Meet
Rebound-less
Posted by: Van on February 23rd, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.It’s painfully obvious, and it’s getting worse.
No it’s not that rash you think might need medical evaluation, its Utah’s inability to rebound, namely Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap’s inability to rebound together. Utah hasn’t had any particularly dominant defensive teams in recent memory, but one area they usually performed quite well in was cleaning up the defensive boards.
Enter Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap into the starting lineup and watch defensive rebounding exit stage left, and their struggles in the words of David Locke ” are well documented”.
With regards to last night’s game Locke adds:
“Paul Millsap had 0 defensive rebounds in the final 9 minutes; Al Jefferson had 1 in 7 chances. Millsap and Jefferson couldn’t defend or rebound together last year and nothing has changed.”
This is not a slight against two of our best players on this team, more of an observation. Anyone else find themselves shaking their heads when Corbin puts the starting lineup back into games?
Even if they perform well the Millsap/Jefferson defensive duo is enough to make you more nervous than ordering chorizo street tacos.
I don’t have all the answers more just a single suggestion; perhaps a little less Jeffersap and more Kanterson? Or some combination of young big and savvy vet that doesn’t leave us cringing every time “insert random team chucker here” hoists up another three.
Replies: 13
Views: 285
13 Responses
Agreed! I think the days of Millsap and Jefferson are coming to and end. Defense wins championships and if that’s what the Jazz want, you’re not going to get it with Jefferson and Millsap on the floor at the end. Last night was a perfect example.
True, I’ve talked about our rebounding problems for a while, Favors and Kanter really show how it should be done.
@ JC
I think the duo needs less time together and I’m not at all opposed to seeing more of Favors or Kanter. Some critical possessions that killed us late in last nights game were due to lack of rebounding. One that particularly sticks out in my mind is Derrick Williams put back and 1 to tie the game.
@ Browncoat
Its easy to see why Millsap struggles at times to rebound due to his height, but Jefferson’s career rebounding numbers are pretty good. Truth be told he might just be a lazy rebounder that gets out hustled a lot.
It’s the classic dilemma.
Millsap and Jefferson give you offense, but are weak defensively.
Kanter and Favors give you defense, but are weak offensively.
They probably should be playing Jefferson – Favors and Kanter-Millsap.
Which, not surprisingly, means Millsap coming off the bench. DeJa-VU! I swear this discussion has been had many many times already.
Agreed. However, I don’t think it’s a matter of Corbin being more creative with who’s on the court when. It’s simply a matter of not enough minutes for our 4 bigs and one of them has to go. Fvors and Kanter factually have a greater defensive impoact while being on the floor with Milly or Jefferson. However, As has been mentinoned, we lose skill set on the offensive end. IMO, we lose skill set on the offensive end because Favors and Kanter aren’t getting the minutes to develop their respective games. We need to trade either Millsap or Jefferson.
Millsap is obviously the fan favorite, but he’s the greater trade chip due to his pay for play. If we had a true floor general or a savvy wing player how much wouuld than help Jefferson’s game when the floor is spread? Forget about the better rebounding we’d have with one of our youngs on the floor, but offensivley, we’d be more effective due to a more balanced/keep the defense honest approach. However, IMO having millsap and favors and millsap and kanter is a bad front line. Offensively, millsap does not have the skill or size to be the go to guy on the floor, that’s a fact. If we lose jefferson, all the team would have to do is double team Millsap and our front line would be gone. Millsap has trouble being guarded by one starting big let alone two. I liove Millsap, but he’s the less skilled of the two starting bigs and although Jefferson can be a black hole at times I think that is partially due to who should he pass it to on the perimeter? Harris? Hayward? Bell? I’d rather take my chances on an iso play with jefferson. If we had a wing or even a major playmaker pg, jefferson would have someone to pass to, or would have easier looks given by the better pg. We have a great trade chip in milly and I think he’s the guy we need to dangle. Yeah, he’s capable of great games (Miami), however, that’s not the average millsap. People seem to be waiting for that game to come back, but sorry, it probably won’t.
Trade Millsap, free up minutes for our youngs and spread the floor having a more balanced attack.
