Empting the Nogin
• This is in a rush as I am on the plane and hoping to get posted before we take off.
• Solid win. These are the nights were the development really takes place.
• Three of the final four play calls of the night were a Gordon Hayward/Derrick Favors side pick and roll. It was off that play that Gordon Hayward rose up to bury the 15 footer that turned out to be the game winner.
• Derrick Favors was terrific. His defense on the final two plays of the game was huge. He came over to help on the Louis Williams drive and forced the miss and then stepped out on the Louis Williams three attempt at the end of the game.
• Favors had a career high points and his 5th double double of his career and his first ever 20/10. I feel pretty comfortable that he will have many more before it is all over.
• In fact, it was only the third time he ever had played more than 30 minutes.
• Tyrone Corbin had a really good night. In the first quarter guys got exhausted and he shorten the rotation in the third quarter and altered who he played in the third.
• Corbin’s 1st quarter benching of Devin Harris sent a huge message. Harris came out for the 2nd quarter like a ball of fire. The only way this works is if Earl Watson plays well and he did.
• Gordon Hayward really held his own on Andre Iguodola tonight. Iggy tried to go after Gordon time and time again and Hayward not only held his own but generally denied him each and every time.
• Enes Kanter did it again. The kid is playing like he belongs. He is holding his own each night and each time he does it he is making progress. I am stunned at what he was done in the first three games of the year.
• Paul was just 4 of 16 but the effort stayed consistent all night
• The ball moved very well tonight even if the assist numbers weren’t great.
• Barring anything crazy I think Gordon Hayward is going to lead this team in minutes played this year.
• Defensive rebounding was awesome tonight – 32 of 39 chances – 82% percent – that is outstanding. League average is about 72%.
• Interesting thing on the plane tonight is the guys now have apps on their I-Pads so they can watch film on the plane.
The Wide World of Sports
Views, analysis, and opinion pieces
Wide World Of Sports
Posts
All Comments
Latest Posts
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
The Panic Button in Los Angeles The Breeze Vol1 Number 29
The shortened NBA Season has started 1-2 for the new look Lakers. The Spoiled fan base that stretches across the state and around the USA needs to understand some basic things that will help them as they go through a transitional year as a franchise. Dr. Jerry Buss who by academic trade has his doctoral degree in Physical Chemistry has owned the Lakers since 1979 ushering in a new era of basketball in Los Angeles that up to that time has never been seen in Los Angeles Basketball history. He purchased the Lakers , Kings, and the Great Western Forum for 67.5 million dollars in 1979. Now 32 seasons later the Lakers find themselves coached by a 41 year-old coach who has had some success in the leauge compiling a 272-138 record as coach of Cleveland. It is worth noting that his strength is defense and not offense. In terms Laker fans know well show time has now become slow time for the Laker offense that is void of youth and direction @ the gaurd position. Derek Fisher is looking like he needs help to the nearest Social Security office to start collecting retirement My grandmother who is 86 years old could beat him off the dribble and she is unable to go to her left. The Geriatric Fisher may be a great negotiater of labor peace but to be sure he can no longer negotiate the 94X50 hunk of wood that lies between both baskets these days. A few reasons the Lakers will not be as appealing as they have been in recent years 1. Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchack have taken the riegns of the team and weather for ego or personal reasons Jim Buss has made it his personal mission to intentionally
disassociate himself from the regime of his father as if to say I can do better than my Physical Chemistry Doctoral Patriarch father many of the long time employees of the organization were let go during the lockout .
2. The Lamar Odom trade. This would fall under the what were you thinking file. The only veteran to be interchangeable at the 3,4 or 5 position depending on matchups. You now have a front court of Metta World Peace Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol . This is by no means a dominant front court. . Pau Gasol has passed his time in LA his failure to hit FTS vs Chicago and failure to foul when needed as well has convinced me that Gasol is soft as a roll of Cottonelle bath tissue. 3. The need for a younger Point Gaurd.. 4. The shortened season with an average of 4 games per week is going to force coaches to go deep into there bench.
