You can swap any two Jazzmen into the '97-'98 finals squads -- who do you choose?

[infection]

Rules: you can choose anyone from Jazz history to participate in our two finals appearances. Who do you swap?

I would swap Ostertag and Foster for Gobert and Okur. Naturally there are better and more talented players to choose, but I think these two put a legit player at the 5 spot for all 48 minutes. Gobert plays all the same role of defensive Ostertag but less of a liability. Okur takes Fosters mid-range J and gives us a legit scoring option. I'd probably start

I think an argument could be made for Deron as we tended to not do as well with Stockton off the floor. However, the time he was off the floor is a lot less than the amount of minutes at the 5 spot.

With as much as a distaste for Kirilenko I've had, I'd give consideration to starting the 2002-2004 AK.

Who's yours?

 

[Strutter]

Gobert and Prime AK. Andrei could take minutes at the three and the four.

Okur's a solid choice, as well.

 

[b_line]

I'd probably go with Gobert and prime kirIlenko as well. Although you could probably put Hayward in that lineup and do Just as well.

Stock, horny, ak, mailman and Gobert would be just about the perfect combination of offense and defense though. Especially for the 90's style of play.

 

[Cope]

Wow... A bunch of young kids here...

Bring in a happy Dantley and Pistol Pete..... Not even close to any other choices outside of Eaton in his prime.

 

[framer]

Controversial, but replacing Hornacek with a taller, younger Hayward with two good legs would certainly help defensively, especially in that damn "flu game."

 

[candrew]

Fun question; but ultimately a no-brainer. Jazz needed defensive depth at the wing to have any chance of slowing MJ down. I'd pick AK, circa 2004, and Hayward. Hayward isn't a top shelf defender but his length would have bothered MJ and he certainly would have made him work on the defensive end.

A constant rotation of a fresh BRuss, AK and Gordon on Jordan might have been just enough to contain him and beat Chicago in the finals.

I'd drop Shandon Anderson and Adam Keefe and give AK and Hayward their minutes.

 

[Revolution 9]

Hayward over Russell and Gobert over Ostertag = Championship.

 

[Siro]

Pistol Pete and Gobert.

John Stockton
Jeff Hornacek
Pistol Pete
Karl Malone
Rudy Gobert

 

[Scat]

I take Okur and Jeff Malone. Even Okur could guard Luc Longley and he adds that interesting wrinkle of having a 3 point shooting big man that pulls Longley out to the perimeter clearing space for K. Malone to operate.

Jordan once said that J. Malone was one of the best defenders that he ever played against. J. Malone was a pretty decent shooter in his own right.

 

[mellow]

Just thinking about players after the '97 season...Let's see, Deron, boozer, okur, Ak, Gobert favors Hayward Milsap, big Al, Devine Harris mo Williams....


I think I'd pick Donyel Marshal and Matt Harpring. Rodger Bell 1.0 maybe.

 

[Stifle Tower]

No votes for Tyrone Corbin?

 

[colton]

I'll restrict myself to players I've actually seen, so no Dantley/etc for me.

Here's the 97-98 team:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/1998.html


Shockingly Adam Keefe had the 4th highest minutes and Eisley had the 6th. So I'll sub in current Favors for Keefe and prime DWill for Eisley. Then we have:

starters
PG Stockton
SG Horny
SF Russell
PF Malone
C Favors

first off the bench
PG/SG DWill
SF Shandon Anderson
PF/C Greg Foster

That's so much better than what they actually had.

I thought about subbing in prime AK for Russell, but decided Keefe and Eisley offered the larger opportunity for improvement.


Don't have time to think about the other finals squad right now.

 

[Coach Ellis]

C: Rudy Gobert for Cunningham
SF: Dominique Wilkins for Hudson

Starters
PG: Stockton, SG: Hornacek, SF: Wilkins, PF: Malone and C: Gobert

Bench
PG: Eisley, PG: Vaughn, SG: Anderson, SF: Russell, PF: Carr and C: Ostertag

That would have been a heck of a fun team to watch

 

[Jazz Spazz]

Gobert for Cunningham.

To replace Hudson on the roster I lean towards Korver because he would force the Bulls defenders to defend. With AK, they would just hang back and clog the lanes because they wouldn't worry about his shot. With the PnR with Stock and Malone, if the Bulls did bring baseball bats to stop it, there would be possible kick outs to Hornacek or Korver... and lets face it, either one would bury an open shot. Both of those would be deadly.

I chose Cunningham and Hudson because wouldn't you replace the worst players on the roster? Keep the others for decent minutes.