Utah Jazz - 2013 Season in Review

The NBA season is now over with the Heat defeating the Spurs in one of the best NBA Finals series that I can remember. While the NBA season is over, the excitement in the NBA hasn't ended yet as the NBA offseason is in full swing with the 2013 NBA Draft is this Thursday, June 27th, 2013, followed shortly by the NBA free agency signings. No, I don't have an NBA mock draft ready at this time, but I did want to look back at the 2012-2013 season of my Utah Jazz before the 2013-2014 season essentially begins with the NBA Draft this week. The Jazz's season ended tragically as they were officially eliminated from the playoffs in the last game of the season, so their season has been over for a while and thus I could've done this earlier, but I do figure this is good timing with all that is about to happen. Like I did last year, I am going to go player by player with this.

*Al Jefferson, C/PF - The Jazz have a huge decision to make this offseason as both Jefferson and Millsap are unrestricted free agents. Statistically Al Jefferson is the Jazz's best player, averaging 17.8 PPG and 9.2 RPG last season, which is a bit down from previous years, but still fantastic. It might seem reasonable to bring him back because of that, but I think they need to look beyond that. First of all, I don't imagine that the Jazz have enough money to bring both back and second I don't think they want to. It's time to usher in a new era with Kanter and Favors and in ushering that era, the Jazz have to decide which player, Jefferson or Millsap, will best integrate in with those two. Or is it better to let both go and draft a backup big men or two? Also, which player would be easier to bring back and cost less? Considering all this, I think the right answer is to let Jefferson walk. First off, I think he is going to be harder to get back. I think he will demand more money and want to be in the starlight. Bringing him back I think will hinder the progress of Enes Kanter specifically. Plus, even though Jefferson puts up the consistent numbers, I don't always see him putting forth his best effort and at times I feel he is lazy, especially at the defensive end. He'll be highly sought over in free agency and I think it is time for the Jazz to let him go.

*Paul Millsap, PF - A lot of my thoughts here, I just barely expressed because the story of the offseason for the Jazz will be who they decide to keep, Jefferson or Millsap. My pick is Millsap because even though there were several times during the season where he disappeared, I think it will be more beneficial for the Jazz to keep him. He has been with us his whole career and he likes it here. Also I see him as less selfish and more of a versatile player, so I think a trio of Kanter, Favors, and Millsap will work perfectly for the Jazz. The big question is whether or not he can take a smaller role if he is asked. Obviously I think that wouldn't be the case initially, but eventually we have to turn the future of the Jazz over to Kanter and Favors and Millsap is not a part of that future, but would work great as a mentor and a sixth man player. But Millsap spent the first four years of his career as a sixth man and after a long time he finally got his time to shine. Knowing the direction the Jazz want to go, is he willing to take that role again? Despite how much he likes it here, he may decide he has a better future with another team and thus making the decision harder for the Jazz. The Jazz do have two first round picks and it may be smart to use one of those on another big man as insurance.

Gordon Hayward, SF/SG - Hayward has improved every year that he has been with the Jazz and that makes me really excited about him and his future with the team. Coach Corbin did an interesting thing for him this year and gave him a Manu Ginobili type of role. Even though Gordie obviously the best small forward on the team and gets the most minutes, which include the minutes that really count at the end of a game, Marvin Williams started at small forward and Gordie came off the bench. I guess I don't have a big problem with that, but I would like to see him in the starting role. Maybe that's just me be a traditionalist, though, and liking to see the best player in each position get the start.

*Randy Foye, SG - I really liked the addition of Foye this year for the Jazz. He's obviously not the future of this team at shooting guard given the fact that he does turn 30 this offseason and is only a decent role player. The thing that I really liked was his 3-point shooting. The Jazz are really good down low, but they could use improvement with the outside shooting. This year having that in Foye was really nice as it helped balance out the team. However, Foye is an unrestricted free agent and I don't know if the Jazz are planning on bringing him back as they have other priorities this offseason. I wouldn't miss him too much as I would love to see Alec Burks take a starting role on this team, but if the Jazz do let him go, they at least need to pick up another shooter to replace him.

