So what do you think it would take for Sundiata Gaines to stick around? His 10-day contract would give him 5 games to possibly play. And Sloan may be forced to play him quite a bit for at least the next couple of games as Deron and Ronnie P are listed as day-to-day.
I think he gets the chance to stick around as long as he proves to not be completely terrible. My reasoning for that is that when Matthews was trying to make the team, and there was the chance that the Jazz could sign a vet, Sloan stated something to the effect of preferring to keep the guys that have been with the team.
I didn't address it at all in my recap of the Grizz game, but it's talked about quite a bit on other sites about how much better the Jazz played without Deron. Three games is a small sample size, but the results have been indisputable so far. Like everyone else has said, it's ridiculous to say that this team is better without Deron.
That's not to say that Deron isn't partly responsible for the team's struggles. We need to see him instill that same confidence in the team that we see them play with when he's not there. Everyone seems to take it upon themselves to play a little better and to get each other involved a little more.
Deron is definitely the player you build a team around. Maybe we just have the wrong type of players built around him.
Getting close to the last days of All-star voting. In case you're not following #VoteDeron on twitter, we've now shifted to #VoteNash. The latest, and last, results have been released and freakin' T-Mac is still in second place. Nash however is just a couple of thousand votes behind him. CP3 is a little further behind and could catch him as well, but I can't pull the lever for Paul. Anyway, so vote for Williams and Nash.
You know what I think about jinxes, but really how much worse could things get? I realize I just doomed the team to move to Seattle with that statement, but I don't see how my immediate outlook could get much worse. So I'm going to say the Jazz go 4-1 over the next 5 with a lone loss coming @ Dallas.
I really do need to write up the last of the INLITTDOC sometime soon.