AK Sucks in Olympics Operner Vs. GB -- only scores 35

[Joe Bagadonuts]

I hate AK but I agree with this post. In fact, my gut tells me Minny will make the playoffs and be very feisty this year. It also tells me that GS will either barely make the playoffs, or barely miss them. As far as Utahr goes, I have a bad feeling in my gut. Marvin Williams will underperform, mostly on the offensive side of the ball where he'll suck from the perimeter. Burks will become our new chucker and be frustrating at times. Favors will be slightly better but still lack any go to moves on offense and be inconsistent. And Jefferson will be Jefferson. Personally, if our season comes down to one player, I think it's Hayward. Our frontcourt is deep and solid. We know what we get there. Mo should be solid at the point. But Hayward will make or break our season imo. We go as far as he grows and goes as a player. If he can be the Hayward who played the last couple months, before the SA series, ona consistent basis, who knows, we can win 50+ games. If not, and he, dare I say it, regresses, so could we, and we could have a losing record. Done mini-rambling.

If this post turns out to be correct I'm going to neg rep you. I'm surprised you would even want to watch the Jazz if these are your expectations. I'd rather have a mouth full of root canals than have any of the sorts of thoughts that apparently rattle around in your brain,

 

[theNBAnerd]

Why do none of you AK worshippers remember when Sloan deliberately ran plays designed for AK to score? He did this to keep AK happy. Sloan gave it up because he got tired of spotting six possessions a game to the opposing team.

he ran plays for AK to facilitate, not necessarily for him to score. the whole point was to get him more "involved" in the offense, not make him the end-point of it.

 

[Getting Traded]

I totally agree with the Nerd. Way back when the Jazz acquired Boozer, there was more than one astute poster on here, who pointed out that Boozer's acquisition would considerably diminish AK's role in the offense and would effectively leave him to stand out on the perimeter, which actually happened. I'll admit I am one of AK's biggest fans and probably will root for the TWolves this year. I'm not sure yet though when they play the Jazz this year; I will have to see where my emotions lead me, having followed the Jazz for nearly 20 years.

I think the AK haters on here are mostly guys who came here after Deron started with the Jazz. I can't say I'm not disappointed with how things turned out with AK, but being a big supporter of him, I can see how most of it was situational, and something that he did not adapt to well. In fact, it actually stunted his growth as a player. But as the Olympics have shown, he's still the AK of old and I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays for the TWolves. One of the reasons I've always like the Jazz is because they played as a team and AK is the ultimate team player. In fact, if you look at the Olympics, just about all the teams in contention play better team ball than the U.S. I guess in many ways, CJazz is right about the NBA players of today, they are a bunch of hip-hoppers. Not like the Stockton-Malone model or the Magic / Bird type player who made their teammates better. The model has followed the super, amazing individual prototype of MJ and you get super-star jerks like AI and Melo.

It should be an interesting season. I often wonder what kind of team players the haters on here would be if we played with them on a basketball team; these tough guys who hate AK because he cried ...

 

[mrob]

But as the Olympics have shown, he's still the AK of old and I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays for the TWolves.

I think many of us here are looking forward to see how he plays for the TWolves, but you are deluding yourself if you think that his play in the Olympics has anything to do with how he will play in the NBA. There's a big difference between playing a game where you are the best player on either team and playing one where you are MAYBE the sixth best.

I really do wish AK the best and I hope he does recapture some of what he's lost, but his play here doesn't mean anything.

 

[northeast]

I think Russia has played impressively already.
If AK helps his team win a medal, with the odds against them, I would be super impressed.

I assume that the NBA and the Olympics use different refs. This might have something to do with AKs relative performance.

 

[Getting Traded]

Well, it's still the same game, Olympics or not. If the NBA is so much tougher, then why has Kobe sucked so far, until the last game? I don't buy that. I would agree that the rigor of the NBA might have something to do with it. And AK did make the All-Star team in the NBA, and he's still the same player, so I think people are listening to the haters on here too much, haters who are biased and some of whom aren't keen observers and look at stats rather than watch the games.

