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Okur to the Suns

Love me some Memo but I can't forgive him for this defensive effort...Even if the Jazz got screwed by clock starting way later than required by rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIUy86Klr0Y
 
1. I didn't see the effort either.
2. He often seemed out of shape.
3. The Jazz should've recognized the gravity of the problem and either not extended him, or better, traded him in order to try and seriously address their lack of anything approaching rim protection in their primary unit.

I don't care if you have Gary Payton, Ron Artest, and Scottie Pippen all in their primes at the other positions, a team with interior defense like that can't win a championship. Can't. This team probably won't be as successful as that era of teams, but I could hardly handle the reality that those teams stood no chance because they couldn't stop a nose bleed, and I could hardly handle the reality that either the organization also recognized that and simply didn't care enough, or they were somehow too dumb to recognize it.

They recognized it. Not much could be done with AK on that albatross contract.
 
They recognized it. Not much could be done with AK on that albatross contract.

AK stated publicly after '07 that he would accept his contract being voided to be off the team. And there are always other ways. Until Deron's contract kicked in, the Jazz were fine, and that means they had years to figure out AK. And extending Memo certainly wasn't the right call. Tyson Chandler was dumped off in 2010 as well. Brendan Haywood was undervalued and traded also.

At a certain point, you do what you have to and the Jazz wouldn't. That era is almost defined by front office inaction.
 
Love me some Memo but I can't forgive him for this defensive effort...Even if the Jazz got screwed by clock starting way later than required by rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIUy86Klr0Y


I was at this game. Very good seats. As was Sloanfeld (remember him?) in the nose bleeds.

I thought we won it after Dwill hit his shot.

Then watched in horror as they went the distance and scored at the buzzer. I covered up my Jazz jersey, and solemnly entered the New York streets.
It was a depressing night.
 
Judging by his style of play, I don't thing Okur really has much to teach. His only discernible skill was shooting, after all, and he didn't have a particularly high basketball IQ either. I wish him well, though.
 
I wasn't aware he was pulling off even appearing to try.

If a seven-foot tall and 250-lb guy doesn't run and jump like a deer, he's not trying?

Okur was injured while driving to the basket in the first half of Utah's Game 1 loss at Denver on Saturday night. Before the game, he had taken a painkilling shot to treat his Achilles tendinitis, which he had been dealing with since April 7...

"Is it related? I'm sure in some way, shape or form, everyone's going to put it on the fact that it is, but [team doctors] didn't feel there was any additional risk in doing that," O'Connor said.

https://www.espn.com/nba/playoffs/2010/news/story?id=5109836

How would you rate his effort in that game?
 
LOL - Okur a coach?

The author of the book "How to Look Like You're Playing Help Defense Without Really Trying"

https://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/jazz/ci_11006069

Mehmet Okur returned to the Jazz on Monday after spending last week in Turkey with his critically ill father but won't play in tonight's game against Phoenix...

Okur's father, Abdullah, was hospitalized two weeks ago following an epileptic seizure and was admitted to an intensive-care unit. He underwent two surgeries - - a tracheotomy and gastrostomy, the insertion of a feeding tube - - and regained consciousness while his son visited...

Even though his father underwent the second of the two surgeries Monday, Okur felt the need to rejoin the team.

"Life still go on," Okur said, "and I've got to look forward and just pray for him and hopefully everything's going to be all right."

This is the guy we are going to criticize for not "really trying"? Sheesh...
 
Love me some Memo but I can't forgive him for this defensive effort...Even if the Jazz got screwed by clock starting way later than required by rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIUy86Klr0Y


It looked to me like Okur was the fastest player to actually move to the other side of the court. He may not have been stellar on that play, but 4 other Jazzmen were still celebrating on the other end, putting Okur in a bad position. The film is blurry, but I place most of the blame there on Fisher (that is Fisher, right?) Screw that guy.
 
Judging by his style of play, I don't thing Okur really has much to teach. His only discernible skill was shooting, after all, and he didn't have a particularly high basketball IQ either. I wish him well, though.

He was a pretty good passer. For example, in the 05-06 season he made 194 assists, managing to assist 12.8% of every Jazz basket while he was on the floor. That was good enough to rank 7th league-wide for everyone that played meaningful minutes at center that season:

https://bkref.com/tiny/QyBU4

But his basketball IQ (wtf that means) wasn't "particularly high", right?
 
It looked to me like Okur was the fastest player to actually move to the other side of the court. He may not have been stellar on that play, but 4 other Jazzmen were still celebrating on the other end, putting Okur in a bad position. The film is blurry, but I place most of the blame there on Fisher (that is Fisher, right?) Screw that guy.

Not only that, but the Jazz absolutely had to avoid a foul in that situation. Could he have played it closer and still not fouled? Sure, he deserves some blame for that. Was he slower and less agile than Marbury was? Duh. Anyway, it's just one play.
 
Judging by his style of play, I don't thing Okur really has much to teach. His only discernible skill was shooting, after all, and he didn't have a particularly high basketball IQ either. I wish him well, though.

He was an excellent rebounder, finishing in the top-13 league-wide in both total rebounds and offensive rebounds in 05-06. He also ranks 10th all-time for the Jazz franchise in both rebounds and offensive rebounds. Those offensive rebounds numbers are indicative of his effort on the court. You have to get past the other team to get those.
 
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