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Scouring my Mind for that One Bright Spot
Posted by: Andrew on February 26th, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.I’ve spent the last few days in utter puzzlement. Honestly, the Jazz made a stupid move. You can sugar coat it all you want, and talk about the future to your hearts content, but the blunt truth is that the Utah Jazz traded their franchise player for a mediocre player of the same position, a rookie that scouts have dubbed as a “Potential good, but not great, player” where we already have plenty of those in that position, and some draft picks, only one of which is guarunteed to be in the top 10. However, I think I’ve finally found my bright spot in the trade. And that is the fact that Deron Williams is no longer on the Utah Jazz.
I don’t mean that in the way that I don’t want him here. I’d give about anything to have him back on the team. I mean that in the way that he played his heart out and repeatedly carried the team, and managed to pull out wins. He made everyone around him better and grew with our franchise. But our team didn’t want to give him what he needed. They didn’t want to give him a strong, competetive supporting cast. They gave him some good players, sure, but nothing great and nothing consistant. I’m happy that he’s in New Jersey because they want to give him a team. They want to give him a competetive cast. And if they play their cards right, they’ll be contenders. Deron played all he could for the Jazz, and they didn’t give him what he wanted more than anything; Wins. And he’s the type of player, like Stockton and Malone, who play with heart and deserve to have a championship. I hope he accomplishes that. He deserves it. I think I can now go back to watching the Jazz without a steely scowl on my face.
Go Jazz and Nets.
Replies: 24
Views: 469
24 Responses
Will your opinion change when he leaves the Nets just like he would have left the Jazz?
Ty, you’re unadvised. Deron wouldn’t have even considered leaving the Jazz if they had tried to keep up a winning team. The Nets are going to go through a Miami-like offseason, fighting to get All-Stars on the team. Deron very well may stay.
What if, what if, what if. They hosed him (Deron), they dont want a winning team. Etc Etc blah blah. Let go of the past Andrew. For the first time in many years, we have a solid post. We need depth on the wing. So sad that Mathews and Brewer arent here. But there go the what if’s again. Though our new PG is not a Deron, he is solid and doing very well in his short time here. Maybe, if we had not brought Boozer here, we could have done what we needed to keep Williams. Maybe if AK didnt make quite so much we would be better. What if, what if. You can what if it to death.
Bottom line is this, when we traded Williams, he was not staying. Did we become better because of the trade? Yes we did. Had we not, we would have been out Williams and have nothing to show for it. Have mistakes been made? Maybe and maybe not. Easy to make those calls from a fan’s seat. Only the future will really know. So, instead of what if it to death and cry, be happy that we still have a team here. That there is a futute for our team, and that you will be able to what if it for many years to come.
Or maybe, you as well as others, can put your what if’s away and cheer the team you do have.. Either way, they are our Jazz, they are playing hard, and I am grateful that our management are trying to keep us compeditive instead of standing by and what iffing it to death. If your still not happy, jump on the LA or Miami band wagon and have fun with it. Good luck Deron, and good luck to those of you who feel the need to What if our team to death..
Wow Patrick, you really feel the Jazz management is trying to stay competitive? It looks to me like they are trying to save money and prove a point…that Miller is the all knowing and omnipotent boss. Do they want aggressive, creative, happy players or players who are robots and don’t have a voice or opinion for themselves? The NBA, whether you like it or not, is a player’s league. Nobody ever has bought a ticket to watch a coach or a general manager. They buy tickets to watch the players. The Jazz will probably never get, or have an all star caliber player stay on the team ever again after Miller’s comments in the press conference after they traded D-Will. Miller said the Jazz’s management and ownership will always take the coache’s and management’s side over any player. Who would want to play for a oppressive boss like that? They needed to get some three point shooters and to change the “Sloan” defense to guard the three point shot before the trade to have any chance of making the playoffs….they failed..but they did save some money and Miller did proved he is the Führer of the team..its going to be a long rest of the season…..
I like your thinking Andrew. Although, we kind of need the Nets to lose… the more they lose, the higher the draft pick… and we’re gonna need all the help we can get…
Draft picks are all well and good, but a huge risk…..The Clippers, Minnesota etc. have had a bunch of high draft picks and how has that worked for them?
The Jazz are playing better team basketball now since the cancer (Deron) has been removed. Team basketall is farr more imoportant than having one allstar.
Larry, I can’t believe you’re naive enough to call Deron cancer. The ball that the Jazz are playing now isn’t team basketball. It’s scrambling and getting lucky by making shots because they don’t have a leader. Deron was in control on the floor, and now it’s all but playground basketball, which is why we lost to such an abysmal team as the Pistons.
