"I want the Truth!" "You can’t Handle the Truth"

by BobbyD31 on Jul 5, 2011 3:35 PM MDT

After reading countless posts about who needs to go, who needs to stay, why losing is a good thing, and how the playing time should be divided, all I was left thinking was when did this all happen? I want answers.

Col. Jessep: *You want answers?*
Kaffee: *I want the truth!*
Col. Jessep: *You can't handle the truth!*

The Jazz have always been one of the most stable organizations in the entire league. They let Boozer and Korver go and couldn’t match Matthews offer. They made some moves that had Jazz fans excited and had the team competing for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Jazz had just retooled the roster on the fly and had put together a team that was on pace to be better than anything that they had ever been in the Boozer years. They had a team that was young and exciting and had a promising future. Then something went horribly wrong. So wrong that they went from being able to pull out late game comebacks with pure team work and inspired play to not being able to be competitive against poor Eastern Conference teams. Something went so wrong that Sloan went from possible coach of the year to retired and Deron Williams went from MVP candidate to a tradable asset. So what in the name of Kosta Koufus happened?

If you look back at the Jazz season, going into their game against the Washington Wizards on January 17, the Jazz sat at 27-13. They were fighting with the Mavs, Lakers, and Thunder for the 2nd spot in the West. The Jazz lost to the Wizards 101-108. Deron scored 28 with 11 assists and

Big Al scored 25 and had 10 boards and other than Memo making a cameo appearance no else showed up and we gave up 108 points to Washington.

Galloway: I don't think you're fit to handle the defense.
Kaffee: You don't even *know* me. Ordinarily it takes someone *hours* to discover I'm not fit to handle a defense.

January 19th the Jazz lose 103-95. Sloan was quoted after the game, "We look like we were lacking

effort and our energy doesn't look good to me, even more so in the last couple of games just doesn't seem like great enthusiasm to play. I think we're better than we played, but give the Nets credit."

The losing streak would go to 6 before the Jazz got a much needed win against the T’Wolves only to follow that up with a loss to the Warriors. The Jazz continue to struggle winning just 4 out of their last 9 games when Feb. 9th happened.

Galloway: Hey, Kaffee...
Kaffee: I know what you're going to say - You don't have to. We've had our differences. I said some things I didn't mean; you said some things you didn't mean, but you're happy I stuck with the case. And if you've gained a certain respect for me over the last three weeks... well, of course, I'm happy about that. But we don't have to make a whole big deal outta that - you like me? I won't make you say it.
Galloway: I was just going to tell you to wear matching socks in court tomorrow.
Kaffee: OK! Good tip!

February 9th should have been one of the biggest games of the year for the Jazz. (You can look at

Boozer’s stat line and you know it was a big game.) Millsap needed to prove head to head against Boozer that the Jazz made the right decision. Jefferson probably also wanted to prove that he was better than Boozer. Deron had to show Rose that he was the best PG in the league. Jefferson and Millsap both played great, but Deron got outplayed by Rose. Deron turned the ball over 5 times and had the ball taken away from him by Rose with a little over a minute left that shut the door on the Jazz.

This game led to the closed door meeting and then the resignation of Sloan and Johnson. The start of the Corbin era and more turmoil. The Jazz season was now in a very bad place. Without Sloan it seemed that the team lost it’s identity it was forced into trying to keep the face that nothing was wrong and it was just time for him to step away, but it was clear that something was very wrong.

I could have seen Sloan saying this on the way out.

Col. Jessep: You f(reaking) people... you have no idea how to defend a nation. All you did was weaken a country today.

This lead to Deron being traded after just 3 more games. The Jazz didn’t want to go through with Deron what Denver just went threw with Carmelo Anthony and decided to send Deron packing. But that was sure fast. It seemed like someone ordered a “code red” before we even new what had happened. I think a lot of Jazz fans would have "strenuously objected" to trading the teams star, but the front office did a good job of getting us a lot of value and potentially a better all around team.

Lt. Weinberg: "I strenuously object?" Is that how it works? Hm? "Objection." "Overruled." "Oh, no, no, no. No, I STRENUOUSLY object." "Oh. Well, if you strenuously object then I should take some time to reconsider."

So when did all of this happen? What happened from the middle of January to the middle of February that changed everything? What caused Sloan to say I have had enough? What happened with Deron Williams? What caused a team on the verge of the 2 seed to be completely ripped apart? I feel like we as Jazz fans should be entitled to some more information on what really happened this season.

