Article about the Jazz by one of the best - Zach Lowe
- Thread starter Litany
- Start date
carolinajazz
Well-Known Member
"This is the most interesting franchise in the league right now, with dozens of different possibilities in front of it....."
....yeah, including a move to Las Vegas???
"There's also the fact that Utah's defense plays with a weird lack of discipline and unclear, unproductive rules."
...so not only do we not have an "offensive" system anymore.....our defensive system is non-existent, too!
"The Jazz have a weird tendency to rotate off shooters in the corners nearest the ball handler — a huge no-no on smarter teams."
....remember when we were THE SMARTEST team in the league, both offensively and defensively?
"the Jazz's general lack of coherence is alarming and raises questions about Corbin's future after next season, when his contract is up."
....we have got to eat this contract NOW!!!
....yeah, including a move to Las Vegas???
"There's also the fact that Utah's defense plays with a weird lack of discipline and unclear, unproductive rules."
...so not only do we not have an "offensive" system anymore.....our defensive system is non-existent, too!
"The Jazz have a weird tendency to rotate off shooters in the corners nearest the ball handler — a huge no-no on smarter teams."
....remember when we were THE SMARTEST team in the league, both offensively and defensively?
"the Jazz's general lack of coherence is alarming and raises questions about Corbin's future after next season, when his contract is up."
....we have got to eat this contract NOW!!!
jazzfan1971
Well-Known Member
I think the criticism of Corbin about the PnR defense is a little too easy. By my eye, the defense IS better when Jefferson shows out rather than drops back. When Jefferson drops back PGs can drive at him, and when he's moving backwards Jefferson plays defense like he's 5'10 with a 10 in verticle. He's simply not athletic enough to contest the shot of even the shortest PG who's coming at him while he's back pedaling.
The decision to have him show is covering this deficiency. And I think it's a good decision. We really need someone else to rotate over to the paint to try and defend the rim in those PnRs because Jefferson is incapable. Problem is in my mind it just creates a lot of motion on defense, similar to when a team double teams. Simply put, all opposing teams need to do to put the Jazz into a defensive scramble is to run a PnR. It's a bad situation, but, I believe it's a personnel issue, not a coaching one. Just a lesser of two evils forced upon the coach due to Jefferson's defensive liabilities. I don't think there is a coach alive that could turn the Jazz main players into a strong defensive team. (Not sure if Corbin has unlimited freedom to choose lineups or not, I suspect the owner wants to see some return from the 15 million dollars he is paying Jefferson, and might have tied Corbin's hands with explicitly or implicitly with regard to playing the vets)
Long story short, I think our front office is showing a lot of problems. Ownership, management, and coaching. We've traditionally had a strong front office, so this is disturbing. Greg, Lindsey, and Corbin are not up to the level of Larry, O'Connor, and Sloan. I think this is fairly obvious. Choosing to focus all your attention to one of those 3 might be more than a little unfair. Problem is we don't see much of what Greg and Lindsy do or don't do because what they do is done or not done behind closed doors for the most part. Corbin on the other hand is an easy target. I feel kinda bad for him because I'm not sure he gets much imput on his players, and like I said I'm not sure he gets much freedom on playing who he wants, then he has to take the heat for every shortcoming the team exhibits.
He may not be a good coach, but, I think he's a bit of a whipping boy even so. I don't think Phil Jackson would have done a much better job. (of course we'll never know) He's actually got Jefferson passing the ball a bit, and I believe the showing on the PnR is a good (compared to the available options) coaching decision unlike the author of the article. So, I think he's done some good things.
I've always had a pretty good grasp of what direction the Jazz are going and what they are going to do when it comes to the front office. But, right now I'm lost. I don't know what direction the Jazz are going, they seem rudderless to me, willing to just drift with the currents and hope they land somewhere good.
The decision to have him show is covering this deficiency. And I think it's a good decision. We really need someone else to rotate over to the paint to try and defend the rim in those PnRs because Jefferson is incapable. Problem is in my mind it just creates a lot of motion on defense, similar to when a team double teams. Simply put, all opposing teams need to do to put the Jazz into a defensive scramble is to run a PnR. It's a bad situation, but, I believe it's a personnel issue, not a coaching one. Just a lesser of two evils forced upon the coach due to Jefferson's defensive liabilities. I don't think there is a coach alive that could turn the Jazz main players into a strong defensive team. (Not sure if Corbin has unlimited freedom to choose lineups or not, I suspect the owner wants to see some return from the 15 million dollars he is paying Jefferson, and might have tied Corbin's hands with explicitly or implicitly with regard to playing the vets)
Long story short, I think our front office is showing a lot of problems. Ownership, management, and coaching. We've traditionally had a strong front office, so this is disturbing. Greg, Lindsey, and Corbin are not up to the level of Larry, O'Connor, and Sloan. I think this is fairly obvious. Choosing to focus all your attention to one of those 3 might be more than a little unfair. Problem is we don't see much of what Greg and Lindsy do or don't do because what they do is done or not done behind closed doors for the most part. Corbin on the other hand is an easy target. I feel kinda bad for him because I'm not sure he gets much imput on his players, and like I said I'm not sure he gets much freedom on playing who he wants, then he has to take the heat for every shortcoming the team exhibits.