Wow andrew are you serious? Deron may not have been cancer but how can you say that the jazz aren’t playing team basketball? Last night, 6 out of 10 players that played scored in double figures and it was almost 7(c.j. had 9).Not to mention the jazz had 37 assisted field goals. What are you talking about scrambling and getting lucky by making shots? A.K. had 5 dunks in the first quarter. Its pretty hard to make a lucky dunk, don’t you think? I don’t know if you noticed either but Deron might have been in control of the floor but he was playing awful in the last 20 games. Jazz management doesn’t care about winning? Give me a break! Why do you think they traded Deron? Because they wanted to stay competetive and not have to rebuild in 2013 when Deron jolted out of Utah. You are an idiot dude. Maybe you should watch the jazz before you start bashin on em.
@ Andrew
A team doesn’t pile up 30+ assists & shoot right at 60% as a team playing “playground” basketball in the NBA.
There were basically 2 reasons that Utah lost to Detroit: 1) Utah’s perimeter defense was dreadful, & that has been the case pretty much all season with the exception of the 1st month; 2) Utah’s free-throw shooting was bad, & that is a bit unusual for this team & likely won’t happen again for a good long while.
In any case the team is definately not any worse off for making this trade. Utah went 2-11 in its last 13 games with D-Will & has gone 3-4 in its last 7 games without him.
Williams has meant a lot to this team & is a phenomenal player, but he wasn’t going to take this group any farther this year or likely next than Harris, Favors & a lottery pick will, & besides that his moodiness & all the speculation on whether he forced out Sloan or whether he was going to re-sign or not were going to be major distractions for the remainder of his tenure with the Jazz.
When was the last time you played playground basketball? Because you obviously don’t recognize it. AK got easy dunks because nobody knows how to defend playground basketball. It’s not a set defense and it’s not organized. If you watched the game, you would’ve seen the players lazily run the offense, or not at all, while adding their own improvisions. There’s a difference between organized team basketball and getting so confused with yourselves that the only thing you’re looking to do is give the open guy the ball. Don’t claim that I’m an inattentive player when you don’t recognize that the Jazz weren’t playing Jazz basketball.
And Jared, your idea of competetive and my idea are drastically different. Scraping out a playoff position isn’t being competetive. That’s what the Jazz are competing for now that Deron’s gone, the 8th seed. And even if they manage to get there, they won’t make it past the first round. With Deron, we still weren’t quite competetive, but at least other teams could look at us with respect rather than seeing another team that’s on the base of the totem pole. The Jazz have tanked it, and it all started when the management started caring more about saving money than trying to build a successful team. Everything boils down to that. I see it, Deron saw it, it’s a shame you don’t see it.
@Andrew, you need to relax bro! We’ll never know if Deron was going to stay or go but we did take the uncertainty out of the equation by getting something back in return. It’s always easier to say..”we should of done this” or “we should of done that.” But the fact of the matter is, the Jazz are a small market team can’t take huge risks like LA/Dallas/NY. Watch what’s going to happen with CP3 in the off-season, he’s going to leave N.O. high and dry. The Jazz are playing for the future, who cares about the playoffs this year. Did you really think the Jazz were going to get past LA, SA, Dallas, and OKC???? With AK coming off the books, 2 potential first round quality picks, and VERY high young potential on this team, we are doing what OKC did a couple years ago. The Jazz could very well snag a Kevin Martin/Jason Richardson type player and a solid Center.
Harris-Watson
Martin-Bell
AK-Hayward
Jefferson-Millsap
Sullinger-Favors
Andrew get your head out of the sand and watch the team play offense and defense, more balanced team scoring more blocked shots and deflections . Get in the real world and get off the soap box.
Larry, you have no idea who you’re talking to and you obviously have no idea what the Jazz offensive execution looks like, so bugger off, friend.
That’s what this entire post was about, JC! xD I’m getting over it. I’m glad Deron’s in a place that he may thrive, though things could have worked out much better. I’d like to see the Jazz get some decent talent, NOT potential (Mostly because Jerry can’t mold them anymore. I think this may be the end of the Utah Jazz being the All-Star vending machine) But I do have this nagging feeling that the Jazz are going to drop for quite a while. It sucks when you’re set up for disappointment. But I’ve still got my fingers crossed that the trade pans out.
Andrew, with the CBA and a lockout being a possibility may change a lot of things, especially, a “franchise tag.” I hope they do this so fans, coaches, and management can focus on basketball during the season and not all the “Carmelo” drama. If so, teams can hold on to their All-Star’s. Like you, I’m keeping my fingers crossed as well. I’d like to see the Jazz package something together with one of their picks(Okur) to bring in a dynamic guard. I have a feeling that Favors is going to be a stud. Especially, now that he can just focus on basketball
In a perfect Jazz-World, the team would have unlimited money to spend & SLC would be a place that star FAs beg to go to & contracted star players try to get traded to &/or take paycuts to stay in.