Col. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I'm entitled.
Col. Jessep: *You want answers?*
Kaffee: *I want the truth!*
Col. Jessep: *You can't handle the truth!*
[pauses]

Col. Jessep: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

I guess we may never know.

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.

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Comments

The truth is that

Deron’s strong will combined with Sloan’s advanced age finally wore Sloan out. He had nothing left in the tank, so he turned the asylum over to Ty Corbin. I’ve seen many people lose their mental toughness as part of the aging process. Even though we have all grown to admire the mental toughness of Jerry Sloan over the years, apparently, the aging process finally got the best of him. Had Sloan been a younger man, I think it would have been no problem.

by Fesenko for President on Jul 5, 2011 4:35 PM MDT reply actions

I think it's true

but it still doesn’t get into how the team fell apart starting with that awful Wizards loss.

I got the crap beat out of me in Provo one time

by Yucca Man on Jul 5, 2011 4:41 PM MDT up reply actions

Speculation

It you put little side comments into perspective you get a picture that makes sense.

1. KOC was thinking about trading DWill long before Sloan quit. He was watching the Melo scene. He knew he could not put together a team that would keep DWill in Utah so why not trade him? Obviously KOC and Greg discussed it as a option long before it happened. The Melo trade created the timing.

2. DWill finally started to act like it was his team. However, it never was.

3. It was also no longer Sloan’s team either. Since the death of Larry power had slowly shifted from Sloan to KOC/Greg. As long as Sloan had veto power over getting/trading players he was in control of the organization. Trading DWill meant a 3 year rebuild and he did not want to do that. If he lost control over staffing he also lost control over being able to run his system the way he wanted to run it. You control Sloan by the players you give him. KOC/Greg figured that out. However, they did not plan on him quitting mid season.

3. KOC went to Greg with a trade for DWill. Greg “felt” DWill would not stay and also likely felt DWill was trying to take over the team. Sloan did not want to lose DWill. That would put him in a losing position with a PG who could not max the team or make the playoffs. Sloan got over ruled by Greg on trading DWill. Sloan decide he had lost control of the team/organization. It was not worth it any more. He walked.

4. The Wizard’s game was about the same time Bell’s outside shooting and elevation (legs) went South. When Bell went into a slump AND DWill was dinged up the defense slacked and the offense was even worse on outside shooting so other teams could pack the paint. The TOs mounted. That lead to an exercise in futility. Playing hard no longer resulted in winning.

5. Playing smart could have fixed it but Sloan was not about to add shooting to fix it. Sloan still had control over trades at that time. Greg did not want to add money. KOC is not very bright when it comes to outside shooting and he was not going to fight Sloan and Greg on it.

When the team buckled under bad design (a lack of outside shooting, which was obvious from the start of the year) the swarm stopped playing hard.

6. The team wilted under a lack of shooting and defense. KOC/Greg decided to trade DWill and Sloan balked and got over ruled. It took a while for the drama to unfold. The Melo trade had to get done before KOC could go to NJ and get the deal.

DWill was a pawn in it all. He got used. He was never in control of anything. It was a power play by KOC who made a good case to Greg who was already leaning in the direction of trading DWill. The loss of veto power over trades caused Sloan to quit. He knew he had lost control of the organization. It took a couple of years to develop but his bias against outside shooting laid the ground work for the slump that caused him to lose eventual control.

by BillZla on Jul 5, 2011 10:28 PM MDT reply actions

Great comment

awesome stuff

Louisiana Jazz fan

by TBKIII on Jul 7, 2011 3:03 PM MDT up reply actions

Kaffee: Is the colonel's underwear a matter of national security?

I don’t know that we are actually entitled to all the sordid details. I’d rather allow Sloan the dignity of keeping private what was intended to be private. I guess I believe that the public story is a reasonable (though cleaned up) representation of what happened behind closed doors, and that’s good enough for me.

by El Aguacil on Jul 6, 2011 6:58 AM MDT reply actions

What a lot of people strike that everyone seems to forget

is that the Jazz had like 6 games in that 27-13 run where they had like 20 pt fourth quarter comebacks. Everyone talks like this is such a great thing, but seems to forget that this means that the team was down by 20 points in the fourth quarter!!! They got lucky winning those games, and really had no claim to greatness because of them. All they showed is that the team didn’t have the heart to play 48 minutes of good basketball, and would try to get by with 12 minutes instead.

