The Downbeat - 9 February 2010 - #162 - The Snub Edition
by Basketball John on Feb 9, 2010 8:22 AM MST
in The Downbeat
7 comments
I found a sneak peek of Deron's got milk? campaign,
The real one should be coming out soon. It looks like Billups and Paul already has theirs posted.
I would like to hear Stern's rationale for picking Chris Kaman for the All-star game. First of all, Kaman doesn't deserve any flak. He's had a good season and he doesn't have any control over who gets picked. So you can't blame him. Obviously, he's not going to turn it down.
But whether it was Boozer, Tyreke Evans, Andruw Bynum, or Marc Gasol, there are probably some more deserving players.
Maybe Boozer still gets in as it looks like Kobe might sit through the All-star break.
If you missed the Hot Rod half-time festivities, The Utah Jazz Blog has them up on his site.
Some info on the person waving the Turkish flag at the Portland game for Memo from the person himself,
Muzaffer Pekmezci | 8:30 a.m. Feb. 4, 2010
I was the person who waved Turkish flag throughout the game to support Mehmet Okur yesterday. I just came to Salt Lake City from Istanbul, Turkey to watch him. (app.20 hours by plane from Istanbul via Chicago) and I think it worthed to travel this long trip.
Mehmet was excellent. Should I come to SLC for every game?Congragulations Mehmet and Utah Jazz!
I didn't see any of you flying to Turkey to go see Dee Brown play! If that flag waving is what it takes to get Memo to play the way he did, then the Jazz need to hire this guy.
Come on moni, you're next.
Thanks to the boys at the Cowhide Globe for finding or uploading the video of Matt interviewing Deron. Honestly, I don't know if I've seen this level of candor before from Deron. He's joked with reporters and such in the past but for the first time I've seen him in a situation like this, he doesn't look annoyed. He's pretty open about things too.
I imagine if this interview had taken place a month ago it might be a bit different.
Deron Williams interviewed by Matt Harpring (via memoismoney)
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Jazzmen Back Stories, Part 3
by moni on Feb 9, 2010 1:42 AM MST
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Part 2: AK, Boozer, Memo, Ronnie P
KORVER The Korvers are regarded as Iowa's first family of basketball. Kyle's parents, Kevin and Laine, met while playing basketball for Central College in Pella. Laine, a high school star, once scored 74 points in a 6-on-6 high school game. Kyle's grandfather, father, and two uncles are all ministers, and Kevin attended seminary in California. 12-year old Kyle wasn't exactly a happy camper when his parents decided to move the family, which also includes Klayton (played at Drake), Kaleb (plays at Creighton), and Kirk (plays in high school) back to Iowa, and he asked if he could move in with friends and stay in Cali. Obviously, his parents said no and a very emo Kyle had to accept the decision. He was angry and depressed when it snowed on his first day of school in Iowa, as he had worn shorts all his life.
In Pella, Kevin took over the ministry at Third Reformed Church, which draws 25% of the town's population on the average Sunday. The congregation has grown so large that it holds nine services a week, including five on Sundays. His first coach in Pella was his uncle, who taught him basketball fundamentals (apparently, Kyle only knew how to throw up scoop shots and behind-the-back passes back then).
He made varsity his sophomore year, and the assistant coach realized Kyle had something special when he saw him shooting left-handed and looking better than the other players did shooting right-handed. After he took part in a national AAU tournament, he was suddenly on the radar and college coaches began calling like girls in Utah would if they had KK's phone number.
Kyle eventually committed to Creighton, where he earned two conference Player of the Year awards and two conference MVP awards. The Nets drafted him 51st overall in 2003 and then traded his rights to the 76ers.
The Korvers have a saying: "Christianity should be caught, not taught," which means that it's not about telling people what to do, you have to show it. According to reports, Kyle gives one-third of his income to church and charity, and he subsisted on Subway sandwiches his first two years in the NBA to save money. During his years in Philly, he started setting up a ministry, worked with inner-city kids for three years (invited them to swim at his house, took them to Phillies games and hosted barbecues), had an annual coat drive (which he has since brought to SLC), participated in Basketball Without Borders, etc. etc. He and his brother also recently set up a T-shirt company to raise money for projects to help underprivileged kids.
