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The Season of AB

Mitchell and Joe are entrenched as heavy minute players and Quin has a tough job getting consistent minutes for all of our bench wing options (Crowder, Allen, Exum, O'Neale). I've been impressed with Burks, but I just don't see how he gets the minutes to be considered for 6th man. I guess it's conceivable that Rubio struggles and Mitchell plays a bunch of PG with Burks at SG.

As for trade, I don't think Burks gets us a current player who provides us value. If we were to trade him, which I highly doubt due to how much teammates love him, he would be traded for a worthless expiring and some pick in the future. Something like a top 10 protected 1st in like 2022 from some Eastern Conference team like Detroit.

Burks is the 2018/19 version of Favors. He's had a couple rocky years and now he will play really well in his contract year. Like Favors, Burks is loved by his teammates and the organization. Unlike Favors, Burks plays a position where there is a ton of competition for minutes. I'm happy to keep him throughout this season so we can make a run for it, but I just don't see a way he stays with us long term should he keep playing this well.
 
He's earned his spot back in the rotation. Lets hope he can keep it.

We will be scary AF is AB is killin it.
 
Allen is looking more and more like the odd man out. And Sefolosha too. Royce, Alec, Dante and Jae look like the main guys off the bench. Lots of guys deserving of minutes. No matter what, someone is going to get the short end of the stick.
 
I'm happy for AB, but Imma just dip my toes in teh "AB is back" waters for now. If he's playing well I think it reduces the chances we trade him. If he had done this last year or had another year left on his deal and started playing well he'd be a good trade chip. I wouldn't want to trade him for some middling draft asset then have an injury where we wish we had him back.

AB stays ahead of Allen in the rotation and he can get spot minutes in clean up duty and when there are injuries.
 
There always seems to be a dream-period where we envision him turning the corner almost every single offseason since he's been on the team.

His passing has improved however and he looks a lot more at home in the offensive scheme than he had before, whereas he kind of just put his head down and drove in seasons past. He kind of was a ball stopper but I'm not getting that vibe anymore from the second half of last season and the preseason.
 
jazzfan1971 said:
I still don't trust him.
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This.

However I remain cautiously optimistic. If he can find a groove, play solid D, and hit the 3 with regularity, as well as add his normal spark, he could be special. He is one of those aggravating guys that has all the tools, and the attitude, but just can't seem to put it together for anything but short bursts, or a game here or there. I know injuries have played a part with AB, but I also think he is one of the lower BBall IQ guys on the team, and it shows in that he tends to make bad decisions. If he can settle that down, play within the offense, and go off-book when it makes sense, he could be 6th man material. Would love to see that.
 
Jazz Traveler said:
Allen is looking more and more like the odd man out. And Sefolosha too. Royce, Alec, Dante and Jae look like the main guys off the bench. Lots of guys deserving of minutes. No matter what, someone is going to get the short end of the stick.
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This is actually what I really like about our bench. So the standard bench rotation might be Jae first off the bench, possibly Royce and maybe even Alec, but I think it will be Jae first to spell either of the big men, then we would see Royce and Alec come in around the same time, maybe for Rubio and Ingles. Then we would potentially have Mitchell, Burks, Royce, Jae and let's say, Favors. That is a solid and scary group right there. That could be a starting 5 tbh, maybe not top tier, but easily as good as a phoenix or sac starting 5 (ok let's be honest, either of those teams would be ecstatic to have a starting 5 like that). Then we bring Donovan and Favors off the floor, and the full bench 5 is...well now you have a lot of options.

We could run with:

Neto (when he gets back from injury)
Burks
O'Neal
Crowder
Udoh

or you could see:

Burks
Allen
O'Neal
Crowder
Udoh

or maybe a small ball lineup for real with:

Burks
Allen
Sef
O'Neal
Crowder

I mean we have lots of options there. The real plus is our bench guys are all solid team players to the last man. We have no bad egg. You know when they call Sef's number, even if it is only for 5-10 minutes in a game here or there, he will be ready and will provide solid 3&D. Allen, while still developing of course, has such a good stroke from 3 I could see him being the offensive punch in a lineup with better D around him while he finds that part of his game (Like Crowder, Udoh, Sef or something).

This, by the way, is a great problem to have. We will not be an easy out for any team in this league. I think we can truly stand toe to toe with the biggest and best, and we are really 1 or 2 minor break-outs from being THE top team in the league. Man it has been a long time since we have had a team this exciting with this much potential.

GO JAZZ!!!!!!
 
LogGrad98 said:
This.

