Posts
Emptying the Noggin after the Jazz lost to the Thunder
Emptying the Noggin after the Jazz loss to the Thunder
• Tonight is not the issue. Last night is still the issue. There is no shame is losing to the Thunder in OKC ever moreso when they are rested and you are playing the back end of a back to back to back.
• Every issue that is confronting the Jazz came with them to Oklahoma City and none were solved or new ones emerged.
• I mentioned this after the last game between these two teams but there is an enormous between these teams, if you re-drafted these two teams maybe one Jazz players would go in the top 5 and maybe 2 in the top 8 or 9.
• In regards to the effort issue – a few things. I would agree that some of our guys seem to be in a funny place. However, when you are not as good as your opponent at some point it is natural for effort to wane. Moreover, in the locker-room after the game no player is ever going to say they are just better than we are so they all talk about effort. Regardless, if it is true.
• Tonight the Jazz missed a bunch of early shots that you didn’t mind them taking and that spiraled the game the wrong direction.
• Ibaka deserves a lot of credit for that as the Jazz were very aware of where he was and how he was affecting the game.
• Now to the issues confronting this team.
• Devin Harris is a shadow of the player he has been at time in his career. The worst case scenario is that he is physically zapped or that he has just cashed in. I am not sure what has happened. I had a long conversation with Scott Brooks today that I will share with you tomorrow about what this game is like for a point guard today and he talked about the 60 to 70 picks a game you get run off as a point guard and it made me wonder if the game has changed on Devin and he is just too small to handle it physically. He is outsized every night. He used to go to basket and draw fouls and he doesn’t do that any longer, he used to draw charges and he doesn’t do that anymore and the only answer I can come up with is that he physically pounded and can’t handle the beating. The other idea would be that his game was based on speed and somewhere along the line he lost the step and has regressed to the mean. We are asking him to do things that he is not great at. He is not a spot up shooter, he is a transition player and a pick and roll player. We have not been a transition team, Al doesn’t run the floor and we don’t have great pick and roll players. It is a tough match for Devin, but even with that he is playing less well than anyone could have anticipated.
• What has happened to Paul Millsap? The concern last year was that he wore down as the year went on. Defensively, he really struggled throughout the year. Is he hurt, disengaged or just become the focus of the opponents defense. The match with Jefferson in the front court is hard for Paul. He doesn’t get an action off of Al and Paul is a great cutter, arguably one of the best big cutters in the NBA. The pressure of trying to move into the elite of the NBA could be wearing on his as well. Whatever it is, the team’s hardest worker looks worn out and at times has looked disengaged. Very strange. My feeling on Paul has always been that he can be bothered by things, he is real just like us, but when the bell rings he always does the right thing. That is the essence of who he is and that will not change.
• I have no answer for the wing players. CJ and Josh are not breaking out of their slumps and they are moving beyond slumps. The teams needs so sort of push from these guys. However, neither have been efficient offensive players in their career so it might be unfair to ask that from them at this point.
• We can’t win games when Al Jefferson uses 19 shots to get 15 points. When you highest possession user is below the league average the level the rest of the guys have to perform at is really high to make up for those possessions and to get the team to above the league average.
• Gordon Hayward is the one player who played both the last two nights and he might have been gassed. Nonetheless, that was not a good night for him, though his defense on Durant was respectable.
• Favors is getting better. The improved free throw shooting is really terrific.
• Kanter is a beast but he is still not used to playing against players bigger than him on the offensive end.
• Who is the Jazz best player? How many teams does he start on?
Emptying the Noggin after the Jazz loss to the Thunder
• Tonight is not the issue. Last night is still the issue. There is no shame is losing to the Thunder in OKC ever moreso when they are rested and you are playing the back end of a back to back to back.
• Every issue that is confronting the Jazz came with them to Oklahoma City and none were solved or new ones emerged.
• I mentioned this after the last game between these two teams but there is an enormous between these teams, if you re-drafted these two teams maybe one Jazz players would go in the top 5 and maybe 2 in the top 8 or 9.
• In regards to the effort issue – a few things. I would agree that some of our guys seem to be in a funny place. However, when you are not as good as your opponent at some point it is natural for effort to wane. Moreover, in the locker-room after the game no player is ever going to say they are just better than we are so they all talk about effort. Regardless, if it is true.
• Tonight the Jazz missed a bunch of early shots that you didn’t mind them taking and that spiraled the game the wrong direction.
• Ibaka deserves a lot of credit for that as the Jazz were very aware of where he was and how he was affecting the game.
• Now to the issues confronting this team.
• Devin Harris is a shadow of the player he has been at time in his career. The worst case scenario is that he is physically zapped or that he has just cashed in. I am not sure what has happened. I had a long conversation with Scott Brooks today that I will share with you tomorrow about what this game is like for a point guard today and he talked about the 60 to 70 picks a game you get run off as a point guard and it made me wonder if the game has changed on Devin and he is just too small to handle it physically. He is outsized every night. He used to go to basket and draw fouls and he doesn’t do that any longer, he used to draw charges and he doesn’t do that anymore and the only answer I can come up with is that he physically pounded and can’t handle the beating. The other idea would be that his game was based on speed and somewhere along the line he lost the step and has regressed to the mean. We are asking him to do things that he is not great at. He is not a spot up shooter, he is a transition player and a pick and roll player. We have not been a transition team, Al doesn’t run the floor and we don’t have great pick and roll players. It is a tough match for Devin, but even with that he is playing less well than anyone could have anticipated.
• What has happened to Paul Millsap? The concern last year was that he wore down as the year went on. Defensively, he really struggled throughout the year. Is he hurt, disengaged or just become the focus of the opponents defense. The match with Jefferson in the front court is hard for Paul. He doesn’t get an action off of Al and Paul is a great cutter, arguably one of the best big cutters in the NBA. The pressure of trying to move into the elite of the NBA could be wearing on his as well. Whatever it is, the team’s hardest worker looks worn out and at times has looked disengaged. Very strange. My feeling on Paul has always been that he can be bothered by things, he is real just like us, but when the bell rings he always does the right thing. That is the essence of who he is and that will not change.
• I have no answer for the wing players. CJ and Josh are not breaking out of their slumps and they are moving beyond slumps. The teams needs so sort of push from these guys. However, neither have been efficient offensive players in their career so it might be unfair to ask that from them at this point.
• We can’t win games when Al Jefferson uses 19 shots to get 15 points. When you highest possession user is below the league average the level the rest of the guys have to perform at is really high to make up for those possessions and to get the team to above the league average.
• Gordon Hayward is the one player who played both the last two nights and he might have been gassed. Nonetheless, that was not a good night for him, though his defense on Durant was respectable.
• Favors is getting better. The improved free throw shooting is really terrific.
• Kanter is a beast but he is still not used to playing against players bigger than him on the offensive end.
• Who is the Jazz best player? How many teams does he start on?
No comments:
Post a Comment