For Jim Buss he and GM Kupchack have screwed up in a major way with the trade of Odom thus messing with the teams physical chemistry. My advice to Jim Buss he needs to call Jerry and ask him about team physical chemistry. That is something Jerry knows about and Jim does not as those Championship banners since 1979 will testify to.
I am Senior writer and founder of WWS Mark Alan Janisch
I can be found on twitter@wideworldofspor you may subscribe
to the RSS feed via Newsgator ,Netvibe, Yahoo, and Google
The Breeze is the official written voice of the site views and all comments are mine
disassociate himself from the regime of his father as if to say I can do better than my Physical Chemistry Doctoral Patriarch father many of the long time employees of the organization were let go during the lockout .
2. The Lamar Odom trade. This would fall under the what were you thinking file. The only veteran to be interchangeable at the 3,4 or 5 position depending on matchups. You now have a front court of Metta World Peace Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol . This is by no means a dominant front court. . Pau Gasol has passed his time in LA his failure to hit FTS vs Chicago and failure to foul when needed as well has convinced me that Gasol is soft as a roll of Cottonelle bath tissue. 3. The need for a younger Point Gaurd.. 4. The shortened season with an average of 4 games per week is going to force coaches to go deep into there bench.
For Jim Buss he and GM Kupchack have screwed up in a major way with the trade of Odom thus messing with the teams physical chemistry. My advice to Jim Buss he needs to call Jerry and ask him about team physical chemistry. That is something Jerry knows about and Jim does not as those Championship banners since 1979 will testify to.
I am Senior writer and founder of WWS Mark Alan Janisch
I can be found on twitter@wideworldofspor you may subscribe
to the RSS feed via Newsgator ,Netvibe, Yahoo, and Google
The Breeze is the official written voice of the site views and all comments are mine
Game Time Cleveland 12/28/2011 Podcast
http://www.same3guys.com/2011/12/28/gametime-cleveland-99-kyrie-debuts/
Mike and Tom Kresic Bring you all things Cleveland Sports
Mike and Tom Kresic Bring you all things Cleveland Sports
MLB News AL Hot Stove 12/29/2011
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111218&content_id=26193560&vkey=news_cws&c_id=cws&partnerId=rss_cws
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111219&content_id=26197170&vkey=news_ana&c_id=ana&partnerId=rss_ana
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111226&content_id=26236834&vkey=news_tex&c_id=tex&partnerId=rss_tex
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111227&content_id=26238520&vkey=news_oak&c_id=oak&partnerId=rss_oak
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111219&content_id=26197170&vkey=news_ana&c_id=ana&partnerId=rss_ana
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111226&content_id=26236834&vkey=news_tex&c_id=tex&partnerId=rss_tex
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111227&content_id=26238520&vkey=news_oak&c_id=oak&partnerId=rss_oak
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Jazz season Preview David Locke Jazz PXP man
Tuesday night will be the premiere of Utah Jazz 4.0. The departure of free agent Andrei Kirilenko and the trade of Memo Okur were the final steps in a 18 month process closing out Utah Jazz 3.0.
In 1979, the Utah Jazz came to Salt Lake. An ABA city got its first taste of the NBA. After a few years of Tom Nissalke, Ben Poquette and Alan Bristow the Jazz fans were introduced to its first group of stars, Adrian Dantley, Ricky Green, Darrell Griffith and Frank Layden. Jazz 1.0 built brought legitimacy to the NBA in Salt Lake and legitimacy to Salt Lake. After early highlights of Alan Bristow punching out Larry Bird and the Whopper Billy Paultz’s right hook, Jazz 1.0 had a connection between city and team that would soon be unprecedented in the NBA.
Jazz 1.0 capped off its run with the 1987-88 7 game series with the Hall of Fame laden Los Angeles Lakers. 1.0 ended shortly thereafter. Frank Layden suddenly resigned turning the franchise over to his trusted assistant Jerry Sloan. It was the culmination of process that had been taking place for a few years. A power forward from Louisiana Tech replaced the previous all-star Adrian Dantley. The fresh eyed competitor John Stockton supplemented the fastest of them all Ricky Green as the point guard.