In December 2007, the Jazz, who were struggling badly that month with a 4-11 record, traded Sloan Doghouse Resident Gordan Giricek to Philly for KK. The Jazz's season immediately turned around, going 38-12 the rest of the season, and ESA was suddenly filled with women of all ages in pink glitter #26 jerseys and "Will You Marry Me?" signs. According to KOC, he'd been trying to trade for Korver even before Giricek entered the doghouse.
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Jazzmen Back Stories, Part 2
by moni on Feb 9, 2010 1:35 AM MST
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Part 3: KK, Ronnie B, CJ, Yatta, Fes
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Jazzmen Back Stories, Part 1
by moni on Feb 9, 2010 1:29 AM MST
1 comment
Part 3: KK, Ronnie B, CJ, Yatta, Fes
Starting Side Note: Long-time Jazz fans are familiar with the stories of how Karl Malone's mom worked two jobs, bought his first $.75 basketball on an installment plan, and held out her arms in a hoop for him to practice his shooting, and how Jerry Sloan grew up on a small farm in the country of Florin in Illinois as the youngest of ten being raised by a single mom. Interesting how a good number of the current Jazzmen were also raised by single moms who worked two or three jobs to support their families.
MILLSAP Sap's parents, John and Bettye, had a rocky, abusive relationship, and split up when Paul was 14. Bettye decided to move the four boys--John, Paul, Elijah, and Abraham--back to Louisiana to be closer to her family (which included nine younger siblings). She worked three jobs to support her family, and started every morning with the boys in prayer. The family went to church twice a week, and the boys sang in the choir. Meanwhile, she was worrying about their education, and locked in on sports as a way to get her kids to and through college. She enlisted the help of her youngest brother, DeAngelo (aka Agentuncle), to teach the boys how to play basketball.
DeAngelo set a rigorous training schedule for the boys, and it was Paul that showed the least promise. He'd played quarterback in junior high, and preferred football to basketball. DeAngelo was of the opinion that Paul was clumsy, lazy, and unathletic, and his brothers were constantly making fun of him.
Paul began playing the first organized basketball of his life his sophomore year in high school, and his career took off almost immediately. He was named Mr. Basketball Louisiana his junior year, and averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks per game in his undefeated senior year.
Despite interest from a good number of schools, Paul decided to stay close to home and attend Louisiana Tech, where another uncle was assistant coach. He went on to become the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in rebounding three consecutive years and was named to several all-conference teams. Then, one day, a former Bulldog by the name of Karl Malone told Kevin O'Connor to keep an eye on Paul Millsap, and the rest is history.
According to Abe, their mom expects all four of them to make it in the NBA.
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The Downbeat - 8 February 2010 - #161 - The CBA Nightmare Edition
by Basketball John on Feb 8, 2010 9:34 AM MST
in The Downbeat
21 comments
In negotiating, you expect lopsided requests when you start. For the involved parties, you start out asking for the moon and hope to meet somewhere in the middle with each side hoping the middle ends up being a little above their actual price.
But what if instead of asking for the moon, one party goes for Alpha Centauri? That's what the NBA owners have done in their first offer for the new collective bargaining agreement that would start after the 2011 season. Here's some of the things that are reportedly in their offer,
- Cutting the percentage of player revenue
- Less guaranteed money
- Hard salary cap
- The new CBA would require existing deals to be re-worked to fit within the new guidelines. That means that everyone getting huge deals this summer would have to take huge pay cuts. Would teams have to get rid of players if it couldn't re-work deals?
- No more MLE
Sources, 1, 2
I haven't read anything where the league is willing to offer other things to help offset these changes. It seems like the biggest thing they're after is less guaranteed money. They don't want any of the repercussions of signing someone like Curry or Marbury to huge deals and then get killed for the last 2-3 years of the deal when the player is no longer worth it.
Basically they want to be able to make big deals without the repercussions of such a risk.
The owners just might get what they want.
Yeah for the NBA!
Adrian Wojnarowski had the best quote on the deal, "Yes, the NBA delivered its players an initial proposal and it sure did look like a big finger flicked in the union’s face."
