The Downbeat - 10 February 2010 - #163 - The 210 210 Edition
by Basketball John on Feb 10, 2010 9:45 AM MST
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A great look into the reasons for the home-court advantage of the Jazz,
But for both the Jazz and Nuggets, there is a more specific, environmental factor that helps reinforce their home court advantage: altitude. The Jazz play in Salt Lake City, which sits at an elevation of 4262 feet. The Nuggets play in Denver, the Mile High City, which lies at an elevation of 5279 feet. The Nuggets and Jazz have the advantage of training and playing at altitude for41 home games and countless practices. For the un-acclimated, exertion at altitude can cause an array of physical problems that lead to poor physical performance. In addition, it can prevent athletes from sleeping properly the night before a game, exacerbating the third general factor that influences home court advantage (travel and sleep). EJ was right about Utah’s home court advantage but it’s not unique to only the Jazz. It is the Rocky Mountain home court advantage and applies to Denver as well.
There's a lot more to the article, so click through for the rest.
Seems like Fess is well on his way to Sloan's doghouse after last night's placing on the inactive list. Doesn't look good according to Siler,
Thank goodness for picking up a copy of the inactive list before the game. It’s not something that changes regularly on a team with 13 healthy players and we didn’t expect it to Tuesday. You can only imagine the surprise at seeing Kyrylo Fesenko’s name not being circled. We thought it was a mistake at first.
--Instead, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan decided to dress Kosta Koufos over Fesenko. Sloan said afterward that Fesenko has had issues with lateness this season and expressed his frustration with Fesenko’s work ethic. The marriage between the no-nonsense Sloan and the happy-go-lucky Fesenko continues to be an interesting one to watch.
Say what you want about Sloan's doghouse. Some have been there perhaps unfairly and some rightly so. Either way, after playing for Sloan for a few years now, you have to know how what pushes his buttons by now. If you're late and don't show work ethic, first, you're not going to play much. Second, it's very hard to get out of the doghouse. I can't think of many, if any, that get out once they're in.
Fess is going to have to work harder to get out than he would have just doing what he should be doing.
T-Mac to the Knicks? I thought they fired Isiah Thomas. Kidding aside, McGrady is in the last year of his deal so it's a big money saver as they try to get under the cap for the off-season. Actually, I'm not sure what it does for them because they'd be trading Harrington under that deal and he has an expiring deal as well. Maybe a cap specialist can explain that?
The downside of that trade is that it looks to be a three-way involving the Wizards. They would send Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood to the Rockets. That would be a good pickup for them.
As far as McGrady on the Knicks, in their heyday with Thomas, this would be comical. Now, it might actually give them a few more wins which as you know is bad for us. But TMac could sink them further as well as he jacks up 15 threes a game.
We've talked about it a bit already, but Tyrus Thomas is in the clearance bin right now. I don't think it would take much to get him but I think other teams can offer a little bit more than what we can right now. Chicago is looking to clear out as much cap space as possible for next season so we'd have to send expiring deals back.
Thomas is a restricted FA, so the Jazz could get him back if they wanted to. Right now though we only have Korver to offer and I don't think that's enough to land him. There are probably better offers on the table.
Would it be worth it to get him? He's an athletic big but has attitude problems. He might clash with Jerry from the get go and ruin the chemistry the team has going right now. If the Bulls would take Korver straight up for him, is he worth it?
Boozer's last chance to get into the All-star game is if Kobe sits it out due to injuries. However, he's too big to the game and too big for the NBA not to have him out there. So he'll be trotted out for the first 5 minutes or so and then sit the rest of the game. So it's a waste of a space if you're considering playing time but probably better overall for the league if he plays.
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Tyrus Thomas
Given what’s just come out about Fesenko (and complaints about Thomas out of Chicago), doesn’t Thomas just seem like a Fesenko clone?
Free Koufosenko!
RIP Nick Adenhart. 4/9/09
True Blue Jazz
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Thomas has more talent than Fess. Mentally, Fess seems to be less about attitude and more imaturity. I guess the same could be said for Thomas, he just manifests it differenty.
by Basketball John on Feb 10, 2010 10:59 AM MST via mobile up reply actions
Also,
You also have to factor in the coach/style of play into why Thomas is acting out. A. He knows he’s not going to be getting resigned to the Bulls. B. The Bulls aren’t exactly have a great year, they’ve struggled over some pretty stupid stuff and everyone on the team has been a little agitated including Del Negro. C. Thomas was injured and lost his starting spot. D. The Bulls NEVER helped Thomas blossum, he’s been in the league a while but he’s still a rookie at heart because the Bulls failed to try to help him along. Thomas in our system could be a beast. E. Myself and a few other news reports I’ve read have felt that whereever Thomas lands, he’ll be on a spite kick. Meaning he’ll bust his ass to prove the Bulls wrong for writing him off.
