Meet
Raising the White Flag
Posted by: Zach on March 20th, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Well it’s over. The Jazz lost to the Rockets, and honestly, I don’t expect a different result tomorrow against the Grizzlies. Not that it wasn’t a close game. We only lost by 2. But at the end of the day, Houston wanted this win more than the Jazz. The truth is hard. Devin Harris is no Deron Williams. Big Al is human. We can’t count on CJ to bail the team out by scoring 40 points every night. These guys haven’t really learned to work together still have the same problems that have been exposed earlier. Granted Millsap was huge with 35 points and CJ is certainly an upgrade over Raja and continues to find ways to score. Even though Al couldn’t get his shot going, he still grabbed an impressive 19 rebounds.
Unfortunately, when I look at this team, I don’t see a playoff team. A playoff team needs to be able to defend the 3. A playoff team needs to be able to make their free throws. A playoff team doesn’t need their power forward to suddenly become a shooting guard and start launching threes because they have no real shooters, or at least no clutch shooters. A playoff team needs confidence. A playoff team needs a bench. A playoff team needs to be able to get the job done when it matters most. I just don’t see this team working well together as a unit. It concerns me that, Harris, the facilitator of our offense has 5, 2, 3, 4, and 4 assists in his last 5 games. Things just aren’t quite going our way right now and it’s not about to get any easier. I’m not giving up on my Jazz, I’m just lowering my expectations for them again and turning more attention towards the teams in the playoffs, the upcoming draft, and the potential lockout. Some people would say: “It’s a rebuilding season, get over it.” But that’s what makes all this so hard to swallow. This wasn’t SUPPOSED to be a rebuilding season. Before the season started, everyone was talking about how this might just be the best the Jazz had been since Stockton and Malone. How Deron would make the news guys so much better. How great it would be to have a shooter like Raja back. Now it’s all come unraveled. When we traded Deron, we traded our identity. The white flag went up then, and there it still stands, waiting for the next Jazz team with the skill and determination to take it down once again.
Replies: 9
Views: 547
9 Responses
Gonna take heat for this, but I really miss Sloan and Williams. Even though we were struggling with them, I still felt like we could win any game any night, and I really felt like a playoff team. Now I have no confidence that this team can even beat the lower tier teams in the NBA.
Coaches resigning. Super star player traded. Numerous injuries. Three rookies playing significant minutes. New players trying to learn the system.
All that said, the Jazz are still above .500 and fighting as hard as they can to grab a playoff spot. Most of the key pieces are already in place for a bright future, with a number of draft choices on the way over the next two years. All teams go through transition periods when key players are traded, or coaches step down. If this is as BAD as it gets, before things look up again, then Jazz fans should count their lucky stars.
I can see your pain, and your passion. But you both are glass half empty guys arent you.. Is there work still to be done for this team, definately. But listening to you guys whine about how they have gone down hill and how they cant win games. Listening to you cry about how you miss Williams and how you miss Sloan.. Phoey, give it a break. I like your passion, I feel sorry that you cannot get excited over a team that is growing in the right direction.
Williams? He is out for the rest of the season hurt. We started our wonderful losing streak well before he was traded, so stop blaming it on the trade. Well, I guess in part the trade did hurt, but not because we are Williams less, its because two new guys had to learn a difficult system in the middle of the season, and are expected to post miraculous numbers.. Its not park ball guys, there is a system and you have to learn to work within the system..
I see good things in the future. I wont even say potential, becuase they have the talent. Now it just needs to settle in and learn to work together.. With time to work out the kinks, learn the complete system, work in Ty’s stuff, and learn some perimeter defense, wow… Look toward the draft guys. In the top projected 14 guys, there are some shooters and defenders. With the right picks, our team gets deep and fills in the gaps.. This is a young team, with a lot of talent.
A loss, yes. Will we make the playoffs, probably not. But I will ber perfectly happy to see a few wins and many more close games like this one to end this season with.. Look at the stat boxes, Awesome.. You cannot get excited about that? Heck, look at our past Winning Teams. Many of them didnt win on the road, but many of those losses did not have this much excitement or this close of a game either. I wont say the Potential word, because its not if, its when we start playing together watch out NBA… We the Jazz are back and we will be one of the best, not only in stats, but also at the end of the game. Gooooo Jaaaazzzzz
I’ve never been happy about the D-Will trade and I never will be… it wasn’t good management, it was safe management and with that we can always expect the same result.
