Super busy work week ending. Sorry, this is a really mish-mashed together edition. Next week will be better . . . I promise.
- So we lost to the Mavs. Big deal. We also lost to the Golden State Warriors. The next two weeks are going to be more interesting than a let down loss where the team (as a whole) did not produce.
- I'm tardy in posting the December preview (duh), but I'll get it out early this next week. But, we're going to be facing off against Memphis, Miami, Orlando, @ Dallas, Golden State, @ New Orleans, and @ Milwaukee over the next 2 weeks.This sequence is going to be an interesting aspect of the season for sure. Some of these teams are going to want revenge, and some of these teams we're going to be looking for revenge against.
- The Precious (Gordon Hayward) is playing better. I'm happy for that. I'd like to see him DEMAND playing time by being a bit more aggressive. Ronnie Price and Earl Watson know that they don't have a lot of time on the court, but they attempt to maximize it. They go hard (nh), and they are very aggressive. When Hayward is in the game we have seen the same thing every game . . . he runs the set, and instead of shooting it, he'll drive, pivot back and pass the ball to a guy in a worse shooting position, with less time on the shot clock. It's one thing to be unselfish, but it is possible in our offense that being too unselfish can break the play. It's not breaking the play by going one on one, but it's still breaking the play.
- That last three pointer he made a few games ago was really a sight for sore eyes for Jazz fans and coaches alike. He was tip-toe-ing shooting in the single digits from deep this year. Like I said, he is improving. I like it. He has played in 18 games, once he's finished 20, I'll put up the comparative analysis of him and a number of other 'guys' who may or may not play like he does then. So far I'm thinking of comparing him to Matt Harpring, Gordan Giricek, Quincy Lewis, Ronnie Brewer, Mike Dunlevy Jr., and a few others. If you have any other guys you'd want to see in this, feel free to post their names below.
- We've now played 21 games, and the stats from that period are interesting to look at. Thankfully, as a team, we now have something that looks like a margin (in our favor) in ppg and opp. ppg. The individual stats are even more impressive
- Deron Williams is an MVP candidate this season more than ever. I can't say enough good things about him and his play so far this year. He HAS pouted a few times this season, but he's also hit game winners for us, and celebrated the hardest for the success of his team mates. You may or may not care, but he's upped his Go Rating from 126.477 (after 10 games) to 142.732 (after 21). This is the highest mark of his career.
- Here's the change from Game 10 to Game 21 for the team:
- If you can't see that too well, then just click here.
- You may or may not know or care for Go Rating. It's not like PER, or any other metric, because this just focuses in on the pressure you put on the defense when you are on the offensive side of the ball. I wish the NBA kept tracks of things like picks, and hockey assists - but they don't. (That would be a much better Gestalt Offensive rating) I would love to incorporate that into the metric that (right now) appears to favor people who score and have a good assist:turn over ratio more than bigmen. That said, I think it's fitting that a Tim Duncan type gets about a 100 GO Rating. He's efficient and gets the job done.
- Later on this week we're going to look at the stats a little deeper and see if there are any trends to be happy / sad about.
- You may be happy to know that after a silent campaign @slcdunk is now rightly identified as one of the Top 1,000 Sports Bloggers on Twitter. I did not count to see if that list is 1000 people or not, but still, it's something to be proud of, and we should congratulate Basketball John for! The list is full of wonderful people that you probably already follow on twitter.
- Earl Watson has almost as many blocks this season as Fes and Elson do. This is a problem. But it is an awesome problem.
- Sorry for having so much trouble this week from my Clark Kent Job, this next week you'll see some real posts from me.