 

[MVP]

Haters of course will disagree but...did anybody hear Doc Rivers before the US game yesterday talking about Kirilenko? He called him a dream player to coach, compared him to Scottie Pippen in the sense that he does everything well but nothing great.
And this from his D.Blatt:
"Andrei is the greatest player in the history of Russian basketball, bar none,'' Blatt said. "And he is here of his own volition and leading us with his heart. In Russia, he is a Michael Jordan-like figure for us. He is our best player. He is also our hardest worker and our leader. And with him it is all coming from the heart.''
Just more evidence to me that Sloan sucked.

 

[Stoked]

Haters of course will disagree but...did anybody hear Doc Rivers before the US game yesterday talking about Kirilenko? He called him a dream player to coach, compared him to Scottie Pippen in the sense that he does everything well but nothing great.
And this from his D.Blatt:
"Andrei is the greatest player in the history of Russian basketball, bar none,'' Blatt said. "And he is here of his own volition and leading us with his heart. In Russia, he is a Michael Jordan-like figure for us. He is our best player. He is also our hardest worker and our leader. And with him it is all coming from the heart.''
Just more evidence to me that Sloan sucked.

No just evidence that AK continues to be a divisive subject. Utah players have come out saying that he was in and out of practice first. If he is this legendary hard worker as those people in your post indicate then why di he not show that here.

If Sloan is your answer then mine would be that means AK is mentally weak and allowed someone to break him and therefore was not as great as you make him out to be.

I liked AK but I'm not riding his jock either.

 

[MVP]

No just evidence that AK continues to be a divisive subject. Utah players have come out saying that he was in and out of practice first. If he is this legendary hard worker as those people in your post indicate then why di he not show that here.

If Sloan is your answer then mine would be that means AK is mentally weak and allowed someone to break him and therefore was not as great as you make him out to be.

I liked AK but I'm not riding his jock either.

Well, then the question is why Sloan could not get same AK that Blatt is getting in Russia? What if Adelman will get in Minesotta? Would that prove that Sloan was not capable of handling him properly? I read recent interview with D.Williams in russian media... when asked why AK had problems in his last few years in NBA his answer surprised me. Deron said "AK just needs a change of scenery/place/situation". Not that he needed to work harder or come to practices first

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

Haters of course will disagree but...did anybody hear Doc Rivers before the US game yesterday talking about Kirilenko? He called him a dream player to coach, compared him to Scottie Pippen in the sense that he does everything well but nothing great.

He compared him. He didn't say he was Pippen who by the way was light years better as an overall player. We're talking about the best wing defender in the history of the game and a guy who could actually do something with the basketball when it was in his hands on the offensive end. Not fumble around with it like AK does as if it's a hot potato.

And this from his D.Blatt:
"Andrei is the greatest player in the history of Russian basketball, bar none,'' Blatt said.

And this is like saying I'm the best distance runner in the history of my high school. It means **** since my high school's produced little to no high level distance running talent.

"And he is here of his own volition and leading us with his heart. In Russia, he is a Michael Jordan-like figure for us. He is our best player. He is also our hardest worker and our leader. And with him it is all coming from the heart.''
Just more evidence to me that Sloan sucked.

Yeah, overwhelming proof.

 

[Getting Traded]

Well, Deron made that comment about him leaving early when AK was going through that funk. AK has always worked hard on the court; hustle has been his trademark. I think he eased up his last years with the Jazz because of injuries and also because he was not happy with his role. If he had been a better midrange jumpshooter like Harpring he would've fit in a lot better with the Jazz during the Deron era, but he just hasn't been able to master that. If you watch him play with his Russian team, he takes few jump shots except for threes.

 

[northeast]

Today is the day, the game of the year for Kirilenko fans and antifans.
If Russia beats Spain, does that clinch a silver?
I don't watch much Olympics, but I'd like to see this game.