Gah! There's only 47 games left in the season. We're 6 games from the half-way point. We'll be squandering late-season games with seeding implications before you know it.
The team has taken an unorthodox way of getting to 24-11 so far. Any one of us would have taken this start before the season started. That doesn't make the 11 losses any less frustrating nor take away any of the gray that was caused from the 11 double-digit comebacks.
Deron says the Jazz aren't as good as their record would indicate. Still, that's better than being better than a losing record would indicate.
Should the Jazz finish the rest of the season just a game above .500, that still puts them at 48 wins which is more than a lot of people had them pegged for.
This team will lose more game unfortunately. Being able to escape the first part of the this season relatively unscathed speaks a lot for the team. They're finding ways to win in the end and I think eventually they'll find out how to win at the beginning as well.
The deadline for guaranteed contracts for the rest of the season is tomorrow and a couple of former Jazz men have been affected. Jarron Collins was released yesterday by the Clippers and Sundiata Gaines was let go from the Timberwolves.
Jeremy Evans of course is on a non-guaranteed contract right now but he's not going to have to fret about any phone calls today.
I threw this out on twitter yesterday. Any chance Collins, and now Gaines, sees action with the Jazz? Tomorrow also starts the 10-day contract season. They guys on KFAN yesterday said we are a Memo or Elson injury away from Tree suiting back up.
Deron is calling out Milt Palacio and Devin Brown (Jim Burton / Standard-Examiner):
When asked if he felt fighting through those trials is ultimately a good thing for a young player, Williams reflected back to his own rookie season.
"I guess so. If you want to think that," Williams said with a smile. "You think if I'd been starting from the start of my rookie season we might have made the playoffs? We missed the playoffs by two games. I think we could've made up two games."
"Man, if coach had just given me the ball in the fourth quarter, we would have won state."
Burton goes on to explain that the Jazz actually missed the playoffs by three games that season.
I think this line from TBJ sums up the feeling on the whole Deron Williams/Chris Paul debate:
I honestly feel like I can't definitively state who is better between Deron Williams and Chris Paul anymore. They have different playing styles on very different teams, but what really matters is that neither fanbase wants to swap their guy for the other one. I can't be mad at anyone who thinks D-Will should be on top.
You can argue numbers, wins, head-to-heads, etc. and neither fanbase is going to budge. Each one fits in perfectly with their team. Both have out of this world talent and would still be all-stars on any other team.
Oh, and 8>3.
Random question... Does anyone still buy Jazz posters for their walls? What age did you stop buying them? After high school? College? When you got married?