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Should the Jazz start Josh Howard against the Lakers?

Matthew Thomas Castleton

Matthew Thomas Castleton

Well-Known Member
I think that we need to. To be able to compete with them, we need to be able to match their offensive firepower with our starting lineup. I want Howard to be named the starter at small forward. Hayward plays much better at the shooting guard position because he just is not strong enough to match up against small forwards. I want this depth chart:

PG: Devin Harris, Earl Watson
SG: Gordon Hayward, Raja Bell/Alec Burks
SF: Josh Howard, C.J. Miles
PF: Paul Millsap, Derrick Favors
C: Al Jefferson, Enes Kanter
 
No. The Lakers play Metta World Peace off the bench and he has always given our charmin soft wings a ton of problems with his physical play. I think Howard could actually take the blows that World Peace throws much better than Miles, Burks, or Bell getting beat up by him. Also, don't really see the point in messing with the lineup during a 5 game win streak.
 
Bell will come to play tomorrow, he seems to enjoy defending Bryant. And yes, leave things alone for now, especially with Bell remembering that it helps to get points in the paint once in a while.

I still wish Bell were coming off the bench, but now's not the time.
 
If it ain't broke don't fix it. This would be a bad time to make a change like that and disrupt the chemistry we have going, especially when the gains are dubious at best.
 
Cyrone Torbin said:
No. The Lakers play Metta World Peace off the bench and he has always given our charmin soft wings a ton of problems with his physical play. I think Howard could actually take the blows that World Peace throws much better than Miles, Burks, or Bell getting beat up by him. Also, don't really see the point in messing with the lineup during a 5 game win streak.
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Here's an idea. Lets play Milsap off the bench at the SF to counter this World Peace guy. I'm convinced Sap could keep up with him. It was said before the season that Sap could see some time at the 3... This seems to be like a good time for that.
 
Cyrone Torbin said:
No. The Lakers play Metta World Peace off the bench and he has always given our charmin soft wings a ton of problems with his physical play. I think Howard could actually take the blows that World Peace throws much better than Miles, Burks, or Bell getting beat up by him. Also, don't really see the point in messing with the lineup during a 5 game win streak.
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. . . except that a successful lineup against one team (or five of them--at the ESA--for that matter) does not necessarily work against another.

Your post sounds like the damaging, lazy strategy that Sloan implemented for years. When Ol' Jer had Stockton and Malone (and no options better than Ostertag and whatever wings were lured/drafted onto the team), then there was little need for tweaking the lineup; those guys were almost always the best choice. Sloan never realized the importance of analyzing lineups when he was left alone without Stockalone.

This current team, however, among the deepest (despite their inexperience) that the Jazz have ever head, and there is absolutely a different approach to take against a team with two legit seven-footers as opposed to the strategy against the fair-to-middling teams that Utah just valiantly conquered.

Millsap doesn't do as poorly against the twin towers as his might suggest, but I would prefer starting Harris-Howard-Hayward-Favors-Jefferson. That's a lineup that matches up about as well as Utah can. Also, I like the concept of considering Millsap against Murphy at the 4 or even Metta at the 3. Mansap and Murph are veterans that make more sense as a matchup than Favors, whose height and strength might be wasted chasing Murphy around the perimeter to defend outside shots. Also, I like the notion of rewarding Howard for improved performance--and the experiment of replacing one vet (Howard) for another (Bell). Reassuringly, both JH and RB have been doing better, and if Corbin chooses not to reward Howard with the starting nod, Utah will probably be OK if he uses merit-based adjustments during the game (think in-game strategy). The bigger challenge is battling Bynum and Gasol, and AJ+DF seems to be the better way to go.
 
ElRoach0 said:
Here's an idea. Lets play Milsap off the bench at the SF to counter this World Peace guy. I'm convinced Sap could keep up with him. It was said before the season that Sap could see some time at the 3... This seems to be like a good time for that.
Click to expand...

If I were going to make a change this is what I would make. Artest is a bigger, slower SF. Millsap would be perfect on him.
 
Not only do I want the Mamba killer continuing to make Kobe stare at his hands in disbelief; I want him to score a new career high against him as well.

Hayward.jpg



This, tonight.
 
actually if i had my choice for a starting line up tonight it sould be
Harris, watson
hayward, Burks/bell
Millsap, howard
Favors, Evans
Jefferson, Kanter

that would give the Fakers fits
 
Start Favors at PF and Big Al at C. That's our best combo against Bynum/Gasol defensively. Love Paul, but he just doesn't have the height and in this matchup would be better off the bench.
 
After much concern on my part about why Bell and Harris are still starters i have just realized that perhaps Ty cannot make any change as long as the winning continues. Some losses will be required or he will risk being personally blamed if the team starts losing too many games. He is a new head coach and has to consider appearances both to management and the fans (and the Press). Those losses will be more often and be worse losses as long as this starting unit stays intact. As a starting tandem Bell and Harris just simply are the worse starting guard line in the whole league. I don't even feel a need to consult stats on this one. Its to darn obvious.
 
I agree with going big for this particular game.

Harris
hayward
howard
jefferson
favors

with millsap coming in at small forward to guard ron artest.
 
I think Howard's aggresviness is better coming off the bench. He will get his shot more in the second unit.
 
fishonjazz said:
I agree with going big for this particular game.

Harris
hayward
howard
jefferson
favors

with millsap coming in at small forward to guard ron artest.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. Ty needs to tell these guys it's about winning and playing our best matchups out there. The Lakers get too many wins over teams, simply because the other team won't adjust to the big guys up front.

Hell, it's a rebuilding season right?

I say do this line-up and go REALLY BIG to start and see if we can get the Lakers to have to adjust to us?:

PG - Harris
SF - Millsap
PF - Favors
PF2 - Jefferson
C - Kanter

Play zone D and make them beat us from the 3-pt line...Worst case, the Lakers come out hot and hit a bunch of 3s, so 5 min or so in, you adjust and put in some small(er) guys to play man-to-man. Hayward/Bell for Kanter/Favors.

Best case, the Lakers try to play inside-out and are unable to get ANYTHING in the paint and are forced to chuck up shots with the play clock running out...Ty suddenly starts looking like a legit COY front-runner... and we win our 6th in a row!

Make it so #1!
 
The only way to get Bell out of all rotations is to keep starting him in games like this. Kobe will miss or make shots regardless of anything Bell does. I'll be more interested in seeing how Kobe guards Bell.
 
I'm not sure it's ever really been discussed on here or by the media, but wasn't there an incident about 20 years ago where Raja clotheslined Kobe? If the legend is true, then I definitely think Raja should start.
 
I would love to see (For tonight) the lineup of

Jefferson
Favors
Millsap
Bell/Hayward
Harris

The reason being if you remember the 1st game - Meta World Peace killed us. There was none of our SF that were strong enough to stop him. I put Bell/Hayward as I do think Bell plays good D on Kobe as he doesn't need to worry about anything but face guarding the guy.
 
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