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GREAT article on SI
Posted by: Nick Knows All on November 22nd, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Found a great article on Sports Illustrated via hoopsrumors.com, speculating about what the Jazz are going to do with their frontcourt. It doesn’t offer a whole lot of answers, but makes some very intelligent suggestions.
Here’s the text:
The Jazz have a unique way of turning problems into strengths. They’re supposed to be a small-market team unlikely to recruit free agents, and yet they’ve gone 39 years with just two — two! — losing seasons. With this tradition in mind, the Jazz face their latest test: how to manage their quartet of big men?
They’ve assembled the deepest young frontcourt in the NBA with Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson, Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors, who is the most promising of them all. The problem is money. Millsap and Jefferson, both 27, are going to be free agents in the summer. Can the Jazz afford to maintain their frontcourt in an expensive market that will pay Millsap and Jefferson eight figures each per year?
“The possibilities are always there,” said Dennis Lindsey, in his first year as GM of the Jazz. “Is it realistic? We’ll find out in time.”
The 6-6 Jazz are positioning themselves for a run at a second straight appearance in the playoffs. Jefferson (15.4 points and 12.0 rebounds) and Millsap (15.3 points and 9.3 rebounds) are their most productive players, while Favors (24.5 minutes) and Kanter (14.2 minutes) are in supporting roles.
The real question is whether they should keep all of their big men, and the answer is obvious. Their four-man rotation can’t be maintained for the long-term. One of them must go.
And yet the Utah experiment of blending these four talents has been working surprisingly well. In other NBA cities this kind of rotation would be brimming with controversy and innuendo, with one player feeling slighted or another hinting of his desire to be the man. But that isn’t happening here. Instead Jefferson works with 20-year-old Kanter on his low-post moves while publicly declaring that 21-year-old Favors will be an All-Star someday — even though the two of them may force Jefferson’s departure by the February trading deadline.
“I think it has to do with the type of people we are,” said Favors. “Paul and Al, they’re good guys. They come to practice, they work hard, and they help us out with a lot of stuff. Most of the credit goes to them because most guys in their situation would be pissed and saying, ‘I’m not helping them.’ Or they’d be going to the coach and GM.”
The most obliging of all the Jazz big men has been Millsap, for whom the league should create a Self-Made Man award. Millsap was a second-round pick from Louisiana Tech (the school of Karl Malone, the ultimate self-made star) who has steadily transformed himself from an undersized rebounder in the paint to a sleek scorer with range out to the three-point line, where he is shooting 55.6 percent, good for fourth in the NBA. The improvement of his ball handling and virtually every other phase of his game has enabled the 6-foot-8, 258-pound Millsap to start at small forward against smaller opponents.
“I get to see the floor a little bit different — it’s a change,” said Millsap of playing on the wing. “I’m glad I can get out there and see the court in a different aspect, as opposed to being under the basket a lot. I’m trying to help us win in that area.”
Does he like playing small forward? “I don’t have a problem with it,” he said. He doesn’t love it, which means, when he becomes a free agent this summer, he won’t settle for having to adapt to it. He has worked too hard to settle, and there are going to be several teams in the market for a highly reliable producer like Millsap.
He may never become a classic go-to scorer, but in some ways it’s harder to find a player like him than to come up with an All-Star. Millsap is one of those rare players who serves only to help a franchise — he improves every year, sets a high example of integrity for teammates and seeks to help a team in every way he can. He has applied his career to fulfilling the values established by Malone and John Stockton, and the Jazz should do everything they can to keep him, because they will be damaging their own identity if he should go. Not only would Utah be unable to replace Millsap, but he might miss the Jazz just as badly. Many NBA teams are not committed to the values in which he and the Jazz share.
If Millsap stays in Utah as a power forward, then Favors must become a center. At 6-10 and 263 pounds, with a young body that continues to strengthen and evolve, he is capable of that move. The bigger question is whether the Jazz would be limiting his potential by shifting him to a different position. Coach Ty Corbin and his assistants have been working with Favors to develop his low-post footwork — not in preparation for a move to center, but because it can separate him from Amar’e Stoudemire and other promising big men who never learned how to play with their backs to the basket.
“If he can get the footwork, with his athletic ability and the way that he can move on the perimeter, he’d be unstoppable in the paint area,” said Corbin. “The way he explodes off the floor” — Corbin snaps his fingers — “that little footwork advantage of just getting him to move without actually moving would be huge for him.”
Favors has been generating 9.3 points and 7.7 rebounds while playing in roughly half of each game. He has been working on a jump hook and a faceup jumper but has yet to decide on a go-to move in the post.
“I’m just playing naturally, just reacting,” he said. “If they take away the right hand, go to the left; if they take away the left, go to the right. During the game I try not to think about it. When I get the ball in the post, [I] just make a move and go.”
Favors moves through opponents like a defensive end that is impossible to block. He is explosive in transition and under the basket, he has soft hands and he has a hunger for the ball. He’s another keeper because — like Millsap — he appears inclined to put in the work that will fulfill his illustrious potential.
