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Jazz Fans Need to Get Behind DWill
Posted by: Brian McCann on February 21st, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Utah Jazz fans are a fiercely passionate bunch. It’s almost as if, with the Jazz being the real face of Utah professional sports, they represent the state nationally and on a world level much more than other franchises across the NBA do. We want others to know who we are as a state, and the Jazz are one of our only connections to rest of the world. When they win, it puts Utah on the map. There are several good things about this type of mentality, but one of the glaring faults associated with it is the way we reflect some of our insecurities in the face of adversity; the most recent of which has to do with the way Deron Williams is being unfairly attacked in the news, on the web, and in blogs with regard to the true reason Jerry Sloan stepped down. Jazz fans just need to let it go. Everything that we’ve heard is speculation, so there is no point in buying into any of it. We may never know exactly what Jerry was thinking when he finally hung ‘em up, but until we have conclusive evidence that Deron was at fault, it is not worth giving any serious thought to.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Jazz are struggling right now. Last year when everyone was calling for Carlos Boozer’s head, I wrote a post about how this team would not be better off without Boozer, and I caught a lot of flack for it. I argued that the only way the Jazz should let Boozer leave is if they found another player of equal or greater talent and leadership ability to fill the void he would leave when he was gone. If they didn’t, they would go into a mini rebuilding stage. The Jazz did do better than I expected by engineering a deal with Minnesota for Al Jefferson, but Al is not Boozer’s equal in many critical ways so far as our offense in concerned, and the Jazz have floundered offensively considerably because of it. Please don’t misinterpret me here; I am not saying Al won’t get better-in a lot of ways he already has. What I am saying is that Boozer was critically important to our offense, but his contributions were overshadowed by his lack of defensive ability and his seemingly shallow commitment. Personally, I think the Jazz would have done better to back Boozer up with a defensive powerhouse at center to cater to his faults. Regardless, the Jazz needed Boozer’s offensive reliability more than many realized, and, here we sit: We have a stagnating offense, with poor spacing, and very little reliability other than the output generated from our injured point guard.
So why did most of our fans vehemently proclaim that we were better off without Carlos? Personally, I think it had to do with the fact that many felt he secretly “wanted out” (although he never said that), and that offended them. Legions of our fans stated that the Jazz were better off without him. Unfortunately, we are not. In the long-run? Maybe, but not right now.
Jazz fans curiously had this same attitude toward Adrian Dantley and Karl Malone. Dantley was of course shipped out, and it ended up working to the Utah’s overall advantage. Malone on the other hand was hammered by fans for years. Karl’s public criticisms of management, teammates, and his own contract disputes with Larry Miller led fans to believe the Jazz would be better off without him too. I remember one fan calling into a radio show in SLC to sincerely suggest that the Jazz trade Karl for Keith Vanhorn in the mid-nineties. It was an irrational plea that was fairly or unfairly (depending on how you look at it) built out of frustration, but it was none-the-less irrational, not to mention stupid.
One of our biggest problems right now is that we have one A-list player surrounded by a whole bunch of B and C-list players. Teams do not win NBA titles with only one A-lister; it just doesn’t happen. Big Al could still make the leap into that upper-echelon of NBA talent-he is young enough, but it is definitely not a given, and no one else on our roster appears to have it in there blood. Boozer also was not an A-list player, but he was very close. He gave Deron a second voice in the locker room, and a reliable option on offense that knew all of the intricacies of the Flex. If the Jazz do not somehow land another A-lister, they will not seriously contend for a title.
On the other hand, if we are looking at the glass half full, they already have one A-lister in Deron Williams, so if they can convince him to stay, they can work to find him somebody else to share the leadership burden of the team. The problem is, right now, A-listers only want to play for five or six teams, and Utah isn’t one of them. We got our first glimpse of the rumor mill with regard to Deron’s upcoming free agency this weekend, as an apparently baseless report surfaced that he wanted to sign with New York in 2012. Unfortunately, this type of unjustified reporting will be the norm over the next year and a half, so we need to get use to it. In the end, Deron might leave, or he could stay, but we as fans need to realize his importance to this organization, and we cannot waiver. He needs to know how loved he is here. Fans can’t boo him at ESA over speculation. If they do, and he leaves, it might make their pride feel vindicated, but the Jazz certainly won’t be better off.
A-list players are hard to come by-each draft only produces one or two of them on average, so when you land them, you have to keep them. The Jazz need to keep Deron Williams, and we as fans need to recognize that. Deron is our franchise. He is the only reason we are even in playoff contention right now, and I for one do not want to go head first back into a full on rebuilding stage. So while we may never fully know what happened behind closed doors between Jerry and Deron, it is important to realize that it doesn’t matter. Jerry is gone and Deron is the face of this franchise, and we need to throw the full weight of our support behind him.
What we definitely don’t want to do is give him a reason to leave.
Replies: 7
Views: 1058
7 Responses
Completely agree Brian. Deron has a right to be frustrated at this point in time. However, he isn’t handling it in the best way. He is a whiner sometimes. But that doesn’t mean, just like you said, that we shouldn’t still support him.
