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Are We Contenders yet?

Are We Contenders Yet?

  • Yes, I expect us to contend for the championship this year

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • Not yet, add a few more pieces and we're there

    Votes: 24 58.5%

  • We're the best threat to the Lakers right now in the West, so kind of

    Votes: 14 34.1%

  • No, I hate the moves we've made

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • It all depends on how Hayward develops!

    Votes: 1 2.4%
  • Total voters
    41
David Stern

David Stern

Well-Known Member
Basically, I just want to know where everyone thinks we are right now after the very good moves that KOC and the Miller family have made. Where do you see us this season, as in what seed?
 
Contenders? I'd say we are the favorites with the Thunder being a close second. Lakers, Heat, Celtics, and Magic are also in the mix.
 
Define contenders? I think they can compete for a high playoff seed if they gel as a time. Don't know if they can win in the playoffs though, so I guess I'd so no, but the possibility is there.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
Define contenders? I think they can compete for a high playoff seed if they gel as a time. Don't know if they can win in the playoffs though, so I guess I'd so no, but the possibility is there.
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I guess we'll see if Jefferson is a Prime Time Performer, and that will tell us a lot. Because Carlos Boozer sure as hell wasn't.
 
honz said:
Contenders? I'd say we are the favorites with the Thunder being a close second. Lakers, Heat, Celtics, and Magic are also in the mix.
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Amen. We just got the Kobe killer and a 20/10 center. They should just give us the trophy now.
 
Right now in the West I see it as follows if everyone stays healthy

1.Lakers
2A. Jazz
2B. Nuggets
3A. Portland
3BThunder

Mavs could make some noise.
 
Nope, not even according to Miller

How good the Jazz can be, though, remains a question.
https://www.deseretnews.com/article...arrives-and-Raja-Bell-is-on-the-way.html?pg=2

Even for Miller, who admitted the Lakers, Heat and Celtics are going to be awfully tough next season.

"I think it's a little early to be projecting where we might win. I think the best approach for us to take as a franchise is just to be competitive," Miller said. "We're going to go out and try to win every game we can, every night.

"We're not going to win every game. We're probably not going to win a championship," he added, "but that doesn't mean we're not going to give everything that we've got."
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I think we can be as good as we were last season and maybe good enough to just get that darn homecourt in the playoffs for the FIRST freaking time. If matchups are favourable we can postpone our meet with Lakers until WCF.
That's the best case scenario. For me, apart from talent, health is a big concern. Save for Millsap, our big guys have all proven to be injury-prone and coming off some big injuries. You can easily pencil in AK to miss 10-15 games at the least. That's what makes it tough. Also the Jazz still have some unifinished business left. They still have to get aftr Fess and couple of others
 
David Stern said:
I guess we'll see if Jefferson is a Prime Time Performer, and that will tell us a lot. Because Carlos Boozer sure as hell wasn't.
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You know what, I think I agree totally with this. Don't know if the Jazz would still beat the Lakers, but it'd be a lot more entertaining from our perspective.

In thinking about it, Jefferson does match up better offensively against the Lakers than Boozer.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
You know what, I think I agree totally with this. Don't know if the Jazz would still beat the Lakers, but it'd be a lot more entertaining from our perspective.

In thinking about it, Jefferson does match up better offensively against the Lakers than Boozer.
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It helps that Jefferson has had some of his best career games against LA.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
You know what, I think I agree totally with this. Don't know if the Jazz would still beat the Lakers, but it'd be a lot more entertaining from our perspective.

In thinking about it, Jefferson does match up better offensively against the Lakers than Boozer.
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And to follow up on my last post, doesn't it feel like the past few seasons that we're there? I mean, we just couldn't get over the hump against LA, so we lost those series to them. All of the games we've played against them in the playoffs the past 3 seasons were winnable for us at the end, we just didn't make the plays. Hopefully these new additions will help to push us over that and finally beat their piss-yellow asses.
 
