Trade Deadline

Today's the day to make your move in the NBA, the Jazz made a move (see Guru's post). I wouldn't have minded shipping CJ or Korver instead, but Korver is starting to play well and CJ is full of potential (oh, wait, that was four years ago).

But other teams have made moves that may affect the Jazz this season. Let's recap:

Cavs: Cleveland brought in the perfect Jazzman, Antawn Jamison, to complement Lebron. The Cavs are going to be tough to beat and, in my opinion, are a virtual lock for making finals. They might have trouble matching L.A.'s size now that Big Z is gone, however. Luckily, the Jazz are done with Cleveland for the year, so this won't affect the team.


Kings: How do the Kings affect the Jazz, you ask. Well, aside from the fact that we play them in two weeks, it would be nice to see the Kings go on a nice win streak to catch the Knicks in the ping-pong ball standings (see below). The Kings dealt Kevin Martin (and Hilton Armstrong) and acquired Carl Landry, Carl Dorsey and East St. Louis' own Larry Hughes. While Martin is easily the best player in this deal, the Kings have been much better this year when KMart has been hurt. Here's hoping Tyreke Evans can get them playing better ball.

Wizards: Same story here: the Wiz are fighting the Knicks for ping pong balls. Unfortunately, they just got a lot worse. Jamison and Caron Butler are gone while Josh Howard, Zydrunas Ilgauskus, and Drew Gooden are in DC. That's not a good move from a (basketball) talent perspective; musically, it's a nice trade. This team is going to take a nosedive (on purpose).


Mavs: Mark Cuban made another bold move, dumping Josh Howard's expiring deal for Caron Butler (another guy that would fit in great with the Jazz), DeShawn Stephenson (another guy that would not fit in well with the Jazz, mostly because he is a bad basketball player) and Brendan "I'm playing for money" Haywood. The Mavs have been looking creaky lately, so this is an upgrade, especially because Haywood is SO much better than Dampier in the post. Butler has had a terrible year, but the change of scenery should show whether his decline was a result of being stuck on a terrible Wizards team, or whether he's lost a step. I doubt this makes the Mavs serious contenders, but they definitely improve.

Rockets: Houston made out like a frat party. Not only did they unload the most overpriced, overhyped "All-Star" in the league, but they picked up Kevin Martin, Jared Jeffries, rookie Jordan Hill AND allegedly the Knicks 2011 and 2012 first round picks! Are you kidding me? Those picks alone are more valuable than McGrady. Houston loses Landry, who is a stud, but Jeffries and Hill combined should make up for that loss. Martin gives the Rockets a legitimate scorer, something they've been missing this year. Suddenly, the West is looking fearsome.


Knicks: Finally, our beloved Knicks. You have to give this team credit, they are going balls to the wall with their long-term strategy. They are putting all of Wall Street's money on red, and in this case red means Lebron and Bosh. They have gutted their team of bench scoring (trading Nate Robinson for one-trick pony Eddie House), post defenders (Jared Jeffries and 5th overall pick Jordan Hill), first round draft picks (not until 2013!), and tear drop tattoos (Larry Hughes: two). In exchange they get an aged, overhyped superstar in McGrady and a ton of cap space to spend next summer. If they don't get Lebron, Bosh, Wade or some combination, you can write off the Knicks franchise for the next decade.

But, more importantly for Jazz fans, they have very little talent left to compete with this year. The Knicks are currently tied for 7th place in the lottery with Detroit. But, they are only a game and a half out of dropping into the 4th spot. Now, there is no way they are catching the Nets, T-Wolves, or Warriors. But if Sacramento, Washinton, Detroit, and the Clippers can steal a few victories in the next few weeks, the Jazz will be sitting pretty in the draft. Of course, those teams are all about to enter full-blown tank mode, whereas the Knicks have no reason to lose more than they have to. But, with a starting five of Chris Duhon, Tracy McGracy, Danilo Galinari, David Lee, and Wilson Chandler, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!!

Again? Seriously?

The Jazz held a 15 point lead at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Then they let Dallas score 44 points in the 4th! What's that you say? 44 points in the 4th quarter? Correct good sir. 44 points in the 4th quarter. Now, to be fair, Dirk is a good player, but 44 points in the 4th quarter?!

How Do We Stack Up?

With the summer winding down and the top teams essentially done dealing in free agency (except for the Lakers and Lamar, and perhaps the Nuggets with Kleiza), we can now take a look into the Western Conference race for next season.

I expect Carlos Boozer will be on the team for the duration of the season (even though I’d wish to get rid of the guy). If the Jazz don’t want to trade Boozer unless they have the ability to improve the team by way of “said” trade (this is what KOC keeps on saying…), then Boozer won’t be dealt. No team is silly enough to give away a top talent for Boozer’s services. Thusly, I will rank the teams with the Jazz as currently constituted.

