HoopsHype Utah Jazz Season preview

[Thee Jazz Fan]

i have a few qualms with this paragraph. #1 - IMO, both marvin and millsap are starters. #2 - i'm not afraid about "being weak at the G position" per se; what i'm afraid is that we're extremely light on playmaking with this roster. not a lot of guys here who are proven in terms of their ability to create. #3 - i really just don't think burks is ready to start. i could be wrong, though, and that will be sorted out in camp.




haha, k. for the record, i wasn't comparing the two... just using dunleavy to prove somebody's point about how year 3 is a big year. a lot of guys -- regardless of style of play -- either take a big leap in year 3 or remain stuck as the same player from that point forward. dunleavy did the latter, and i think is an example to ANYBODY at that point in their career about how important it is in the early part of your career to keep working hard and adding to your game. dunleavy's improvements from year 2 to year 3 were modest in some cases and non-existent in others... and now, if you look back, year 3 is perfectly representative of his whole career, because he just stopped getting better from that point on.

at this point i think hayward has already established his worst-case scenario. we've seen his floor, but who knows where the ceiling is. i just don't want to see him get stuck in the groundhog day rut of NBA role players.

Some might say Favors is start worthy, and Hayward can start as sf as well, and is a better option then Williams. Favors is better equipped to defending some of these Allstar caliber pf's. Marvin is someone that tends to disappear in games, he's known for doing so. Having him play vs. The other teams subs might help to keep him playing at a high level. Have him come in the game for While the other teams starters are in, then he plays vs their subs. Bringing him off the bench playing starter minutes I think would maximize his production, which gives the jazz a great opportunity to bring along Burks playing as a starter getting bench minutes, and giving Hayward more responsibility.

As far as no playmaking ability in our guard rotation. I think there is plenty between Hayward, Burks, and Williams. All are capable of running the offense to different degrees. I think our biggest weakness in this area is Al and Millsap slowing down the offense. Hayward, Williams, and Burks are all capable of making a play when this team needs it even Foye.

 

[theNBAnerd]

Some might say Favors is start worthy, and Hayward can start as sf as well, and is a better option then Williams. Favors is better equipped to defending some of these Allstar caliber pf's. Marvin is someone that tends to disappear in games, he's known for doing so. Having him play vs. The other teams subs might help to keep him playing at a high level. Have him come in the game for While the other teams starters are in, then he plays vs their subs. Bringing him off the bench playing starter minutes I think would maximize his production, which gives the jazz a great opportunity to bring along Burks playing as a starter getting bench minutes, and giving Hayward more responsibility.

oh i agree, in an ideal world favors & hayward are starters, too. my ideal starting lineup includes both hayward AND marvin on the wings, both favors and millsap up front... and al playing in houston or toronto or something like that.

i disagree that marvin is someone we need to hide in our second unit. i think he's FAR more ready to play than burks is. we're talking about someone who has averaged double figures for the last 6 seasons, gets to the line, rebounds well for his position, and is a good defender. he disappeared for long stretches in atlanta because atlanta runs a horrible offense that is predicated on the same 2 guys ball-dominating all the time. marvin makes our 1st unit extremely dangerous, and at this point in alec's career, he's probably better suited to be the bench scoring option anyway.

As far as no playmaking ability in our guard rotation. I think there is plenty between Hayward, Burks, and Williams. All are capable of running the offense to different degrees. I think our biggest weakness in this area is Al and Millsap slowing down the offense. Hayward, Williams, and Burks are all capable of making a play when this team needs it even Foye.

that hayward and burks can be counted on for playmaking is a very persistent thought around here, but i don't know that it's a reality. while hayward looked BETTER as a playmaker in his second season, he has a long way to go before we look at him as our manu.

and mo has never been a distributing PG. he doesn't push the ball on the break, he doesn't have a history running the pick-and-roll, and he's better as a spot up shooter, sort of a 2 in a 1's body.

my hope is that one of these guys steps up and fills the void... but as of right now, i'm extreeeeeemely worried about who the facilitator is in this offense. we have LOTS of options as far as who can score the basketball, but how we get the ball to them, i don't know. it's why i'd be a whole lot more comfortable if we had a natural playmaker as the backup PG, so at least we had some options. as is stands, PG is our thinnest position on the depth chart and the one where our best guy at that position doesn't really possess a ton of traditional PG skills.

