Something's Not Quite Right With The Utah Jazz

I have no sources for this but I feel like something deeper is going on with the Jazz than that what we know. It feels like it did before Deron was traded but somehow even worse. Not that the consequences will be worse but the feel of the team on and off the court seem worse.

The losses are piling up (2-14), players aren't living up to their potential, coaches are not living up to their potential, the team seems to be a mess.

This mess does not fall on one person. Yes we are tanking, which we all seem to be in favor of doing, but does it feel to anyone it is not just the tank that is causing the team's poor play?

Dennis Lindsey on what Tyrone Corbin will be evaluated on this season (via Moni at Jazzfanatical, interview July 16, 2013)

Will you be evaluating Ty Corbin as you would if you had a veteran team, or are wins and losses only part of the equation?
Greg, and Gail, and Steve, and Randy, and Kevin, and Bob and I are gonna evaluate the coaches on building a defensive foundation. You know, building a disciplined level of play. And development, individual development, of the young guys in a team setting.

So those, you know, we won’t lose fact, or lose sight of the decisions that we made to go young, and I think we’ll appropriately evaluate, you know, the defense, and the discipline, and the development going forward.

Strategy and priorities going forward
We need to find out more about our young players, and we have a few young players that are coming up for extensions, and one of the issues that we ran into, where we could get a pretty good level of player, but we couldn’t, when we started looking at, we wanted to take a real sober look at, you know, projections and our reality. …

We’re a small market, and there’s just certain ways that it’s the best way to team-build, and to team-build here, it’s build your foundation through the draft; parlay up via trade, and augment in free agency. …

Despite Lindsey's 3 D's this season it seems like Ty is more concerned with winning (which we are not doing). Are the losses on him, I don't know, I don't care.

Here is Corbin's quote after the victory last night: (via Moni)

Tyrone Corbin, post-game
Well, I thought, you know, the effort on all the guys’ part, especially the veteran guys…Richard [Jefferson] and Marvin [Williams], I thought, did a tremendous job of just keeping everybody going and focused on what we needed to do, and to close the game out, the determination that they all showed to win the ball game, and I thought it was great on all fronts.

Using veterans at the expense of young players doesn't seem to be inline with what Lindsey said would be the focus of the team:

Letting our young players, our young core grow, instead of being support actors, maybe more in primary roles, you know - Dennis Lindsey (July 16, 2013)

We have seen this year where Corbin has opted to play Richard Jefferson 40+ mins in a game, where Alec Burks will only play 12. Is Jefferson that much better of a player... the stats say no

Does Jefferson play "smarter" during the game, I don't know. Do we know what we have with Jefferson, yes. Do we know what we have with Burks, no. Do we need Jefferson to succeed this year, not really. Do we need to develop Burks, I think we do.

(I like Jefferson just fine, he seems like a good teammate but play him less).

Today I saw a tweet that said that Burks should be out of the league. I like this poster and respect his opinion. I didn't agree however with that opinion. Many fans have strong opinions about Burks. I know some fans don't like Burks. I like him, he's not my favorite player but I like him. I miss his swagger. Out of all the players currently on our team, I feel Burks development has been messed with the most.

Burks vs Jefferson is one example that shows me that maybe Ty has a different idea of what the season goals are than player development. (Lucas playing at all is another example)

Do I blame Ty for going with who he is comfortable with, nope not one little bit. Do I think that its hurting the team, yes I do. Do I think it fits with what this season is suppose to be about, nope. At least not from how I understand what Dennis Lindsey has said.

Ty is coaching like he has coached the last three years but it is not working this year. Not just record wise but with development, defense and discipline. Is Ty who he is or can he improve to help his team succeed in their development, with their defense and to be disciplined on the court?

Is the incongruent nature from what we heard from the Jazz front office and how it feels the team is being run on the court causing friction among Jazz fans?

What did our young players expect after hearing that the team was being turned over to them? Do they feel the same way now 16 games into the season? Do they feel that they are put in a position to succeed on and off the court to truly lead this team? (I hope so)

Are our players trying their hardest? I have never felt comfortable calling out players for effort. I don't know the feelings in their hearts, I can't judge their effort.

Whether they are trying hard or not doesn't seem important if what they are doing on the court is causing them to regress. Whatever they are doing purposeful or not is not translating to success for them or the team. Again not about wins or losses but seeing discipline on the court, seeing development in their own games and the team game, and seeing improved defense.

Are the players doing everything they can to live up to Lindsey's season expectations?

Other things i have seen on twitter today from Jazz fans:

• Kanter should be traded
• Favors is worse at defense than last year
• Burke is a bust after only two starts!

While I don't agree with these statements, this is what some fans feel after watching the games. Pretty strong opinions.

The season so far is eliciting strong emotions from fans. Whether its from the players' play, or how the coach coaches, emotions are strong.

Emotions that don't seem to be coming just from losses, we were prepared for losses. Emotions that match however that something is going on that we don't know what it is and we have no control over. Emotions similar to that during the tumultuous weeks in February 2011.

My hope is that I am wrong. That losing is hard and causing the poor play from players, questionable decisions from the coach and strong emotions from the fans. If I am not wrong I hope whatever is causing all of this is resolved quickly.