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Experience seems to continuously live at odds against potential. Eventually the two meet in the middle and you are in your peak physical and seasoned years. I think we have an interesting team, with guys all over the place upon the continuum of potential vs. experience. This is something we need to keep track of, particularly when you want to look at which guys to keep and which guys to get rid of in all of our off-season arm-chair GMing.
Here's the list (sorted by total minutes from high to low)
Career Reg. Seas | Career Playoffs | Tot. Mins | |||||||||||||
Player | Pos. | Age | Ex | G | Min | MPG | G | Min | MPG | / Season | |||||
1 | Raja Bell | SG | 25 | 12 | . | 706 | 19,813 | 28.1 | . | 68 | 1,763 | 25.9 | . | 1,798 | |
2 | Earl Watson | PG | 32 | 11 | . | 806 | 18,504 | 23.0 | . | 8 | 136 | 17.0 | . | 1,695 | |
3 | Al Jefferson | PF | C | 27 | 8 | . | 550 | 16,665 | 30.3 | . | 11 | 277 | 25.2 | . | 2,118 |
4 | Devin Harris | PG | 29 | 8 | . | 543 | 15,261 | 28.1 | . | 42 | 921 | 21.9 | . | 2,023 | |
5 | Josh Howard | SF | 32 | 9 | . | 496 | 15,143 | 30.5 | . | 66 | 2,115 | 32.0 | . | 1,918 | |
6 | Jamaal Tinsley | PG | 34 | 9 | . | 473 | 13,112 | 27.7 | . | 41 | 1,014 | 24.7 | . | 1,570 | |
7 | Paul Millsap | PF | SF | 27 | 6 | . | 462 | 12,446 | 26.9 | . | 48 | 1,090 | 22.7 | . | 2,256 |
8 | C.J. Miles | SG | SF | 25 | 7 | . | 389 | 7,499 | 19.3 | . | 23 | 424 | 18.4 | . | 1,132 |
9 | Gordon Hayward | SF | SG | 22 | 2 | . | 138 | 3,233 | 23.4 | . | 4 | 123 | 30.8 | . | 1,678 |
10 | Derrick Favors | PF | C | 20 | 2 | . | 143 | 2,911 | 20.4 | . | 4 | 116 | 29.0 | . | 1,514 |
11 | DeMarre Carroll | SF | 25 | 3 | . | 107 | 1,193 | 11.1 | . | 4 | 71 | 17.8 | . | 421 | |
12 | Alec Burks | SG | PG | 20 | 1 | . | 59 | 939 | 15.9 | . | 4 | 63 | 15.8 | . | 1,002 |
13 | Enes Kanter | PF | C | 20 | 1 | . | 66 | 874 | 13.2 | . | 4 | 43 | 10.8 | . | 917 |
14 | Jeremy Evans | PF | SF | 24 | 2 | . | 78 | 680 | 8.7 | . | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | . | 344 |
15 | Blake Ahearn | PG | SG | 27 | 3 | . | 19 | 226 | 11.9 | . | 3 | 8 | 2.7 | . | 78 |
Average | 26 | 6 | 336 | 8566.6 | 25.5 | . | 22 | 545 | 24.6 | 1,364 |
If I had my way we'd be losing a lot of experience this off-season . . . but seeing how much that would hurt the Utah Jazz - it makes me pause.
Anyway, for the isolated breakdowns for each position click on below!
Point Guards:
Career Reg. Seas | Career Playoffs | Tot. Mins | |||||||||||||
Player | Pos. | Age | Ex | G | Min | MPG | G | Min | MPG | / Season | |||||
1 | Earl Watson | PG | 32 | 11 | . | 806 | 18,504 | 23.0 | . | 8 | 136 | 17.0 | . | 1,695 | |
2 | Devin Harris | PG | 29 | 8 | . | 543 | 15,261 | 28.1 | . | 42 | 921 | 21.9 | . | 2,023 | |
3 | Jamaal Tinsley | PG | 34 | 9 | . | 473 | 13,112 | 27.7 | . | 41 | 1,014 | 24.7 | . | 1,570 | |
4 | Blake Ahearn | PG | SG | 27 | 3 | . | 19 | 226 | 11.9 | . | 3 | 8 | 2.7 | . | 78 |
We have a lot of experience in three of our four PGs. I don't know if the Jazz will go with 4 PGs on the roster next year (some of this is better understood if the Jazz get 1 really good backup, instead of 1 good backup spread out into 3 guys). But as it stands right now, a lot of their experience is still valuable. Their value only increases exponentially if the Jazz bring in (via FA, or Trade, or draft) a young PG with a high learning ability.
