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The Millsap dilemma

Sloan Pwns

Sloan Pwns

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Paul Millsap has proven himself to be a starter in this league, but Im not sure if his place is on the Jazz. He's never going to be the 1st option on a team, a 3rd at best, but Favors has the potential to be a 1st or 2nd option on any team. Simply put, Favors need to start next season. Playing Paul at the 3 doesnt work either. If we start Jefferson at the 5, Favors at the 4 and Paul at sf there is just to much overlap of skill, its an inefficient use of their abilities. Think Dwade and Lebron.

I also dont think that Paul would be content coming off the bench just for the fact that he HAS proven himself to be a starter. I have a feeling that a 2nd year player starting ahead of him would be a tough pill to swallow. And if he ISN'T happy coming off the bench, how effective will he be?

Paul Millsap is one of my favorite Jazz players of all time, but I think his biggest contribution to the team might be netting us 1 or 2 assets that help lead us to a championship.
 
You say that playing paul, al, and derrick at the same time doesn't work but when that lineup has played together it looks pretty good to me. Plus you should consider that paul could improve his shooting/quickness in the offseason and I don't really believe that we have seen that lineup together often enough to just write it off and say it wont work. Maybe try giving it a chance. Getting out best players on the floor together doesn't seem so bad to me.
 
Nice 'problem' to have; a strong 3-man starter-quality rotation in the paint, where 2 of them can play C, all 3 can handle PF, and 1 can even drop down and play some SF...
If Fes would join these 3 this summer to work out their kinks, it would be a-w-e-s-o-m-e , but that ain't happenin'. That big lunk has such potential below the neck, but...
 
Also anytime you have a guy who is tough as hell, plays through injuries, doesn't whine, works hard, has great moves/instincts around the basket, has a great shot from anywhere on the court, plays decent defense, is athletic, seems to want to be here, and isn't overpaid then you definately need to try to get rid of him. I dont think that dilemma is a good way to describe milsap. So he is undersized. that is his only weakness. his game is solid, his attitude is solid, his work ethic is off the charts, and hes not too expensive. In other words... he is a keeper in my book.
 
Whatever Utah does, playing favors less than 30 MPG next year is unacceptable. However, trading Millsap just to free up minutes isn't a good solution. If they find they right deal, that's one thing, otherwise they need to keep him and work it out. For example, Millsap doesn't have to play major minutes at the 3 to make it work. He could play 25 min. at the 4 and 10 min. at the 3. Favors plays the rest at the 4 and 10 at the 5. Obviously matchups could pose a problem, but we're having that problem now at times anyway.

The other problem is if Utah drafts a big or Memo comes back, or if we acquire anybody that takes regular minutes at the 4/5. I also wouldn't rule out Utah moving Jefferson for the right deal, instead of Millsap. Whatever they do, I'm gonna be pissed if Favors is playing 20 min. a game next year.
 
Here is my starting lineup for next season:

PG: Devin Harris/#1 overall pick (Kyrie Irving)
SG: Gordon Hayward (duh)
SF: Paul Millsap
PF: Derrick Favors
C: Al Jefferson

I simply don't know how we could draft a big right now. In my opinion, drafting another big player is a huge mistake. We pretty much just got our "big" player in LAST year's draft with Derrick Favors. We don't need another one. Al Jefferson is a great low-post scorer that plays well against other dominant pf/c's in the league (Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, and others). Derrick Favors has the potential to dominate at the PF position for years to come. The kid is only 19 YEARS OLD and he is already looking really good. If we get the right players in this draft and are savvy in free agency, we will definitely be set up for a playoff run next year.
 
pappyman said:
Here is my starting lineup for next season:

PG: Devin Harris/#1 overall pick (Kyrie Irving)
SG: Gordon Hayward (duh)
SF: Paul Millsap
PF: Derrick Favors
C: Al Jefferson

I simply don't know how we could draft a big right now. In my opinion, drafting another big player is a huge mistake. We pretty much just got our "big" player in LAST year's draft with Derrick Favors. We don't need another one. Al Jefferson is a great low-post scorer that plays well against other dominant pf/c's in the league (Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, and others). Derrick Favors has the potential to dominate at the PF position for years to come. The kid is only 19 YEARS OLD and he is already looking really good. If we get the right players in this draft and are savvy in free agency, we will definitely be set up for a playoff run next year.
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Wouldn't it be better if we start Jefferson, Favors, Barnes or Derrick Williams, Hayward and Harris with Millsap off the bench??
 
There is no dilemma. Millsap can play SF against 90% of the teams in the NBA, and can switch over seamlessly to PF for the 15 minutes Favors rests. The only dilemma is a fantasy that people like to parrot because they are obsessed with labeling positions when team defense is really all that matters in the NBA.
 
I'm not opposed to playing the five best players, even if one or two of them are playing out of position.