Isn’t it amazing how the Jazz move like trapeze artists from era to era without falling? From the departures of Stockton & Malone to the trade of Deron Williams and the abrupt “retirement” of Jerry Sloan (who continues to be in the mix for new coaching jobs), the Jazz have been able to avoid the extended collapses suffered by most franchises. Based on finances, geography and culture, the Jazz would appear to be among the least attractive franchises for players, and yet executive VP Kevin O’Connor has kept his team among the most successful in the league.
Here’s one man’s guess for how this plays out: They trade Jefferson at the deadline only if they receive an explosive perimeter scorer (which is a need) or a dynamic young point guard in return. But the Jazz won’t have to make a deal, because their frontcourt depth enables them to survive Jefferson’s departure as a free agent while using the cap space created to address needs elsewhere.
They re-sign Millsap as a cornerstone whose value to the Jazz is greater than it would be for any other team. They turn Favors into a center, which will enable him to flourish against that weakened position. And they bring Kanter off the bench as a 6-11, 267-pound project who is still finding his way after missing 2010-11 in an NCAA eligibility dispute and then losing 50 pounds last summer.
Then again, they could lose both Jefferson and Millsap; or they could yet decide to keep Jefferson as a low-post complement to the athleticism of Favors. No matter what the Jazz do, the likelihood is that this problem will once again turn out to be a good thing for them. The rest of the league is dying for talented size, and it’s the team in Utah — the franchise that shouldn’t be able to compete — that has more young big men than it can afford.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/ian_thomsen/11/21/utah-jazz-al-jefferson-paul-millsap-derrick-favors-enes-kanter/index.html#ixzz2CxxSMHkB
Replies: 9
Views: 723
9 Responses
According to sources, the Jazz will only trade Jefferson or Millsap for “an explosive perimeter scorer” or a “dynamic young point guard.”
Further, one source speculates that the Jazz “will let Jefferson walk this summer.”
The thought behind this is that the Jazz plan to keep Jefferson for a playoff run.
Al has had his big payday. Would he settle for a four year 32-36 Mill contract and play as a backup in the second unit?? If Sap goes free agent Jazz can still offer the most. It would help the clog if Sap played twenty percent of his minutes at the three.
Trade deadline will be crazy. Will be interesting how Lindsey plays it.
Good article. Thanks..
I think 1 of 2 things happens… If there is trade at the deadline, i believe its going to be for millsap not Jefferson. His value for the price is much higher, and much easier to match salaries in a trade.
If nothing happens at the deadline, which i think will be the case, i think Jefferson is gone and we resign Millsap. We make the same kind of deal involving jefferson as we did with boozer, sign and trade him for an exception and 2nd round pick.
The only way I see holding on to Al til trade deadline as a great idea depends on how bad the Bulls are playing. Jazz should keep a close eye on the Bulls record. The worse they do, the better value will get for Al. Bulls having been trying to trade Boozer, but it wont work straight up, so thats were we come in:
Bulls get Al (expiring, hopefully dump others on top)
3rd teams gets Boozer
Jazz get two 1st round picks, maybe a player or TE
Then we can draft our dynamic PG of the future or package four 1st round picks for an elite PG. (Id love Kyrie but thats dreaming). But some PG fixing to be FA, we could give team four 1st. Or if a PG in that draft shoots up the board (like Lillard did) and draft him or package to move up for him.
*Bulls wont give up their own pick from tanking this year but their Bobcat 1st round or which ever is worse of the 2. Either way a top 10 pick. And depending on the 3rd team, another 1st round pick.
the charlotte pick is protected, i dont know exact details about it, but we wouldn’t actually “get” the pick for a couple years.
I’m still trying to figure out why a deal wasn’t done to get Lillard, like most of us insisted. All it took for the Blazers to get him was Gerald Wallace. What a Joke.
I like the idea of getting Al to the Bulls who’d send Boozer elsewhere. I also love the idea of picking up Gasol, with him we don’t need Millsap or Jefferson. We could have Marvin and Jeremy Evans play back up PF (with Gasol and Kanter playing Center and Favors starting at PF). Carroll would be the back up small forward (or even Hayward) and have Hayward, Foye and Burks at the 2 (maybe trade Foye as well, but he is cheap and is our best 3pt shooter). I’d trade away a PG such as Tinsley as well.
You know, next year is John Walls last year, and I seriously doubt he will resign with such a sorry team. I thunk if we can amass picks we could trade them to the Wizards for Wall, it will be in there best interest to do so, cuz why the hell would he stay to waste away there?!
I really like Millsap, but if we could do it now Id pull the trigger in a heartbeat:
Wizards get Al, Millsap, GSW pick, and two Jazz 1st
Jazz get Okafor and Wall
Ppl will say, “why would they 2 guys who MIGHT not resign?” Well we are taking the same risk with Wall.
Well look like the damn UK Wildcast running and flying everywhere. Fun basketball, block shots and alley-oops!