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AK's resurgence

Marty McFly

Marty McFly

Well-Known Member
The evidence is getting stronger with every game in the post-D-Will era that AK and D-Will could not or would not coexist. Who knows what happened. But AK is looking 2004ish on offense again. Especially against Detroit - he was just everywhere. He and Devin seem to have excellent chemistry.
 
There's some truth to your post. We'll have to see if he continues to improve and they continue to work well together..
 
I've noticed a change as well. I'm curious to know why he wasn't playing this way with Deron. I can't tell if it was just conflicting skill sets or if it was just simply mental. If he does continue this type of play it could potentially offset the loss of Deron. The trade in theory could be a new AK plus Devin and Favors for Deron. With that said, AK is injury prone and mentally unstable, so as usual you have be cautiously optimistic with him.
 
Deron's method of offense really doesn't rely on ball movement between more than 2 players. Deron was a facilitator, and now that we don't really have that, it makes more pings throughout a play and that's when AK succeeds.

Part of it also has to be mental. There's no reason for AK to be a much worse defender than he was around 03-04. Athletically he seems about the same as before, but defense often comes down to effort and mentality than physical ability.
 
I was also thinking the same thing. If AK is willing to re-sign with us for CHEAP (like one-fifth of what he's making now)...the Jazz need to keep him.
 
I believe we are helping (as in double-teaming) more defensively under Ty Corbin, which is AK's strong suit. Offensively we are slashing to the basket more too. Whether that's because Deron is gone or Jerry is gone, I don't know... Again, that's AK's game on offense.
BTW, that appears to be Hayward's strength offensively; he needs more minutes, dang it!!!
 
NotDeadYet said:
I believe we are helping (as in double-teaming) more defensively under Ty Corbin, which is AK's strong suit. Offensively we are slashing to the basket more too. Whether that's because Deron is gone or Jerry is gone, I don't know... Again, that's AK's game on offense.
BTW, that appears to be Hayward's strength offensively; he needs more minutes, dang it!!!
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But Price plays real hard.
 
He has had what, a couple of good games in a row? AK always has a stretch of every season where everyone is like "Oh, here is the old AK" then about 2 weeks later its "Oh, here is brittle AK again who cant hit jump shots".
 
If AK was great in 2004 and Deron was drafted in 2005 and not let loose by Sloan until around the second half of 2005-06, why was not the greatness of AK revealed between 2004 through early 2006 when Deron wasn't in a position to ruin AK's beautiful game?

Contract year not figuring into all this, is it?
 
I agree with the previous two posters.

If AK does something special that helps this team get to the second round of the playoffs then we can talk about "resurgence". Until then, he remains the overpaid role player whose contract killed the franchise's hopes of contending for a championship the past decade and ultimately cost the city a HOF coach and an all star.
 
I've been promoting AK's good play this season for a while now. He single handedly brought the Jazz back into contention in several games. Maybe it's the contract year. Either way, his skill set is better utilized without a dominant pg and he'll be a bigger part of the offense this season.

The question I can't get passed is why was AK "I quit" room with KOC and Sloan?
 
What is curious to me was how AK was repeatedly getting open for wide open dunks against Detroit and getting the ball. Why wasn't this happening with Deron? Most of the time, AK just stood outside the perimeter and watched Deron, or took a pass from Deron and either made an entry pass or passed it back to Deron. The other irony is that Devin is more of a shoot first point than Deron as well, so you wouldn't expect AK to get as many touches with Devin.

I pointed this out back in 2006 that Deron was ignoring AK but no one would accept this; I guess we are seeing the evidence of this now.
 
Marty McFly said:
The evidence is getting stronger with every game in the post-D-Will era that AK and D-Will could not or would not coexist. Who knows what happened. But AK is looking 2004ish on offense again. Especially against Detroit - he was just everywhere. He and Devin seem to have excellent chemistry.
Click to expand...

It started before Deron was traded so your theory is bogus.
 
Marty McFly said:
The evidence is getting stronger with every game in the post-D-Will era that AK and D-Will could not or would not coexist. Who knows what happened. But AK is looking 2004ish on offense again. Especially against Detroit - he was just everywhere. He and Devin seem to have excellent chemistry.
Click to expand...



Ahhhhh, the memory of a Jazz fan. AK also played out of his mind a few months back, when Williams was still here, and then went back to being the AK we know and love.
 
I was probably the biggest AK critic on the old board. Had we had a rep system back when I first suggested a trade a few years ago, I probably would have been at -100 within a few days. But even I am encouraged by the AK I've seen the last couple of games. Not just his game...he just looks happier and more energetic. Maybe it's Sloan being gone, maybe it's the Deron trade - most likely a little of both.

Deron was on record as saying he ignored AK on offense. Now that was also said because AK couldn't hit a jumper and didn't lool like he had worked on his game during the off-season. So there were valid points being made. IF and that's a HUGE IF, AK can be content with slashing to the basket, and he doesn't fall back into his pattern of taking ill-advised 3's and 18-ft bricks (that's CJ's role), then I'd say re-sign him for a fair price.

What I do know is that he'll probably have little interest now in accepting Prokhorov's money. From his end, why would you want to play with a PG who doesn't trust you or feed you the ball. And from NJ's end, if you want to re-sign Williams, there's no chance you offer AK a contract. Deron would object to that.

Unlucky, notdeadyet and write4u have all made valid points. The defense Corbin seems to be implementing is a better fit for AK. Offensively, there is more ball movement and less emphasis on the PG getting all the assists. AK is a very good passer, he's a very good help defender.

I also understand the cautionary words being voiced (and I have reservations myself). AK has shown flashes before, playing 5-6 great games and then disappearing for a month.

Ideally, the Jazz would draft a quality SF to develop and trade for a veteran SG (the draft has absolutely ZERO SG's of note). In this scenario, I think AK would still fit in as a starter. CJ is not the answer and Hayward is still extremely raw. AK could go back to averaging 12 pts on drives/cuts, get 4 assists, a few weakside blocks and a couple of steals. Give him a 2-3 yr deal while the NJ pick (or Hayward) develops into a starter.
 
I wouldn't offer AK much more than the minimum. Team chemistry is killed by all his injuries. I'd rather go after a consistent player who you feel comfortable playing 82 games. AK can be a difference maker, then pops an ankle, and the team is at risk losing that glue. He's not my guy next season.
 
VINYLONE said:
Ahhhhh, the memory of a Jazz fan. AK also played out of his mind a few months back, when Williams was still here, and then went back to being the AK we know and love.
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In the past two or three games he's been more active than he has all year. He had some big games earlier this year because he was hitting his jumpshots but nothing like this.
 
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