Agree. We all knew that some big man or the other would be left unhappy in terms of playing time, after Okur comes back.Inevitable. It will be by committee for a while. But Elson has been the steadier big man off the bench. Cannot expect Sloan to keep all 13 guys happy with their minutes.
Utah Jazz @ Milwaukee Bucks, 6:30pm mst
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Agree. We all knew that some big man or the other would be left unhappy in terms of playing time, after Okur comes back.Inevitable. It will be by committee for a while. But Elson has been the steadier big man off the bench. Cannot expect Sloan to keep all 13 guys happy with their minutes.
You're ******** me, right?
Gyp Rosetti
Banned
We've gone from 1st to 8th in defensive field goal percentage.
InGameStrategy
Well-Known Member
+44 (KF's jersey number) for the profound wisdom.
Given the lack of effort that Sloan has placed (despite cheap talk since last) in finding court time Fesenko (despite his ability to contribute while on the court), Elson has predictably won Jerry's favor. I don't think that FE's FT% is enough to warrant that, but whatever. For a long time, my mantra has been to play more of the bigs, and consider playing them alongside PM or AJ. Sloan still let fouls largely determine the substitutions--not good enough against better teams--but at least one of the bigs showed how sage the strategy was. More recently, I have added the weakness that was the thirtysomething Raja Bell, and suggested that a few minutes more of RBs time to CJ was wise also--and was comforting after Sloan subbed out Kiri first for CJ. As if by magic, when those simple changes took place, the Jazz pulled out a gimme win that really would've been disappointing to lose.
I'm skeptical that the 4/5 rotation of Millsap, AJ, Elson, and Okur--the rotation that is looking likely--can beat the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, Spurs, and Mavericks. I think that Fes with experience would make that rotation more clearly solid. So it's still a problem. At least we can find solace in actually winning the rebound battle tonight also.
Marty McFly
Well-Known Member
LOL at the Elson haters. This is the Utah Jazz - we're trying to win games right now and Frank is helping. Who the hell knows what will happen when Fes takes the floor? He's blown just as many games as he's contributed to. Fes is an OK player but his potential is certainly not high enough that we should bench other productive players in order to get him minutes.
Seriously, what's not to like about Elson? He's athletic, long, tall, mean, can hit a jumpshot, plays defense, and most importantly, has a brain and uses it.
Fran is the man.
Seriously, what's not to like about Elson? He's athletic, long, tall, mean, can hit a jumpshot, plays defense, and most importantly, has a brain and uses it.
Fran is the man.
InGameStrategy
Well-Known Member
Feel free to start citing the games that Fes has "blown". I'll start this game show with Elson's 4-turnover bumblefest against the Dallas Mavericks on December 3rd that Frank didn't blow alone but certainly wasn't a positive factor.
I already acknowledged that Frank is a better FT shooter, but he does not control the paint better than Fes does, and he doesn't have as much height. FE's 7.1 PP30 vs. Fes's 6.3 PP30 ain't much to write home to Amsterdam about. And Fes has a higher rate of blocks & rebounds and a lower rate of turnovers. Assists are within 0.3 per 30. Fes hasn't distinguished himself to be clearly superior to Elson, but he's also had to do it in over 100 minutes less, despite the similar productivity.
The bigs rotation is deeper than most Jazz teams have had, but the order is good ol' Sloan vet bias, which--by giving Fes's (or anybody's) minutes to Okur on Friday was a big step toward losing against the Hornets. Before he stepped on the court, Utah had a very manageable 7-point deficit. When Slowkur subbed out, that amount had tripled. So much for the development haters with the doomsday scenarios about developing players costing games. There you have one: a vet playing a big role in burying the team. Saturday night, the Turkish torero reached beyond his own best this year, ending with 1 for 5, one "better" than his 1-for-4 performance the night before. If any youngin' (including Fes) had had such a performance (much less two in a row), there would be cries for trades and D-League and the after-game training bicycle.
Elson's fine against a bottomfeeder team like the Bucks, but he hasn't been particularly good against contenders. What's most important is to have somebody in there who can help lift the Jazz beyond a dismal defensive status quo. I'm not sure that Elson is that guy, but perhaps the best service that he can provide is to at least play well enough so that Mediokur is no more than a selective temptation to sub in. If MO can somehow start playing convincing basketball on both ends of the court, especially defensively, then there's less to worry about. Somebody step up and be consistent.
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Anyone who thinks Fess is better than Fran is a complete idiot.
Marty McFly
Well-Known Member
To sum up this argument so far:
Marty: Elson has been big for us. He's shown more consistency and flat out more production than Fesenko, period. To bench Elson for Fesenko while Elson is producing for us makes no sense.
S2M: Elson had a bad game against the Mavericks, and Fesenko might have more potential, and Memo was really bad in his first couple of games back. Veterans suck. Coaching 101.
Feel free to let me know if I missed anything.
Marty: Elson has been big for us. He's shown more consistency and flat out more production than Fesenko, period. To bench Elson for Fesenko while Elson is producing for us makes no sense.
S2M: Elson had a bad game against the Mavericks, and Fesenko might have more potential, and Memo was really bad in his first couple of games back. Veterans suck. Coaching 101.
Feel free to let me know if I missed anything.
Gyp Rosetti
Banned
Should we start with his DNP's?