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What’s Up With Our Starters?
Posted by: Brian McCann on January 18th, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Would a change in the starting lineup change things? I don’t know, but at this point, it might be worth exploring. After yesterdays scrimmage against the Wizards (I say scrimmage because that is how the Jazz approached it), and after yet another dismal start, I think it might be time to switch things up a bit. I mean, after all, we are half way through the season now, and starting games lethargically has become so frequent that it almost looks like it is part of our game plan these days. Go down big, let the second unit come in and get things going for us, play even-keel in the third, and try and bring it home in the fourth, or, more precisely, in the last six minutes of the fourth. Yeah, yeah, I get it: it’s fun and exciting to see a big comeback, but it is also unsustainable on several levels, and it won’t work as a long-term game plan. Over the course of a season, teams figure you out, and you won’t be able to sneak up on them like that, not to mention the fact that those types of wins, when you actually do pull them out, require everything in the tank to bring home. They are emotionally taxing to say the least.
But who do you move to the bench out of the starting lineup? I don’t think it’s Paul or Al, simply because both have played fairly consistently this season. You could move Millsap to the bench behind Al, and bring Memo in at the five, but it would be gambling a bit. I feel like (outside of Deron of course) Paul has been our most consistent spark. Also, he has waited years for his opportunity to start, and I don’t know that it would be a good idea to put him back on the bench. AK is playing better than he has all season, and Raja has been shooting lights out over the last month, but I think if a move is made, it has to be one of those guys. CJ could replace either of them, but if it were to be AK, the Jazz would have a really small starting lineup on the floor. Hayward could come in for AK, but he is still a bit tentative, and I don’t know if he would give the starting unit the spark they have been so desperately lacking. The best move statistically would be to move CJ into the starting unit and Bell to the bench. You risk scoring efficiency off the bench, but if Raja could take a more aggressive role with those guys, it could work. CJ is having a career year this season, and if he could come in to start the game with any kind of consistency, it could be the shake-up this team needs. He wouldn’t command as many looks with the starters, but he would still have his opportunities.
It will be interesting to see what Jerry decides to do. The Jazz just don’t seem to start games with any kind of urgency, and while I would rather them win than start strong and fade, I just don’t think you are going to win that way in the playoffs when defenses are tighter and teams are more focused.
Replies: 10
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10 Responses
I’ve been pushing for Miles to start in place of Bell for awhile now. I feel like Okur can replace C.J. as are sixth man.
The bottom line: acquiring Bell, and Hayward didn’t really offset the loss of Matthews and Korver. Miles has stepped up (at times), but on nights when he doesn’t have it going, we struggle. That’s why I’m pushing for a trade. I think we can probably finish with around 54 wins with this group, and win a first round series, but that’s about it. We aren’t on the same level as San Antonio, or L.A. and are about equal in talent with OKC and Dallas.
The elite teams right now appear to be Boston, the Lakers, Miami, and the Spurs. Just below them are the Magic, Jazz, Thunder, Bulls, Mavs, and Hawks. Orlando pulled the trigger on a trade, that I thought made them better. It remains to be seen if any of the other five teams in that second tier (including Utah) roll the dice. At least the Magic can say they didn’t stand pat. They knew they weren’t quite good enough, so they made the deal to try and push themselves into the elite level. I think the Jazz, Thunder, Bulls, Mavs (especially with the Butler injury), and Hawks need to do the same. That is if you want a realistic shot at winning the title THIS year. If not, then those respective fans bases will just need to be content with the status quo, and the “long term” approach to team building. How patient is a guy like Deron Williams going to be though?
Great comment Jason. I 100% agree which is why my last few posts (before this one) have all centered around trades. Our payroll is that of an elite team, and our players should have that as a minimum expectation. Our history suggests that we won’t roll the dice, but Deron Williams is not John Stockton, and the NBA as a whole is not the same league it was 15 years ago. A player’s loyalty is tied directly to what they interpret as management’s loyalty, and that is putting a winning team on the floor regardless of cost. Patience is thin, and the cost of losing your franchise player is too high. You have to be smart about it, but at the end of the day, you need to be willing to pull that trigger if the right trade comes along. The Jazz are in win-now mode. Our long-term plan of 4 or 5 years ago should be coming to fruition now, not in two or three years from now.
The irony is I think we already had the “missing piece” before Portland signed Wesley Matthews. I wonder if the Jazz brass is now second guessing themselves about not matching the offer. I understand all the financial ramifications of not matching the offer sheet, but for crying out loud, your already in the luxury tax, so why go for broke? Do you want a legit shot at a championship or not? I think not resigning Matthews will go down as one of the Jazz’s all-time worst mistakes. He was the perfect fit on this roster, and as of yet, he hasn’t been replaced sufficiently.
