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Did we misuse AK?

Carbon13

Carbon13

Well-Known Member
No question in today's game, AK would be a top 10 player in the league. His ability to guard 1 thru 4, pass, shoot, and make plays is better than any playmaking 4 in the league right now. Unfortunately, we stifled him by playing the flex offense and not allowing him to play in space like many other PF's enjoy today. I remember watching AK crying during the playoffs basically saying he could do more but was unable to under Sloan. I remember dismissing him as a baby and giving Jerry the benefit of the doubt. Now that time has passed and I look back at what Andrei was trying to say, difficulties with English and all, I realize he may have had a point. Its almost a tragedy the way we misused him. He will forever be remembered as good, not great, while others born 15 years later with less talent will be carried by cheerleaders simply because the league finally caught up. I just hope we remember Andrei as one of our greats when its all said and done.
 
Carbon13 said:
No question in today's game, AK would be a top 10 player in the league. His ability to guard 1 thru 4, pass, shoot, and make plays is better than any playmaking 4 in the league right now. Unfortunately, we stifled him by playing the flex offense and not allowing him to play in space like many other PF's enjoy today. I remember watching AK crying during the playoffs basically saying he could do more but was unable to under Sloan. I remember dismissing him as a baby and giving Jerry the benefit of the doubt. Now that time has passed and I look back at what Andrei was trying to say, difficulties with English and all, I realize he may have had a point. Its almost a tragedy the way we misused him. He will forever be remembered as good, not great, while others born 15 years later with less talent will be carried by cheerleaders simply because the league finally caught up. I just hope we remember Andrei as one of our greats when its all said and done.
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1. Duh. Our offense didn't suit his talents
2. He really is kind of a head case...
 
Carbon13 said:
No question in today's game, AK would be a top 10 player in the league. His ability to guard 1 thru 4, pass, shoot, and make plays is better than any playmaking 4 in the league right now. Unfortunately, we stifled him by playing the flex offense and not allowing him to play in space like many other PF's enjoy today. I remember watching AK crying during the playoffs basically saying he could do more but was unable to under Sloan. I remember dismissing him as a baby and giving Jerry the benefit of the doubt. Now that time has passed and I look back at what Andrei was trying to say, difficulties with English and all, I realize he may have had a point. Its almost a tragedy the way we misused him. He will forever be remembered as good, not great, while others born 15 years later with less talent will be carried by cheerleaders simply because the league finally caught up. I just hope we remember Andrei as one of our greats when its all said and done.
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I think you may be right that if we had played to his strengths we would have been ahead of the curve. No way was that ever going to happen under Sloan. He was a traditionalist in the extreme. I'm not sure any other coach in the league ever held a more nuts and bolts philosophy. Sloan was all about grit, determination and overcoming the odds. Kirilenko (at least in the begining) was all about talent, joy and a throwing out the script.
 
We didn't miss use AK we over used Boozer. Boozer was good but we focused the whole offense around him which crowded out AK. With the effort that he would put up on the defensive end the team would freeze him out of the offense. As we see with Gobert you have to reward the defensive players with the ball. Because it keeps them motivated.
 
Horrendously so.

AK was a 4. When we played him in his true position he thrived. When we stuck him at the 3 alongside Boozer, he floundered. It was a pretty sad waste of his talents and max dollars.
 
I'll always wonder what could have been. What if we would have thrown our FA money at a big, strong SF who could guard the 4 (depending on match-ups) instead of Boozer? I know those teams had an amazing offense, and that Boozer was a big part of that, but still....
 
YES YES YES

Sloan got stuck in his old ways of Pick and Roll over and over and making it a 2 man game whether it was Deron to Boozer or Deron to Okur.

A guy like Poppovich or Snyder would of spread the passing around and utilized AK. Sloan turned AK into a 3 and D guy which he was not. He is a playmaker point forward.

AK and Deron should of split the playmaking duties. Much harder to stop teams in the playoffs when you have 2 guys that are playmakers. I blame Sloan. He was an overrated coach.
 
Jeffrey32 said:
AK's inconsistent jump shot and injuries is what ultimately hurt his career.
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This. Some of you wax nostalgic about how AK would do in today's game. Well, he didn't play in TODAY'S game. Could AK guard guys like Duncan at the 4? Kirilenko was simply not big enough to play PF in the NBA at that time. Internationally he dominated because most Euro bigs were skinny. And he was a liability at the 3 because he had inconsistent range. His "go-to" move was to drive into the middle, wildly throw the ball in the air, flail his arms and look to the refs to bail him out with FT's.

