Preseason Game #2: OKC at UTAH

[Siro]

He's not a "KNOWN" quantity. Far from it. He was extremely inconsitent last season. He had 3 decent playoff games. But I maintain we still don't know if he will be a top-tier starter. Jazz had one of the best EVER defenders in Mark Eaton. But they were constantly playing 4 on 5 on offense because he couldn't shoot. Ronnie B. was a decent player, but had no outside shot. AK was a fantastic defender when he wanted to be, but was wildly inconsistent on the other end. Adn what happened to all those teams, even with 1 or 2 of the best players in the NBA on them? Defeated in the playoffs. You can't have major, glaring weaknesses in this league.

Favors, right now, is a defensive player only. He hasn't shown that he can be a consistent scorer. And until he does, the Jazz are not going to win against upper-level competition...not when that team can justy ignore one of the Jazz players on offense. Or just hack him if he does get the ball close to the hoop.

So teams can't win unless every single player is world-class on both ends? Favors is not impotent offensively. He averaged about 9 pts a game on 50% shooting in only 22 minutes last season. That's respectable for a 20 year old who hadn't seen much play time. Even if his game miraculously stays in the exact same spot for the rest of his career, we're still talking about a 15/10 guy who has substantial defensive impact (assuming 30ish mpg). And that's being laughably pessimistic. Favors may never become an offensive behemoth, but he is obviously a quality player.

 

[fishonjazz]

I can already tell that im going to be bitchin about randy foye alot this year. Burks looked good tonight despite missing free throws. He is always getting the other team in foul trouble, he rebounds and hustles pretty well, and he was passing and being more selective about his shots tonight.
Meanwhile i believe foye was 0 for 6 in game one and i dont think he hit a single shot tonight although i remember a few bad bricks from him. Corbin will not notice however and continue to play foye when he should be playing burks

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

Hayward looks great the way he reads the game, runs the court and goes to the rim. He's still improving.

 

[Stifle Tower]

Didnt really care about the Evans contract this off-season but now it looks like a terrible waste of money, hopefully he wins another dunk contest and pays off his contract to the jazz in merchandise sales.


But Kanter, how can you not believe in this guy? He just keeps getting better and better, its going to be scary what hes gonna be bringing to the table a few years down the road.

Im calling it right now, Kanters career averages WILL be a double-double.

It's basically a vet minimum deal. He's popular with the fans, willing to do the Jr. Jazz tour, and waves a nice set of pom poms on the sidelines. With the Jazz depth, Evans will be lucky to get in half the games and average more than 5 mins when he does. He's the 13th or 14th player on the roster. This is like actually caring about who's vice-president. It's just not a big deal.

Yep, it IS exciting to see Kanter emerge. Let's hope he energizes Favors - or Derrick is just coasting because it's pre-season. And the up-tempo play is great!

 

[cowhide]

I was impressed with the Williams brothers, our defense, Kanter and Burks had some nice moments. Foye has been a disappointment and Hayward still hasn't found his shot. It is obvious that Kanter and even AJ are faster. They both had nice moves to the baskets finishing them with dunks. Favors still seems very raw and passive on offense. Overall all a nice effort.

 

[fishonjazz]

Mo williams was the best player for the jazz tonight (enes being runner up) and a case could be made for mo being the best player in the 1st game as well.
So far so good for the pt guard upgrade.

 

[Stifle Tower]

So teams can't win unless every single player is world-class on both ends? Favors is not impotent offensively. He averaged about 9 pts a game on 50% shooting in only 22 minutes last season. That's respectable for a 20 year old who hadn't seen much play time. Even if his game miraculously stays in the exact same spot for the rest of his career, we're still talking about a 15/10 guy who has substantial defensive impact (assuming 30ish mpg). And that's being laughably pessimistic. Favors may never become an offensive behemoth, but he is obviously a quality player.

Didn't say that. But teams generally WON'T win when there is a big weakness the other team can exploit. I didn't say Favors doesn't have the potential. He just disappears in too many games. My hope is he's just dogging it a bit because it's the pre-season, Maybe he's a little burnt out from playing in the summer and will turn it up a notch when the games count.

 

[illyasova]

https://weareutahjazz.com/lockedonj...nelocke-post-game-wrap-jazz-beat-the-thunder/

post game wrap..

 

[GVC]

If Favors can learn to hit a free throw line and short corner jumpshot relatively consistently, attack the rim in PnR situations and opportunistically, and continues to run the floor well, he'll be a quality NBA starter, even if he only averages 12-15 points per game. He has a pretty damn good feel for the game; tonight, he slid to the free throw line when Al was doubled (missed the shot), attacked the rim from the free throw line when a seam opened up, and was, as per usual, always in the right spots on defense and ahead of the play in transition. He seems a bit clumsy with the ball in his hands, so he may not ever be an offensive force, but that's not the end of the world.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

Favors is a very talented, instinctive shot blocker. He still changes the game with his defense.

