The Downbeat - 22 October 2009 - #84 - The Best Year Ever? Edition

by Basketball John on Oct 22, 2009 9:45 AM MDT in The Downbeat

1_medium The "expert" predictions came out on ESPN yesterday where on average they have the Jazz finishing 3rd in the division and 6th in the conference.

And most other places have them finishing right around the same spot with about 48 wins give or take a couple.

They won 54 and 51 games before last season with the same team. Is there any question that injuries caused the dip last season? With this exact team they should win right around 52. If they can manage to win on the road, a big if to be sure, they could go for 55 or 56.

With Millsap's contract settled, I don't see the locker room distractions this year. So far this pre-season, Boozer has done nothing but show that he's heading for a big year.

I'm not saying the Jazz are going to be an elite team this season, but surely they're better than 48 games.

2_medium Jarron Collins is set to become a Phoenix Sun. If that happens, Deron will get several more chances this season to see if he can dunk on Collins.

Ostertag lives down in PHX and reportedly wants to play again. The only problem with that is that he doesn't have an older brother that plays on another team in the NBA so the Suns weren't interested.

8_medium I tweeted about this the other day, and I'm not trying to sell anything, but I love NBA tv. Already, I've seen the Jazz season preview and special about the Jazz in Europe. I don't think I can get them on YouTube because they're too long, but I'll see if I can't record them and do something to get them out to people.

4_medium I'm starting up the t-shirts again. I'll have the classic 8>3 and some others. I think I made a total of $10 last season. I might start pimping those more this season so that I can generate a enough to make a significant donation to Deron's or Kyle's charity. It might take until next season's gold tourney but I'll be sponsoring my own posts with those. I'll get the first one up by next week hopefully.

5_medium Who's going to lead the team in 3P% this season? Memo was far and away the best shooter last season. But Deron's three has been falling. Korver should be better than his mid 30s percentage last season. Though the wrist thing still bothers me.

I think I'll start a contest for season predictions and the winner will get a t-shirt of their choice from SLCDunk. I'll get a post up on that.

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Harris and Dupree are gone..

And Matthews needs to hire a hit-man to stay on??

O’Connor also said the Jazz are still unsure whether or not they will retain rookie swingman Wesley Matthews for the regular season. That decision, O’Connor said, depends on Utah’s injury situation. Matthews is now the only player on the team who does not have a guaranteed contract, though that would become guaranteed after Jan. 10 if the Jazz keep him.

by MelMan2002 on Oct 22, 2009 3:16 PM MDT reply actions

what about udoka?

Ime Udoka is available and apparrently his agent has been talking to the jazz, i think he would be a better pickup than matthews. sign matthews anyways though and waive him by 1/10 if it turns out we dont need him

by rootsrocka on Oct 22, 2009 8:58 PM MDT reply actions