Somebody mentioned in another thread that to win a championship we either needed to build an '04 detroit type team, or get a super playmaker to be a contender. Right now I would put our money on building a Detroit team oriented type basketball squad together.
For one thing we do it efficiently, because we're pretty much the only ones left playing team ball at a high level, rather than star ball. We are already the team that plays the best team basketball and runs the best team system, via our high assist rate (which Ain't pointed out to me). I guess you could argue for the Lakers since LA runs a great offense and it even seems team oriented at times, but you exchange Boozer for Gasol,and we're the one's hoisting the trophy. Gasol is so much of a gamebreaker with his size, touch, and post moves... its hard beating him on a good team. Hell he made the Grizzlies relevant for a season for god's sake. It would be nice for the jazz to get someone like that, but they're not many options available.
So here is some statistical reasoning as to why it is improbable and inefficient to spend so much time wallowing about the missing piece acquired from the outside, and we should be focused on molding a team and a system to fit our current players from within... not to state that we don't need other players, but "smoke'em if you got'm"
I have determined that in this team, the only type of player that could propel us to greatness would be consistent all-NBA level PF/C's. Here are some of those, and the years I have determined we could use them in (please allow the hottub time machine scenario).
This is a 20 season span starting at 91, so some players may have been relevant before than, but are not counted.
KG 99'-07
Dwight Howard '07-pres
Tim Duncan 98'-09'
Pau Gasol 06'-present
Shaq 93' - 06
Karl Malone 91- 00
Olajuwon 91-97
Dirk 01' - Present (he might be finished)
Barkeley 91- 96
Ewing 91-98
David Robinson 91-98
Then there are players with one good season or injury problems like Elton Brand. But we'll stick with what we got. Then there are some maybe guys like C-Webb, Chris Bosh, Alonzo Mourning, Shawn Kemp, Dominique.... but none of them throw off the percentages too severely.
Overall this adds up to 91 total seasons where a team had a big man which would have made the current Jazz a contender (as far as I can tell, I'm sure there are more, but we'll stick with what we got, because I'm close). Multiply 29 (the average amount of teams... roughly) by 20 (the amount of seasons accounted for) and we have 580 total team seasons. These numbers together, lead up to roughly 15 percent of teams having a player over the last 20 years who could propel this team to contender hood, which is roughly 4 teams... per season.
The even more discouraging stat is that only 16 of those 91 were played on a team other than the one that drafted them. (Most of those seasons being Shaqs). Which is 3%... meaning 1 team per season had a big man they didn't draft who was significant.
What all of this means is that it is highly unlikely that we can acquire the missing piece from the outside. Pretty much anything that we can get (especially in our market) is a "close, but not good enough" piece.
This leads me back to creating an 04' Pistons team. We need to fit the system to our current players, rather than scheming up ways to acquire Dwight Howard/ ghost of Len Bias. With our team doing something so well, in a way that other teams cannot/are moving away from, we need to embrace our ball-movement/assist- style offense so that we can pinpoint the attack on the opposition in a way that only we do. We may need to find our Rasheed, we may need to grab a Ben Wallace... they may even be the same person. However it is what we do as a team that will propel us, not who we can acquire and how much we can stand toe to toe with "The 3 Kings".
With that in mind a couple of regrets---
The team wouldn't tender Miami a 2nd rounder and a trade exception to get Beasley. Beasley is also the chutes and ladder player to the glory land, even if he has had "PROBLEMS".
I realize I mentioned that we can't wallow in our own lack of bringing in players, but Beasley was a drop in the bucket to get... literally.
A center line of Okur/Fes/Koufos CANNOT win a championship in this league. Okur is a fine player and Fes shows potential. But we need a Gortat (or someone similar) to even come close to a championship dream. Koufos is just terrible.
A couple of hopes/suggestions/praises
GO GET MARC GASOL, DO WHAT EVER YOU CAN TO DO SO. HE IS HIS BROTHER. He would allow us to do so many things, we could scare the league with this Gasol brother in our team oriented offense. This would be the Rasheed/Ben Wallace synthesis for our 04 Pistons reencarnate.