Trying to link the Jazz to the Saints win last night is a big stretch considering that the Jazz haven't been relevant in New Orleans for 3 decades, but it was great to see a city that hasn't won a championship finally get one.
Don't kill me RSL fans, I know we have a championship in Salt Lake now. Maybe I should revise that and say that it's good to see a franchise get its first title. Kind of gives me hope for our team some day.
I was looking up some win shares information on this year and a couple of numbers stood out to me. First, Carlos Boozer still leads the team, and by a wide margin, in defensive win shares. I hearken back to when I ripped Boozer for his D after the loss to the Celtics. He has been playing really well and his slap steal against the Nuggets was Malone-esque. He's been aggressive on both ends of the court and has been physical. We just haven't seen that from him. If something has finally turned on in his head, that's amazing. If that something is playing for a contract, then I'm pissed because he should have been doing this all along. We benefit now, but where was this before?
Second, behind Deron in offensive win shares is Boozer. That's not a surprise of course. The surprise is that Andrei Kirilenko is tied with Boozer at 2.7 for offensive win shares. Another sign that AK is playing out of his mind. His PER is also the highest its been since the 2006 season.
Sloan's control over personnel decisions might be less that you think. Here's a snip from Tim Buckley's column,
And that is that he would not stand in the way of whatever ownership and management decide, even if it were to mean moving Boozer or another key component — starting shooting guard Ronnie Brewer has been mentioned in recent trade talk too — just to get under the luxury line.
"If they have a decision to make, a front-office decision, we'll play whoever's here," he said Saturday. "That's our job in coaching. I don't try to tell people what to do with their money, or anything else. I never have.
I think you have to trust Sloan when he says this. Sloan is one of the most straight-forward people ever so he's not going to say something like this without it being true.
However, I still think he has a big say in who the Jazz draft/sign/trade. He may not go to the FO with requests but I'm sure they talk to him about every move and his thoughts probably have a lot of weight.
Monday poll,
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Highlights Of the Nuggets/Jazz - Plus, The Boozer Face
by Basketball John on Feb 6, 2010 11:42 PM MST
6 comments
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Andrei Kirilenko Will Save Us All, At Least The Jazz - Utah Beats Denver, 116-106
by Basketball John on Feb 6, 2010 11:16 PM MST
in Game Recaps
10 comments
I think we dodged a bullet there. I'm not taking anything away from the Nuggets, but they were without Carmelo and Billups tonight. The Jazz should have beat them pretty good tonight, especially being at home at playing the way they have been playing.
The Nuggets got into the lane all night and that has to concern you a bit. Whether it was Ty Lawson, the latest Jazz killer, Anthony Freakin' Carter, or Kenyon Martin, Denver was able to drive pretty easily. When the Jazz built their lead to 18, there were a number of factors that led to it. One of them was that they were cutting off the penetration and helping on picks. But after the first quarter, they couldn't stop them.
The other key factor in building an 18-point lead early was the Jazz getting layups, passing well, and taking shots in offensive rhythym. The Nuggets started their comeback early in the third. The Jazz got up 79-61 and as Boozer put it in his post-game interview, they got "jump-shot happy." That led to some fast break points on the other end. They closed to within 3 early in the fourth and put all of the fans into a panic.
Enter AK. As he's done pretty much all season and especially over this winning streak, he made a couple of plays to change the game and save the Jazz. After a Matthews' layup pushed the Jazz lead out to 5, 95-90, Andrei poked the ball out of Malik Allen's hands, cut behind him, and then raced up the court with a feed from Matthews for the two-handed dunk. On the next offensive possession, the Jazz were still up just 5 when a CJ three was off the mark. It was AK to the rescue again as he tipped the ball back up and in.
The clincher came with about 5 minutes to go in the game when AK blocked JR Smith's drive. After the block, the ball went to Millsap who found a streaking AK running up the right side. Andrei passed to Deron in the middle for a two-handed pump jam. That put the Jazz up 12 and that was pretty much it.
Deron summed it up best about AK, "He's getting steals at crucial times in the game, blocking shots, he's playing like an all-star."
