Thursday, November 6, 2008

Four and Oh!


What I like…

More Millsap: The Sap has been phenomenal for the Jazz to begin the year. His 24-point, 9 rebound-outing vs. the Clippers on Monday was sensational. I believe Millsap will get more PT as the year progresses.

6th Man Flourishing: Kirilenko has been awesome as the team’s Sixth man. His numbers, and production are currently ‘up’ from a season ago, averaging 14.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.25 steals and 1.5 blocks. This is the spot where he belongs.

Boooozer: The Booz has played well for the Jazz. He’s averaging 20.8 points and 10 rebounds per game. Boozer, Millsap and Kirilenko have garnered extended playing time on the floor together. It has proven to be a lethal combination.

The Right Knight: Brevin Knight fits into the Jazz scheme perfectly. He runs the team impressively and gets the ball into the right spots. He has the right blend of pass-first mentality, player set-up ability and good assist-to-turnover ratio.

Unselfishness: This might be the best passing team in the NBA. The Jazz know how to share the ball and distribute to the open man. Kirilenko leads the charge, oftentimes passing up shots he ought to take. Brewer has been an incredible passer. He understands his limitations and gets the ball to the right players.


What I’d like to see…

CJ Rising: CJ Miles hasn’t played particularly well as a starter. He’s only played an average of 15 minutes per game. I think it’s tough for him to get into a groove when he’s considered the 4th option on the 1st unit. He’s usually replaced quickly by Kirilenko at the 1st quarter-midpoint mark. Regardless, he’s getting his opportunity.

Steady Price: I believe Ronnie Price is getting better as a point guard in the Jazz system. His numbers aren’t overwhelming, but his assist rate has improved dramatically. He does a better job of staying under control and finding the right teammates for easy buckets.

Brew Crew: I believe Brewer deserves more playing time. He’s been sensational on the floor when he’s gotten minutes. I’d like to see his minutes elevated to 30 per game.

DWill @ 100%: Let’s not risk bringing Deron back too soon. We ought to make sure that he’s 100% ready before he returns to the floor. Why risk the possibility of increased injury when our team is playing so well? His time off allows our back-up point guards to receive additional seasoning and playing time.

Vet Relaxation: While I hope that both Harpring and Collins get well, I don’t think we have any use for them on this team. Our positions are set: CJ starts, Kirilenko plays 6th man, Korver comes off the bench, Brewer plays more minutes, Boozer, Millsap & Memo fill the post. We could certainly use another post presence inside. Would anyone bite on a trade for Almond, Harpring or Collins? Probably not.

4 comments:

Orlando said...

I've loved Millsap thusfar. He's been at his aggressive best. But, he always plays better at home than on the road. Let's hope he keeps this play up on the road.

I'm still waiting for any reason to like CJ Miles.

Tucker McCann said...

Golden Griff suggested to me that we could trade Almond and Collins straight across for Amare Stoudamire.

Any thoughts? (other than that Golden Griff is an idiot?)

Amar said...

I think that winning all these games so far (if you discount the near double doubles each game for memo and booz) have been products of our starters treading water with the other team's starters -- and our bench destroying the other team's bench.

having such a solid bench work together so early in the season and develop this consistency is only going to make us stronger. deron will come back and make our starters look great -- our bench is going to be the difference this season though.

the last time we had a good bench we went to the NBA finals. there's no time like now to do that again.

ps. glad to see you guys blogging again, I started to worry about you guys going AWOL for a minute there . . .

Pasty Gangsta said...

Let's be honest -- the Jazz are going to be very good this year. We haven't played the three best teams in the league so far but we're 4-0 without D Will and we have huge margins of victory (John Hollinger's most important predictor of success).

We're going to make a run this year, boys. . . I can feel it.