*Mo Williams, PG/SG - Outside the situation with Jefferson and Millsap, the point guard position is something that the Jazz really need to figure out. The three point guards on the roster from last season, Mo, Tinsley, and Watson, are all free agents. Even so, the Jazz could've used an upgrade anyways so I would be really surprised if the Jazz brought more than one of them back. The Jazz have the 14th pick in the draft and if they don't use that on a point guard, I will be an angry Jazz fan. I didn't actually mind Mo. I really liked him when we first drafted him back in 2003 and I thought it was a mistake to let him go after his rookie season and I was really excited to have him back this past year. Now he wasn't the long term solution. Just a momentary fix. If the Jazz decide to part ways after just one year yet again, I wouldn't be too disappointed. I also wouldn't be disappointed if we signed him on for another year or two to start while we develop whatever young point guard we decide to draft and thus let Tinsley and Watson walk.

Enes Kanter, C - Kanter is the future at center for the Jazz and I am really excited for that as there were many times this season where I really saw how dominate he can become. After two years of coming off the bench I think it is time for the Jazz to let Jefferson walk and plug Kanter right in as the starting center. If the Jazz do this, I really think Kanter can have a breakout year and be a star for many years to become. He only averaged 15 minutes per game this year and that was mostly due to the logjam at the front court for the Jazz, but if he gets more minutes, his game will improve. The Jazz also made a smart decision by bringing Karl Malone on as an assistant coach to mainly work with Kanter and Favors. That should be huge. Malone may have a crazy mouth, but he was one of the best big men to ever play the game, so he can definitely teach them many things.

Derrick Favors, PF - I could almost copy and paste the last entry on Kanter to this spot as the situation is very similar. It's amazing to think that Favors will be entering his fourth year in the league, but will only be 22 years old this July. This means he has a good 10 - 15 years in the league still and he has shown many times how much of a beast he can be and with Malone on the bench teaching him, he can be even more of a beast and it's time for him to shine. I love Jefferson and Millsap, but it's time for the Favors and Kanter era to begin. Favors definitely should get the start at PF this upcoming season. That will be good for him.

Marvin Williams, SF - The addition of Marvin this season has been nice. He's definitely not the star of the team, but he is a really good role player and when he is at the top of his game, the Jazz play well. He also has received most of the starts at small forward this season and I don't quite like that idea. The Jazz have him on contract for another year, so what they need to do with him is let him become a huge force from off the bench to help the second squad out while giving Hayward the shot at starting more.

Alec Burks, SG/PG - I feel Alec Burks made some pretty big strides this past year. No, I don't know if he'll ever be a star in the league, but he has the chance to be a very good role player at the least. I would like to see his minutes increased more this next year and I wouldn't even mind if he ended up getting the starting shooting guard spot going into next year. It would be interesting to see if he can have a breakout year if given the chance to start. Burks did get some time at point guard with all the point guard troubles that the Jazz had this past year and it was fun to see him in that role, although the more he is playing that role, the more concerned I will be because it probably means the Jazz don't have much else, unless of course he steps up his game big time in which case I wouldn't mind, but I expect him to remain as shooting guard with his point guard skills being an insurance policy

*Jamaal Tinsley, PG - A couple years ago the Jazz snatched up Jamaal Tinsley on a whim after he had been out of basketball for a year and that turned out rather well for the Jazz as he ended up being a decent backup point guard, and even a decent starting point guard when he was called on. However, all of the Jazz's point guards are free agents and I would be shocked if more than one of them returns next season. Tinsley has served the Jazz well in the last two years, but being that he is 35 years old right now, chances of him being the one that gets re-signed is pretty slim. However, it is possible he does return given the fact that he is the one true pass-first point guard out of the there, thus fitting the mold of the type of point guard that has worked out well for the Jazz.

*Earl Watson, PG -  Another surprising player for the Jazz, Watson was picked up back in 2010 and surprised the Jazz organization by being a really decent back-up point guard. That in turn led him to spend three full years with the Jazz, which is tied for the most he's played with any other team. Personally, because of his play and his down to earth, humble attitude, I have called him Earl "The Man" Watson. Sadly, though, I do think it is time for "The Man" to say goodbye as the Jazz need to get younger and Watston suffers the same thing that Tinsley does. He is not young. And both his production and ability to stay healthy has been in a decline as of late.

