So far this season we've all had the first hand experience of complaining about the rotations. I don't think any of us are completely satisfied with how guys get minutes so far this year. The reason for me making the "Dating Game" was because we had a number of guys getting minutes -- and not enough minutes to go around. Clearly one of the five needed to be removed from the rotation, or have a severely reduced role. During the time period between the original two posts and this one the Jazz have actually gone ahead and given playing time to a 6th wing player, instead of scaling things back. (All due to injuries I am sure) The (now 6) wings are Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward, C.J. Miles, Alec Burks, Josh Howard, and now DeMarre Carroll.
In the first post I laid out these players anonymously (Player A, Player B, etc), and just compared them in 29 different factual, quantitative statistics (divided into 5 groups: Per 18 mpg stats; Shooting Percentages; Shooting Locations; Defense; Net PER and Net +/-). You all voted, and 72% decided that Player E was the player that HAD to go. Player E is Josh Howard. The next highest vote getter was Player A (Raja Bell) at 12%. The other three players all had 5% of less.
However, in the second post I showed the results of the first poll -- and showed all the 29 statistics again. I in fact increased it to 30 statistics -- I included a new for for "Actual MPG Average" this season. Lastly, I added the names of each of the players. My, there were some big changes in the voting blocs then.
| Player | Anon Voting | Name Voting | Difference |
| A (Raja Bell) | 12% | 12% | +0% |
| B (Gordon Hayward) | 5% | 2% | -3% |
| C (C.J. Miles) | 5% | 28% | +23% |
| D (Alec Burks) | 3% | 1% | -2% |
| E (Josh Howard) | 72% | 55% | -17% |
Wow. I did not change any of the numbers, and none of the number were presented in a different way. The only thing that changed was adding the names, and it seems like there are a lot of people who vote here who aren't fans of C.J. Miles. I can understand the desire to vote less for Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks -- leaving Bell, Miles, and Howard. It's funny that Miles then becomes the object of hatred. I guess I don't know the pulse of the fan at all.
Even more interesting was that Josh Howard seems to have a strong following. Are we even looking at the same player? I guess we aren't.
And I guess the dating game experience is pretty interesting. If you try to remove first glance, bias, and visual cues and go straight for the substance you pick a different guy than if you add all of that stuff in.
The end result is the same though -- Josh Howard isn't the right guy. He's not in our long term future (regardless of he's cheap, looking to work hard, and a former All-Star). I find it very funny that Howard is getting so much time right now. Bell is a vet's vet, so I don't have as much problem with him. It is an absolute fact that Bell will most likely retire, and Howard will be out of the league, while Hayward and Burks are still under contract for the Jazz.
Which leads me to believe that all the time and effort we're putting into the guys who'll be gone should have instead gone to the guys who'll still be here. It's like giving your best armor to a guy in a video game, and have him hog all the experience points, only to leave your party 2/5th through the adventure -- leaving you with having to put in a guy who isn't ready in his place. But that's just my view . . .and what do I know?
What I do know is that a lot of people hate C.J. Miles, despite previously loving him when looking at him statistically in comparison to the rest of our wings. When I put out my "Minutes" post, I will dole out minutes for our six wings according to your votes.
Not that it matters, because Head Coach Tyrone Corbin wants to start Raja Bell and Josh Howard -- the two guys who got the highest votes in the anon voting section.