 

[Thee Jazz Fan]

i disagree that marvin is someone we need to hide in our second unit. i think he's FAR more ready to play than burks is.

Never said we needed to hide him. Hayward is a better player. Start Hayward at sf and bring Williams in early for Burks. This strengthens our bench, but gives Williams starter minutes allowing us to compete with the other teams starters while allowing Marvin to dominate backup sf's of the other team, which also gives Burks great experience to help him grow as a player.

he disappeared for long stretches in atlanta because atlanta runs a horrible offense that is predicated on the same 2 guys ball-dominating all the time.

Yes, and throwing the ball into the post to Al and Millsap who dominate the ball, knowing they will shoot regardless is great offense. What's your point?

marvin makes our 1st unit extremely dangerous, and at this point in alec's career, he's probably better suited to be the bench scoring option anyway.

which is why I said bring in Marvin early in first to play him starter minutes dipping into Burks starter minutes. This allows us to dictate matchups, and gives us more options.

I'm not going to argue your point on Hayward, Burks, as it's speculation on my part, but if Hayward is as good as everyone thinks this is the year he will show it, but as far as Mo goes the tittle "play maker" doesn't just have to be subjugated to passing alone Mo is a Baller period and will make plays in his own way, and hasn't been asked to be a pg since he left the Bucks. I think he's better then you think.

 

[theNBAnerd]

Never said we needed to hide him. Hayward is a better player. Start Hayward at sf and bring Williams in early for Burks. This strengthens our bench, but gives Williams starter minutes allowing us to compete with the other teams starters while allowing Marvin to dominate backup sf's of the other team, which also gives Burks great experience to help him grow as a player.

hayward probably is a better player, yes, but both of them are better at this point than burks, foye, carroll or murphy... which is why i say start them together.

hayward can, should and will play a lot of his minutes at the two. burks will still have plenty of minutes as the 3rd wing in a 4-man rotation.

Yes, and throwing the ball into the post to Al and Millsap who dominate the ball, knowing they will shoot regardless is great offense. What's your point?

fair enough. but at its core, ours is a motion offense that is predicated on lots of screening, cutting and passing. atlanta's is not. i'm not saying that's always how our offense looked in reality, but in theory there are more ways for a guy with marvin's skill set to play off of others.

which is why I said bring in Marvin early in first to play him starter minutes dipping into Burks starter minutes. This allows us to dictate matchups, and gives us more options.

I'm not going to argue your point on Hayward, Burks, as it's speculation on my part, but if Hayward is as good as everyone thinks this is the year he will show it, but as far as Mo goes the tittle "play maker" doesn't just have to be subjugated to passing alone Mo is a Baller period and will make plays in his own way, and hasn't been asked to be a pg since he left the Bucks. I think he's better then you think.

"mo is a baller period and will make plays in his own way" is EXACTLY what i worry about. no matter who we start, we're going to have five very capable scorers on the floor, and that's going to be a lot of fun... but it's a waste if we don't have anybody on the floor who can create for others. we'll join the ranks of teams with a lot of on-talent paper that can't leave mediocrity because everybody knows what mo is going to do with the ball, everybody knows what al will do with the ball, etc. as it is, there's NOBODY who has shown a consistent ability to read defenses and react, and that's what you need if you're going to take advantage of the arsenal the jazz are working with. hayward hasn't been able to establish that, mo hasn't ever done that well, and burks has actually done the OPPOSITE and gotten a lot of feedback about his decision-making.

with the right playmaker/facilitator, this could be a dangerous i-dare-you-to-double-somebody type of lineup. without the right playmaker/facilitator it's just five talented guys that are going to be very easy to defend.