Obviously I’m for the trade since I brough tit up. I"m a huge KK fan but I think Thomas could be a huge asset for the team. I realize we run the risk of hurting the team chemistry. HOWEVER, what if he only gels and helps push us over the edge. Do any of us expect to win a championship this year? The way we are playing we have a shot but we’ve also played well in Feb and choked the last weeks going into the playoffs. At the start of the season everyone was crying for a huge trade of Boozer to shake things up because everyone felt our FO never took risks. Well this would be a well placed risk. Thomas is athletic. He’d be a 30 game lottery. IF he ends up being a bust, no harm done, we let him go at the end of the season. If he turns out to be the defensive big guy so many of us have been longing for….we can resign him. KK’s contract is expiring too, he’s been injured and he’s stuck in a log jam of SG/SF the team has. The way I look at it…. it’s a low risk, high reward move. That’s my 2 cents.
P.S. I have a gut feeling he becomes a huge asset for whoever lands him. The Spurs are interested… just sayin
For the Love of the Game
Just one more thing to add
The nuggets are also looking at Thomas to help them play the Lakers in the finals. That should speak loads. The Nuggets are a very good defensive this team and even they are looking at Thomas to help on D.
For the Love of the Game
Awesome Downbeat :)
1. I wonder what our all-time home record is while in Utah, and how it ranks in the league…
2. That’s too bad, I think Fes can give us some good minutes in the future.
8. I’m just glad I’m not hearing any rumors of TMac coming to Utah. As I think that would be a steal for Houston.
4. I would err on the side of chemistry, and avoid stirring the pot. It’s hard not to feel like we shouldn’t make any trades at this point with the team playing so well.
5. If it means Booz is playing with a vendetta, I hope he doesn’t make it. Either way, just the fact that he is in that conversation is a good thing!
Question: Is Kirilenko eligible for 6th man of the year if he has started some games?
Basketball doesn't build character. It reveals it.
Unknown
There’s a minimum percentage of games you have to play coming off the bench. I can’t rememer what it is. It was brought io for millsap last season.
by Basketball John on Feb 10, 2010 10:56 AM MST via mobile up reply actions
1. maybe the Jazz should move the practice facility to park city which is higher. That would give us more of a benefit.
2. are there any good bigs coming in the top of the draft this year?
8. all I ever think of when macgrady is platheying is the playoffs 2 years ago. He faked a foul as Deron ran past holding his jaw. the officials called the foul and tmac looked at the bench and smiled.
4. if the guy cries about playing time he would never make it in Utah.
5. I hope DWILL don’t play to much he needs the rest. Booz needs to let that calf heal during the break.
Tanking
More and more I’m thinking that tanking is going to undermine our Knicks pick. The Knicks have no reason to tank as we hold their draft pick. Any non-playoff team they play will have an incentive to tank. This is only going to get worse. Oh well. Supposedly G. Miller said on his blog that the team won’t make a trade just to get under the cap. Don’t know if that’s true or not. I’m of two minds on that.
We should be able to trade Boozer and get under the cap. That would be good. We’d mess up our chemistry though, which would be bad. We risk losing Boozer and getting nothing in return this offseason, which is bad. There’s an unbelievable amount of free agent talent this offseason and Boozer looks to be the odd man out, which is good. I think the FO wants to make a run at Boozer this summer and will probably be the only team willing to overpay Boozer, which is bad.
Listening to the yes men on 1320 talk about how Boozer and the FO have been vindicated makes me sick because this team still isn’t going to the finals with this lineup and if you know you can’t get to the finals, then what’s the point?
Also, I think the team’s play without Boozer over the past two seasons vindicates the fans’ position on Boozer. It is now incontrovertible that this team plays as well without Boozer as it does with. That being the case, Boozer is total trade bait. $12 million in expiring contract. Like gold in our hands. Let’s look at the game tapes without Boozer and figure out what we would need to be a better team and trade Boozer for it. Plus we could probably get under the cap. Make it so!
Ps, I would totally be willing to part with KK for nothing in return if it got us under the cap.
I don’t think tanking will have much affect on the Knicks – of their remaining games they play 18 teams that would be in the playoffs if they started today and only 13 that wouldn’t. I can’t imagine that all of those 10 teams (over 13 games) would be tanking. If you only look at the 5 worst teams currently then we are talking about 4 games. Should not be a major impact.
Why
Do we need to get under the cap? So we don’t have to pay a penalty? The only thing it does it save the Franchise a few bucks. I’d rather not throw away key players for nothing just to save a few dimes. Both their contracts are gone next year and we’ll be under the cap. We can handle paying a little extra to keep the team together if we can’t make any moves that will really help the team. Just sayin
For the Love of the Game
Because we're not talking about a few bucks ...
If the Jazz get under the luxury tax threshold, they’ll save about $4-$6 million (payroll plus tax payments). PLUS, they will receive luxury tax money from all the other teams currently over. If I remember right, that was about $4 million last year.
So we’re talking about a difference of $10 million. Maybe more. That’s a lot of money, particularly for a company during a recession.
If you were the CEO of a company and there was a way to save that company more than $10 million, wouldn’t you consider it? Maybe you wouldn’t end up doing it because the consequences of the action would be undesirable. And maybe the Jazz shouldn’t do it because the consequences of breaking up the team chemistry would be too lousy.
