Game Thread Jan 03, 2023 07:00PM MT: Jazz vs Kings

[HermanG]

Yeah, but his high point totals are not turning into wins. That's not ideal (to me - I understand that tankers are loving all this). Not saying it's his fault, but it is what it is. The debate on "empty stats" is ancient in the NBA. If you put up big numbers but the team keeps losing, is it because your teammates are not pulling their weight or because there's something lacking in your game? Are you making them better?

Fantastic perimeter shooting has had a large part in making Lauri pretty much the most efficient scorer in the NBA this season. And it's also kept the Jazz competitive, since his gravity improves the spacing a ton. He doesn't even really have to do anything to keep a defender glued to him.

I think this losing streak alone already killed his AS game chances, and putting up a ton of bricks from the arc will just Finnish the job (see what I did there?)

First off he isnt bricking those shots. Literally everyone in this team has had worse slumps this year than Lauri is on right now.

Secondly, name a Jazz player not named Lauri who would be a starter in any of the top 6 teams in the West (also name the starter youd replace).

We dont have the pieces. Especially defensively. All we have is draft picks. Our 3rd best player is a rookie who was the 22nd overall pick.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

First off he isnt bricking those shots. Literally everyone in this team has had worse slumps this year than Lauri is on right now.

Secondly, name a Jazz player not named Lauri who would be a starter in any of the top 6 teams in the West (also name the starter youd replace).

We dont have the pieces. Especially defensively. All we have is draft picks. Our 3rd best player is a rookie who was the 22nd overall pick.

Yeah, Lauri is very good.

But he's still bricking those 3's.

 

[fishonjazz]

Lol we were 0.1 of a second away from the best game winner of the season from Lauri. I don’t think there will ever be a better tank loss than this.

Btw, I saw that our own clock operator shorted us by .2 seconds for that last shot. Fox shot went through the hoop with .6 seconds left on the clock but the clock operator stopped the clock with .4 left. That is world class tanking lol.

 

[fishonjazz]

I couldn't agree more. Maybe he ends up being a bust, but it's time to give him some minutes and find out what we have.


View: https://twitter.com/Tjonesonthenba/status/1610498127202783232

Ya no ****. Should have been playing from day 1.

 

[Step-Back Hook]

One aspect where people go wrong a lot of times is concluding the certain amount misses from individual counts as "we had won if he made few more."
The game flow matters. One made three pointer is under 3% from the total points combined in the game. If someone misses a lot inside the game then it is better if the misses are scattered and the said individual can go for another options to help the game flow not getting out of hand - if his outside shot is not on. Lauri has done that in late games where his thee hasn't been on. if he made two more threes inside that game of course it gave us a few percents better chance to win. Or if he missed lot of threes in short time or in the clutch that for sure might have killed chances as the opponent might gone for a run or sealed the game bc of it.

Of course he needs to make threes with a good clip but singling out few games with that and whining about it when he goes for around 30 pts with solid TS% is just wild. 28pts with 15 shots is good output. The game was lost on the normal issues: team defense is not good enough. Games lately not turning into wins has not been about how good or bad Lauri shoots from three. That has been affecting like few percents at most. If the misses were piled on in bad stretches inside the game the effect would be much higher and people might have a reason singling it out. Now there really is not.

 

[fishonjazz]

If there had been .6 seconds on the clock instead of .4, Lauri likely gets the ball out of his hands in time and we win the game.


View: https://twitter.com/NBASarah/status/1610500789025505285

Oops. Didn't realize it had already been pointed out.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Ya no ****. Should have been playing from day 1.

Agbaji sucks. I'm sorry. No wonder he's gonna get PT now that we're actually tanking.

 

[fishonjazz]

Another awful game. I don't care about moral victories. We suck now. Random thoughts:

- The FT line has become Lauri's second home of late, but I don't like some of the recent trends in his game or how we're incapable of responding when teams double him. The first thing that's becoming obvious is that his torrid 3pt shooting is over for now. He's still been able to make some shots, but Lauri's known to be a streaky guy in the past and right now his shot is way off. Even his release looks different than it did a month ago. He struggled to start the season as well, but back then our ball movement was on another level and Markkanen was able to feast off cuts and low post mismatches.

Another worrying issue is that every team has scouted his curls to the middle by now. Everyone's anticipating it, so Lauri's meeting a wall of defenders every time he receives the ball, and teams are taking away his passing lanes to the corner or the perimeter. That's easy to do because Markkanen constantly uses a very predictable route on those curls - he doesn't like to stop, pivot, do a crossover or any of that. He's also angling his curls away from the basket too often. In short, Lauri is getting the ball in spots where he doesn't have any advantage, and that's something of a killer for him. He's not a guy who can create good shots out of thin air when he gets the rock against a set defense. This is something he just has to get better at if he wants to be a star.

- Let's end the charade - Mike Conley can't play NBA defense anymore. It's becoming embarrassing. Fox went past him all game like he wasn't there. You can't beat father time, but Mike doesn't really even put in any effort at this stage. He knows he can't stop anyone so he's stopped trying. Kessler and the other bigs have a steady stream of dynamic scoring guards coming at them in 2-on-1 situations, and that's just an automatic bucket in the NBA. I think we literally have the worst backcourt defense in the League - Conley, Clarkson, Sexton and Beasley all suck and Agbaji won't be helping. His awareness is below average and the NBA game is moving way too fast for him.

- Kessler has to start developing a low post go-to move, pronto. He can't be a zero in half court offense. It's just way too big of a burden for the guys who can actually score some.

- Hardy is tanking.

Good post. Especially the part about conleys defense.

 

[fishonjazz]

Agbaji sucks. I'm sorry. No wonder he's gonna get PT now that we're actually tanking.

So what if he sucks? So does most of the team. And losses are wins this season. Should have been playing from day one. Should have been tanking from day one as well. Btw he hasn't played enough to declare anything definitively about him.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

Agbaji sucks. I'm sorry. No wonder he's gonna get PT now that we're actually tanking.

fish is right. should have been playing from day 1. should have been tanking from day one. the fast start simply slowed and hurt the tank that should have been happening all along. the fast start was fool's gold and ultimately detrimental to what this team needs to accomplish over the next few years. but hey, we got to cheer some wins in november! yay!

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Ochai seems like the new Tony Snell. He isnt awful, but he is largely out there doing nothing.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

Ochai seems like the new Tony Snell. He isnt awful, but he is largely out there doing nothing.

he is just like 15 games into his rookie season, so i'll give him some latitude. but worst case, he continues to be that way and the jazz lose a lot. i can live with an increased chance at Scoot Henderson.