*DaMarre Carroll, SF - The story of DeMarre Carroll this year was a confusing one to me. I think he is a solid small forward that is a great asset coming off the bench. The former first-round pick struggled in his first few seasons as a pro and bounced around a bit, but he seemed to be coming into his own as a member of the Jazz. When he first got here, he looked like a confused young man who wasn't going to do anything for us and when he first scored a basket me and some friends immediately  went to celebrate by getting ice cream. Now he has progressed to the point where there was a game this season where he scored a career high 19 points. The he somehow landed in Coach Corbin's doghouse for reasons that I still don't know. Corbin just suddenly stopped playing him towards the end of the season and now I think his days as a Jazz man are over as he is a free agent. It's a shame because I really liked the man as a player.

Jeremy Evans, PF - The human pogo-stick is definitely a fan favorite in Utah with his charismatic personality and his extremely athletic abilities. He participated in the Dunk Contest for a second straight year and after winning the competition in 2012, he was runner up this past season. The problem here is that he really hasn't proven himself as someone who can play the game of basketball. He hasn't quite progressed from the position of showcasing his dunking abilities in the last few minutes of a game when the game is already over. I would love to see him step up and become a rotational bench player who contributes 15-20 minutes per game, but I don't know if that will ever happen. With the revamping of the upcourt this offseason, he will actually have a chance to prove himself next season, so let's hope he steps up.

Kevin Murphy, SG - The Jazz usually do well with their second round picks, so grabbing the sharp shooting Kevin Murphy with their late second round pick last year seemed like a good idea. However, the initial outlook after one season isn't good as Murphy looks like a dud. He never got established into the rotation for the Jazz as he only appeared in 17 games. In those 17 games, he got a grand total of 52 minutes and in those minutes he went 7-28 shooting on the season and only 1-7 from behind the arc. Four of those seven made field goals came in one outing. In theory if he works hard this offseason he still has a chance to prove himself, but things aren't looking up at this point.

Tyrone Corbin, Head Coach - I will be honest and say that I was never a fan of the Ty Corbin hire. I think when Sloan resigned, Corbin definitely should've gotten the job, but on an interim basis, allowing for the Jazz to do a real coaching search. But instead he was hired on as full time head coach. In fairness to him, he has done better than I initially thought he was going to do, but throughout this past season there were always weird coaching decisions that he made, the Carroll situation being only one of many and I honestly think that he has hit his ceiling as a head coach for this team. Perhaps he is good enough to get his team to the playoffs, but the highest he will get them to is the bottom half of the playoff bracket, which will thus result to a first round exit in most of those situations. As a Jazz fan, I have never seen my team win an NBA title and one of my life goals is to see that happen at least once. With Ty Corbin on board I don't know if I will ever see them get out of the first round of the playoffs when they even make it and that is a problem. Now the Jazz did make a few interesting moves recently. First off they hired Karl Malone to help out our big men and that'll help. They also brought back Jerry Sloan in an advisory-type role and I also think that will help. So we'll see where that takes us this season, but in the end I think Ty Corbin needs to get fired and since it has been a long time since a Jazz head coach has been fired, I wonder if they even know how to do that. I was hoping that they would fire Corbin after this season and hire Jeff Hornacek as head coach as it has been my dream for the past ten years or so to have him as the head coach and that almost came true given the fact that he was an assistant head coach here, but nonetheless the Jazz made the dumb decision to keep Corbin for another year and Phoenix made the smart decision by snatching Hornacek up as their head coach. That broke my heart.

Overall, I think that this Jazz team has a lot of potential with Kanter, Favors, Hayward, and Burks on the team as a young group that could turn out to be the main corps of this team, but presently the Jazz have a lot of decision to make and that could lead to some growing pains in the next season or two, but ultimately things are looking up for this team. They are on the right track and really need to get lucky starting in the draft that happens this week and moving on into free agency.

*- Unrestricted Free Agent

Utah Jazz - 2012 Season in Review

This past season was an interesting one for the Utah Jazz. The expectations weren't very high at all as they had just came off a terrible ending to the 2010-2011 campaign that provided little hope for the future. The season started off on a great note for the first few weeks, but then got rather rocky as the team started to play as bad as most people expected. However, due to an interesting turn of events and a late push by our young team, the Utah Jazz snuck into the playoffs with the eight seed. As a lifelong Jazz fan, this made me happy by giving me hope for the future. However, a disappointing showing in the playoffs against the Spurs left much to be desired for as the Spurs showed the world that the Jazz are nowhere near elite yet by pulling off a rather easy 4 game sweep. Yes, I predicted this as seen here, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow. But with that the season has come to an end for the Jazz and now its time to look back and review this past season. In order to do that, I will evaluate the team player by player in order of position. Let's begin!

