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list your desired changes to the offense...

To be honest I think this team would do wonders in the triangle offense. With Hayward running the show. He is not the pur scorer that is needed but enough toset up teammates. Burks would be ideal but it takes a couple years to get the triangle going in an offense.

Jefferson is not a PnR player so you would have to run millsap in the PnR. Favors would be amazing PnR player.

I would like to see millsap and or favors get the ball in the high post and run the flex off that.
 
If I could only change one thing it would be to change the Jazz idea that except for fastbreaks or dunks no shot is a good shot if there is more than 12 seconds on the shot clock. I understand and agree with the positives of making the other team play defense, but the jazz pass up good shots early only to force up bad shots late. Also, I'm not convinced the other team is really playing defense if they know the Jazz man with the ball on the 3pt line is never gonna shoot it with 18 seconds on the shot clock.

Too often Jazz seem more concerned with running a play than actually scoring. I don't watch alot of NBA games other than Jazz, but I caught a few minutes of a Spurs game. Parker brings ball up the court, no fast or secondary break opportunity so he dribbles to the top to set the offense. Parker sees that Bonner's defender has stepped back into the lane, Parker breaks the offense and drives at Bonners defender-then simply flips the ball to Bonner for an easy and wide open 3pt attempt that Bonner made. It was easier than any scripted play.

Jazz could take advantage of such things or of mismatches and make the game easier.
 
My personal gripe is with the repetitive way we set up 90% of our offensive sets. The flex cuts (the way we run them) are basically the most labor intensive way of establishing Al on the block. By the time he has the ball, 10 seconds have elapsed, and none of the shots the flex theoretically is supposed to create before that happens have happened.

So running PnR to start some sets is only one wrinkle. Another would be the groundbreaking idea of just getting the ball into the block quickly without all the moving parts.

Lastly, guys have to cut this year. My one great hope with Marvin is that, with his height, he should be a tough cover on cuts. But I have no idea if he has the hands/coordination to finish cuts.
 
Iso's are quite inefficient. Why do you want that? Millsap's iso's and post ups are also more inefficient than Jefferson's. Why do you want a less efficient offense?

In Burks' case, I would give him more latitude than other guys to break the offense when opportunity presents. Not Iso's where everybody clears, but if he catches a defender leaning, or just thinks he has a good driving opportunity, he should take it. There will be a learning curve, and there will be ugliness, but he's a natural driver and that talent has to be developed in some way (or at least proven he can't do it at a high level.)
 
i don't want us iso-ing burks until we have evidence that he can make good decisions off the dribble. otherwise, he just becomes josh howard and we devolve into the atlanta hawks land of offensive execution.

my wish list:
* a lot less al jefferson low block possessions. on a PPP basis, they're not efficient enough to justify spending half of every game on that play.
* since mo isn't a traditional point, hayward is going to have to be the creator more often.
* if we use millsap (or even favors, although he needs to develop a repertoire) in the mid post vs. al in the low post, we can increase the number of backdoor cuts and passes, like back in the karl (or even boozer or memo) era.
* marvin and foye are specialists at the corner/angle 3, which the spurs have used to kill opponents for years but we've never had a consistent threat out there. set them up on the weak side of the ball and dare teams to come at the basketball.
 
More pick and role with Favors as the pick man. He is built to be that guy and can finish if not guarded. Preferably running this with Hayward or Burks as the Guard with the ball.
 
Overall, I just hope Corbin gets rid of his "I wanna be like Jerry Sloan" mentality and realizes that the 3 point shot is not a gimmick.
 
In Burks' case, I would give him more latitude than other guys to break the offense when opportunity presents. Not Iso's where everybody clears, but if he catches a defender leaning, or just thinks he has a good driving opportunity, he should take it. There will be a learning curve, and there will be ugliness, but he's a natural driver and that talent has to be developed in some way (or at least proven he can't do it at a high level.)
The problem with this is Burks always thinks he has a driving opportunity, and to date has shown few signs of learning that driving into a crowded keyway is a bad idea. Possibly the addition of so many outside shooters to our roster will force defences to play with both feet outside the key, and this will open up opportunities for him anyway, but his decision-making still needs improvement. I would not be giving him the green light to drive whenever the fancy takes him.
 
