a season, last year was November and January/February. Not being hot now just means we’ll get hot closer to the playoffs or in the Playoffs which would be great, to play the best ball of the season in the playoffs!
Patience, the Jazz will figure out everything: Slow starts, not executing to the fullest, more bench production, Millsap and Jefferson producing great evernight!
If not to the fullest this year, next year we will beasts. Look at the Spurs, Last year they got Richard Jefferson, they struggled all year trying to incorporate him eventually getting the 7 seed. This year 1 seed and off to the best start/record in franchise history. I just hope the Jazz figure it out by the playoffs, we could do some real damage if we click on all cylinders then.
when we win the bandwagon is full of fikle fans who jump off at the first loss or two. these are not real jazz fans. They are the ones we should let go. The Jazz will get going again soon. so fickle fans don’t jump on the band wagon when they do. We don”r need y9u.
Great Post Man!
We definitely need the feel of the sixth man from the crowd and us as fans need to stop whining so much about everything. And don’t get me wrong, i’m not at all happy with these 4 losses(just ask my wife), but i’m still pumped every time there is a Jazz game on and i try and speed home from school to watch them.
My wife asked me the other day, “why do you keep watching if you know they are gonna lose, it just makes you angry”. I told her that may be so, but i still get a chance to see who’s playing hard, who is still trying to give hope back to the team/fans, and as a fan.. i’m still with the team even if they are playing poorly.
Go Jazz!
These were not just 4 losses, 3 against sub-par teams and 1 against a contender. They should of gone 3-1 at a minimum on this road trip, not 0-4. Thats why the Jazz every year end in the same result cause they do everything the same every year except one thing and thats why many are saying change the one thing they haven’t yet. Those whom say keep Jerry, obviously your just like Jazz management and happy with 1st round playoff exits and pathetic losses to the lottery bound teams. The Jazz do not have the talent of the Stockton-Malone era and supporting cast to go back to the NBA Finals. An occasionally loss to a sub-par 500, happens, but with the Jazz it seems to happen more than it should. Last year, key example when they couldn’t even beat Minnesota, WOW. If the players are not even listening to the coach, which right now is obviously occuring, a coaching change is needed.
@michael…umm, every year ending up in the playoffs, often winning their division and making it into the second round, & twice having made it to the finals, is really crappy. Seriously, if that is bad, then pretty much all of the other teams royally suck. Maybe the Lakers should fire Jackson cause the Lakers have lost to sub-.500 teams & been on 4 game losing skids. They won’t because they know that a few bad losses do not make a season. Save the fire the coach stuff for when the team consistently fails to make the playoffs and has a losing record. Winning a championship would be great, but 29 teams fail to win one every year & many of those only occassionally even get in the playoffs. If the Jazz aren’t good enough for you, go bandwagon some other team.
My above rant was not to imply that fans should not want the team to be as good as possible or that questioning players, coaches &/or management or suggesting trades or firings is somehow taboo; after all, I have suggested trades and line-up changes on this site. The underlying point was that if you are going to suggest a change of some sort then at least have a compelling reason for doing so and explain how your alternatives could improve the team. Don’t just say something like: the team is a mess, so-&-so should be fired or traded or whatever. Elaborate on what the “mess” is, how so-&-so is responsible for it, and/or how firing or trading so-&-so could rectify the situation.
I hate everyone.
It’s not personal. That’s just what happens when the Jazz lose four straight, and three of those against the sludge at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.