Jazz added Mo Williams, Marvin Williams, and Randy Foye. Do they follow the trend of adding Jazz Killers to the team?

NBA teams are always on the look out to add new players. After all, some teams go through a lot of turn over during an era. Even championship teams are always tweaking the roster. The way these teams evaluate players partly comes from scouting them over the course of their high school, college, and then professional careers. Another part is how a team feels about a player based upon what kind of damage that player has been able to inflict upon them. The Jazz are notorious (at least among Jazz fans) for seemingly to always go after guys who had big games against us. This may or may not be true, but they would explain why the Jazz aggressively went after Carlos Boozer and previously, John Amaechi. Both guys had (at that stage in their careers) their best games ever against the Jazz. Shortly thereafter they found themselves in Utah Jazz uniforms.

I was surprised that we did not go after Linas Kleiza this offense -- after all, he is a noted Jazz killer. The Jazz did go after and add Mo Williams (from the Los Angeles Clippers via a trade); Marvin Williams (from the Atlanta Hawks via a trade); and Randy Foye (from the Los Angeles Clippers via free agency). Have these guys had previous success against the Utah Jazz? Where they Jazz killers?

Check it out after the jump . . .

Mo Williams: a Jazz killer?

Mo was our 2nd round draft pick ages ago, and our General Manager has pined for him ever since we slipped through his fingers. He was an All-Star years later, and had very good seasons as both a Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers player. Was he a Jazz killer though?

Mo has played the Jazz 14 times in his career, and while Mo had some good games, I wouldn't call him a Jazz killer. Well, yeah, he did go 5/11 from down town against us that one time. But he's also had some really poor shooting games as well. He has killed us, and had some really nice games. Jazz killer? I don't think so. Guy who'll always be on our radar? Certainly.

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Marvin Williams: a Jazz killer?

Well, Marvin is a different animal all together. He's long. He's athletic. And played for a team we always have trouble with. Is he a Jazz Killer? He's only played 11 games against the Jazz, let's look at a handful of them.

I think even more-so than Mo, Marvin has had a few good games, but did not explicitly kill us. Point of reference for a SF/PF would be Kleiza who went for 40 on us, and also had a 25 point game LAST SEASON. However, he always attacked the basket, went hard (got to the line or a jam), and made threes. He did everything we wanted from a SF. And he even hit the glass too. He basically played like a lottery pick against the Jazz, which is something he did not do much of against other teams. Jazz killer? No. But very good.

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Randy Foye: a Jazz Killer?

Foye spent a lot of time on some really bad teams, so he has not really won much against us. The almost 29 year old has played in this league for a while though, and has played the Jazz 16 times (the most out of any of these guys). We've seen him the most, and he's had the most chances to do damage. Jazz killer?

Because the five games I selected were all wolves games I also picked a 6th, a Clippers example. And well, compared to what we think of Foye (a bad lotto player for his draft spot, kinda bust-ish) he HAS killed us. Dude gets to the line, makes threes, and is almost always an energizer off the bench.

In terms of being an outright Jazz killer you have to say no (never even once had a double double, or 25 points). But in the relative scale of his abilities and generally accepted talent level (he was never an All-Star like Mo was), he has killed us. Really, if you are letting Foye dominate your 2nd team then you are having trouble.

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Beyond the Science of Jazz Killing:

There really is no science of Jazz killing. Players have good games against teams all the time; and players suck against certain teams. All of these guys have had exceptional games against us, and poor games. All three are good examples of the types of players who have hurt us in the past though: spot up shooting players who can hit threes, players who can get to the line, and players who can slash. All three of these players did a mix of each in their assault on our team.

And now all three are on our team.

Hours of scouting aside, from high school on up, the sure fire way to be on another team's radar is to have a great game (or five) against them. These three are evidence of that.