Not another mid-season report card.
by Basketball John on Jan 26, 2009 1:02 PM MST
6 comments
Can you believe the season is half way over? I won't give you another mid-season report card type story. There are plenty of those already. This year has been different anyway because the number of injuries we've had it really unprecedented with one team, especially for the Jazz.
Think back to your college days (which some are living right now), if you missed as many school days due to medical issues as the Jazz players have, you'd be applying for an incomplete in all of your classes. That would be my overall grade so far, incomplete.
So I thought I'd do something a bit different. In either my high school english class or in a college course, we had an assignment to write an article newspaper style. That was back in the day when newspapers' existences hadn't been threatened by the Internet.
The only thing that I remember from that was to write your article with all of the important stuff first because it was likely that your article would get chopped to save space in the paper. So you wanted your best stuff up front and trivial details at the end that didn't matter as much. Newspapers still have word limits but online it doesn't matter. That's why blogs like Siler's are good because there's a ton of information that you would never have been able to read in the paper.
Where I'm going with this is that I'm going to apply the same principle to the current Jazz roster. If you were an editor (GM) and had to start chopping off players, who would be the first ones to go?
We all know the players that are at the top and bottom of this list. The interesting thing will be to see when the axe falls for everyone inbetween.
There aren't really any rules set in stone that I'll go by. But I'll take into account things such as stats, salaries, chemistry, team need, and whatever else I come up with. For the sake of this column, we'll assume that everyone in the league has 15 players on their roster and that they're having to make the same cuts.
If rosters were suddenly cut to 7, who would you want? If rosters were 5, who would you want? And so on. 3. We'll also assume that everyone's healthy.
I'll also start running polls to see who you all think should be the first cut, the second, and so on.
So, let's start with the first 5 that get cut...
15 - Jarron Collins
No shocker here. You can't have good players 1-15. His one role seems to be just being a body Sloan can put out on the floor against a big man. I'm not sure if he's expected to do more than to just follow his guy around. He knows the Jazz system, he's cheap, and he's a good chaperone. And now that it appears that Fess & Koufos have jumped him in the depth chart, we're not losing anything here. Great guy but it will be interesting to see if he's on an NBA roster next year. Oh, and his +/- this year is -17.8.
14 - Morris Almond
This isn't because I don't think he's a good player. He just isn't going to fit in with the Jazz for whatever reason. He's had a few shots this year because of injuries and has failed to impress. He's shooting just 39% from the field and a woeful 25% from the arc. He's lit it up with the Flash in the D-League. They run the same offensive system in Orem that they do in the SLC, so I don't know why his game hasn't translated better to the NBA. No one expected him to put up 50+, but maybe the talent just isn't there. Not having his option picked up by the Jazz could have been a bit of a morale killer as well. He's not going to be back next year and could be moved at the deadline should the Jazz make a deal.
13 - Matt Harpring
His good play this month almost made me question putting him here. There are times when he makes some plays that get me to say, "Okay, no matter how bad he plays from here on out, I'll bite my tongue." And then he goes on to do something so poorly, I reneg on anything good that I've ever said about him. His defensive play is offensive. He'll hit jumpers from his two sweet spots and make a few more layups that he misses. In Sloan's system though if you're tough, then you'll be on the floor. No one questions Matt's work ethic or ability to bang in the post, I just question his knees and the rest of his body. They're not going to get any better. It's too bad he never took up football in his life because that would really suit his style. He becomes Matt Hapring's expiring contract starting in July.
12 - Brevin Knight
We knew he couldn't shoot. We knew we were getting a veteran backup that wouldn't turn the ball over. He had a decent November splitting time with Ronnie P while Deron was out. He shot 45% and 4.5 assists per game. He should now be banned from shooting ever again. He still has a 3:1 turnover ratio, but the past two months have seen him torch the nets for 24% shooting. I'd feel more comfortable with Fess jacking shots up from 30 feet. Knight will play out the rest of the year as Deron's backup and then ride off into the sunset. And as long as he doesn't even look at the hoop, I'm fine with that.
11 - Kyrylo Fesenko
It's hard not to love the guy. His recent play in the D-League and his play since he's got called back up has been encouraging. He still looks raw in a lot of ways though. Although he's improved since last year, I think Kosta Koufos has leapfrogged him. But check out Fesenko's per 36 this year, 12 PPG, 4.1 blocks, 66% FGP, & 10 rebounds. Plus, his turnovers and fouls are down. I'd like to see a little bit more of a sample size, but that's what I call progress. He's poised to make big leap for next year's list.