Williams, Boozer, Matthews, Millsap, James, Nowitski, Wade, Johnson, Bosh & Stoudamire would all be on the team right now in this fantasy world, while Anthony, Paul & Howard would have spent the whole season trying to get traded to it.
In the real world the Jazz have 1 of the smallest markets in the NBA, don’t have a multi-billionaire owner & for whatever reasons SLC is a place that most star players don’t want to be in.
The Jazz paid the luxury tax last year & still will this year despite the trade.
Proportional to its market-size the Jazz spend more money than any other team.
The only small market team that has been more successful than Utah in the last 20 years is San Antonio, & that is largely due the drafting of Tim Duncan & him remaining loyal; Portland is the only other small-market team that has a comparable record to Utah’s during that time, & it has super-rich Paul Allen as its owner; also for what it is worth, Utah has outperformed the Knicks & Clippers, which are both mega-market teams, during this time.
To sum it up, the organization isn’t tanking to save money, they are doing what has kept a small-market team viable & competitive all these years, they are taking the long-view.
haha you know your post sucks when 4 people tell you your wrong about four different issues…I’m pretty sure I know what the jazz system is and what playground basketball is like. You can’t lazily run an offense and have 56 points in pain in the nba. I just watched the highlight, Andre cut off of the post twice and got a dunk in the highlight alone. You don’t lazily cut and get wide open. You are retarded. What does this mean, “getting so confused with yourselves that the only thing your trying to do is give the open guy the ball.” That is what the jazz system is about, cutting to get open. If you have ever played basketball before you know that good teams take things away, especiallly if you have only ran 6 plays for 20 years like the jazz have, and other teams know what you are going to do. So, essentially, the jazz, after good teams take things away, are just cutting and moving anyway, which is spur of the moment. You are an idiot. The jazz lost the game against the pistons because they gave up too many offensive rebounds and they shot poorly from the free throw line.
What do you mean Larry has no idea who he is talking to? Are you Jerry Sloan’s brother who knows exactly how the offense is supposed to be ran? haha What is the jazz offensive execution supposed to look like anyway?
I’m not saying they were lazy when they ran their cuts, I’m saying they were lazy when they tried to run their set offense, moron. They were scrambling to get open and not executing. They had no purpose other than to outrun the other player. The Jazz have a very complicated offense consisting of a combined pick and roll, baseline run and slashing wingmen all at the same time. I saw the Jazz execute maybe once during that game. They played with their bodies rather than their minds. Talk to me when you understand what a written play looks like.
I’ve spent my entire life watching Jazz games. Not just watching, but learning the runs and the plays. I was one of the primary playmakers in highschool at Cedar High under coach Loveland. If I hadn’t had an injury that all but prevents me from walking, I’d be playing college ball now. I understand what I’m talking about, friend.
Ya? Where do you learn the runs and the plays? From watching the game or did the jazz organization mail them to you? If the jazz offense is so intricate and complicated, how could you pick every little curl and slip that they have in their offense from watching the games on tv? You can’t! You are just full of @##@.
Oooh one of the primary playmakers, haha. I played high school basketball too duchbag. CEDAR HIGH? haha What is that 2A? On wikipedia it says that the band is your school’s strong suit. Isn’t St. Mary’s School of the Deaf and Blind in your region?
Wow, you really ARE an idiot. Exactly how long have you been watching the games? Or do you not pay attention to it at all? I’ve spent YEARS watching the Jazz play, and it’s always been the same offense. If you’d pull your head out of your ass during the game and actually watch it, you might understand what the offense is too. Oh, not to mention that my family had season courtside seats for ten years, so I’d been able to see the plays on a first-hand basis for every home game. You’d be surprised how much a person can pick up when they actually watch what’s happening, moron.
Wikipedia lied to you. Football was the schools strong suit, closely followed by basketball. And when the University of Utah offers you a scholarship to play on their basketball team, you must have a bit of talent, fella. I don’t expect you to understand what that feels like, but if you use your imagination, I’m sure you can pick up on the gravity of said situation.
Oh, and learn how to spell. It’s a pain to have to read your kindergarten grammar.
Dude, are you just looking for a fight? I’m saying that you can learn the plays by simply watching our whole lives like we have but there is no way, unless you are a genius, that you can pick up on all the variations and things that they put in. If the jazz system is so complex you wouldn’t be able to. That is all I am saying. I am sorry about my last post, I took it a little too far.
Don’t worry about it.
The Jazz offense is complex, but it doesn’t vary much. There are three options for the guard to set up a play, and a few options off which decision he makes. After you watch a while, you get to understand it.