The Downbeat - 1 February 2010 - #156 - The Viral Edition

by Basketball John on Feb 1, 2010 9:32 AM MST in The Downbeat Comment 12 comments

1_medium Lot's of talk recently about who should be getting more minutes on the court. Given the recent play of Millsap and Sundiata Gaines, the issue of more playing time is going to come up. The question is where do those minutes come from? aka who's going to lose minutes? Tim Buckley asked that to Sloan (HT theshums). His reply,

"Put him in the game a little earlier, I guess, if we're not playing well or struggling," he said. "We'll see what happens."

Sloan was asked about perhaps using the undersized Millsap more at small forward, but the notion was mostly squashed.

"He's probably most comfortable at 4 (power forward) or 5 (center)," he said. "When he's played 3, he's done OK. But we're also jam-packed with that."

Sloan did not, however, shy from the notion of playing longer with a smaller lineup — be it Boozer and Millsap together at 4 and 5, or even Millsap and starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko together as the team's two bigs at times.

He then went on to talk about how competition is a good thing when it comes to Gaines and Ronnie Price. Ronnie P has been in this situation numerous times in his stint with Jazz.

You're not going to be able to promise players a certain amount of minutes. I think what Sloan has done recently is the right approach and that's putting the people that match up well or who are playing the best at the time, on the floor.

2_medium Bad news for the Hornets. Chris Paul is going to be out 1-2 months following knee surgery. They're already just clinging on to the 8th spot in the West right now. Even if Paul comes back with minimal games lost, is he going to be able to do enough down the stretch to keep them in playoffs? Hard to say yes to that with all of the other teams fighting for that spot.

That will likely put Chauncey Billups into the All-star game. Will that give Deron more PT? Probably not too much.

8_medium No word yet on whether Deron's beard is gone or just trimmed up. I imagine we'll hear some tweets from Siler or Lock soon when they report from practice this morning.

4_medium Sounds like Boozer is coming along with his calf injury. From Siler,

Carlos Boozer today at practice on his right calf: "It’s gotten a lot better really fast, so that’s good news."

He's also looking at returning later this week. Does Millsap's play or the true contract year have anything to do with him coming back sooner than later? Who knows? Maybe a bit. I'm leaning towards everything being on the up and up though. He hasn't given me any reason this season to believe otherwise.

5_medium AK was out of practice yesterday with a stomach virus. Is there anyone on the Jazz that hasn't had that yet this season? Fesenko had one. Memo had one. Deron did. The KOOF had one while they were in Europe. I think even the Jazz Bear had one.

Who's your bet for the next stomach virus?

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Agree

I totally agree with number 1. Running Milsap and AK together works great. They both run the floor well, block shots and can hit jumpers. I also like the way Paul handles the ball which should help on the TO’s. I say Paul at 5 AK at 4 Brewer at 3 korver at 2 and DWIll at the point. Korver is an under rated defender and he seems to hustle and sacrifice for the team. Oh Booz has to be healthy heading to the deadline if he wants to move.

by neds on Feb 1, 2010 9:53 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

"Christ" Paul

2) Is that “Christ” Paul something subliminal going on? Perhaps your opinion of what Paul has done for the Hornets? Or what they think of his contribution? Or a reference to how quickly he can rise from his surgery?

by Taivo on Feb 1, 2010 12:42 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

Despite my comments on Paul in the past

That was a complete slip. I can’t even say it was a typo because the S and T keys aren’t really close on the keyboard. I really don’t know where that came from.

SLCDunk.com, The Utah Jazz on SBNation

by Basketball John on Feb 1, 2010 2:05 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Jazz ranked no. 5

In nba.com’s and espn’s rankings. The next 3 games are so huge, I can’t even expand. It’s right there.

by mcjazzman32 on Feb 1, 2010 1:03 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

Does

this mean AK is out tonight against the Mavs? If so, life just got alot harder for the Jazz.. No Booz, No AK. I hope that’s not the case.

For the Love of the Game

by ForTheLove on Feb 1, 2010 1:05 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

Hopefully this team doesn't get as high on themselves as the rest of the league is right now.

1. Ronnie Price shouldn’t be allowed to play the point guard position. Ever. It’s that simple. Gaines should start and Price should come off the bench in a hustle, combo guard type role. As for Millsap, I find it interesting that he and AK have become the only players I have heard Sloan say, “I need to get him more minutes” about. It’s partly because those guys have the biggest influence on whether we win or not. I, along with many fans, were furious when Millsap ended the game in Orlando on the bench, without foul troubles. He deserves to finish almost any game. I don’t care if it is at the expense of Okur or Boozer, but he gives us the better chance of winning. And you are right. The last 15-20 games, Sloan has been amazing at playing the hot and right guys. He deserves lots of credit for that.

2. Chauncey Billups deserves to go. And I think it gets Deron more time in the game. Chauncey isn’t going to beg for minutes. He will enjoy the rest. Same with Nash. I bet D-Will gets the most minutes of any point guard on the team, if he plays well.

8. I’m guessing just a trim.

4. Hopefully he comes back healthy. So fragile.

5. It’s gonna be CJ, cuz that guy eats out everyday it seems.

The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.

by clarkpojo on Feb 1, 2010 1:33 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

1.

Why all the Ronnie Price hate? The kid hussels his ass off everytime he steps on the floor. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think he’s a starting caliber player but he is MORE than good enough to run the offense. Gaines has been in the pros like 3 weeks. Don’t get me wrong he made a great shot against the Cavs but I don’t see anything out of him that’s better than Price outside of the fact he is more willing to shoot. I like Gaines, I think he has potential. I just don’t think we should be jumping on his bandwagon until we see consistent play out of him.

For the Love of the Game

by ForTheLove on Feb 1, 2010 4:50 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

I like Ronnie Price. A lot. But he's not a point guard.

Watch him run the offense sometime. You said he is MORE that good enough to run the offense. What makes him qualified. Pay attention to the next time he is playing point guard. I guarantee he will dribble and then make a pass with about 12 seconds left on the shot clock. Gaines attacks the basket at least. He is in control. Price is pure hustle, but did you see what he did against the Kings? It wasn’t just a bad game. It was really a summation of his non ability to pass the ball in the open floor and run an offense in the half court. With Price at point guard, your 24 second shot clock, just became a 12 second shot clock. Not in a good way.

The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.

by clarkpojo on Feb 2, 2010 12:52 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

I would like to see Price on the floor with more of the starters. Somehow the rotation needs to keep a leader on the floor at all times. the team needs to understand who that leader is and he needs to lead. We get into trouble when Booz DW and AK are all on the bench. Ak is the third leader. he understands Jerry’s game and can run the offense. Boozer is the loudest and most vocal player we have. He thrives when DW is gone because he is the #1 leader on the floor. And we all know Deron is the teams leeader. I think Price plays better when he can play and not try to organize the team at the same time.

by neds on Feb 1, 2010 4:59 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

I agree.

The only time I really see Price struggle is when he feels he has to try and make a play that’s not there. That’s just something you learn with experience and time. He’s getting better. I love watching the kid play. Especially when the player across from him underestimates his hops.

For the Love of the Game

by ForTheLove on Feb 1, 2010 6:33 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

is this the key to stomach viruses (for some)?

“When you have sick kids at home, you know, it’s kind of tough,” Kirilenko said. "We’ve got sick kids at home — so it kind of jumps on you a little bit

i’m guessing for the childless players, “stomach virus” is code for hangover.

and i’m going with memo for the next guy downed by the virus. it seems he gets it more than anyone else.

by moni on Feb 1, 2010 5:21 PM MST reply actions 0 recs