A Glimpse Into the Future

This past weekend was a special weekend for me as a Jazz fan. There has been a lot of turmoil and a lot of controversy in the past couple of seasons as we all know. The Williams and Boozer era was a good one while it lasted and there was some hope that we could do great things with them, but needless to say it plateaued and something needed to change. The result was a train wreck. Boozer walked, D-Will was traded, and Jerry Sloan retired. That shoved us into a rebuilding mode. Rebuilding mode is very tough because its hard to be optimistic and easy to be pessimistic. We had a few solid pieces that had potential, but just that. Potential. Potential is a scary word because while it does mean that it could work out, it could also mean that it could crash to the floor. There have been many players who never made it past potential. Players like Greg Oden were destined to become future stars and had so much potential that Portland, when they got the first pick, decided it was a good idea to select Oden and in the meantime let the Sonics select the young kid out of Texas in Durant. So that was all that we were left with. Potential. We had a young kid out of Butler that kinda reminded people of a taller Hornacek. We traded our star point guard for this young and raw power forward out of G-Tech. Then we drafted a true young center out of Turkey at number 3 and a slashing SG out of Colorado. They all could work out. Or they could flop and leave the Jazz stuck in the lottery for eternity.

Well, the season started and it has been kinda rough and up to this point this still remained uncertain. I have tried to be hopeful, but its hard at times when things never seem to work out. However, it all changed this weekend. I saw it. I saw a glimpse into the future. Due to the unfortunate circumstances that caused Al Jefferson to miss a few games, our young guys were given a shot to perform and boy did it make me happy. First off Derrick Favors has a career game with career high in both points and rebounds against Golden State with Hayward playing like an animal to help us get an overtime win against the Warriors. Then Burks and Kanter both played like crazy, having career games against the Lakers Sunday night. It is awesome. But adding that all together, it really hit me in the first half of the fourth quarter. We had Kanter, Favors, Hayward, and Burks all on the court with the veteran Tinsley leading them at the point during the fourth quarter. And not only were they on the court together at the end of the game, but they were holding the fort quite well as our young guys propelled us to victory against a good Lakers team in a place being Los Angeles that we historically play terrible in no matter who is dressed up. That right there ladies and gentlemen is our future. You saw it tonight. And it is awesome. We are going to be good. I am so happy right now!!

Now its not a finished product. We still have to figure out the point guard position. Harris isn't the answer and both Tinsley and Watson are getting up there in age. We need to work out a better bench and dump players like CJ Miles and Raja Bell. The logjam at power forward has to be worked out. With what we've seen from our big guys this past weekend, we can't afford to hold them back any longer by keeping both Jefferson and Millsap. After Al was absent this weekend, its easy to say get rid of him, but we'll see. I still don't know if Ty Corbin is the next Jerry Sloan. Now that doesn't mean I'm ready to get rid of him, he's done a great job and deserves to stay on board, but I don't think he is our savior. I've said for well over five years now that Jeff Hornacek would make a great head coach for us. And hey, he's now sitting on the bench as an assistant coach, so maybe that will be an option. We also have two draft picks in the upcoming draft if all works out and in a very deep, that could help a lot. Then there is the trade exception that we have to use before it expires at the end of the year. So there is some work to do, but I feel like this is starting to come together. The Utah Jazz are going to be a force to be reckoned with and I am stoked!