Utah Jazz 2.0 was first born in 1985 when Larry H. Miller bought 50% of the team from Sam Battistone and then on June 16, 1986 when Larry H. Miller purchased the rest of the organization.
2.0 started a bit slow with first round exits in 89 and 90. The consistency of the organization and loyalty of the fan base allowed 2.0 to have great success. Starting in 1991, when the Jazz made the Western Conference Finals. Subtle updates Tyrone Corbin, Jeff Hornacek, and Antoine Carr moved the Jazz into a new stratosphere. The Jazz still at the core were Stockton, Malone and Sloan (Hot Rod deserves part of it also). Finally, they were able to crest the Western Conference and make its two finals appearances. The Utah Jazz were officially Utah’s favorite. Salt Lake City was a Jazz town and the nation took envious notice.
All great things must come to an end and when John Stockton retired from basketball in 2003, Utah Jazz 2.0 was obsolete.
The beginnings of Utah Jazz 3.0 were raw and limited, but at the helm was the same master as 2.0, Jerry Sloan. The fan base embraced 3.0, it was built on grit and desire. Utah Jazz 3.0 didn’t start with much to sell other than a raw energetic 22 year old Andrei Kirilenko.
Applications were added, Deron Williams, Memo Okur and Carlos Boozer and Utah Jazz 3.0 was back into the Western Conference Finals within 3 years. Memo was hitting huge three’s in Houston. Carlos Boozer was dominating Yao Ming, Deron avenging a breakout by Baron Davis to dominate the series and Bolerjack was telling you to buckle up for another ride. It was an unheard of ride back to prominence. The bubble didn’t last and 3.0 would never make it over the summit.
Looking back Utah Jazz 3.0 very well may have been the 2nd best team in basketball, but the best was in LA and stared them down in the playoffs each and every time.
Unlike Utah Jazz 2.0 that lived at the top of their game without distractions or dips for over 15 year, Utah Jazz 3.0 took a much more natural business cycle and crashed in 2010 7 years after it had been launched.
The end of Utah Jazz 3.0 started with the torn Achilles of Memo Okur in Denver playoff series. Utah Jazz 3.0 greatest moment may have the fight and determination it showed to blast the Denver Nuggets out of the first round before once again falling to hated Los Angeles Lakers.
3.0’s expiration was intensified with the departure of Carlos Boozer only to come to a crashing halt the night Jerry Sloan retired after losing to Boozer’s new team. With the Jazz stock prices dropping to all-time lows the Jazz ended 3.0 with the trade of Deron Williams.
Tuesday night we embark on Utah Jazz 4.0. It is the next era in 32 years of Utah Jazz Basketball.
Pieces have been acquired for the 4.0, starting with a winner from the heart of basketball, Gordon Hayward. Hayward took a no name school to the final second of the NCAA National Championship against the giant of college basketball, Duke. Now as the oldest of the “youngsters”(21) he embarks on his second season in the NBA.
Next is a gift from the basketball god’s 6’10 unbelievably gifted Derrick Favors, who for the first time in 3 years gets to unpack and be established. Consider at 20 we were still two years away from meeting Karl Malone. Favors will do his learning and excelling all as a part of 4.0.
The newest addition is highlighted by an import. A Turkish teenager who was so desperate to play in the NBA he left his homeland and parents at 17 to become a part of the most storied college basketball program in the US, Kentucky. Then that hope was denied by the ruling body of the NCAA. Finally, after 2 years of waiting the 19 year old, Enes Kanter, is dropped into the middle of a man’s game and with endless effort and joy doing everything he can to hold his own.