I know I will get flamed, but I want to see MORE Al Jefferson post ups. Nerd is right, that didn't grade out as extremely efficient last year, but I believe some things have changed and it is now in Utah's best interests to feed the ball down low more than ever. Reasons:

-The 3 point shooting has been addressed (at least on paper). This opens up the dynamics of a solid low post offense greatly IMO.

-If there's one thing Jefferson has improved drastically on during his time in Utah is the fact that he has become a more willing/successful low post passer. I honestly do believe he can find the open man off of a double team and it looks like we may finally have a couple of shooters on the roster who can make teams pay for packing the paint.

-IMO this isn't just a Jefferson issue. Utah has obviously tried to build this team from the inside out and wants to play inside first basketball. Even when Al is gone, guys like Favors and Kanter are going to be down on the low block. IMO Utah's best bet is to continue to try and keep shooters on the floor and teach these young guys how to spot double teams and how to make the right pass with the ball in those situations.

A few other thoughts:

-I don't mind more iso plays for Burks. Some will point out that iso plays are traditionally ineffective, but Burks' ability to get to the free throw line is amazing. His ability to get to the hoop and the FT line is exactly why Utah drafted him. It would be silly of them not to try and exploit that.

-Agreed that Mo Williams is not your traditional style PG. Would love to see Hayward setting up the offense more. Probably the best basketball IQ on the entire team. I think he would excel in a similar "point forward" role that Scottie Pippen did so well with in Chicago (disclaimer: I'm not comparing G-time to Pippen).

-While I am a big fan of sending the ball into the low post as often as possible during the half court offense, I think it's in Utah's best interests to run as much as possible. This team is full of athletes and youth. Exploit that. There's nothing wrong with having a solid inside-out halfcourt game with the transition game isn't there, but I'd like to see Utah pushing the ball as much as possble next season.
 
jazzman12, having better shooters around al may help, but let's not kid ourselves about his passing. any improvement made there was totally overblown, and he still doesnt' know how to find and hit cutters out of the post. basically all his post assists are just kicking it to shooters, which is great and all, but if you look at the passing big men who really get it -- the gasols, boozer, scola, etc. -- you'll see several passes that look a lot better than just simply resetting by passing back out to the perimeter.

as for burks, i just don't think you can make him a staple of the offense until he starts being better able to read and react to defenses. he's good at getting to the free throw line, but slow to recognize draw-and-dish or draw-and-kick situations and he commits a lot of offensive fouls by simply trying to create contact. in other words, he has too narrow a mindset when he goes to the hole: "i'm going to score or i'm going to get fouled." it's too easy for defenses to guard him when the scouting report says he's going to attack the paint every time.

the best iso guys -- the ones who score efficiently AND make their team offense better -- are the ones who have the triple threat: can attack the lane, can shoot off the dribble, can pass when defenses react to them. right now burks is realistically 1/3 of the way there, so i'm not ready to give him free reign right now.
 
If Al Jefferson is going to play more or get the ball more as some have suggested, I think the Jazz should do a promotion of some sort where every ticket gets you a free Taco Bell Gordita or something if Al Jefferson dunks the ball during that game. Keeps the fans entertained while he is on the floor and will only cost the Jazz and Taco Bell 16,000 Gorditas, if they ever pay anything at all.
 
More pick and role with Favors as the pick man. He is built to be that guy and can finish if not guarded. Preferably running this with Hayward or Burks as the Guard with the ball.

Winner.

But, do we have a PG or distributor that can run the PnR with Favors? I don't think so. Was why I wanted to grab teh very cheap Jarrett Jack in the offseason.

So, I expect more of the same. Maybe with a little better results due to a little better spacing. I'm not terribly worried about the offense though. A little better shooting and spacing might be all that dump it down to Jefferson offense needs to make it very strong.

Where we need to improve most is on the other end of the floor, with concentration on helping Jefferson stop the PnR and closing out better (and giving less help inside) on 3 pt shooters. Two seemingly contradictory goals. Probably going to be impossible to do both at once, but maybe we can close down the inside when Jefferson is on the floor and close down the outside when he isn't.
 