David Stern said:
And to follow up on my last post, doesn't it feel like the past few seasons that we're there? I mean, we just couldn't get over the hump against LA, so we lost those series to them. All of the games we've played against them in the playoffs the past 3 seasons were winnable for us at the end, we just didn't make the plays. Hopefully these new additions will help to push us over that and finally beat their piss-yellow asses.
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I believed the Jazz could have beaten any team in a 7 game series BUT the Lakers. We just matched up so horribly against them because Boozer couldn't play well against them. Any other team the Jazz could have beaten. Problem is, they're the champs.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
You know what, I think I agree totally with this. Don't know if the Jazz would still beat the Lakers, but it'd be a lot more entertaining from our perspective.

In thinking about it, Jefferson does match up better offensively against the Lakers than Boozer.
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Offensively, yes. Defensively if you put Okur and Jefferson out there together it might be tough. And you NEED Okur out there to stretch defenses. If you put Millsap instead, we still have the same size issues as last year. And also on rebounding. It pays to remember that every game in the Finals last year was won by the team that won the rebounding battle in the game. And the Lakers won 4 out of that 7 battles, even with Bynum being indisposed. That's remarkably tough. Jefferson has to be a real beast on the boards. Okur is hopefully fully mobile , atleast when the playoffs come around.
 
And that's where I want Miles to make huge strided this season- rebounding and hustle. He has better tools than Mathews to do it. When Kobe could'nt get going in game 7, he ended up grabbing 15 rebs. Miles has pretty good size for a SG, almost the same as Kobe if not even a little bigger. No reason why Miles cant become more consistent in that department. Rebounding out of wings is always welcome. You cant just dump it all on the big men. Miles, AK, Bell and Hayward have to really go after it.
 
vj_74 said:
Offensively, yes. Defensively if you put Okur and Jefferson out there together it might be tough. And you NEED Okur out there to stretch defenses. If you put Millsap instead, we still have the same size issues as last year. And also on rebounding. It pays to remember that every game in the Finals last year was won by the team that won the rebounding battle in the game. And the Lakers won 4 out of that 7 battles, even with Bynum being indisposed. That's remarkably tough. Jefferson has to be a real beast on the boards. Okur is hopefully fully mobile , atleast when the playoffs come around.
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Well, Millsap is the only one of the three that could guard Odom with any sort of success. I don't like doing the reactive match-up based on personnel alone, but it seems to be necessary in this case.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
Well, Millsap is the only one of the three that could guard Odom with any sort of success. I don't like doing the reactive match-up based on personnel alone, but it seems to be necessary in this case.
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If Millsap is really the best option that we got to guard Odom, then we need loads of luck to win. You have seen what Odom does to Millsap I presume.

Also, if Millsap starts, then he'll be on Gasol which will be brutal too. I see a no-win situation for Millap defensively. He has to compensate it with his quickness on the offensive end.

Jazz dont have good transition defenders, save for AK. Thhey have to use their offense as their best weapon on defense. Get the Lakers as tired as possible so that they are'nt that fresh on offense.

If the Jazz put a lineup of Deron, Miles/Bell, AK, Jefferson, Okur out there the Lakers cant leave anyone alone. Maybe they'll sag a bit off AK. But if our wings improve their shooting this season, then I see that as the best weapon against them. We just dont have guys who can stop them.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
Well, Millsap is the only one of the three that could guard Odom with any sort of success. I don't like doing the reactive match-up based on personnel alone, but it seems to be necessary in this case.
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He may be the only one of those 3 but AK could match up with Odom.
 
Right now the Lakers and Thunder are clearly ahead of us.
We are closer to them today than we were a week ago though.
 
Health is still the most important thing. We where missing AK and Okur, arguably two of our top 5 players. If everyone can stay healthy, I think we can beat anyone.
 
Before this week, we were one of the flies buzzing around the 6-8 spots. Now we're Top 4 in the West. In my book, that makes us contenders. That's as deeply as I plan to think about it right now. But we obviously have ways we can improve going from Year 1 to Year 2 of the Al Experience.
 
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