Back In The Saddle - The Downbeat - #650

CJ Miles in the Salt Lake Tribune,

"We just have to find some continuity, some rhythm, where everybody knows what everybody likes to do," Utah forward C.J. Miles said. "I don't think we've gotten to that point where everybody knows where everybody likes to be."

Good luck with that. As we saw last season even with an All-star point guard, that's hard to do quickly. Add in the irregularities of this shortened season and that doesn't bode well. There will be some nights where things come together and shots fall, but with the turnover the team has had, and will have, this will be a bigger factor that we thought.

A short memory would serve the team -- not to mention the fans -- well this season.

I didn't get anything up on this last night officially, but Fess has officially signed a one-year deal to play with the Warriors according to Sam Amick of SI.com. Up to this point, we haven't heard anything from Fesenko on his rehab or his plans. He had been pursued by the Heat, Mavs, and Raptors. Fess in Miami would have had the most appeal for fans given the spotlight down there and Fess in South Beach.

The Warriors already have Andris Biedrins and recently signed Kwame Brown to a one-year, $7 million deal. The combined free-throw percentage of all three is somewhere around 50%.

I'm interested to see what kind of shape Fess is in. He was never one to be known to be ready to go when training camp started. But he has been rehabbing since his injury in Eurobasket and that may have been a good thing for him. Of course there's NBA basketball shape and he hasn't been through even the abbreviated training camp. I don't expect much PT from him to start out. However, he could be getting regular minutes by the time the Warriors visit the Jazz in March. Perhaps that should be our SLC Dunk night out game?

I think what I've decided in regards to #FesenkoFriday is to have one last going away FF and then turn it over to the guys at Golden State of Mind. If there's any other fan base that will embrace Fesenko and FF like we have, it's the Dubs fans. I've already reached out to them and they're looking forward to it. So if you have any pictures or suggestions for this Friday's finale, let me know.

We'll start up something on SLC Dunk to take the place -- though we really can't -- of Fesenko Friday.

Of course I felt like the refs did us no favors, but this was startling,

Is this right? Jazz starters shot 1 free throw in 119 combined minutes? Perhaps attacking the basket is something to consider ...

— Steve Luhm (@sluhm) December 28, 2011

The lone free throw by a starter was from Gordon Hayward on an and-1 play. This was a combination getting no calls and from the Jazz not going at the basket. I couldn't do a lookup on BBRef for least free throws attempted by a starting unit, but this has to be a near-record low.

One final note from last night. Last season, the Jazz had one of the best starting units on the floor when you swapped out Raja Bell for CJ Miles. I don't want to turn this into a Raja bashing session. I just want to point out that last season, after the trade, that we had to other pretty good units when CJ was in instead of Raja. Here's one with Favors at the PF spot and one with Paul Millsap. Both units played well in significant minutes.

Interestingly enough, Bell plays better with CJ on the floor at the three and has not been a part of many good units where Devin Harris is running the point. He's played well with Deron Williams and Earl Watson, but not with Harris. I think Bell could be a good second unit player alongside Watson and where he wouldn't have to guard the elite shooting guards of the game. I think Bell still has value with the team, just not with the first team.

You probably missed this last night -- one of the few highlights -- thanks to the Heat/Celtics and TNT.