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Locke’s concerns

So Locke has been t he owing out the worry about worst case scenario with this team and was wondering opinions on it.

it is a team full of great guys, the Jazz have a great culture, and Quin and Th w staff are amazing but I do think there’s a possibility it could go bad(obviously there always is). Rudy and Donovan want to be All Stars (Rudy concerns me more this season he needs to make the team absolutely) , it’s going to take points, possessions, and shots to do that. Honestly I’m sure Conley wants to be an All Star and wants possessions, Joe isn’t going to want to be relegated to a small role and Bogdanovic didn’t sign a 4 year contract at $18 mill a year to not get his. Royce has worked hard on improvement and is in a contract year. The last couple seasons we had trouble using possessions now are there too many to go around?

Conley and Joe probably worry me the least, I don’t think they are that worried about the extra stuff. Rudy and Donovan are for sure though, and Donovan has a shoe deal and a brand he’s trying to build in this process. Rudy wants a legacy. Guys can certainly take turns on given nights, but Rudy wants an AS appearance, so does Donovan, and Donovan has a shoe to sell and brand he wants to build. Conley, Bogdanovich, I think Royce to an extent will all want plenty of possessions as well. Is there a chance we turn into last years Celtics? A very talented team that doesn’t mesh? Or do we think we’ll be okay because of what the Jazz have created? Lots of roster turnover this offseason for the better, but there’s only so many possessions to go around and I’m interested to see how it goes. Can’t wait for the season to start!
Lol
 
I heard this on the drive home yesterday as well and even the hosts of the radio show said 'get that guy a game to call'. While I thought it was a reach and don't think it will be an issue there is of course some possibility it could happen.

I think on different nights some players will get more and it will all mostly balance itself out over the course of the season and the coaching staff has been good at sending that message. About team and playing the right way and winning will take care of itself and then mostly numbers follow the same.
 
All the reasons that Locke is concerned are all the reasons that make me excited for our team. We have assembled the island of misfit toys. Rudy wants to be an All Star, Donovan got snubbed for Rookie of the Year to Simmons who was only a Rookie on paper. Ingles was cut, and is also mature and realizes his age. A backup role with a few less minutes may be a blessing to him. Bogdanovic has been underrated his whole career and Conley has also been snubbed from making the All Star team his entire career. Our entire team wants to prove doubters wrong, how is that bad?? I don't think they care about the past, but I know they want to write their future. I can't see how this is a bad situation at all.
 
I thought it was a great podcast by Locke. You have to realize he was on a different podcast and someone asked him what his greatest concern was. He had to come up with something and In the end I think he spun it like people do in the job interview question, “what’s one of your weaknesses?” He found weakness, but it’s something to be excited about.


It could be legit too. We all know Snyder is brilliant and has gotten buy-in from every team so far. But those teams were extremely limited offensively. He was getting more out of guys like Elijah Millsap, Christopher Johnson, and to an extent Ricky Rubio (guys with offensive limits.). Now he has 4 borderline all-stars, each with a capacity to score 20 ppg, but not all of them will score 20 ppg.

Brad Stevens has been put on the same level as Snyder and he couldn’t pull it off I’m Boston last year.

I thought Locke’s point about Donovan needing to establish himself as a star is legit as well. He needs to score more than 24+ ppg this season, but the Jazz offense won’t need him too. He has looked at his own film and said “I can’t believe they let me take those shots”. Well this year, he can’t take those shots. He’s going to have to figure out how to be more effective.

All that being said, I think the Jazz will be fine. Mike Conley isn’t Kyrie. Bojan and Joe are at a different maturity level than Tatum and Brown, so is Donovan. Rudy is Rudy. He wants his and doesn’t care what people think about him (as evidence by his congratulatory tweet to Australia where he criticizes FIBA for giving Spain and Argentina an extra day of rest). But I think more than an All-Star game, Rudy wants a championship.

All that and Snyder is better than Stevens.


Jazz will be fine. Locke had to find an answer to an interview question and found an interesting talking point at the end of the off-season.


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I heard this on the drive home yesterday as well and even the hosts of the radio show said 'get that guy a game to call'. While I thought it was a reach and don't think it will be an issue there is of course some possibility it could happen.