Al Jefferson, C/PF- Statistically speaking, Jefferson was the best player for the Jazz this past year with 19.2 PPG and 9.6 RPG, but I don't feel like Jefferson's heart is in the game at all times and he also is quite lazy on occasion, especially when it comes to defense. He's one of those players that is good at putting up numbers, but isn't a standout team leader. And in talking about Jefferson it brings up a concern that the Jazz need to solve and that would be the logjam in the front court. The Jazz on their roster have Jefferson, Kanter, Favors, and Millsap all on their roster. Now an even rotation of those four gives the Jazz potentially the best, or at least one of the best, front courts in the league. Now I wouldn't complain if we brought all four back, but with so many other needs on the team, keeping all four would hinder our progress because we could get rid of one of our big men via trade in order to bring in more help and not miss a beat in the front court. The young guys (Kanter and Favors) aren't going anywhere, so that leaves it to Jefferson and Millsap. Of those two, Jefferson is the most expendable. We could package him up with our trade exception and/or another player and bring in a stud guard or small forward and possibly a draft pick since we have no first round picks in this upcoming draft.

Enes Kanter, C- Kanter is the type of player that the Jazz have been looking for for a long time. Having a true center that actually knows how to play basketball could've been the remaining puzzle piece that would earn the Jazz a championship in the 90's, but alas the best we could come up with was Greg Ostertag and that was sad. Now Okur was a decent center for a few years, but wasn't your typical center. Jefferson has done a decent job recently, but I wouldn't call him a true center. He's more of a power forward that can play center when needed and has done so for the Jazz because we've had no other option. So the last true center was Mark Eaton and his number has been hanging in the rafters for quite some time now. However, Kanter was just a rookie last year and it did show. He's not ready to take over as starting center, but I feel that some time in the next year or two he will have a breakout year and become the stud center we have been looking for.

Derrick Favors, PF/C- Now here is a player that I am super excited about. I was among the few Jazz fans that was bitter about the D-Will trade, but the more I watch our team, the more I realize that we didn't trade D-Will for Devin Harris, we traded D-Will for Derrick Favors. The other players we got were just extra bonuses. D-Fav this year showed us that he is going to be a star in this league, with many moments of brilliance. Had Corbin been smart and started him alongside Jefferson and Millsap instead of Josh Howard and DeMarre Carroll, he could've been even better. And with all due respect to Jefferson and Millsap, D-Fav is our future at the power forward position and not either one of them.

Paul Millsap, PF- Even though on paper Al Jefferson had better stats, Paul Millsap was the star of this team this past season. However, he is also caught in the logjam at power forward. Millsap has had so many big moments and is the most clutch player for the Jazz right now, so keeping him on board is the smart idea. But like I said, despite how good Millsap is, Favors is our future at the position so the Jazz have some decisions to make. Now the benefit to trading Millsap is that we would get more out of him and if Derrick Favors stepped up even more it might be worth it, but in the end I think Millsap is a player that the Jazz need to keep around. Yeah, I know I've said differently in the past, but hey. I'm allowed to change my mind. That was more or less me brainstorming anyways.

Jeremy Evans, PF/SF-  The human pogo-stick provided the Jazz with one of the greatest moments of the season as he won the slam dunk contest during all star break. He's definitely a fun player to watch when he is out on the court, but unfortunately that is about it. He's not as nearly as good as our other forwards and I don't think he'll ever be more than a spark off the bench, but he's been fun to have around. He's a restricted free agent this summer, so we'll see if the Jazz decide to bring him back.

Gordon Hayward, SF/SG- I really feel like Gordie came into his own this season. Both him and Favors having fantastic sophomore campaigns really gives the Jazz some hope for the future. Unlike Favors, Corbin was smart with Hayward and gave him the starting job for most of the season and I feel that is a huge reason why he was so successful. He was also one of three Jazz players to average over 30 minutes per game, so Hayward was given the opportunity to shine and made the most of it. I don't know if he will reach all star level, but I feel he still has a lot of room to grow and thus it will only get better for Hayward.