Devin is the man, and he needs to come back next year and continue finding his place here in this offense. Right now he should be the only one out of the four who should be a lock to return. Earl has the most experience but he is a limited player, as is Jamaal -- but I think Tinsley is a better outside thread and individual who can break down defenses one on one. Looking at what the Spurs PGs did to us may be coloring my opinion of things though.
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Shooting guards and Small forwards:
Career Reg. Seas | Career Playoffs | Tot. Mins | |||||||||||||
Player | Pos. | Age | Ex | G | Min | MPG | G | Min | MPG | / Season | |||||
1 | Raja Bell | SG | 25 | 12 | . | 706 | 19,813 | 28.1 | . | 68 | 1,763 | 25.9 | . | 1,798 | |
2 | Josh Howard | SF | 32 | 9 | . | 496 | 15,143 | 30.5 | . | 66 | 2,115 | 32.0 | . | 1,918 | |
3 | C.J. Miles | SG | SF | 25 | 7 | . | 389 | 7,499 | 19.3 | . | 23 | 424 | 18.4 | . | 1,132 |
4 | Gordon Hayward | SF | SG | 22 | 2 | . | 138 | 3,233 | 23.4 | . | 4 | 123 | 30.8 | . | 1,678 |
5 | DeMarre Carroll | SF | 25 | 3 | . | 107 | 1,193 | 11.1 | . | 4 | 71 | 17.8 | . | 421 | |
6 | Alec Burks | SG | PG | 20 | 1 | . | 59 | 939 | 15.9 | . | 4 | 63 | 15.8 | . | 1,002 |
Raja has to go, so say goodbye to his 20k career minutes -- and their ZERO playoff games in a Jazz uniform. Josh is also a guy I'd kick off the team, but that would mean we don't have any experience on the wings. Then again, OKC didn't have any experience on the wings either and they seemed to do fine (minutes >>> "meaningful" minutes in some cases).
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Power Forwards and Centers:
Career Reg. Seas | Career Playoffs | Tot. Mins | |||||||||||||
Player | Pos. | Age | Ex | G | Min | MPG | G | Min | MPG | / Season | |||||
1 | Al Jefferson | PF | C | 27 | 8 | . | 550 | 16,665 | 30.3 | . | 11 | 277 | 25.2 | . | 2,118 |
2 | Paul Millsap | PF | SF | 27 | 6 | . | 462 | 12,446 | 26.9 | . | 48 | 1,090 | 22.7 | . | 2,256 |
3 | Derrick Favors | PF | C | 20 | 2 | . | 143 | 2,911 | 20.4 | . | 4 | 116 | 29.0 | . | 1,514 |
4 | Enes Kanter | PF | C | 20 | 1 | . | 66 | 874 | 13.2 | . | 4 | 43 | 10.8 | . | 917 |
5 | Jeremy Evans | PF | SF | 24 | 2 | . | 78 | 680 | 8.7 | . | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | . | 344 |
I think it is fair to say that we have a ton of guys who have a natural position as a PF. Each of these guys would be a PF if they played with a 7' footer -- and frankly not pairing them up with a seven footer is on the GM, not on the players themselves. Big Al's defensive struggles would be partly mitigated if he had Noah/Asik watching his back, for example. Instead we start him at center, lose all the tip-offs, and our last line of defense shies away from contact all game long. He doesn't even box out.
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Ideas:
You can't just go with a full youth movement. Ever. And never ever here. The Jazz need to be selective in who they keep and who they let go. We had a number of experienced guys -- but they all seemed to be concentrated at the PG spot. It would have been nice to see a veteran 5th big who was a legit 7' guy who has a lot of experience and knew all the tricks -- a mentor type for our younger bigs.
He doesn't have to be a former world champion, or a former all-star -- but a guy who was always a professional who has been in playoff battles before. Essentially a 7' Obi Wan Kenobi who doesn't want minutes and is okay to play his days out here before he retires. Anyone have Greg Ostertag's number? Ha, sorry, he doesn't fit the bill for being a professionally minded guy.