The final piece is an overlooked kid from Missouri who has proven ever doubter wrong, Alec Burks. While every other Missouri state star was getting recruited Burks while going unnoticed just keep winning all the way to the Missouri State Player of the Year. With one and only one scholarship in hand Burks stayed in Big 12 country with a chip on his shoulder. At the end of his freshman year at Colorado, he was the Big 12 Rookie of the Year, averaging 17 pts and 5 rebs and a Freshman All-American. Two years later he was the #12 pick of the NBA draft again with doubters wondering if he could shot at the NBA level. Each night he has a message for those doubters.
It is these four pieces along with the hard working Al Jefferson, the overachieving Paul Millsap and a cast of others that leads the Jazz into the new era, Utah Jazz 4.0.
4.0 is different than the other eras. We embarked upon 1.0 with ignorance and bliss. 2.0 was our first taste of greatness, one to never be equaled. 3.0 started with a dearth of talent only to bring in hired guns for the 1st time.
Now with a new CEO in charge, Greg Miller, a new coach, Tyrone Corbin and characters younger than we have ever seen before 4.0 gets under way.
On a personal level, it is incredibly exciting to embark on this journey with you. This is our team, Utah’s team. It comes to us in a new era. Where the players are also @Gordonhayward, @alecburks10 and @dfavors14, an era where we know a little more about each of these guys and what they do. We learn more about what makes them tick and what drives them to greatness. We are closer to this group with the advent of new technology then we were in the past era’s.
At the end of this era, we will have met them younger, known them better and learned more about them and probably ourselves than we did in the past. It will be quite a ride. Not always an easy one, but one that will only intensify the relationship between this state and its team.
Utah Jazz 4.0 is here. Let it begin.
In 1979, the Utah Jazz came to Salt Lake. An ABA city got its first taste of the NBA. After a few years of Tom Nissalke, Ben Poquette and Alan Bristow the Jazz fans were introduced to its first group of stars, Adrian Dantley, Ricky Green, Darrell Griffith and Frank Layden. Jazz 1.0 built brought legitimacy to the NBA in Salt Lake and legitimacy to Salt Lake. After early highlights of Alan Bristow punching out Larry Bird and the Whopper Billy Paultz’s right hook, Jazz 1.0 had a connection between city and team that would soon be unprecedented in the NBA.
Jazz 1.0 capped off its run with the 1987-88 7 game series with the Hall of Fame laden Los Angeles Lakers. 1.0 ended shortly thereafter. Frank Layden suddenly resigned turning the franchise over to his trusted assistant Jerry Sloan. It was the culmination of process that had been taking place for a few years. A power forward from Louisiana Tech replaced the previous all-star Adrian Dantley. The fresh eyed competitor John Stockton supplemented the fastest of them all Ricky Green as the point guard.
Utah Jazz 2.0 was first born in 1985 when Larry H. Miller bought 50% of the team from Sam Battistone and then on June 16, 1986 when Larry H. Miller purchased the rest of the organization.
2.0 started a bit slow with first round exits in 89 and 90. The consistency of the organization and loyalty of the fan base allowed 2.0 to have great success. Starting in 1991, when the Jazz made the Western Conference Finals. Subtle updates Tyrone Corbin, Jeff Hornacek, and Antoine Carr moved the Jazz into a new stratosphere. The Jazz still at the core were Stockton, Malone and Sloan (Hot Rod deserves part of it also). Finally, they were able to crest the Western Conference and make its two finals appearances. The Utah Jazz were officially Utah’s favorite. Salt Lake City was a Jazz town and the nation took envious notice.
All great things must come to an end and when John Stockton retired from basketball in 2003, Utah Jazz 2.0 was obsolete.
The beginnings of Utah Jazz 3.0 were raw and limited, but at the helm was the same master as 2.0, Jerry Sloan. The fan base embraced 3.0, it was built on grit and desire. Utah Jazz 3.0 didn’t start with much to sell other than a raw energetic 22 year old Andrei Kirilenko.