I think on different nights some players will get more and it will all mostly balance itself out over the course of the season and the coaching staff has been good at sending that message. About team and playing the right way and winning will take care of itself and then mostly numbers follow the same.

the way our roster is now, i easily see who's hot being the guy (or the guys, as we have enough good players to easily more than one getting hot in a game) who's taking the shots, the balls falling deciding who's getting more touch on any given night
 
The one guy who would have had this type of problem is Haywood, and he ain't a problem for us anymore.

If we were finding shots for Crowder and Rubio, there will be shots for Bojan and Connelly. Spida doesn't need more shots, he needs to make more of the ones he takes. He will get WAY more foul shots this year being predominantly single covered
 
So Locke has been t he owing out the worry about worst case scenario with this team and was wondering opinions on it.
. Rudy and Donovan want to be All Stars (Rudy concerns me more this season he needs to make the team absolutely) , it’s going to take points, possessions, and shots to do that.

It's going to take being a top 3 seed at the break. None of that other stuff matters much.
 
Not worried about selfishness.

Injuries are the only thing that worry me.

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I also heard Locke’s interview, and while I’m not worried about selfishness, Locke actually framed a pretty good argument as to why it should at least be a concern.

His most interesting point was that selfishness doesn’t simply happen due to an “I gotta get mine” attitude. All these guys are some of the best at what they do in the world. They feel like by doing what they do best, they are making the team better. He pointed out- correctly I might add, that teams who have imploded due to selfishness actually came from guys pressing to be great and not seeing that maybe a little less of them, and a little more of somebody else might do the team some good. Personally, I think the term “pride” might be a little more accurate than “selfishness”.

I’m as excited as anybody in here and I don’t think we’ll fall victim to this scenario, but it’s definitely something to consider.
 
My biggest fear is a slow start and some ugly losses to bad teams. That could set the team up for some of the stuff Locke was worried about. But if the Jazz can come out looking okay I think they'll just pick up stream from there.
 
No problem with what Locke says, and I don't worry that our good vibe is going to bust if we talk about things that worry us. I think these are all small issues that nobody expects to be a big problem, but could turn out to be a bigger issue than people expect under certain circumstances. They're like geological fault lines. Most of the time nothing happens, but once in a while an earthquake occurs. It's hard to predict when a tremor will occur, but it's worth figuring out where the problems could come from.

My (very small) worry: less margin of error for mopping up minutes (especially against starters) in key defensive assignments.

When the Jazz play the Wolves or Nuggets, for example, we no longer have Favors to take some of the minutes guarding Towns or Jokic and keep Rudy out of foul trouble. Conley no longer has Garrett Temple or Dylan Brooks so that he can hang out on Mo Harkless or James Ennis and stay fresh until the end when playing Portland or Houston.

Bojan no longer has Wesley Matthews or Thad Young to take the more difficult assignment so he can concentrate on offense. Even Donovan can no longer count on Rubio taking the Harden assignment at key times to help not wear him out before the fourth quarter.

This is not about individual defensive capability. I think we're fine (though less switchable/adaptable) there. But last year our starting lineup only had 2 players we likely were especially interested in protecting (from foul trouble, from fatigue). This year, I think we have 4. About the only cushion we have of this sort is with Joe, who can likely help Bojan or Donovan on occasion. Unless Royce or Jeff Green start … Or maybe the more broadly shared responsibility on both offense and defense lightens the burden enough for everyone?
 
This is not about individual defensive capability. I think we're fine (though less switchable/adaptable) there.

I actually think we might be more switchable on defense with this roster than we've been the last few years.
 
I actually think we might be more switchable on defense with this roster than we've been the last few years.

Probably overall, yes. And maybe on the wings generally. But among starters I feel less comfortable with Conley switching than I did with Rubio, and I feel less comfortable with anyone switching onto a center than I did with Favors.
 
Probably overall, yes. And maybe on the wings generally. But among starters I feel less comfortable with Conley switching than I did with Rubio, and I feel less comfortable with anyone switching onto a center than I did with Favors.
Favors was very versatile. He was much better at switching onto smaller players than Gobert.

Rubio was just bad on defense last year so see no way a healthy Conley is worse switching or not on defense.
 
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