Where to start, where to start? How about with the starters? It's a topic among Jazz fans and certainly one we can chat about until the season begins on Halloween night. Who should be the starters for the Jazz? Ultimately, I don't think it is a big deal who opens the season as the starters, since the starting lineup was fluid last year. I mean, the starting starting lineup lasted a whole 2 games 8 months ago. The Deseret News' own Jody Genessy wrote a fun piece about who he thought should be starting. I won't spoil the surprise for you about who he picked, you should just read the article. But he also included a fan poll in the article asking who should start at each position. Approximately 1400 Jazz fans voted.
The results:
Mo Williams at point guard with 95% of the vote
Gordon Hayward at shooting guard - 57 %
Marvin Williams at small forward - 56%
Derrick Favors at power forward - 68%
Al Jefferson at center - 81%
I think the poll shows that Jazz fans are really hung up on size. That's cool. I could certainly live with this starting lineup if it came to pass (which I think it most likely will). The only change I would make, which you all should know by now, is switching Al for Paul Millsap and putting Favors at the 5, but I can see the value in this lineup. But we all talk about how Millsap could terrorize second string bigs, but it's Jefferson who has the biggest increase in numbers when playing the second unit. But that lineup Jazz fans majoritorily (I invented that word) like would be a decent mix of defense and offense.
Also in that Deseret News article, there is an awesome picture of Kevin O'Connor talking into Derrick Favors' right ear at a close level. I think O'Connor is explaining to Derrick, to be patient and kindly wait his turn.
Maybe I just wasn't paying attention and missed it, but I didn't hear anything about this question and answer Mo Williams did with Jazz fans via twitter and the Utah Jazz feed. It's a fun little video.
Also watch for a special guest appearance at the 5:18 mark of the video.
I really like Mo Williams. I hope he succeeds here in Utah.
By now you've probably heard that Andrei Kirilenko led the Russian National team over Great Britain in the first round of basketball games yesterday, scoring 35 points on 14-17 shooting. For those of you who wonder, I used Amar's fancy spreadsheets and number crunching machines to figure out that Andrei had a very good performance yesterday for Russia. But even better than the efficient scoring, was Andrei's quote after the game via the associated press:
"I feel great," Kirilenko said after scoring 35 points on 14-for-17 shooting against Britain on Sunday. "Look at me. I'm running like a young deer."
The Press actually got the quote wrong, however. Kirilenko said, "Look at me. I'm running like a John Deere." He was obviously honoring coach Jerry Sloan.
Speaking of Kirilenko, I think almost every Jazz fan could agree that he is the greatest Russian player to ever play for the Jazz. But where on the list of the greatest Jazz players would Kirilenko land? I was thinking about this after BillM7x7 mentioned Paul Millsap as possibly the 3rd greatest Jazz man ever (after Jarron Collins and Chris Morris, I assume) and gplayle vehemently disagreed saying there was a long line of Jazz players ahead of Millsap in that regard. It got me thinking. Who is the 3rd greatest Jazz player of all time? I don't mean, best, or most productive or most loved. I mean a combination of all of those things. Behind John and Karl, who is the 3rd GREATEST Jazz man ever? Discuss.
My list
Deron
Hornacek
Millsap
Russell
Okur
Favors TBD
David Benoit
I don't think it's ever too early to start talking about a game that we can all meet up at this year. If we are proactive and plan well, we might even be able to land some discount tickets or a suite or something. But we should gather together as SLCdunkers as often as possible for Utah Jazz home games. I would even try to make it and maybe Moni could wake up at 3 am to skype in or something. So let's get the conversation started. What games interest you? What home game would be perfect for an SLCDUNK meet up?