This Jazz team just needs to put all this behind them. If they forget everything and just go to work on Wednesday against Dallas, they’ll be fine. However, I do think that a trade for an A-lister needs to happen. Ship Hayward and AK out for OJ Mayo or Iggy. But please do something, KOC.
perfectly said this had needed to be posted for a long time. Deron is our only chance at a championship any time soon. I am fully invested in deron and I hope others will do the same
Im sorry Brian but i completely disagree. I wrote a post called the hard truth at the beginning of the year and everyone seemed to be pissed that i thought dwill was leaving in 2 years. Well people this was just the beginning. How in the name of Sam Hill does Jerry Sloan get ran out of town by a PLAYER???? Between he and Bobby Cox, they are the mantra of coaching. So deron does what he wants on offense, instead of listening to the coach, and we all should hold his hand and praise him? Bulls***. No player is above a coach, especially Jerry Sloan. A man that took a PG named Carlos Arryoyo and made him a perrineal ALL-STAR. Until he started doing the same crap Deron was doing. What did the team do, shipped him out and now what? Carlos has been an after thought ever since. Im not saying Sloan made Deron, but i am saying,6 years in the NBA doesnt give you the right to undermind a coaching legend. Did you see what Denver got for Anthony? Deron would have been gone if i were gm because Sloan has proven he can coach. Hes not Phil Jackson who only coaches Superstars, he builds them from the ground up. And the 5 or 6 players we could have gotten for dwill from whoever would have loved to run with Jerry. People, Superstars dont come to Utah, unless drafted. Boozer wanted money, he got it now hes gone. He was Mr. Regular Season, When post seaon showed up, he disapeared, unless the man guarding him was a small foward playing power(Golden State). The many stat categories you talk about boozer being superior? You maybe right but The one elemant of his game thats vastly superior to Jefferson is his jumpshot. Wich is now his patent move since injury one in Utah 5 years ago. We dont miss Boozer, especially on D. We miss the 3 point shot. We have no jeff hornacek, we have no kyle korver hell we have no wes matthews. KOC dropped the ball this summer, and picked it back up with Jefferson. If he was really smart, he would go get a real defensive center, (lets say a Sam Dalembert from the kings) move Al over and put milsap back on the bench. Bottom Line, We dont or we shouldnt miss anyone who didnt wanna be here when they found out he wasnt the man(Boozer being pissed that he was second fiddle to willaims). And there is no way in hell that Jazz Nation should be behind an arogant jack ass who ultimately was the cause of a legend, sayng goodbye. Especially one who will be gone in 2 years.
Marcus- Do you have some kind of insider information? Who told you that Jerry Sloan got “ran out of town by a player”? Do you work for the Jazz organization? Are you related to Jerry? Were you in the locker room when Jerry called it quits?? Or is it just a feeling you have, because nobody else knows, so if it is just your inyuition, you are proving the point of this whole post to a “T”.
Deron is the Utah Jazz, like it or not. The Lakers don’t make three Finals in three years without Kobe. The Cavs don’t have the best record in the league last year with out LBJ, and Chicago never has anything close to a dynasty without MJ. And ALL of those players have been more vocal/disrespectful (if you want to call it that) than Deron. Jerry hung ‘em up, Deron didn’t run him out of town.
Carlos Arroyo was never an All-Star or anything close to it. He had one decent year in Utah, and has been a borderline NBA playerever since. Deron is a perenial All-Star, and whether you like the way he has handled things or not, his attitude is indicitive more of professional athletes these days than an exception to the norm. John Stockton is not walking through that door. players today realize they have the power to leave if they don’t like their situation, so I give props to Deron for at least caring enough to try and make the best of his. If Deron leaves, this franchise will go full-swing into a rebuilding stage. Then what? We suck for a few years until we draft another A-lister that we develop over 6 or 7 years only to watch them react the same way? No thanks. Deron wants the Utah Jazz to win. He is our guy, and unless you have some conclusive proof that Deron pushed Jerry out the door, I’m not buying it. Jerry is a big boy, and he makes his own decisions, and if we as fans push Deron out the door because he somehow hurt our feelings over something we don’t even know happened, then we are all damned to have a lottery team much earlier than any of us expected. No one will want to play for a franchise that is quick to judge every time a rumor pops up, and Utah Jazz fans are the best in the business at that. Quite frankly, we need to chill out, because this type of attitude is not helping us out.
And Boozer being pissed that he was playing second fiddle to Williams? Again, where do you get that???? The first thing Boozer did after Chicago gave him an offer sheet was go back to the Jazz to see if they would match. He said if they did, he would stay. If he wanted out so bad, why did he do that? Stick to the facts. Speculation is guessing what happened. Show me some proof. You are wearing your insecurities on your sleeve.
Maybe you should go follow the Clippers because they are really good at letting their superstars walk. They don’t ever win anything, but if your pride is more important, they might be the team for you. I am sure Clippers fans would appreciate you guessing what Blake Griffen is thinking about right now.
I agree with Brian about everything. One other thing, call me crazy but I don’t think OJ Mayo is an A-list type of player. A solid B-lister sure, but he’s no superstar.
I have been frustrated with team for the last month.
No, I don’t have any insider information, all my thoughts come from the gut and what I’ve observed. Marcus pretty well expressed my feelings. Jerry leaving didn’t surprise me nor did Dwill being traded, he would have left anyway, his head is to big for Utah. I believe he will fade into obscurity. Hopefully, our new coach will be able to get current and new players to work as a team and not strive for indivual all star status.
Just wanted to vent and will enjoy the game, win or lose, a lot more tonight with Dwill gone.