PASS the ball better. For a team that prides inself on team play, we are below average as a TEAM as far as passing. Even when Jefferson isn't on the court. And part of that is our cutters too often stop cutting.
 
PASS the ball better. For a team that prides inself on team play, we are below average as a TEAM as far as passing. Even when Jefferson isn't on the court. And part of that is our cutters too often stop cutting.
This.
Perhaps it was having Devin as the PG. Maybe it was throwing it inside to AL. Maybe it was having young guys in the court. But for whatever reason, the cuts and curls that once made Utah such an efficient and effective offensive team disappeared.
 
This.
Perhaps it was having Devin as the PG. Maybe it was throwing it inside to AL. Maybe it was having young guys in the court. But for whatever reason, the cuts and curls that once made Utah such an efficient and effective offensive team disappeared.

Careful now. This flies in the face of the theory Al just missed all those wide open cutters. Or the other part of the theory that guys didn't cut specifically because Al got the ball in the post.
 
The problem with this is Burks always thinks he has a driving opportunity, and to date has shown few signs of learning that driving into a crowded keyway is a bad idea. Possibly the addition of so many outside shooters to our roster will force defences to play with both feet outside the key, and this will open up opportunities for him anyway, but his decision-making still needs improvement. I would not be giving him the green light to drive whenever the fancy takes him.

Drivers have to be able to drive. You have to find a balance between: Drive every time you have the chance and never drive if it breaks the offense. To clarify further, I'd put a leash on Hayward. We need to keep developing his PnR game, but you don't want Hayward trying to break his man down off the dribble on a regular basis. Burks, on the other hand, has a true NBA first step. So you have to give him some leeway in that department, and live with his being overaggressive at times if you're going to find out what player he can really become.
 
I know I will get flamed, but I want to see MORE Al Jefferson post ups. Nerd is right, that didn't grade out as extremely efficient last year, but I believe some things have changed and it is now in Utah's best interests to feed the ball down low more than ever. Reasons:

-The 3 point shooting has been addressed (at least on paper). This opens up the dynamics of a solid low post offense greatly IMO.

-If there's one thing Jefferson has improved drastically on during his time in Utah is the fact that he has become a more willing/successful low post passer. I honestly do believe he can find the open man off of a double team and it looks like we may finally have a couple of shooters on the roster who can make teams pay for packing the paint.

-IMO this isn't just a Jefferson issue. Utah has obviously tried to build this team from the inside out and wants to play inside first basketball. Even when Al is gone, guys like Favors and Kanter are going to be down on the low block. IMO Utah's best bet is to continue to try and keep shooters on the floor and teach these young guys how to spot double teams and how to make the right pass with the ball in those situations.

A few other thoughts:

-I don't mind more iso plays for Burks. Some will point out that iso plays are traditionally ineffective, but Burks' ability to get to the free throw line is amazing. His ability to get to the hoop and the FT line is exactly why Utah drafted him. It would be silly of them not to try and exploit that.

-Agreed that Mo Williams is not your traditional style PG. Would love to see Hayward setting up the offense more. Probably the best basketball IQ on the entire team. I think he would excel in a similar "point forward" role that Scottie Pippen did so well with in Chicago (disclaimer: I'm not comparing G-time to Pippen).

-While I am a big fan of sending the ball into the low post as often as possible during the half court offense, I think it's in Utah's best interests to run as much as possible. This team is full of athletes and youth. Exploit that. There's nothing wrong with having a solid inside-out halfcourt game with the transition game isn't there, but I'd like to see Utah pushing the ball as much as possble next season.

Great post
 
I want to see the offense to be built around Burks. And to some extent Favors and Hayward. I just think Burks is going to be a more natural scorer and we are going to need a finisher at some point. I think he is most likely to possess those skills at some point. So I want him to get comfortable in that role. Maybe someday it will be all three of those guys. I could see Favors being dominate in the end of games too. Once he matures mentally. He has got to get more aggressive.
 
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