For one thing we do it efficiently, because we're pretty much the only ones left playing team ball at a high level, rather than star ball. We are already the team that plays the best team basketball and runs the best team system, via our high assist rate (which Ain't pointed out to me). I guess you could argue for the Lakers since LA runs a great offense and it even seems team oriented at times, but you exchange Boozer for Gasol,and we're the one's hoisting the trophy. Gasol is so much of a gamebreaker with his size, touch, and post moves... its hard beating him on a good team. Hell he made the Grizzlies relevant for a season for god's sake. It would be nice for the jazz to get someone like that, but they're not many options available.
So here is some statistical reasoning as to why it is improbable and inefficient to spend so much time wallowing about the missing piece acquired from the outside, and we should be focused on molding a team and a system to fit our current players from within... not to state that we don't need other players, but "smoke'em if you got'm"
I have determined that in this team, the only type of player that could propel us to greatness would be consistent all-NBA level PF/C's. Here are some of those, and the years I have determined we could use them in (please allow the hottub time machine scenario).
This is a 20 season span starting at 91, so some players may have been relevant before than, but are not counted.
KG 99'-07
Dwight Howard '07-pres
Tim Duncan 98'-09'
Pau Gasol 06'-present
Shaq 93' - 06
Karl Malone 91- 00
Olajuwon 91-97
Dirk 01' - Present (he might be finished)
Barkeley 91- 96
Ewing 91-98
David Robinson 91-98
Then there are players with one good season or injury problems like Elton Brand. But we'll stick with what we got. Then there are some maybe guys like C-Webb, Chris Bosh, Alonzo Mourning, Shawn Kemp, Dominique.... but none of them throw off the percentages too severely.
Overall this adds up to 91 total seasons where a team had a big man which would have made the current Jazz a contender (as far as I can tell, I'm sure there are more, but we'll stick with what we got, because I'm close). Multiply 29 (the average amount of teams... roughly) by 20 (the amount of seasons accounted for) and we have 580 total team seasons. These numbers together, lead up to roughly 15 percent of teams having a player over the last 20 years who could propel this team to contender hood, which is roughly 4 teams... per season.
The even more discouraging stat is that only 16 of those 91 were played on a team other than the one that drafted them. (Most of those seasons being Shaqs). Which is 3%... meaning 1 team per season had a big man they didn't draft who was significant.
What all of this means is that it is highly unlikely that we can acquire the missing piece from the outside. Pretty much anything that we can get (especially in our market) is a "close, but not good enough" piece.
This leads me back to creating an 04' Pistons team. We need to fit the system to our current players, rather than scheming up ways to acquire Dwight Howard/ ghost of Len Bias. With our team doing something so well, in a way that other teams cannot/are moving away from, we need to embrace our ball-movement/assist- style offense so that we can pinpoint the attack on the opposition in a way that only we do. We may need to find our Rasheed, we may need to grab a Ben Wallace... they may even be the same person. However it is what we do as a team that will propel us, not who we can acquire and how much we can stand toe to toe with "The 3 Kings".
With that in mind a couple of regrets---
The team wouldn't tender Miami a 2nd rounder and a trade exception to get Beasley. Beasley is also the chutes and ladder player to the glory land, even if he has had "PROBLEMS".
I realize I mentioned that we can't wallow in our own lack of bringing in players, but Beasley was a drop in the bucket to get... literally.
A center line of Okur/Fes/Koufos CANNOT win a championship in this league. Okur is a fine player and Fes shows potential. But we need a Gortat (or someone similar) to even come close to a championship dream. Koufos is just terrible.
A couple of hopes/suggestions/praises
GO GET MARC GASOL, DO WHAT EVER YOU CAN TO DO SO. HE IS HIS BROTHER. He would allow us to do so many things, we could scare the league with this Gasol brother in our team oriented offense. This would be the Rasheed/Ben Wallace synthesis for our 04 Pistons reencarnate.