Up next, #10-#6. This was probably the hardest section.
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Tough Call with Harpring
If we’re talking about this year only (like a report card) with no considerations of contracts or future worth or long-term prospects, I keep Harpring well ahead of Almond, Collins, Fesenko, Ronnie Price, etc.
Harpring is the only guy on our team this year that has been willing to play physical, and this is precisely what this team is missing. Yes, he is a liability on offense at times (although I haven’t seen Miles, or even Korver for that matter, hit those jumpers of the curl with near the consistency that Harpring has been hitting them), and yes when guys face him up on the perimeter he gets burned, a lot. But Harpring brings the smarts and the determination that nobody else on the Jazz has this year—-not even DWill. Time and time again he comes in when the Jazz are getting spanked and decides to spank back—and sometimes he just does enough to throw the other team off their high horse so that the Jazz can go on a run.
One thing I liked about Sloan teams of old was that they had swagger…as Garnett said, “they keep their mouths shut and kick your @#$”. When things were going bad for the team the didn’t get sad, they got bad, and got even. This year they just hang their heads like schoolchildren. Harpring is the exception to that, and until some of the kids on the team grow up and learn how to fight for wins, we’ll need his experience and swagger out there in the trenches.
I kind of feel bad about Harpring
He gives 110% whenever he’s on the court and you can tell that he wants to keep going and contribute, but his body has just been too worn down by all of his injuries so he can’t really play like he used to. Still though, he’s able to fill the “Tonya Harding” attack dog kind of niche, which like you said is valuable in bringing that kind of mental toughness to this team.
Fesenko
if last night showed us the type of game he can have, I’d love to see him around.
Him & The Koof could solidify the front court for us (Fesenko needs to work on his inside game though), and we could use a Okur/’Sap combo at the 4.
In fact, if based on this season… Fesenko might even stick (for potential, if nothing else) over Korver (sorry Danielle). I know Korver is a FT shooter and deadly from downtown (until this season), but if it’s a combination of potential & what have you done for me lately?, Fesenko gets the nod. He needs more time, yes… but we’ve seen flashes of what he can do given time.
And CJ & Price are also questionable right now… sadly, I might have to agree on Harpring… I think he is, if nothing else, even with CJ & Price.
By the way, my vote was for Flop. We don’t need 4 centers. It’s that simple.
I agree about Fesenko, he really seems to have the kind of game that could make him a valuable part of this team for a while, I just wonder where his minutes will come from in the future.
With the injuries so far, and now potentially surgery for AK
I’d consider starting a quintet of Deron, Brewer, CJ, ’Sap/Okur and Koufos/Fesenko (with one of Okur & ’Sap hopefully agreeing to come off of the bench to give some sort of life back to our bench).
Then the others of ’Sap/Okur & Fesenko/Koufos, along with Almond, Korver, Price & Harpring would be the lead guys off of the bench.
Part of it is to give some life back to the totally depleted bench (no AK, no ‘Sap… killing them). And part because we need to see what we have. This really doesn’t seem to be our year, unfortunately. Maybe it’s time to see what else we have on the roster.
My countdown of 15...
15- Flop. Again, the 4th center. We don’t need that many.
14- Almond. Doesn’t fit into the J-Slow system. Unfortunate, because he’s got potential.
13- Price. He was solid last year, but the team tried to make him a solid PG this year. Oops.
12- Knight. Veteran leadership is nice, but the jump-shot (or lack thereof, as of late) hurts.
11- Korver. I don’t know why, but it’s just not clicking for him this year.
10- Harding. Love the effort, hate the game. Kills us defensively, and can’t stay with his guy.
9- CJ. He can shoot at times. Sadly, that’s about all he provides.
8- Fesenko. Yeah, I’m serious. Potential, and the ability to be the back-up big we need.
7- The Koof. He’s been solid this year, and a Fes/Koof combo would be fun to watch.
6- Brewer. Just imagine if he had a jumper…
5- Booze. Him & Okur’s spots might be interchangeable, he’s lower now because of injury.
4- Okur. We really need him to show up, as the latest games have proven. ]
3- AK. If he does need of surgery, we’re going to miss him big time. Even if he’s overpaid.
2- ’Sap. Has really stepped up with Booze. Sadly, no one else has joined him.
1- Deron. The PG is the star of the Jazz (Stockton, Maravich, etc.)… and this guy is next.
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