The Jazz held the Nuggets to just 6 FGs in the fourth quarter and just 4 after the Carter dunk that got Denver to within 3. Utah was able to pull away by making the Nuggets take jumpers in that fourth quarter. From that Carter dunk at the 11:18 mark, Denver didn't make a FG for about 5 1/2 minutes. We finally started getting some boards off of those long jumpers and convert on the other end. Check out the Nuggets' possessions after that Carter shot,
Missed 3
Turnover
2 FTs
Missed 3
Missed 14-footer
Missed 9-footer
Offensive foul (TO)
1-2 FTs
Turnover
Turnover
Missed 19-footer
Missed 3
Layup
Blocked by AK
Missed 18-footer
2 FTs
Layup after missed layup
2 FT
JR Smith blocked by Deron
Made 3-pointer
Turnover
Missed 3 followed by missed jumper
Missed 3
Made running jumper
There's a lot of missed jumpers in there. Denver did have four offensive boards in there or the final score might have been a little lower for the Nuggs.
A win is a win is a win though. They'll take it.
Ty Lawson continues to stick it to the Jazz. He did again tonight with 25 point and getting 11 trips to the line. He and Flynn from Minnesota give Deron fits. They're very quick and low to the ground. Hope we don't see Denver come playoff time.
For the actual numbers for tonight, Deron and AK both had 22. Andrei filled up the box again with 4 boards, 3 assists, and 5 steals. Freakin' AK. DWill had 9 assists out of the team's 27.
Boozer picked up right where he left off with another 19 & 13 including a nice block in the first. Millsap came in and played quite a bit with Boozer because of foul trouble with Memo early. The heir-apparent had 16 & 6 of his own in just 26 minutes.
Something has to be said about Millsap and foul calls. He's actually fouling at the lowest rate of his career this season. But there are are 2-3 instances a game where he gets called for a BS foul on D and then gets hacked in the head, face, or on his arms and doesn't get a call. If you're not a Jazz fan, you may think that I'm just being a homer on this one. But it's absolutely true and remarkable how little love he gets from the refs. I'm just looking for consistency at this point. It's to the extremes on both ends and I seriously don't know how he hasn't snapped at a ref; probably because he was raised better than that. He needs to set up a punching bag in his basement and paint Dick Bavetta's face on it. Or David Stern.
Finally, what's up with the DNP-CD for Korver again? On a night where Matthews and CJ are struggling, we don't see any PT for Korver? I don't know if I've actually seen this before, but is there a trade in the works? Do they not want to risk him getting hurt? Sloan has had the right people on the floor lately so I'll give him a pass for now on this, but it's truly weird that in a game like this we didn't see KK.
My play of the night wasn't the AK to Deron dunk. It wasn't the Ronnie Price follow-up jam. It was in the third following a flagrant foul by Joey Graham on Ronnie B. Ronnie was going up for the dunk/layup and Graham didn't make a play on the ball and pushed Brewer in the chest causing him to fall on his back. After Ronnie made just 1 of 2, the Jazz ran a play where Deron set a pick on Graham and put a forearm/elbow into his back and put him on the ground. Deron walked the other way as soon as the whistle blew. It was a payback foul. Great to see teammates stick up for each other like that. If Graham hadn't just fouled AK hard as well 2 minutes earlier, maybe we don't see that.
I love that this team seems to be coming together and has everyone's backs. We simply havent' seen this in year's past for whatever reason. They're huddling up and enjoying each other's successes. Another example is when AK had his legs taken out after a three-point attempt and no call was made. Boozer was over there to check on him and see how he was. It's little things like that that have changed this team.
So, two games back and two games left before the break. Not too bad after the start we had.
- Denver Stiffs
- Chris Andersen,
On whether it’s tough to play the Jazz with their physical style of play
"Yeah, I mean, they’re a physical team, and after battling with L.A. last night, we definitely had to come in and play these guys – especially in their arena. I mean, their fans, you’ve got to give them credit too. They really know how to talk trash. But I mean, we just couldn’t let that affect us. We tried to go out there, and we tried to make a comeback at the end, and it was just a little too late."
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Game Thread - Denver Nuggets @ Utah Jazz
by Basketball John on Feb 6, 2010 7:00 PM MST
in Game Threads
388 comments
- Denver Stiffs
- Siler said that Billups it out tonight. Man, there are no excuses for not getting a win tonight.
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