AK wasn't misused; he simply turned himself into a tweener by not improving his body so he could be a PF and not working on his shot so he could be a top SF. If anything he was misused by not having his sorry *** traded somewhere else. That cap hit CRIPPLED the Jazz for years!
 
No.

And yes.

1) we played AK out of position. There were many on this forum vocal about feeling that Sloan was slipping some in his old age, and this was paramount among those complaints. If we had played him more at the 4, or modified the offense to get him the ball more frequently, he would have done better.

2) AK pouted a LOT. And I mean A LOT. A WHOLE FREAKING LOT. The seasons he did his best he played in the flow of the offense, took what came to him, and was stellar in filling in the gaps. The ultimate garbage guy, making plays often out of nothing at all. For example, I remember a game when he chased down a 2 on 0 fast break and strung together like 5 blocks as he ultimately took the ball away from 3 other dudes. Then we had the "I am the star and I will only do what I want to" AK, and he sucked balls.

AK owns at least half of his downfall in Utah.
 
LogGrad98 said:
No.

And yes.

1) we played AK out of position. There were many on this forum vocal about feeling that Sloan was slipping some in his old age, and this was paramount among those complaints. If we had played him more at the 4, or modified the offense to get him the ball more frequently, he would have done better.

2) AK pouted a LOT. And I mean A LOT. A WHOLE FREAKING LOT. The seasons he did his best he played in the flow of the offense, took what came to him, and was stellar in filling in the gaps. The ultimate garbage guy, making plays often out of nothing at all. For example, I remember a game when he chased down a 2 on 0 fast break and strung together like 5 blocks as he ultimately took the ball away from 3 other dudes. Then we had the "I am the star and I will only do what I want to" AK, and he sucked balls.

AK owns at least half of his downfall in Utah.
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No doubt AK was a *****.

No doubt Jerry didn't use him right and failed to get the best out of him.

Not mutually exclusive.
 
Yep. Just take a look at the 2007 roster and imagine if we played the Hawks offense. I'd let a prime Boozer stretch the floor more, along with Millsap. Williams would have so much space to get inside.
 
Carbon13 said:
No question in today's game, AK would be a top 10 player in the league. His ability to guard 1 thru 4, pass, shoot, and make plays is better than any playmaking 4 in the league right now. Unfortunately, we stifled him by playing the flex offense and not allowing him to play in space like many other PF's enjoy today. I remember watching AK crying during the playoffs basically saying he could do more but was unable to under Sloan. I remember dismissing him as a baby and giving Jerry the benefit of the doubt. Now that time has passed and I look back at what Andrei was trying to say, difficulties with English and all, I realize he may have had a point. Its almost a tragedy the way we misused him. He will forever be remembered as good, not great, while others born 15 years later with less talent will be carried by cheerleaders simply because the league finally caught up. I just hope we remember Andrei as one of our greats when its all said and done.
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Top ten?? Really. Lol.
 
Carbon13 said:
No question in today's game, AK would be a top 10 player in the league. His ability to guard 1 thru 4, pass, shoot, and make plays is better than any playmaking 4 in the league right now. Unfortunately, we stifled him by playing the flex offense and not allowing him to play in space like many other PF's enjoy today. I remember watching AK crying during the playoffs basically saying he could do more but was unable to under Sloan. I remember dismissing him as a baby and giving Jerry the benefit of the doubt. Now that time has passed and I look back at what Andrei was trying to say, difficulties with English and all, I realize he may have had a point. Its almost a tragedy the way we misused him. He will forever be remembered as good, not great, while others born 15 years later with less talent will be carried by cheerleaders simply because the league finally caught up. I just hope we remember Andrei as one of our greats when its all said and done.
Click to expand...

Loved AK in his prime, but he was a way-below average shooter. Career 0.310 from 3 would place him 147th in the NBA behind the likes of Trey B, . And he was a 3 not a 4.

He was a very good playmaker and phenomenal defender, but let's not get carried away with this top 10 thing, with the likes of Durant, James, Russell, CP3, Timmy, Anthony Davis, Curry, LMA, Harden,Lillard, Kawhi, Cousins, Klay, Kyrie (sure I missed a few). He would be top 30, no way top 10.
 
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