Jerry Lundegaard
Banned
From the prophet who pandered for Gordon Hayward two games into his sophomore season at Butler...
Current Jazz outlook:
Through all the stuff that transpired throughout the season, Paul Millsap reaffirmed my beliefs that he is the Man. The fact that he played through injuries all the way until the last game of the season that would hold most players out speaks volumes about his character and the type of leader he can be for us. I fully anticipate him taking time to get healthy this offseason, then cranking it back up and further expanding his game.
Through 82 games, I give the Al Jefferson acquisition a B+. He was thrown into a tough spot from the get go and who the heck knows what went on behind closed doors at practice with D-Will/Sloan. He's young and has a great offensive arsenal. I was impressed by his shot blocking ability. As Harp pointed out, passing out of double teams is probably his biggest area of concern. I anticipate that being improved next season with natural experience. Hopefully he gets a lot of runs in the offseason in with the guys, especially Devin Harris.
I'm still on the fence about Harris, but leaning towards liking him as our starting point guard. To be a playoff team, the starting point guard must be able to consistently get into the lane and create for others and himself. Harris has been doing that since he's gotten in the league. His 3-point shooting (were these last couple weeks a fluke?) is a bonus.
As much crap as C.J. gets around here, I still am a huge supporter of him starting at the 3 and Hayward starting at the 2. C.J. has all the tools to be successful, it's just about consistency. I will say if he starts and gets starters minutes all of next season and is inconsistent through the first half of the season, then I might be in the camp of he'll never get it. I don't need to say a thing about Hayward other than he's a franchise type player that I hope is a Jazz starter for 10 more years.
Favors was the best surprise all season, with Evans being a close second. Favors has a chance to be great at some point, and I think it's awesome we have the versatility to rotate him with Al and Sap (I'm not a fan of playing the 3 of them together, but could be convinced otherwise). If we can keep Fes around for cheap, I think that would be great.
As for AK, Okur, Ronnie, Elston and most importantly Raja - Thanks for playing. I'll help you pack your bags.
I like Earl as a 3rd PG.
As for Corbin, I think we'd be much better off with a coach with experience. Obviously that won't happen, so I will give the Jazz 20 games into next season for him to show he's capable and not a basket case with illogical rotations.
Free Agency:
Haven't looked at potential free agents - will edit this part over the course of the summer.
Draft:
This part will also be edited once draft entrants are finalized, and more importantly our picks or pick if we trade up, but off the bat a couple players stand out to me that I'd love on the Jazz. Overall a relatively weak draft. (note: im excluding harrison barnes because I'm assuming he goes back to UNC. Also excluding Jonas and the other foreigners on the draft sites as I have not seen them; will look into all of them during boring days at work over the next couple months and possibly add.)
-Kemba Walker; Dynamic scorer and able distributor who can be just what we need to back up Devin and potentially start a year or two down the line. If Earl is still around, he could learn a lot from him too.
-Donatas Motiejunas; 7-foot lefty with tons of skill. Would bring a completely new element to the roster. Really, really high on him.
-Terrance Jones; A little smaller version of Lamar Odom, but he can play inside and outside. He's got some maturity issues to deal with, and if our staff interviews him and college coaches with credence on the matter and find out he's too big of a headache - I wouldn't be upset if we passed. As casual fans, we'll just never know other than what we see on the court.
-Finally, if we draft Jimmer in the lottery I don't think I will be a Jazz fan anymore, or at least not a serious one.
UPDATE 5/18
I want Kemba at the 3 and Marshon Brooks at the 12. I'd even take Brooks at the 3. The thing about Brooks is that he's a lot more athletic than Almond, so anyone who is skeptical needs to see the light!
Brooks!
Current Jazz outlook:
Through all the stuff that transpired throughout the season, Paul Millsap reaffirmed my beliefs that he is the Man. The fact that he played through injuries all the way until the last game of the season that would hold most players out speaks volumes about his character and the type of leader he can be for us. I fully anticipate him taking time to get healthy this offseason, then cranking it back up and further expanding his game.
Through 82 games, I give the Al Jefferson acquisition a B+. He was thrown into a tough spot from the get go and who the heck knows what went on behind closed doors at practice with D-Will/Sloan. He's young and has a great offensive arsenal. I was impressed by his shot blocking ability. As Harp pointed out, passing out of double teams is probably his biggest area of concern. I anticipate that being improved next season with natural experience. Hopefully he gets a lot of runs in the offseason in with the guys, especially Devin Harris.
I'm still on the fence about Harris, but leaning towards liking him as our starting point guard. To be a playoff team, the starting point guard must be able to consistently get into the lane and create for others and himself. Harris has been doing that since he's gotten in the league. His 3-point shooting (were these last couple weeks a fluke?) is a bonus.
As much crap as C.J. gets around here, I still am a huge supporter of him starting at the 3 and Hayward starting at the 2. C.J. has all the tools to be successful, it's just about consistency. I will say if he starts and gets starters minutes all of next season and is inconsistent through the first half of the season, then I might be in the camp of he'll never get it. I don't need to say a thing about Hayward other than he's a franchise type player that I hope is a Jazz starter for 10 more years.
Favors was the best surprise all season, with Evans being a close second. Favors has a chance to be great at some point, and I think it's awesome we have the versatility to rotate him with Al and Sap (I'm not a fan of playing the 3 of them together, but could be convinced otherwise). If we can keep Fes around for cheap, I think that would be great.
As for AK, Okur, Ronnie, Elston and most importantly Raja - Thanks for playing. I'll help you pack your bags.
I like Earl as a 3rd PG.
As for Corbin, I think we'd be much better off with a coach with experience. Obviously that won't happen, so I will give the Jazz 20 games into next season for him to show he's capable and not a basket case with illogical rotations.
Free Agency:
Haven't looked at potential free agents - will edit this part over the course of the summer.
Draft:
This part will also be edited once draft entrants are finalized, and more importantly our picks or pick if we trade up, but off the bat a couple players stand out to me that I'd love on the Jazz. Overall a relatively weak draft. (note: im excluding harrison barnes because I'm assuming he goes back to UNC. Also excluding Jonas and the other foreigners on the draft sites as I have not seen them; will look into all of them during boring days at work over the next couple months and possibly add.)
-Kemba Walker; Dynamic scorer and able distributor who can be just what we need to back up Devin and potentially start a year or two down the line. If Earl is still around, he could learn a lot from him too.
-Donatas Motiejunas; 7-foot lefty with tons of skill. Would bring a completely new element to the roster. Really, really high on him.
-Terrance Jones; A little smaller version of Lamar Odom, but he can play inside and outside. He's got some maturity issues to deal with, and if our staff interviews him and college coaches with credence on the matter and find out he's too big of a headache - I wouldn't be upset if we passed. As casual fans, we'll just never know other than what we see on the court.
-Finally, if we draft Jimmer in the lottery I don't think I will be a Jazz fan anymore, or at least not a serious one.
UPDATE 5/18
I want Kemba at the 3 and Marshon Brooks at the 12. I'd even take Brooks at the 3. The thing about Brooks is that he's a lot more athletic than Almond, so anyone who is skeptical needs to see the light!
Brooks!
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