1. LA Lakers: With or without Lamar, the Lakers will be deadly. Artest will give them more toughness. They’re still the deepest team in the NBA with quality talent. Gasol, Bynum, Artest and Kobe will get this team through the West as the top seed. Odom puts them over the top.
2. San Antonio Spurs: They’re back… What a summer for the Spurs! It’s just not fair when a team reloads like that to put themselves within contention. Jefferson makes a huge difference and McDyess provides the Spurs with some inside depth. This is a scary team once again.
3. Dallas Mavericks: The Mavs have hit the road running. Kidd returns, and Marion gives them another option on the wing and on the break. Tim Thomas can shoot when healthy. Gooden is just alright. But the rest of the players are solid… Howard, Terry and don’t forget Dirk. They’ll have a terrific regular season.
4. Portland TrailBlazers: I believe Andre Miller will get this team moving on the fast track. He’ll make his young teammates better. Brandon Roy will elevate his game to the next level. And Oden & Aldridge can only improve from last season.
5. Denver Nuggets: This might be a long drop off from last season’s 2nd seed, however, I don’t think they’ve improved at all… while the other teams have gotten much better. We shall see…
6. New Orleans Hornets: What can I say?... Okafor is better than Chandler. That’s an upgrade in my mind. Okafor with West will be tough up front. Diogu provides depth. The rest of the team stays intact. CP3 is still pretty good.
7. Utah Jazz: I recognize that we had injuries last season, and the hope will be that we can overcome them… However, I wasn’t too impressed with our showing in the playoffs against LA when we were healthy. Boozer will be looking for #1. Millsap doesn’t want to be his backup. And we’ll need strong improvement from the wings (Brewer & Miles) since Harpring will be gone, and AK47 can’t be counted on. I really like Okur and our superstar, DWill. Maybe Kosta can give us something. We’ll be slotted anywhere from #5 to #8. Without Boozer, we’ll be in the lottery (woof!).
8. LA Clippers: I believe the Clippers will beat out the Suns for the last spot. Yep, Blake Griffin, Baron Davis, and the Clippers will get to the playoffs. I like their pieces… Gordon, Thornton, Camby, etc. The Suns will ride Amare’ as far as he can take them… which will be to the lottery again.

Intrigue For The Unknown

As the draft guru, I'm always intrigued with the unknown hoops player. While I follow basketball religously, there are still players in the basketball world that I just don't know anything about.

Last year, I came away pleased with our draft-day choice of Kosta Koufos. I thought he was a solid draft choice. However, when I went to the Rocky Mountain Review to witness our Jazz rookie league team versus San Antonio, I was dumbfounded to see that the Spurs had pulled a draft-day steal (of sorts) which had left moose prints on the face of our summer-league Jazzmen. George Hill from the Spurs, a late-first round draft choice (after the Jazz had selected), had absolutely dominated the Jazz in the rookie league game. His performance was so impressive that it made me sick-to-my-stomach, thinking that... "the hated Spurs had once again one-upped" the lowly Jazz, and made our drafting department look silly. Hill was a little-known ball player from IUPUI and no one had really heard of him. I had certainly never seen him play before either. Yet, here he was... killing our Jazz! Hill, by the way, went on to have a decent, to non-descript rookie season for the Spurs. However, who really knows how good he'll become in the future?

Just today, David Thorpe from ESPN.com handed out a true nugget of Summer League information. He divulged the next unknown quantity that may have slipped past the Jazz in the draft. No, it wasn't DeJuan Blair... (even though he seems to be playing fairly well) and it wasn't his teammate from Pitt, Sam Young... it was Rodrigue Beaubois from France, scorching the nets and dropping jaws, to the point where Thorpe wrote after seeing both Beaubois and Hill play... " Beaubois has been the best pure pg I've seen this summer. Until George Hill." Ouch!... A couple of point guards we passed on.

Beaubois, a little known PG from France ripped off a line of 34 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds while hitting 7 three-pointers. George Hill followed that game with a solid 25-point performance of his own. I know that it's summer league... and we shouldn't get too overhyped by the performances that take place here... But... 34 points... 7-three balls. Wow. That's pretty impressive!

On the Jazz summer league front, we probably had the worst constructed team ever (with Kosta breaking his finger and Fes not showing up), and yet, we still managed to win 3 games. Eric Maynor had a semi-forgettable rocky summer, with several 2-9 shooting performances. And Goran Suton was pretty much an after-thought. He went "0-fer"... from 3-point land during the competition in Orlando. His best game was an 8-point, 10 rebound outing.

The guy who'll be taking this franchise to the top... to the promised land, is non-other than summer surprise Josh Duncan. He somehow developed an uncanny knack for hitting shots and making plays within the structure of the offense. That's hard to do for most rookies (and young free agents). It may have been enough to earn himself an invite to fall camp. After which... he'll be taking this franchise to the brink of a championship. Right? Josh Duncan!

Ouuuuuuuuuch

The Biggest Game of the Year = A Big Let Down

The Dreaded 8th Spot

Now that Ginobili is done for the year, there isn't any team that I really fear in the West other than the Lakers. Therefore, the primary goal for the last five games is avoiding that 8th spot. If the Jazz win in Dallas on Wednesday, it all but guarantees that we avoid the bottom seed in the playoffs - the Jazz would own a two-game lead and the tiebreaker. We'd have to crap out on a home game against Golden State or the Clippers, and we never lose at home to bad teams. Oh, wait...
However, if we lose on Wednesday, things get dicey. Losing leaves us tied with the Mavs for seventh, with the Jazz owning the tiebreaker due to our stellar division record. The Mavs remaining schedule features a series with the Hornets and finishes with the T-Wolves and Rockets at home. Meanwhile, the Jazz have to go on the road to San Antonio (where we haven't won since the 1950s) and Los Angeles with home games against the Clips and Warriors. Thus, assuming both teams win their home games and lose on the road, the Mavs are looking to finish 3-1 while the Jazz are looking at 2-2. That means we end up in the 8th spot.

Of course, the Jazz could steal one on the road, or the Mavs could fall at home. But, to be on the safe side, the Jazz really could use a Texas road win on Wednesday.

Mavericks Profile: Josh Howard

Tonight, the Jazz have a crucial game with the Dallas Mavericks. If the Dallas Cowboys are America's football team, does that make the Mavericks America's basketball team? If so, somebody apparently forgot to tell Josh Howard.



Howard's unpatriotic rant was just another in a line of brilliant PR moves that also includes Howard admiting that smoking pot is an important part of his offseason workout routine.