DeMarre Carroll, SF- For a person who the Jazz just picked up in the middle of the season, Carroll did surprisingly well. He started off really slow, but towards the end he actually had made some good strides and contributed decently for us. Now the questionable call comes with the decision to give Carroll the starting job when players got hurt. Sure he was decent, but the Jazz shouldn't have started him when you have players like Favors and Burks that deserved more minutes. The Jazz could bring back Carroll, but he's nothing special. Just a temporary fix when we started to get injury prone.

Josh Howard, SF- Once upon a time, Josh Howard was a great player. He even made an all star appearance if I remember correctly, but he is one of those players who's career hit a brick wall. That happened because he couldn't stay healthy. There are a lot of fans that expected big things out of him this year, but I wasn't one of them. Many fans now consider him to be a huge disappointment here, but he actually played better than I thought he would. He's a free agent, though, and we have no reason to bring him back. He's 32 years old and entering into his 10th season. He'll never be the same again.

CJ Miles, SF/SG- After seven long years, the CJ Miles experiment may finally be over. If you can call it an experiment. I call it a disaster. I have no idea why the front office and coaching staff loved this guy enough to keep him here for so long. He shows flashes of being a great player, but that's it. If you look up the word inconsistent in the dictionary, you will find his name there. On occasion he can hit a three pointer, but when he does he somehow gets in the mindset that if he can make one he can make twenty and doesn't stop shooting threes, most of which he misses. He gives me a headache every time he steps on the floor. Now he is a free agent and I will get on my knees and beg the Jazz to let him walk and not bring  him back.

Raja Bell, SG- Raja was one of my favorite players on the Jazz when he was here before and I was sad when he left for Phoenix. After a few good years in Phoenix, he started becoming old and started to fall apart because he couldn't stay healthy. Then he ended up with us again these last two years, which kinda made me happy. But the sad thing is that he is done. He is in his mid 30's and this second time around he hasn't done a whole lot. Then this year he managed to get in Ty's doghouse towards the end and with his recent comment towards Coach Corbin, he probably won't be coming back. He really did bring good memories to this team, but it is time to be done with him.

Alec Burks, SG- I have been really impressed with Burks this season. As was the case with Kanter, he had a lot of rookie moments, but also like Kanter I feel that he can be really good for the Jazz. He is a great slashing guard that really has no fear at all. Sometimes that gets him in trouble, but for the most part he gets major kudos. He still has a lot to learn, but I think he can develop into a Shandon Anderson or even a Bryan Russell type player for the Jazz. Someone who isn't a star and won't make an all star game, but is a very important role player for us. When Raja, CJ, and Howard all went down with injury, he should've gotten the start instead of DeMarre, but what is done is done. In Ty we trust! ...sometimes. But not really.

Devin Harris, PG- This is an interesting story here. Devin Harris. I was never a fan of Devin Harris coming here. He was good in Dallas, but only as a role player. He was never asked to step up into a leadership role. Then he gets his opportunity to lead in New Jersey and falls flat on his face. Three years of epic failure for the Nets. And now we think its a good idea to dump the best point guard in the league for this guy? I was very unhappy when we traded for him. He played like dirt at the end of last season for us and continued to play like dirt in the first half of the season and I wanted him gone. However, the interesting part of this story comes with the fact that I was actually semi impressed with his performance in the last half of the season. He wasn't great, but he was good enough. Now I would be content with us bringing him back for next season whereas in the past I was demanding us get rid of him. However, I still think we need to get a young point guard to either step in to be the starter or to train as our future starter. Devin Harris is still just an average point guard and not our future point guard. He's a decent shooter, but not a leader and as a point guard I think he should be getting more than his average this past season of 5 assists per game.

Earl Watson, PG- He's the man!! Due to his play, Earl Watson has earned the nickname, Earl "The Man" Watson. The dude is a stud as a backup point guard and I will be more than happy to keep him on board the Jazz train. Now he's just a backup point guard and he'll never be more than that, but that's a position that is very good to have. One of the better backup point guards we've had. He's like the Howard Eisley of today's team and well liked by Jazz fans at that. His season kinda crashed towards the end, but hopefully he will pick it back up next season.

