The Downbeat - 8 February 2010 - #161 - The CBA Nightmare Edition
by Basketball John on Feb 8, 2010 9:34 AM MST
in The Downbeat
19 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
6 comments | 0 recs |
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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Getting Ready For the Nuggets/Jazz
by Basketball John on Feb 6, 2010 4:42 PM MST
in Game Previews
13 comments
I talked about the best and worst case scenarios when the Jazz play Denver tonight. They could either just be a game back with a win or find themselves 4 games out with a loss.
Well, there was also some middle ground there as well. The Nuggets beat up on LA last night in LA. Chauncey Billups specifically went off for 39 points including 9/12 from downtown. Of those 9, 7 came from the top of the key or to the right side. I didn't watch the game, but I'm guessing that a lot of those came on picks. Let's hope he's cooled down a bit for tonight.
It wasn't just Billups either. The team overall shot 57% and were 15/22 from downtown. That's going to sink most opponents. JR Smith had 27 and Ty Lawson helped abuse the LA point guards with 13 of his own.
Oh yeah, and Carmelo was out. He'll be out tonight which never hurts.
Of course, both Billups and Melo were out last time the Nuggets visited the ESA and they still won. Lawson ran rampant and has burned the Jazz ever since with 17 points a game. Come on Ty, it's not like we passed on you in draft or something, you don't have to play angry. If we had drafted you, you would be in OKC right now anyway.
Part of the reason for the loss at the ESA earlier this season was the 25 turnovers by the Jazz. Every other stat was equal or in Utah's favor. Those turnovers led 11 more field goal attempts by the Nuggets and when shooting 50%, that was the difference in the game.
That lone loss in the 11-1 run by the Jazz is to the Nuggets in Denver. The Jazz had 20 turnovers in that game that didn't help. The back-breaker in that game was the 49, yes 49, free-throw attempts by the Nuggs. They made 41 of those to the 20 that the Jazz made. Amazingly, we only lost by 7 in that game.
So the key to tonight's win? Limit turnovers. That's it. The offense it clicking and they'll get their points. The Nuggets are an average team defensively but are 2nd in the league on the offensive side over the course of the season. Other than the Cavs and Jazz, only the Nuggets can claim to be playing as well as anyone else in the league lately.
The Nuggets have already taken the season series, so there's no chance for a tiebreaker should the two teams end the season with an identical record. The Jazz aren't just playing for pride though here. Like I mentioned before, this is the last chance for the Jazz to gain on the Nuggets in the standings directly. After tonight they'll have to count on other teams beating the Nuggs for them.
Boozer is back tonight. I don't expect a major disruption here. The Jazz were playing well both before and after he got hurt. He'll get plugged back into the system and away we go.
Deron is back sans beard.
If the Jazz lose tonight, the beard better come back and stay for the rest of the season. I'm wondering if he shaved it to do his got milk? spot that's coming out.
Deron and Boozer have both traditionally had big games against the Nuggets. While AK will always be the X factor, we'll need Memo to be the Y factor in tonight's game. We need to Memo from the last game to show up tonight.
The ESA should be rocking.
- Nuggets vs Jazz coverage
- Denver Stiffs
- Game thread at 7
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The ONLY Kevin Martin + Utah Jazz Post you'll ever need to read before the Trade Deadline
by AllThatJazzBasketball on Feb 6, 2010 2:12 AM MST
32 comments
If anyone knows me, or at least knows the 'internet me', then they know that I like very few things in life. I like teams that play defense. I like fixing problems, instead of remaining stagnant. And I like arguing with David Locke (Utah Radio personality and State Sponsored Media representative -- not unlike the Iraqi Information Minister). After an initial salvo sent his way regarding Kevin Martin (as we all jumped on this when Ross Siler suggested that he's trade-able) I began to re-evaluate the situation.
Essentially, Kevin Martin is a rather young, rather injury prone, scorer who should be better on defense than he is. Does he sound like someone on our team? Yeah, he does sound a bit like our own (love him or hate him) Carlos Boozer. Any potential SAC-UTAH trade that makes progressive sense for the Jazz needs to involve these two guys.