Yeah, to me Al and Millsap just don’t position their bodies before the shot instead they stand and wait for the ball to get to them. Length may be part of the issue for both of them but how they use there bodies seems to be the main problem.
Side note: Going through stats cube the lineup of Watson, Burks, Hayward, Favors, Kanter is one of our best lineups but also one of the least used. It is our best rebounding and best fta lineup. Interesting to click through the lineups and see where they rank.
http://www.nba.com/advancedstats/lineup-vs-lineup.html#Jazz-vs-Bulls|1610612762,1610612741|2248-202324-202330-202683-202692,2430-2736-200758-201149-201565;year=201112;season=r
@Ben I think it is necessary and inevitable.
David Locke said this on his noggin emptyin on http://weareutahjazz.com/lockedonjazz/ :
“The Jazz defensive rebounding is abysmal. 19 offensive rebounds for Minnesota. 17 of those offensive rebounds came when Jefferson and Millsap were on the floor, 1 came with Jefferson and Favors and the other came with Kanter and Favors. ”
19 offensive rebounds for Minny is…well…offensive.
And 17 of those came against Jefferson/Millsap.
I agree with @Ben and many others that say we need to get the youngsters more playing time. I think the problem is finding the right trade. As much as we run through trades that we would like, it takes two teams to make a trade and who are we going to get for Millsap or Jefferson? I’m not sure if we see a trade happen, for KOC I am sure it is just a matter of waiting for the right trade to come along.
@ KC
yeah there are always two sides to every coin (I think…) and thats the dilemma that Corbin forces, at this juncture sure seems likes hes putting a premium on offense, the experiment isnt conlusive but it looks like a mixutre of youth and vet is needed.
@Ben
Fair points, but at times it seems like Corbin is unwilling to give the youngsters the minutes they need because they struggle at times, especially on road. Both are you and growing pains are expected, and if we are losing games with our known (veteran) assets, why not give the unknown assets more of a try.
Trading a front court player isnt a new idea and Im onboard, the bigger question woul be finding the right value.
@SF
Beat me too it, trade ideas are nice but the value has to be there and Utah isnt one that wheels and deals very often, last year aside ofcourse.
I agree with the past few comments. The right trade has to happen and the chances of that are less rather than mre likely. If I were koc, I would be on the phone with Danny singe about rondo, gs about curry i.e. offer their pick back…, Houston about Martin, players of those positions and caliber. None of them may be available for what we may be offering, but the conversation at least has to happen. I also don’t agree about rumors regarding Augustine, Calderon, pg’s of that caliber. I don’t believe they would be any more of an upgrade than Harris and what we’d probably have to offer to get them would be too much… unless its a bag of chips.
@ Ben, What kind of chips? Haha. I like I those ideas, but you are right, who knows if those guys are available for what we have to offer. I am sure Monta Ellis is available for Jefferson, but I’m not sold on him. I would take Curry though. If GS wouldn’t trade Curry for Paul, I’m sure they wouldn’t trade him for Jefferson. Rondo or Martin might be a possibility though. I also like the idea of trying to get a guy like John Wall. It might take Favors and the GS pick, but PG is a positional need that Wall fits. However, since he is not a shooter we would still be in desperate need of a guy to spread the floor.
@ S.F. I LOVE the idea of wall and woul be willing to trade anyone/draft picks to get him, however, I would like to keep favors due to the power house tandem we would have with him and wall. Wall is a beast and he has so much ceiling still. I agree about needing a shooter, but that becomes an easy get in free agency who the core we’d have adding wall.
I had another thought about this stuff after thinking about the last few games. My thought is this: players whose minutes have not increased or have decreased are Hayward, Favors, and Kanter- arguably these guys should be getting more minutes, if they are our core. Everyone else has been spending more time on the court. I wonder if this is coincidence or if those three guys are the only guys on the team that are untouchable at trade time so the Jazz aren’t trying to get more good minutes out of them to increase their values. I am a little sad by this thought because Burks has been finally getting more playing time- hopefully he is not available. However if we could get a really good PG and then pick up either Lamb, Beal, or Barnes (I put him last because it is unlikely he will fall to us), it might make sense. I’m not saying trade value is the reason Hayward, Favors, and Kanter have not been playing as much, but it makes me wonder…