Derrick Favors will be a great player, and we will probably trade him off right as he is entering his prime as well.
I’m a Jazz fan, through and through, but you bet your ass I can be upset and dis-satisfied with how Greg Miller and Kevin O’Conner are bumbling this team…
People we this team was once called “the model of consistency”
What are we now…
anyway… every night I pray Jerry Sloan will be the new coach of the Utes, that would give me something to wake up for.
well, right now were a lottery team.
Thanks for this post. The part I agree with most is the this statement, “This wasn’t SUPPOSED to be a rebuilding season. Before the season started, everyone was talking about how this might just be the best the Jazz had been since Stockton and Malone. How Deron would make the new guys so much better. How great it would be to have a shooter like Raja back.” I know this is part of the positive spin that the Jazz PR department has to put out and I should know better than to believe everything I hear. Yes, I am very pleased about AL Jefferson and the future may be bright , but it makes me kind of sad that the Jazz have a least a couple of years of rebuilding and learning to play as a team ahead of them. And I do miss Jerry Sloan and Deron WIlliams. Even with all their players healthy, the Jazz could not beat Houston tonight.
Deb, thats just it, not all the players were healthy. Where was Okur. He has been missing almost all year long, might as well been all year for the limited minutes he played. We have never had our full roster. Secondly it was a very close away game. People forget that we never have been the best away team. Last, with all the changes we have made toward the middle of the season, let alone starting off with 6 new players at the start of this season, well it will take more than 15 games for everyone to learn to play together. Especially since we have not really had everyone together for a whole 15 games due to injury etc. One year we dont make the playoffs and you all freak out?
Eh, just shows you guys care but sheesh cut them a break. Been a long roller coaster yr. They will be back once the playing resumes after the lock out. Probably be one of the best teams ever.. Time will tell.
@Dave, can understand being upset. Never said not to be. Just letting you know that you cant win every game, every trade, or even the majority of the time. I am for one, very excited over what I see. I no longer say potential, I see good things happening. Cant wait to see them play next yr.. Actually still get excited about watching them now.. You cannot say your heart wasnt pumping seeing Milsap put up 35 points, while others posted good numbers. Can you say that CJ’s 40 points didnt get you excited about him? Thinking maybe he will actually be a consistant contributer? Can you say that Al’s play doesnt excite you, or Favors? Harris is no Williams but he is a solid PG, so instead of being totally bummed, we landed all right.
2 chances to get a top lottery pick this year, Irving and Williams.. Its got to be exciting just knowing there are many kids who can actually come in, give us depth and contribute. Overall we lost a player, but we gained a team. After the initial getting to know each other they will be fine and we will see playoff fever again.
It’s not over till the fat lady sings..A lot can still happen in 10-11 games. What is supposed to happen and what does happen is life..
L K some would actually call what does happen fate… Anything can happen, and we will not know what it is until its already in the past. That being said, I say Jazz get the 6th and 12 spots in the draft. Of course thats prior to the balls dropping… I say they end the season 41 and 41. But we get to see some exciting games, so dont not watch just because they are not in the playoffs. You would be missing out on whats to come..
It’s going to be a loooooong, painful year and a half devoid of basketball now that we probably won’t make the playoffs. Honestly, even if they won last night they probably wouldn’t have made it anyway considering their upcoming schedule.
I agree with Patrick though; the talent level of this team is very high with an even higher ceiling. I miss Deron and Sloan as much as anyone but we’re not getting them back. By pulling the trigger on the trade the Jazz are now over a year ahead of where they would have been had they waited for Deron to leave in free agency, plus we got a future BEAST in Favors to compliment current beasts Jefferson and Millsap. People just need to realize it takes time for teams that have had this much turnover to come together. Besides, the Jazz got younger while the elite teams of today are getting older. The Lakers, Spurs, and Mavericks won’t be able to compete with Utah’s youth much longer. Missing the playoffs sucks, but if it’s the price we have to pay for being VERY competitive in the relatively near future than I’m all for it.