Jazz Officially Matched Hayward According to Woj

[NUMBERICA]

The team was built that way though. They needed shooting because they had boozer and ak locked up and Williams was not exactly Stephen curry. Also, pre injury memo was an all star.

That's exactly their error. The dynamic of having to keep the worst starting defensive center in the NBA because he could spread the floor for wings that couldn't shoot but could defend was why the Jazz couldn't substantively improve. No matter how perfect the Jazz executed offensively, the other team just had to go zone/go under screens/pack-in-the-paint to visibly alter the Jazz's offense and all they had to do on the other end was drive to the paint. Korver and Matthews were good pieces if that team had someone to protect the rim. I don't know who it would've been, that's dabbling in fantasty. But I'll play: Brendan Haywood? Emeka Okafor? Tyson Chandler? There were some guys out there. There was also that kid from Congo whose name I can't remember that the Jazz passed on so that they could draft who was supposed to be ANOTHER Memo (and isn't).

You don't become the best without taking risks (or rather, risk changing something that works pretty well but no one believes will get the job done). The Jazz refused to. It's really that simple.

 

[Zulu]

Stellar defense.

I'm more just pissed that this team will never be GREAT.. and we are more of less stuck with it. (I'm being a bit dramatic, I know.. but it's kind of fun.)

Not sold on Hayward signing, but how does this matching keep us from being Great...

Or in other words what course if action would you have taken?

 

[Jazz4ever]

Terrible move. This is going to cost us Kanter or Burks. But Gordon is our guy now, and I would love to be proven wrong and have him play like a max guy consistently. I hope he doesn't get booed and fans realize it's not his fault that he is overpaid. His psyche is fragile enough as it is. This contract makes me love Favors even more.

Well Kanter was one of the worst players in the NBA last year.....so there's that angle.

 

[Nate505]

Bummer

 

[kabenac]

Stellar defense.

I'm more just pissed that this team will never be GREAT.. and we are more of less stuck with it. (I'm being a bit dramatic, I know.. but it's kind of fun.)

If GH can do all that I wouldn't mind (those stats with stellar defense = him containing the other team's star).

I'm sitting here trying to figure out why DL wants him so badly and the only thing I keep thinking is DL must think GH will flourish with the additions to the team/player improvements?

I am looking for the rational reason from DL. Hayward had better be working hard this off-season and not merely sitting on his brand new toilet made of gold.

 

[NUMBERICA]

That wasn't ever memo's role.

No one thought memo was a rim protector. No one.

Yeah. I know. That's my point. I suppose you missed the part that you quoted "- or at least what should be his role (protecting the rim) -". Or perhaps your reading comprehension would bar you from passing the GED test.

I didn't miss anything. My precise point is that no team can even pretend that a championship is a possibility when their primary rim-protectors are Boozer and Okur, and their best rim-protector is a small-ish PF that comes off the bench. You fix that or you're just full of ****.

If you thought that was his role then you're dumber than you look.

If it could be said that you could be dumber than you look, it would be. But that can only be said or believed so many times.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Not sold on Hayward signing, but how does this matching keep us from being Great...

Or in other words what course if action would you have taken?

I don't think he is worth the money. It's that simple. I don't know, specifically, what I would do.. but I would prefer incredible flexibility to overpaying GH.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Not sold on Hayward signing, but how does this matching keep us from being Great...

Or in other words what course if action would you have taken?

Let him walk, keep renting cap space, tank another year, stay flexible for when the Jazz have players worth that salary or are in a position to acquire that player in a trade.

 

[NUMBERICA]

In the 3 seasons leading up to Memo's extension, these were the Jazz's per possession defensive ranks:

06/07: 18th
07/08: 12th
08/09: 10th

Ronnie Brewer and AK played the most minutes (per game) on the wing for the 08/09 team (CJ, at best an average shooter, was 4th after Korver). If you replace Memo with a defensive 5, those teams lose more in offense than they gain in defense.

Which is why you jettison that dynamic. Get shooters on the wings, get a real rim-protector. Sometimes panic is the proper reaction, and the Jazz should've after seeing how terribly Brewer was exposed against the Lakers in '08.

Those rankings aren't terrible, but the gap between 10th and 5th is vast and that's usually about where a team needs to get, especially if their offense may be taxed (or may not depending on where else they get shooting and just how qualitative those options are [again, Korver and Matthews could've been real pieces and were already on the team]).

If you can't stop a guy at the rim, it's pretty safe to say you're not going to stop another team from winning a championship. That wasn't going to happen with Memo/Brewer/AK taking prominent roles and money.

 

[cowhide]

Well Kanter was one of the worst players in the NBA last year.....so there's that angle.

Really did you actually watch the Jazz especially at the end of the year when Kanter was playing like he did the previous year.

 

[Zulu]

Tbd

 

[Dr. Jones]

Tbd

Penicillin