The bottom line is that if a trade does occur with these two being the primary players, the Jazz are better placed to mitigate any loss of Boozer (on offense) with better defense from the people filling in at the 4 (Paul Millsap, Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko). Essentially, this is getting Kevin Martin for the cost of less overt efficiency in the paint on offense and a few more blocks on defense.
If you want to know more about Kevin Martin; the Utah Jazz Offense with him; the Salaries; potential Trades and more . . . click on, brave reader.
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The Downbeat - 5 February 2010 - #160 - The Wolverine Edition
by Basketball John on Feb 5, 2010 9:03 AM MST
in The Downbeat
10 comments
Congratulations to Ronnie Price for entering the UVU Hall of Fame last night. From listening to Randy Rigby on the radio, D-Will, The KOOF, and others traveled down for the ceremony. Here's the video clip,
Video Courtesy of KSL.com
I have to say that even if he was bald, I still don't think his plaque looks like him,
via www.ksl.com
Found this quote on Deron's website,
You have to know when to hold them, know how to control the game, control the clock, know when to push it, know when to walk away, know when to slow it down, know when to run, know when your team needs a basket, know who's hot, and, when you see guys struggling, know when to pick up your own scoring.
With his beard, he could become the gambler.
Kind of weird, I was trying to find Paul Millsap's website. I looked up http://pmillsap.com which is where it was, but doesn't look like anything is there now. So I tried http://paulmillsap.com just to see who owned it.
Oddly enough, it redirects to the law firm that represented Chris Bosh in his cyber-squatting case. It looks like The KOOF and Ronnie Price were also affected. I wonder if they've contacted them about getting the domain back.
Great podcast from TNLP. Their podcast is called the Chronicles of Crotty after John Crotty. Well, for their first anniversary, they bring the man himself on the show and he talks about a few things but also talks about playing behind John Stockton.
Last year we had the Memo 15 which is when Memo scores at least 15 points, the Jazz normally win. Last season the Jazz were 32-11 (.744) when Memo had at least 15. This season they're just 7-5 (.583) when that happens.
A lot has changed of course. He was scoring a lot more last season with all of the injuries. Since he's not going to be scoring as much this season with everyone healthy, let's look at his FG% as a measure. When Memo shoots over 50%, the Jazz are 12-3 (.800). That's a nice number.
If we're going to pass the Memo 15 on to someone else, let's give it to Wesley Matthews. If he scores 15, tthe Jazz are undefeated That's some sweet action.
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High Praise For Deron Williams From TrueHoop
by Basketball John on Feb 4, 2010 10:16 AM MST
11 comments
From Henry Abbott, a Trail Blazer fan, we get this about Deron after talking about last night's game as well as talking about AK, Matthews, and Okur. It's what I've been saying only put much better.
Notice the Jazz player I didn't single out for his stats in the paragraph above. Their one All-Star: Deron Williams.
Early in the game, he used his speed and strength to breeze into the paint again and again, but missed several layup attempts -- several were altered or blocked. He also threw an easy pass out of bounds on a miscommunication with Kirilenko, and missed a 3 near the end of the half. There were just 11 or so minutes left in the fourth quarter before he made his first field goal.
But Williams was brilliant.
He's an all-star point guard, with a track record of scoring in the lane and from long-range. None of the Blazer defenders could stay with him. Last night was an opportunity for him to prove that he's playing the best of any NBA point guard right now.
But he didn't make it about him. Williams had a team working nicely on offense, and he alternated between letting the machine run on its own (look how many assists his teammates had) and nudging it along when it needed help, finishing with 13 assists. At times he retreated almost to half-court, without the ball, to keep his defender from mucking with his teammates' offense. He managed the clock smartly at the end of quarters. And when the Blazers snuck within ten in the closing minutes, he calmly got to his spots and hit shots that are easy for him -- a free-throw line jumper off a screen, a catch-and-shoot 3, and ... when Portland was hanging around within nine with a minute-and-a-half left, he burned up the shot clock down to six seconds before beating Jerryd Bayless (and a helping LaMarcus Aldridge) with the layup that ended things.
A lot of point guards can score. Several can get 13 assists. A few can be All-Stars. But it takes a very special one to know it's OK sometimes to fade into the background and let your teammates do their thing.
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