But you, the CEO of this mythical company, and the Jazz would be crazy to not think about it.
I got the crap beat out of me in Provo one time
$14 million is what they would save.
The Jazz are $4.8 million over the cap, so they would save $9.6 getting under the cap and then an extra $4 million for the payout. It’s a huge deal, if they can get under the tax. Unfortunately, it’s a long shot at best.
The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.
What is the revenue per game during the playoffs? How much do merchandise sales increase when we win? How close do these increases in revenue come to replaceing luxury tax losses? Only if we got a player that could help as much as what we trade should we trade. If the Jazz continue to play well and end up in 2-4 place in the west we should be able to make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs. That would be 4 to 8 home games and surely there is money made on the road too.
From what I have heard...
I believe the team brings in right around $1 million per playoff game in the first round. If they advance to the 2nd round it goes up about 20%, and I would think it does the same for each round they advance.
Twitter: bjcseven
I think that is $1 million per home playoff game, not just every playoff game.
The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.
There's no way the Jazz can sign Boozer again and make the next 4 years work.
No way at all.
Millsap’s a great guy, and I’m glad he’s willing to be second banana for this year. But there’s no way he’s going to be excited about playing the next 4 years as a back-up. It’s just basic competitive drive: at some point he’s going to want to see if he can succeed as a starter and thrive with a dominant role on the team.
I just can’t see it working in any way at all. Long term, one of them will have to go.
I got the crap beat out of me in Provo one time
So combining a couple of thoughts from my earlier comment with some replies, my question is: if we know Boozer isn’t coming back (either because he’ not wanted or because it won’t work with Millsap or because we can’t afford him) and we know we can’t get to the finals with him and we know the team is competitive without him (see Utah vs. Portland, Utah vs. Dallas, and most of 2008-2009) and we know there are teams who desire a talented big and/or large expiring contract and we know management detests paying the tax then why not trade Boozer for a player that helps us now? Because it seems to me that the alternative will be to hope that we can work out a sign and trade when Boozer signs somewhere else and get someone decent in return or receive nothing.
Or to simplify, if we know he’s gone after this year, why not trade him now? Is chemistry really the only reason? Because I’m wondering if it’s a coincidence that he’s been back for two games and Siler is writing about how the Jazz’ play has slipped a little over the past two games.
Boozer
Isn’t the problem. We can’t honestly expect the Jazz to go undefeated for the rest of the season no matter how well they are playing. Boozer was a HUGE reason we won lastnight. Having him is a problem I would MUCH rather have than not having him.
Second, losing Boozer at the end of the season isn’t just a “lose him for nothing”. It’s a we get a hell of alot of cap space after his contract is expired. We can spend it in the Free Agent market and find a nice backup PF or big defensive man to play behind Milsap.
Third, we don’t KNOW for sure Boozer won’t be coming back but we can assume that it most likely won’t happen. However, lately we’ve been playing a backcourt consisting of AK, Milsap, and Boozer. It’s been working. I don’t see why how getting Boozer back would hurt the team any if we decided he’s worth it financially. Okur could come off the bench as he gets older.
Fourth, Take a lux hit ISN"T THAT BIG OF DEAL. If the owners decide that they want to keep the team the way it is, then it’s their money and they can take the hit. Especially if they like the way the team is playing together. If Boozer is the difference between a 2-3 seed and 7-8 seed. I’d keep him.
Fifth, I hate the, “This team can’t make the finals” argument. It’s bogus. A few years ago everyone thought Dallas was going to cruise to the West Finals and then a little team called Golden State plowed over them. What about last year when the Rockets WITHOUT Yao gave the Lakers a run for the money. ANY team, on ANY given night has a chance to win. The playoffs aren’t any different.
Sixth, why in the world would you give up KK for nothing just to get under the tax? The team already only has 12 men on the roster. That would put us to 11. Not only that, KK is worth getting something in return or worth keeping.
For the Love of the Game
Boozer walking away, doesn't give the Jazz any cap space. It gets them under the luxury tax.
But even if Boozer walks, the Jazz will only have a mid level exception ($4-6 million a year) to throw at a free agent.
I understand both of your arguments. Boozer has had a great year and he is playing well and it isn’t his fault that we lose some games.
But if you could get a piece to your future puzzle and save some money and theoretically not be a worse team, then that is a move that is worth it to me. For instance, I would trade Carlos Boozer for Kevin Martin in a heartbeat. Gives an ouside shooter and saves us a couple million dollars.
Or i would consider trading Boozer for a good defensive center who can give us some length when we face the Nuggets or Lakers in the playoffs.
The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.
PF
TT is a PF and we already have Booz, Millsap, and even AK. Can’t see how he’d add that much value short-term. Even though he may have much more potential than KK, I have to wonder whether KK being a 3pt threat is better for the team as is.
On the other hand, we’re loaded at KK’s position as well—the question is whether KK is considered reliable enough at 3pt range to spread things out on offense.
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