Also, I can’t help but blame Carlos Boozer for our present situation to some extent. We basically had to bring in Jefferson, and retool (which takes time, and sets back our “long term plan”) with a largely new roster.
It takes years to develop a core, and find great team chemistry, and now it’s almost like we had to take one step back (albeit it doesn’t show in the standings…thank goodness)to take two steps forward. I shouldn’t be so impatient, but I REALLY don’t think I can handle losing to the Lakers in a “hard fought” second round series again. I think the reason Deron seems so frustrated and on edge in most interviews, is because deep down, he knows this roster, as it’s presently put together, isn’t good enough to win it all. And for a guy like Deron, winning it all is really all there is.
I totally agree about Wesley. In fact, during the summer, I wrote an entire post about how the Jazz needed to match Portland’s offer sheet. Hardly anyone agreed with me, but the facts are simple: beginning next season, Wesley will make less than the MLE. Would this season be expensive? Yes. But you would lock up a key player for five seasons for an amount of money that, in total, is reasonable. One season of pain for four seasons of having him on the payroll for less than he is worth. KOC once said that letting Mo Williams walk was his largest regret. Not anymore. Wesley is going to be lighting it up in our own division for the next half decade, and that sincerely just hurts.
@Brian
Thanks for a well thought-out and articulate post on this subject. I do agree with the fact that the Jazz should have matched for Wesley and thought so at the time, but 9 million seemed like a great deal of money. I still worry about CJ’s consistancy and I don’t think he is the defender that Bell is, but I agree something needs to change.
@ Jason
I am a little mistified as to how you can blame Carlos Boozer for this. Did you think he would stay for less money in a place where half of the fans hated him and were not shy to write about it constantly? Not that I think that bothered him, he is all about money, why do you think he came here in the first place?
I just don’t feel Boozer played to his potential (especially on the defensive end), while he was here, and literally forced the team to part ways with him after he became a cancer in the locker room. The Jazz built a core around him and D-Will, and just when all those years were quite possibly about to payoff, he leaves our team for “greener” pastures. It forced the Jazz to find an “emergency” replacement, and this has defintely set us back from an overall team development standpoint. Don’t get me wrong…long term, I’d much rather take the younger Jefferson over Carlos, but short term, it’s set us back a bit. Even D-Will has admitted in interviews recently, that guys on the team still don’t run the offense correctly, or appear to know what they should be doing out on the floor. Not a good sign after a full 41 games. This wouldn’t be the case if Boozer had played to his potential, and stuck around. As much as I disliked Carlos, he and Williams did have a good thing going on. The offense just ran much smoother before. On the bright side, we are better defensively.
Still, in my opinion, the Jazz miss Matthews more then Boozer. He would be averaging about 14 pts right now, and playing like a man possessed on the defensive end. Bell gives you defense, and Miles gives you offense. Matthews would be giving us both at the same time. Two-way players are like gold in the NBA.
With Bell’s performance as of late and assuming it continues the loss of Wes isn’t hurting so bad. Bell has been shooting well above 50% from the three and shooting it on a regular basis.
Many people disagree but Miles is such a huge factor ON the bench.
Miles alone, despite ANY other player performance, wins us over 90% of games when he scores above 16 points. When you take a factor like that off the bench into starting positions you lose progression with your bench.
Bell is back in the groove. Keep him starting.
The only complaints I have is I would play Okur,Miles,Hayward and Ak at the same time. There hasn’t been enough time with Hayward and Miles together and in my opinion Hayward looks like a young AK.
If he isn’t scoring he is the only one on the floor along with C.J grabbing rebounds. He blocks shots and even nabs a steal.
Why Fes gets time before Elson blows my mind. Elson is the hardest worker on the court in terms of rebounding. he has a great shot with great distance and hits his free throws.
I would have thought the starting lineup should change too but after what they did with the Knicks, it shows what they are capable of. They know they can do it, they just have to harness it.
I understand trades/changes when your team is playing at it’s highest level and it’s still not enough (like the many playoff series losses to LA the past years).
But it seems like this team this year is just not playing at it’s highest level. I actually think their ceiling is much higher than last year’s team.
So what do you do to get your team’s best effort? To get everyone to play 48 minutes all-out?
Jazz seem to take it easier on easy teams, they’ve been taking it easy in the first halves of games, etc.
Maybe ‘playoff team’ is just good enough for them and management?
Colby- if you look at defensive win shares, Fes wins the day. Statistically he is one of our better defenders when he is in the game, although that can be easy to miss.