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Realistic expectations?

Jerry Lundegaard

Jerry Lundegaard

Banned
With a new mix of players, when is everyone anticipating they "click" and are all in synch. I think it may around 10 games max when the regular season starts. Some might say that's retardedly optimistic, but that's how confident I am.

I am curious to see if there is a general optimism or if some people think it may take like half the season with a hundred different lineups (first and second unit) until something sticks.
 
I expect the first unit will have no issues and play great from the beginning. Now the second unit will have ups and downs this season. Will be interesting to see how much Hayward, Evans, and Fes play or will coach mostly go with a 8-9 man rotation until Okur comes back.
 
I expect the middle of January for them to really start clicking. At mid-point, I think they'll be a middling 23-18 and there will panic on the board, full of "Trade AK" and "Jefferson sucks" threads. Then they will click and go about 32-9 in the second half, win the division, and Uptimism will be at an all time high.
 
I personally think we will click within the first 10 games as well. The chemistry will be great, everyone is excited and wants to be here and win. Raja has been here before so he understands the system. Al might not average 20 and 10 right away, but I think that's ok.

I'm looking for improvements from CJ, Fes and Millsap. If this happens, amd Hayward learns the ropes, we will be very good.
 
The Jazz will be one of the best defensive teams in the league this year. They will also score a lot. Their margin of victory will lead the league, and the kinda thangs that follow from that will follow.
 
I was shocked by the results of the poll where people were voting on how many games the Jazz would win this year. I'm on board with 50-55 but I was amazed at how many people voted for the 56-60 range.
 
Hey Sportsnut if you are in the ESPN pay league I think U Gotta is looking for a replacement if you dont pay. Just a FYI.

sportsnut1232 said:
I personally think we will click within the first 10 games as well. The chemistry will be great, everyone is excited and wants to be here and win. Raja has been here before so he understands the system. Al might not average 20 and 10 right away, but I think that's ok.

I'm looking for improvements from CJ, Fes and Millsap. If this happens, amd Hayward learns the ropes, we will be very good.
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Marcus said:
I'm on board with 50-55 but I was amazed at how many people voted for the 56-60 range.
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Agree. Have to like the veteran leadership, legitimate low-post presence and the improvement of Miles, Kirilenko and Fesenko but there are still 2 big question marks that could result in 46-win season or a 56-win season:

1. How well they can this year's team execute in the last 5 minutes of the game. Think about all the close wins and comebacks last year (OKC, at Portland, Phoenix 2x, at LAC, Spurs 3x, Cavs...) it's going to take awhile to figure out this team's bread-and-butter plays down the stretch. Jefferson's going to have to learn how to pass out of the low-post and Deron's going to have to get used to more of a 3-man game in the pick-and-roll with Jefferson rolling and Millsap getting most of the looks circling up for that weakside elbow jumper (in the past they mostly spaced the floor around the 3-pt line and let Deron and Boozer work the middle)

2. The injury history of Raja Bell, C.J. Miles and Andrei Kirilenko.

If everything breaks Utah's way I could see them winning 56-60, but likely they'll have a few hiccups and injuries that will keep them in the low-50's.
 
vslice02 said:
there are still 2 big question marks that could result in 46-win season or a 56-win season:

1. How well they can this year's team execute in the last 5 minutes of the game.
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I may be crazy, but I think execution in the first 43 minutes of a game can do more for the team than the last 5 of each game.
Difference between a blowout and a close game.
Yes, I understand the end of a game is important, but it doesn't have to be if they execute, and outscore the opponent the rest of the game.

Just a thought.
 
YB85 said:
I expect the middle of January for them to really start clicking. At mid-point, I think they'll be a middling 23-18 and there will panic on the board, full of "Trade AK" and "Jefferson sucks" threads. Then they will click and go about 32-9 in the second half, win the division, and Uptimism will be at an all time high.
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Sounds about like the last 3 seasons. Do you also have us losing to the Lakers in the semifinals?
 
The Jazz (hopefully not suffering, facing major injury issues) will win between 48-55 games this year (IMO, by winning 54-55, Jazz would secure a top3 seed) Adjustment period to system for newcomers and the return of injuried players plays an importan role.I hope with this new group, the Jazz will change "the underperforming, losing in road games" habit.
 
I'm expecting glitches with the offense early when the competition steps up. But I'm also seeing better skilled players than we've had in a while at key positions. The Kool-Aid has been drank. We overcome the early glitches and we're the big 'surprise' team of this season. Lots of Jerry Sloan is unbelievable articles, lots of KOC is a genius articles, and nice pieces on Al, AK, and CJ, the three guys I think will be key 'surprises' to us being as good as we are.
 
Hopper said:
The Jazz will be one of the best defensive teams in the league this year. They will also score a lot. Their margin of victory will lead the league, and the kinda thangs that follow from that will follow.
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This Is what i am gathering as well. Also who do they have in front of us besides the lakers that have done anything. Suns seem to have taken a step back and denver is going to after a trade. The problems we had last year seem to have been taken care of as well. After watching the lakers starters and jazz starters go at it both games in la i could see great things out of this team. At first i thought we would be 3 games back from last years team but with everything going on i see us in the second seed in the west.
 
David Stern said:
Sounds about like the last 3 seasons. Do you also have us losing to the Lakers in the semifinals?
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I think that all changes this season. I'm UBER-optimistic...


Jazz lose to the Lakers in the WC FINALS :-0



Seriously, I think the Jazz will come out of the gate slow due to their road-heavy schedule: 7 of the first 10 on the road including a brutal road trip to Miami, Orlando, Atlanta and Charlotte. Charlotte is the best bet for a win but it comes at the end of 4 games in 5 nights. The other road games are @Denver, @OKC and @GS.

And two of our home games are on the tail-end of back-to-backs. I'd be thrilled if the Jazz could somehow be 5-5, but satisfied with 4 and maybe even just the 3 home wins.

The good news is we then play 12 of 14 at home. LAL, Miami and Orlando all come to the ESA, so the Jazz probably won't win them all, but 11-3 isn't unrealistic (road games are both winnable vs. LAC and Portland).
 
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GlassEater said:
Seriously, I think the Jazz will come out of the gate slow due to their road-heavy schedule: 7 of the first 10 on the road including a brutal road trip to Miami, Orlando, Atlanta and Charlotte. Charlotte is the best bet for a win but it comes at the end of 4 games in 5 nights. The other road games are @Denver, @OKC and @GS.
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I call this trip "the melting pot."
 
YB85 said:
I expect the middle of January for them to really start clicking. At mid-point, I think they'll be a middling 23-18 and there will panic on the board, full of "Trade AK" and "Jefferson sucks" threads. Then they will click and go about 27-5 run, have the two and perhaps even one seed truly in our sights, and stumble down the line as always, finishing on a 4-5 slide, for a final record of 54-28.
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Edited for truth.
 
I expect the middle of January for them to really start clicking. At mid-point, I think they'll be a middling 23-18 and there will panic on the board, full of "Trade AK" and "Jefferson sucks" threads. Then they will click and go about 27-5 run, have the two and perhaps even one seed truly in our sights, and you might think we'd stumble down the line as always, finishing on a 4-5 slide, except that the no-heart, pansy-arse Boozer is gone with Jefferson and Millsap in his place, who will actually play like warriors in a game like the Phoenix game last year, and close it out for a final record of 59-23 and 1st place in the west.
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Re-Edited for truth.
 
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