Jamaal Tinsley, PG- Now Jamaal was a pleasant surprise this season. At one point he was a rising star, but he crashed rather hard and was out of the league the previous season. Shortly after being drafted number one overall in the D-League draft, the Jazz signed him on and when his time came to step up when Harris and Watson were both out, he shined like a star. He's easily the best pure point guard on our roster, but he's also in his mid 30's and a free agent this summer. We need to get a great young point guard to lead this team and thus can't afford to keep Harris, Watson, and Tinsley on the roster, so despite how impressed I was for how he performed in a limited role for us, he will probably be the odd man out this summer.

Blake Ahearn, PG- This guy is not a thing. He's a D-:Leaguer who we picked up out of necessity with all the injuries we had. He looks like he is 50 and plays like he's 10. I don't know why we thought it was a good idea to bring him up from the D-League out of all people, but he needs to go back to the D-League where he belongs, which is exactly what he will do.

Tyrone Corbin, Head Coach- I was among the crowd that wasn't quite pleased with the choice of Ty as our head coach. And I guess its not that we picked him, its how we picked him. When Jerry Sloan retired mid-season, we should've hired Ty as the INTERIM head coach and then start a coaching search when the season ends. If after all the searching we find that Ty was the best man for the job, then so be it, but that's not what happened, so I feel that we missed a key step in replacing the legendary Jerry Sloan. I think the front office had a little too much faith in Ty by hiring him as the immediate full time head coach. With all that said, has he done a bad job? No, honestly he hasn't. He managed to lead this team to the playoffs in his first full year despite all the odds against him and that is impressive. However, if I'm being perfectly honest, he was far from great this year and has a lot of improvement to make in order to convince me that he is our coach of the future because right now I view him as a temporary fix. His rotation strategies have been quite poor. He stubbornly thought it was a good idea to play players like Josh Howard, CJ Miles, and Raja Bell a lot more than our young stars and I feel that Derrick Favors and Alec Burks should've gotten a lot more playing time. Now towards the end of the season, the two of them did, but I feel it was only because Ty had no other option as Howard, CJ, and Raja all went down with injuries and even with that, Ty thought it was a good idea to start DeMarre Carroll instead of Burks or Favors and shifting the lineup accordingly. Towards the end of the season, it was rather obvious that when we had Jefferson in at center, Favors at power forward, and Millsap down at small forward, it was a huge intimidating lineup that most teams had a rough time stopping. That should've been a lineup that started every game with Hayward and Harris as the guards, but that didn't happen until game four against the Spurs, our last game of the season. Coincidence that we gave the Spurs a run for their money in that game? No. Howard came back at the end of the season and despite everything Favors and Burks had proven, Howard was immediately inserted as the starter until that last game. Things like this showed that Corbin was a rookie coach that only did an average job. I'd give him a year, maybe two and if he doesn't step it up, I'd look elsewhere for a head coach. For a long time, I thought Jeff Hornacek would make a great head coach for us and look where he is. On our bench as an assistant head coach. I would approve of us firing Corbin and hiring him if Corbin doesn't make huge strides in the next couple of years.

In wrapping this up, the Jazz have a good young corps of players in Favors, Hawyard, Burks, and Kanter that provide a lot of hope for the future. We have a strong front court and decent coaching. Our areas of concern come in the guard and wing spots. Hayward does a great job covering both the shooting guard and small forward spots when he is needed and I feel Burks is ready to break out and help there as well, but we need more help. Josh Howard, CJ Miles, DeMarre Carroll, and Raja Bell just don't cut it. All of them need to go and we need to bring in players that can help us be great. The logjam at the power forward spot needs to be solved and as I stated we can use one of our big men as trading bait to bring in a stud shooting guard or small forward to help us. We also need to somehow find a great young point guard. There are a few options in the draft this year that would fit, but unless a miracle happens, the Jazz will get no picks this year and so we need to find someone in free agency like a Goran Dragic type player or trade back into the draft and grab a Damon Lillard or Austin Rivers. So we have some work to do, but there is hope. Let's go Jazz!!!

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!