The Jazz should have been 21-19 at that point. They didn’t go from being great to being terrible. They went from being mediocre with moments of greatness, but more moments of terrible to being just terrible.

We just never noticed because we were too busy looking at all the shiny comeback wins.

by snakenamedjoe on Jul 11, 2011 10:19 PM MDT reply actions

That's not true

There were plenty of us saying that it was a fragile team.

I am in no way affiliated with the blog of the same name.

by JazzHype on Jul 12, 2011 8:36 AM MDT up reply actions

I don't buy it. Could have been 21-19? Yes. Should have been 21-19? BS.

First of all, the Jazz didn’t have 6 games that they came back to win after being down 20 points in the fourth quarter. They did have 5 straight double digit comeback wins and was there some luck involved? Sure. Does that mean the wins don’t count? If so, I guess Dallas didn’t really win the finals either.

Maybe they were better finishers than they played. Maybe they did outplay their record, but if we start playing the what their record should have been game, you undermind the entire point of having a game. That is why every play is important.

You point out the fault in your own logic when you talk about 48 mins of good basketball. If the Jazz were only playing 36 mins of basketball, then yes they would have had more losses. But the game is 48 mins. The Jazz played well enough to win those games. They made great plays. That is why we love sports. That was also the best thing about last years team, was that they worked to get themselves in position to win an pulled some out.

The biggest BS of the entire comment was that they didn’t have the heart to play for 48 mins. Because again the last 12 is part of the 48. Those that step up their game in the last 12 mins have more heart than those that can be in the game the entire time but can’t finish.

Look at the Finals, Game 2 Miami has a 88-73 lead with 7:15 left in the 4th. I guess we should have just giving Miami that game, because Dallas, “didn’t have the heart to play for 48 minutes.” Even though Dallas finished on a 22-5 run and pulled out the game.

Then if we flash foward to game 4 the Heat would complete their sweep (remember they “Should have” won game 2) of the Mavs as they were up 74- 65 with 10 minutes left in the fourth. Dallas’ lack of heart led them to go on a 21-9 run to end the game and win by 3.

So all I can say is don’t punish the Jazz for the games they put away late. Is it playing with fire to fall behind? Yes. If they had a 27-13 record and had won every game by 20 points would it have been more impressive? Yes. Does a 20 point win show more heart than a comback win at the buzzer? I don’t believe so. Does it count more than a regular win? No. And that is the big one. A win is a win. And like it or not the Jazz won those games.

by BobbyD31 on Jul 12, 2011 9:50 AM MDT up reply actions

You can't completely disregard it either though

I think it got a lot harder for the Jazz to mount these comebacks as they gained a reputation for it. When you play mentally tough, well prepared teams, they tend to stay more vigilant against big comebacks when their opponent has a history of it. Miami however, was not a mentally tough team and they actually had a reputation for fading down the stretch (one of Utah’s big games was the Millsap Miracle vs Miami). They were just as apt to fade as Dallas was to come back.

I am in no way affiliated with the blog of the same name.

by JazzHype on Jul 12, 2011 10:14 AM MDT up reply actions

His point was a little dramatic and overemotional, but all statistical indicators at the time showed that the Jazz were a .500 team in a 27-13 team's body.

Statistics always even out and that is what eventually happened. They outplayed their ability for the first 40 games and then their lack of a transition defense, a halfcourt defense, an efficient offense and defensive rebounding caught up with them as most statistics do. They ended up becoming the team they were supposed to be all along which was a slightly better than average team.

You can’t take the comebacks away. They were exciting and brilliant, but you also can’t discount the fact that the Jazz couldn’t play at the start of almost every game and played really inconsistent ball almost all season.

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

by clarkpojo on Jul 12, 2011 8:39 PM MDT up reply actions

Right. I agree. He was being way dramatic and I just called BS on it.

I agree that the statistics showed that the Jazz were not as good as their record, but I would disagree that “Statistics always even out.” Statistics didn’t have Dallas winning the Finals this year.

Hollinger’s statistics in 2010 said the Jazz were better than they ended up being. Hollinger had the Jazz beating the Lakers in round 2.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-100415

If statistics always evened out, then we could safely pick the finalists and champions before the playoffs started. Remember when almost all of the experts had Portland in six over Dallas. There is a reason they play the games. That is why I love sports. You can look at what stats or experts tell us should happen, or what everone expects to happen, and then we get to see what really happens.

by BobbyD31 on Jul 13, 2011 11:14 AM MDT up reply actions