This team just doesn't have the weapons. Earlier in the year, defense, gritty play, pride, and confidence dug out a few wins that the Jazz shouldn't have had.
Resorting to cliche, but hustle is a massive issue.
There's something microcosmic, predicative and pathetically typical about, for instance, what I saw out of Kirilenko tonight: on one hand great hustle on a night celebrating him and his fellow countrymen(?)/culture, yet even within that standard and stanza we're talking about one half of work. MIA come the second half.
That he seemed more interested than usual for a stretch is its own indictment. Wasting 17 million on a guy who needs a "special" reason to show up for a half every few games.
This team has too many role players. Role players that play like Robert Horry in the regular season: just coasting along. That works when you have multiple stars, other subs that know roles and fill them throughout the year, or simply when that same playter truly does make up for it with clutch play in the playoffs, often making up for not only his own play but even that of star teammates (see: Duncan, Tim in the 2005 Finals).
But the Jazz have none of these elements. Not only does it seem that Boozer's presence is missed, but Derek Fisher has been missed for the last three seasons.
I think that the Jefferson trade was a nice move, but his inability to read doubles and general weakside action is troubling, compounded by an interior game that, iso'd and read as internal skillset, is too often timid rather than intimi...well, you get the play on words. All as troubling as Sloan's inability to, or disinterest, in problem solving, either through lineup changes or, contradictorily, any type of consistency in skillset management: i.e. is Okur really more valuable than Fesenko? As valuable? How about Kirilenko versus Hayward?
Teams often take on the personality of specific players. The better teams are attuned to a strong star presence, but Utah has arguably been subverted for years by the tandem of Okur and Kirilenko. Never forget the fact that these two had booked passage out of town during a conference championship. Or that Deron was shot down when he made issue of this.
The schizophrenic soap opera that is both personification and, now, a half-season of play seems far closer to a projected mindset from a headcase like Kirilenko than Williams. I'd almost hazard that Kirilenko's dream of ridding the team of Boozer has paid off, in the form of a team that now is mentally weaker by way of an ongoing, quarter by quarter, identity crisis. The only separation from Kirilenko's personality is that their highs have been notably inspired and powerful, whereas Kirilenko's best moments are either quarantined to a distant past involving sub-.500 play or off the court antics such as free passes and crying jags.
Interesting to note who guides things in Utah, and why. vj's posts are, by analysis and recollection, pretty accurate: management cares little about a title. I'd extrapolate that they care only slightly more about product as positive production than a weasel like Sterling.
And that's only because they don't have the market benefits that he does.