However I remain cautiously optimistic. If he can find a groove, play solid D, and hit the 3 with regularity, as well as add his normal spark, he could be special. He is one of those aggravating guys that has all the tools, and the attitude, but just can't seem to put it together for anything but short bursts, or a game here or there. I know injuries have played a part with AB, but I also think he is one of the lower BBall IQ guys on the team, and it shows in that he tends to make bad decisions. If he can settle that down, play within the offense, and go off-book when it makes sense, he could be 6th man material. Would love to see that.
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I just don't see him playing solid D every minute of every night and i think that's what coach Q wants.

Jazz Traveler said:
No matter what, someone is going to get the short end of the stick.
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Raw end of the prawn would also be acceptable.
 
Rubashov said:
I just don't see him playing solid D every minute of every night and i think that's what coach Q wants.



Raw end of the prawn would also be acceptable.
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That is why the solid D is part of the "if" statement. And why I am cautiously optimistic and not fully on the bandwagon. He has some holes in his game still, but really imo his biggest weakness is his IQ for the game. He just isn't as smart on the floor as most of our team is, and it means he does boneheaded things a little too frequently, like losing his man on D or not being in the right spot after a shot goes up or whatever, and those little lapses can really add up.
 
LogGrad98 said:
That is why the solid D is part of the "if" statement. And why I am cautiously optimistic and not fully on the bandwagon. He has some holes in his game still, but really imo his biggest weakness is his IQ for the game. He just isn't as smart on the floor as most of our team is, and it means he does boneheaded things a little too frequently, like losing his man on D or not being in the right spot after a shot goes up or whatever, and those little lapses can really add up.
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Im not buying in at the moment. I think if somebody gets traded this year its AB. He just looks the most expendable, well AB and Thabo. That said i think they still likely finishes the season in Utah.
 
Rubashov said:
Im not buying in at the moment. I think if somebody gets traded this year its AB. He just looks the most expendable, well AB and Thabo. That said i think they still likely finishes the season in Utah.
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I agree he is the most likely to be traded. I just hope he has a minor breakout before the deadline so we can flip him for some real value.
 
Burks logged 18.9 minutes per game in five preseason contests, where the Jazz finished 5-0. He also put up 13.4 points and 4.2 rebounds on 51.2 percent shooting and 47.6 percent from three
 
"I had a great summer," Burks said. "No injury, no rehab, just all playing and working out so I'm good."

"He looks like AB before the injury," said Jazz forward Derrick Favors. "He's been explosive, back to his scoring ways. He's been passing the ball a lot better. He's been more focused. He's back to playing the way he was before he got hurt and I'm happy for him. I think he's going to have a big year for us."

"I've slowed down enough where I can see what's going on," Burks said. "I was just going so fast because my summers were so different. I got a summer to really catch a rhythm and it's showing."

Jazz player development coach Jeff Watkinson has helped him become more efficient in taking shots off the dribble when defenders go underneath the pick. His speed has been a gift and a curse for him offensively because he feels he can blow by anyone in the league but now he's focused on reading defenses better.

"I'm not going 100 miles per hour," Burks said. "I can read. It's beautiful what you can read when you're not going so fast."

Jazz coach Quin Snyder sees that offensive progression as part of his evolution as a basketball player.

"The key thing just is to read," Snyder said. "Sometimes Alec is such a creative offensive player. He's got great quickness and handles the ball well so there's time where he may not need a screen and we want him to take advantage of those opportunities but also his ability to read and set up and put himself into higher percentage situations.

"I think more than anything it's helped his passing because he finds himself in slightly different space at times and Alec's a really good passer."

Burks' string of injuries first started during the 2014-15 season when he was sidelined for 55 games with after shoulder surgery. Then in 2015-16 he missed 50 more games with a broken fibula and underwent another arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle in 2016 before returning to play 64 games last season.

With his body intact this offseason, the former Colorado star put heavy emphasis on just hooping as much as possible as the team is projected for a strong finish in the West. If everything goes as planned, maybe fans will be exposed to the guy Wade warned them about two years ago. Just maybe.

"I'm ready. I'm ready for whatever happens," Burks said. "I've been ready. I had a good summer and I'm comfortable in my abilities. I know what I can do and I'm going to prove it."
 
I just hope Burks stays healthy this season. Both we and he deserves that after all the injury nonsense. I saw him play last season in L.A. and he killed the Clippers. Looking forward to him playing like that....
 
I'm cautiously optimistic because I've been disappointed too many times. I was one of those who had predicted that AB would be better than Hayseed early on. I'm a bit worried that his BB IQ will get the better of him.
 
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