I am opposed to trading Millsap. I think he means more to the Jazz fan base than people here realize. His contract is also too good.

Trading Jefferson could be explored, though I doubt the Jazz get good value for him. I'd really like to show him some film of him being really small on a lot of offensive boards, despite his good rebounding numbers.

As for the draft, you draft BPA. If BPA is a big, so be it.
 
I'd say trade Paul if there were grumbling that he was unhappy. Paul strikes me as a great team guy. I don't see him bitching that he's not getting 40 minutes a game. He can easily get 30+ minutes in a backup role and wreak havok for other team's second stringers. I'm more concerned about Jefferson. He can be beastly on offense.. and then be anemic.. Unfortunately his one consistency is that he's not all that great on defense. This can still work if you have other guys who can play defense.. like Favors. I'm just wondering what people think about Evans? He can jump.. is there anything else? I'm just thinking the Jazz need to draft either a guard or a sf.. If they happen to strike gold with a sf, then maybe Milsap is great trade bait?
 
Honestly, I think Okur is the biggest dilemma we face this offseason. Millsap, if traded will bring us solid return. If not traded he will continue to play great for us next season. I have a hard time imagining any likable offers for Okur. And if not traded, there is no guarantee he will be able to contribute next year.
 
fallenchicken said:
Honestly, I think Okur is the biggest dilemma we face this offseason. Millsap, if traded will bring us solid return. If not traded he will continue to play great for us next season. I have a hard time imagining any likable offers for Okur. And if not traded, there is no guarantee he will be able to contribute next year.
Click to expand...

I think Memo is done. Right now I'd say he has negative trade value, but he will be an expiring, so it won't be that long before he's an asset again. We might be able to trade him on draft day as part of a package deal, but if not we'll still have a chance to get something for him before the trade deadline, assuming the lockout is over before then.
 
Paul Millsap's game has continued to evolve every season since entering the league, which makes me wonder why the OP is so certain that moving Sap to the 3 fulltime won't work. He's almost a completely different player now than he was entering the league and he continues to evolve. I think he will be able to play the 3 and I think Utah's best option (by far) is moving forward while keeping a Favors-Jefferson-Milllsap frontline intact.
 
Im not opposed to trading Sap if we can get some really good players here, but I dont think we could get equal value. Sap could be our Lamar Odom. A player who is comfortable coming off the bench and can give minutes at the 3 and 4.
 
I like Millsap off of the bench. I don't think Millsap has shown that he's a great starting PF. I doubt moving him to starting SF is the right move. He is to slow to guard most Sf's. I am all for giving it a shot.

I am curious about why people seem to think that Evans is a PF? I think he has the most potential at SF. He does not need to add a lot of weight to play SF and he won't have to worry about loss of athleticism by getting that weight. He will need to learn to shoot better but his release looks good and I think he could play there. He is obviously not ready to start or get major minutes next year but I would like him to be the backup SF next season.
 
I've been strongly against trading Millsap for awhile now, and I've blurted out some thoughts about his SF abilities elsewhere, but I'll say it again.

We don't need Millsap to play more than 7-10 minutes a game at SF in order to get everybody their minutes and starts. Start Paul at SF, and run a couple of early plays through him on the block. He should be able to control most players in this configuration. He has continued to develop his face-up skills all the way out to the three point line, which is ****ing awesome. In short, I don't think offense is the problem. A very well-drilled and schematized defensive scheme is needed, and Paul is going to have to adjust to rebounding from further away from the basket. I hope he shaves about ten pounds, works on his lateral agility, and strengthens his core.

Those people that watched the last handful of games saw plenty of experimentation with this lineup. My favorite play last night was Paul hitting the corner 3. I wonder how the coaching staff and Paul felt about these experiments? It looked promising to me.

You don't trade a guy like Millsap. It is bloody rare to find a guy that has the ability to close games like he does. He can still get the vast majority of his 32-36 minutes at the PF, so what's the problem? Answer: NONE if he can play 7-10 minutes at SF.

(my other favorite play from last night was the give-and-go between Hayward and Jefferson.... MORE OF THAT).
 
Sap can play SF against maybe half of the teams in the league, at best. He is not a starter on an upper tier team. I love Sap and love his game but he is a 6th man.
 
"its an inefficient use of their abilities. Think Dwade and Lebron."

LeBron 26ppg 51% FG 7 assists, 7.5 rebounds Top 3 MVP candidate

Wade 25ppg 6.4rpg 4.6apg Top 10 MVP candidate


Yes horridly inefficient. Only 58 wins? 14-3 to finish the year? Break them up!
 
If Ty tells Sap to prepare for playing the three, I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back leaner and quicker. Sap's biggest asset is that he is a hard worker and I think he could prepare himself to be better to prepare to play the three.
 
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