Utah Jazz Trade Proposal

The following is an article I just posted on the Jazz fan site, UtahJazz360.com(http://www.utahjazz360.com/alienator345/a-realistic-trade-proposal/):

There are a lot of trade proposals that get posted on this site and usually I am the first one to get annoyed that so many get posted. But here I am about to propose a trade to everyone on this site. But I feel like I have to get my idea out there because I have been thinking about this for quite some time. I know that many of you reading this won't agree at all, but I at least hope you can hear me through.

Now the Jazz have been playing quite well and I don't want to sound negative, but I don't know how long they can keep this up. We are the second best team in the West with a record of 9-4, but  if I'm being honest a lot of our wins came against average or weak opponents and I think once we hit the rough parts of our schedule we will slide a little. We have a great corps of young players that I think really gives us a bright future. But I am always thinking of ways that we could improve our team. Many times with a young team what is required is patience and experience and I think that is the case for us, but at the same time we have quite the glaring weakness in our team. That weakness is that we are quite lopsided. We have four players that are starting caliber players fighting for time at the Center and Power Forward positions with Millsap, Favors, Jefferson, and Kanter while at the same time we really only have one starting caliber player for the Small Forward and Shooting Guard spots with Hayward, Miles, Bell, Howard, and Burks. If we could tweak that just a bit and trade one of our big men for a shooter I think our team will be set.

So analyzing this. Who is it that we could give up? Kanter is a rookie that I think could be a solid true center, something that the Jazz haven't had in quite a long time. He is untouchable. Favors is the other player that is untouchable. He is our future at Power Forward. That leaves two players, Millsap and Jefferson. Who could we give up? Now I think most Jazz fans right now are going to jump on the trade Jefferson boat. I think we should do the opposite. I think we should trade Millsap. Now I know the cries for my head are going to start now, but I think that is the right decision. Millsap is playing really good right now and we could get a lot more out of him than if we traded Jefferson. Once again it is easy to say that we should trade the player that isn't playing as good or the one that is playing with less energy, but think of the other team in the trade. I think there are a lot more teams that are wanting to trade for Millsap out of any player on the Jazz. If we get rid of him, we would have a trio in the front court of Kanter, Jefferson, and Favors that can still work well. This would give Favors and Kanter more playing time and experience as we train them up to be the corps of our future. It would also give Jeremy Evans a better shot at some more playing time. Meanwhile we get help in the back court. Hayward is going to be a star. But everyone else I'm not so sure about. Burks I'm excited about, but he still needs a lot of time to grow. Meanwhile Bell puts a great effort into his game every day, but he is ancient and would be better coming off the bench. CJ Miles scares me every time he steps on the court because he is horribly inconsistent. Josh Howard has also been a pleasant surprise, but once again is getting up there in age and certainly past his prime. Better coming off the bench. If we could get one stud player to team up with Hayward at the 2-3 spots and have Bell, CJ, Burks, and Howard coming off the bench for depth with what I said earlier with in the front court I think we have a much better team both right now and in the future.

Now the question is who exactly do we get in return for trading Millsap? Thinking realistically again, we would need to find a team that is in the opposite predicament as us. Someone who has one two many SGs or SFs and not enough man power up front. Now I am open to suggestions as to which team qualifies for this and who would be a fair swap, but one team I found is the 76ers. They have Spencer Hawes and Elton Brand up front. Not a bad duo. Hawes is having a nice year, but Elton Brand is ancient and the depth there upfront for them isn't great. However, they have a logjam down at the 2-3. They have Jodie Meeks and Andre Iguadala as their starts at the 2-3 with Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young, and their leading scorer of the year Louis Williams sitting on the bench. A straight up trade of Andre Iguadala  for Paul Millsap would work great for both teams.

Here's the aftermath of that. Our starting lineup looks like this: Al Jefferson, Derrick Favors, Andre Iguadala, Gordon Hayward, and Devin Harris with Kanter, Evans, Howard, Bell, Miles, Burks, and Watson as our bench. Not a bad deal. Meanwhile the 76ers get Hawes, Brand, Young, Meeks, and Holiday as their starters with Millsap, Williams, and Turner as their main bench players. I think it would be a solid deal. What do you think? If you have any counter offers on your mind that you would think would work better and be a great deal for both teams, I would love to hear it.