He may not be a good coach, but, I think he's a bit of a whipping boy even so. I don't think Phil Jackson would have done a much better job. (of course we'll never know) He's actually got Jefferson passing the ball a bit, and I believe the showing on the PnR is a good (compared to the available options) coaching decision unlike the author of the article. So, I think he's done some good things.
I've always had a pretty good grasp of what direction the Jazz are going and what they are going to do when it comes to the front office. But, right now I'm lost. I don't know what direction the Jazz are going, they seem rudderless to me, willing to just drift with the currents and hope they land somewhere good.
illyasova
Active Member
great find, cool analysis even we all know the stuff that Al was always bad defender, Corbin's veteran line up has been sucking badly and our pick n roll defense does not exist. The optimistic approach is Jazz organization might let both of Sap and Al leave in the off season and let youngsters play heavily without the aim of playoffs.
I could not disagree more. The C4 with Carroll is a very quick and athletic group that could be taught to play stellar defense. I don't think the coach is at all capable of that and this article backs that up.
I sure hope this isn't true. Because:
1) Utah's biggest/most successful free agent signing was Carlos Boozer, and he wasn't top-flight at the time, in addition to some... umm... 'creativity' and maneuvering to get it done. Utah cannot bank on and hitch its wagon to other team's free agents. They should undoubtedly try to land them, but again, they cannot and should not build around the notion.
2) Jazz could've gotten other expirings and sweeteners for a player they aren't or shouldn't be keen on keeping anyway. I'm of course referring to Al specfically, but regardless, if the Jazz really want to keep one or both of them, they have more cap space than they know what to do with so Bird Rights mean nothing anyway (imagine, say, the Millsap/Bledsoe deal happens and the Jazz go and grab Sap anyway). I refuse to believe the top-dollar on JefferSap was a 2nd rounder AND a bad long term contract.
3) While it's pretty much becoming universally believed that clearing wood in the big rotation is addition by subtraction to some degree, THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU COULDN'T HAVE TRADED ONE TO SHORE UP A POSITION OF GREATER NEED instead of just burning an asset and wasting everyone's time.
jazzfan1971
Well-Known Member
Well, one of my points was that Im' not sure Corbin has been given the ability to bench his highly paid guys due to ownership wanting to see a return from their big dollars. If Jefferson is gone next year and Corbin is here we'll get to see how Corbin can coach defense without having to deal with Jefferson's shortcomings. I dno't think it's Corbin's fault Jefferson is on the team. I don't think it's his fault ownership paid Jefferson 15 million. And my suspicion is that it's not his fault that Jefferson isn't rotting on the bench.
I prefer to see how the defense looks next year with Jefferson gone before I throw Corbin under the bus. I think he's been dealt a very poor hand and is playing it as well as he can this year.
You missed the point: Vertical - bad, Horizontal - good.
What he's saying is Jefferson is too slow to trap (vertical movement) yet he still flashes high instead of a quick sideways (horizontal). He's way to easy to get around in a trap and ends up being an effective second screen on his own teammate.
He needs to jump out, slow the guard down momentarily, then run back to his man while his teammate switches back. But that takes effort and apparently Big Al thinks he needs to save it all for the other end.
Yes, it is pretty easy to see this article also as a serious condemnation of the FO. One reason is what you posted. The other would simply be that we have Ty and Big Al at all.
Everything I have heard and seen indicates that Ty has a man crush on Big Al so I am not buying into the "FO makes him do it."
b_line
Well-Known Member
I dont think they were talking about just losing jefferson. I think they were talking about taking on a bad contract so they could get a good draft pick.
The only one that jumped out at me as well. Dude is set to be a bomber, IMO.
Just kidding, the thought that the Jazz will take a step back by playing The Four more backed up by hungry D-Leaguers and young players was another thing I thought was wrong (although it says that the Jazz were willing to accept that as an outcome, not asserting that it would be the outcome [which I DO agree with]).
J
JAZZGASM
Guest
Ok...so if we are letting Big Al and Sap go for nothing, then they shouldn't start or get big PT anymore. Let the youth movement begin today.