Applications were added, Deron Williams, Memo Okur and Carlos Boozer and Utah Jazz 3.0 was back into the Western Conference Finals within 3 years. Memo was hitting huge three’s in Houston. Carlos Boozer was dominating Yao Ming, Deron avenging a breakout by Baron Davis to dominate the series and Bolerjack was telling you to buckle up for another ride. It was an unheard of ride back to prominence. The bubble didn’t last and 3.0 would never make it over the summit.
Looking back Utah Jazz 3.0 very well may have been the 2nd best team in basketball, but the best was in LA and stared them down in the playoffs each and every time.
Unlike Utah Jazz 2.0 that lived at the top of their game without distractions or dips for over 15 year, Utah Jazz 3.0 took a much more natural business cycle and crashed in 2010 7 years after it had been launched.
The end of Utah Jazz 3.0 started with the torn Achilles of Memo Okur in Denver playoff series. Utah Jazz 3.0 greatest moment may have the fight and determination it showed to blast the Denver Nuggets out of the first round before once again falling to hated Los Angeles Lakers.
3.0’s expiration was intensified with the departure of Carlos Boozer only to come to a crashing halt the night Jerry Sloan retired after losing to Boozer’s new team. With the Jazz stock prices dropping to all-time lows the Jazz ended 3.0 with the trade of Deron Williams.
Tuesday night we embark on Utah Jazz 4.0. It is the next era in 32 years of Utah Jazz Basketball.
Pieces have been acquired for the 4.0, starting with a winner from the heart of basketball, Gordon Hayward. Hayward took a no name school to the final second of the NCAA National Championship against the giant of college basketball, Duke. Now as the oldest of the “youngsters”(21) he embarks on his second season in the NBA.
Next is a gift from the basketball god’s 6’10 unbelievably gifted Derrick Favors, who for the first time in 3 years gets to unpack and be established. Consider at 20 we were still two years away from meeting Karl Malone. Favors will do his learning and excelling all as a part of 4.0.
The newest addition is highlighted by an import. A Turkish teenager who was so desperate to play in the NBA he left his homeland and parents at 17 to become a part of the most storied college basketball program in the US, Kentucky. Then that hope was denied by the ruling body of the NCAA. Finally, after 2 years of waiting the 19 year old, Enes Kanter, is dropped into the middle of a man’s game and with endless effort and joy doing everything he can to hold his own.
The final piece is an overlooked kid from Missouri who has proven ever doubter wrong, Alec Burks. While every other Missouri state star was getting recruited Burks while going unnoticed just keep winning all the way to the Missouri State Player of the Year. With one and only one scholarship in hand Burks stayed in Big 12 country with a chip on his shoulder. At the end of his freshman year at Colorado, he was the Big 12 Rookie of the Year, averaging 17 pts and 5 rebs and a Freshman All-American. Two years later he was the #12 pick of the NBA draft again with doubters wondering if he could shot at the NBA level. Each night he has a message for those doubters.
It is these four pieces along with the hard working Al Jefferson, the overachieving Paul Millsap and a cast of others that leads the Jazz into the new era, Utah Jazz 4.0.
4.0 is different than the other eras. We embarked upon 1.0 with ignorance and bliss. 2.0 was our first taste of greatness, one to never be equaled. 3.0 started with a dearth of talent only to bring in hired guns for the 1st time.
Now with a new CEO in charge, Greg Miller, a new coach, Tyrone Corbin and characters younger than we have ever seen before 4.0 gets under way.
On a personal level, it is incredibly exciting to embark on this journey with you. This is our team, Utah’s team. It comes to us in a new era. Where the players are also @Gordonhayward, @alecburks10 and @dfavors14, an era where we know a little more about each of these guys and what they do. We learn more about what makes them tick and what drives them to greatness. We are closer to this group with the advent of new technology then we were in the past era’s.
At the end of this era, we will have met them younger, known them better and learned more about them and probably ourselves than we did in the past. It will be quite a ride. Not always an easy one, but one that will only intensify the relationship between this state and its team.
Utah Jazz 4.0 is here. Let it begin.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
PlanetUSA
