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So Memo went through a full practice today........

I think it's expecting alot to consider Memo starting for the Jazz before all-star break, and I'm still not sure he's going to be the Memo we remember him as. Just because he was a spot-up shooter who wasn't extremely athletic prior to his injury doesn't mean he didn't use his legs on his shot - and that could take a long time to come back.

There isn't much of a history of NBA players returning from this type of injury - we all know Elton Brand was never the same player, Isiah Thomas chose to retire, although Dominique Wilkins was able to return to his high-scoring ways. Hopefully by the all-star break Memo will be able to consistently space the floor for us with his shooting - but I think expectations of him starting in the near future are unrealistic. I think for the first several weeks after he returns he'll be a role-player off the bench for Utah at most.
 
Jazz4ever said:
That is all pure speculation on your part. While Jefferson may be the slightly better player, he has clearly not been a good compliment to Williams and Millsap. The spacing has been terrible. Okur would alleviate that and now the Jazz have a powerful boost off the bench with Jefferson teamed up with Miles. Ginobbli has arguably been San Antonio's 2nd best player for years now and they won many championships with him off the bench.
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'May be' and 'slightly?'

LOL @ that absurdity. Big Al Jefferson is the better player in nearly every discernible facet of the game and by a considerable amount as well.
 
Saw some of the highlights of the practice on the local news. He was moving pretty well. Jumping and laterally defending (as well as Memo can). Hopefully he will be back soon. Jazz really could use a decent 3 point shooter.
 
I'd like to see Memo start at C, AJ at PF. I'm interested in how smoothly the offense would run with Memo passing in to Jefferson on the low block. That either takes up two defensive bigs or they go zone and hope Memo doesn't drop rain with some little guy reaching up at him. Two bigs eliminates the threat of Memo's position defender dropping down to double team the post, but being able to close out if the pass goes back to the arc. The Jazz have had issues with that in the past. Two bigs leaves a nice lane on the weak side for easy AJ dishes to cutters. It's easier to turn into small weak side defenders and pass over the top.
 
I can't wait till Memo gets back. It'll mean less minutes for Fes and Elson, but a good Memo off the bench is a valuable weapon. Of course, I hope he's only in if he's performing well.
 
franklin said:
I'd like to see Memo start at C, AJ at PF. I'm interested in how smoothly the offense would run with Memo passing in to Jefferson on the low block. That either takes up two defensive bigs or they go zone and hope Memo doesn't drop rain with some little guy reaching up at him. Two bigs eliminates the threat of Memo's position defender dropping down to double team the post, but being able to close out if the pass goes back to the arc. The Jazz have had issues with that in the past. Two bigs leaves a nice lane on the weak side for easy AJ dishes to cutters. It's easier to turn into small weak side defenders and pass over the top.
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I think it would be very hard to move a guy in Sap who is putting up nearly 20/10 on the bench. That being said, I'm sure we'll see some late game situations with Al/Memo if Sap is sucking it up that night.
 
Another reason I am excited to see Memo come back is this year the opposing team wont be able to put there power forward on him because Milsap and AJ will kill any Center in this leauge with 15 foot jumpers or drives/post moves. If you remember last year everyone put there 7' center on our power forward and then used a more agile and better at guarding the 3 point line power forward on our center. If you remember our lazy power forward coudlnt go around the 7' centers or even shoot over them.
 
Inn Dawn said:
'May be' and 'slightly?'

LOL @ that absurdity. Big Al Jefferson is the better player in nearly every discernible facet of the game and by a considerable amount as well.
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And this is based off what? Your hope? Okur is a proven 17 and 7 player when healthy. He can do that as a complimentary piece without even having to touch the ball every time. He has a championship ring and all star appearance. Al Jefferson has done 20 and 10 on arguably the league's worse team over the last 3 years. If you want to argue his stats are just as valuable on a losing team, then you just said Monta Ellis is a top 3 shooting guard in this league. So far with the Jazz, Al's numbers are inferior to Okur's. Both in effeciency and +/-
 
Jazz4ever said:
And this is based off what? Your hope? Okur is a proven 17 and 7 player when healthy. He can do that as a complimentary piece without even having to touch the ball every time. He has a championship ring and all star appearance. Al Jefferson has done 20 and 10 on arguably the league's worse team over the last 3 years. If you want to argue his stats are just as valuable on a losing team, then you just said Monta Ellis is a top 3 shooting guard in this league. So far with the Jazz, Al's numbers are inferior to Okur's. Both in effeciency and +/-
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He averaged 13.5 PPG last season. That's before the injury, and when he was a year younger. His career average is also around 13 PPG. He did average 17 a couple of seasons, but we might as well get Malone, who's a proven 30 and 12 player! But knowing Sloan, we'll probably get 30 MPG of The Glacier once he's back anyway.
 
whatever juggling the Jazz do, there are going to be a couple of unhappy players on the bench when Memo gets back and goes 20-25 mins every game. Either Millsap, or Fesenko or Elson or some combination of these three. Jazz will lose some chemistry and they will get back a step or two before going forward. As such Fesenko is not playing much, it is hard to imagine how both him and Elson will continue to get mins when Okur comes back.
 
Jazz4ever said:
And this is based off what? Your hope? Okur is a proven 17 and 7 player when healthy. He can do that as a complimentary piece without even having to touch the ball every time. He has a championship ring and all star appearance. Al Jefferson has done 20 and 10 on arguably the league's worse team over the last 3 years. If you want to argue his stats are just as valuable on a losing team, then you just said Monta Ellis is a top 3 shooting guard in this league. So far with the Jazz, Al's numbers are inferior to Okur's. Both in effeciency and +/-
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Al is'nt even a month old with the Jazz. When he is finally clicking he is clearly the better player. He is the ONLY post presence that we have. Meanwhile it remains to be seen how effective Okur is when he gets back and how he adjusts to the lineup changes. Quite a few question marks.
And with Millsap improving his offense, Okur has to really be in top shape to be the 17/7 player again. I am pulling for Memo to make it, but there quite a few hurdles to cross
 
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