 

[Dr. Jones]

If Favors can learn to hit a free throw line and short corner jumpshot relatively consistently, attack the rim in PnR situations and opportunistically, and continues to run the floor well, he'll be a quality NBA starter, even if he only averages 12-15 points per game. He has a pretty damn good feel for the game; tonight, he slid to the free throw line when Al was doubled (missed the shot), attacked the rim from the free throw line when a seam opened up, and was, as per usual, always in the right spots on defense and ahead of the play in transition. He seems a bit clumsy with the ball in his hands, so he may not ever be an offensive force, but that's not the end of the world.

Nice 132 words, really.

 

[GVC]

Mo was terrific pushing the tempo tonight. He wasn't very good in halfcourt sets, but hopefully that will come in time (I'm not that hopeful). He and Enes were the two Jazz players really trying to impose their will.

I also like how Corbin's giving Al another shot to play more out of the high post, running more stuff along the baseline. Al still doesn't seem to execute that well from there, but having some preseason games to try to figure it out can only help.

 

[Siro]

Didn't say that. But teams generally WON'T win when there is a big weakness the other team can exploit. I didn't say Favors doesn't have the potential. He just disappears in too many games. My hope is he's just dogging it a bit because it's the pre-season, Maybe he's a little burnt out from playing in the summer and will turn it up a notch when the games count.

I realize that almost everyone here bases his opinion on the very last game played (referring to the general anti-Favors comments in this thread, not you personally). But let's be reasonable. Favors played pretty well last season, and ended on a high note. Kanter on the other hand had a disappointing season, and people were losing interest in him. What changed since then? 2 pre-season games.

I do think that Kanter made real improvements in the off-season though. He seems like a different player.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

I don't think the Jazz should push tempo every time. Some of the plays seemed rushed. Players like Burks and Foye are better in half-court sets with spacing and when they have time to take their defender. The up-tempo game favors Kanter and Hayward though, since other teams can't match their energy and keep them off the rim.

That said, it seems as though the more veteran, well-coached teams play fast.

 

[spycam1]

I don't think the Jazz should push tempo every time. Some of the plays seemed rushed. Players like Burks and Foye are better in half-court sets with spacing and when they have time to take their defender. The up-tempo game favors Kanter and Hayward though, since other teams can't match their energy and keep them off the rim.

That said, it seems as though the more veteran, well-coached teams play fast.

Burks is perfect for a team pushing the ball in transition.

 

[addictionary]

Play of the game: https://www.nba.com/video/games/jazz/2012/10/12/0011200034-okc-uta-play4.nba

Great power play but the Burks alley oop was great too so I call'em equal.

Btw, I watch the emotion level of Kanter and he looks like he's on some kind of energy drug or steroids or smth. He gets aggressive on the defensive end and throws badboy looks to the guy who has the possibility to say smth angry to him after a foul. That game full of emotion will be fun to watch if he keeps that up.

Burks and Foye were on the floor at the same time and Burks brought the ball sometimes. Love it.

 

[spycam1]

We need to run Favors in the pick and roll more. He's not primarily a post up player and we need to stop forcing him to be. Watch his highlights and tell me how many of them come from him cutting to the basket vs posting up. I really feel the coaching staff misuses him a great deal on offense.

 

[billyshelby]

We need to run Favors in the pick and roll more. He's not primarily a post up player and we need to stop forcing him to be. Watch his highlights and tell me how many of them come from him cutting to the basket vs posting up. I really feel the coaching staff misuses him a great deal on offense.

Yes, we should, but he's not very good at it. He had that nice take in the 1st, but that was opportunistic. To be a good PnR player, you have to have at least a respectable jump shot. He's neither a good post player nor a good PnR player at this point, just deadly as a garbage player.

To develop, he needs plays called for him. It will work better on the second unit, but we're only 2 games into preseason and the lineups tonight were so crazy that you can't really tell.

 

[Stifle Tower]

If Favors can learn to hit a free throw line and short corner jumpshot relatively consistently, attack the rim in PnR situations and opportunistically, and continues to run the floor well, he'll be a quality NBA starter, even if he only averages 12-15 points per game. He has a pretty damn good feel for the game; tonight, he slid to the free throw line when Al was doubled (missed the shot), attacked the rim from the free throw line when a seam opened up, and was, as per usual, always in the right spots on defense and ahead of the play in transition. He seems a bit clumsy with the ball in his hands, so he may not ever be an offensive force, but that's not the end of the world.

I can't argue with this. Favors just needs to become an adequate offensive player with a couple of weapons. FT shooting needs to improve or he won't be able to close games as the other team can just "Hack-A-Shaq" him. I'd be thrilled with 12-15 points, 10 rebounds and elite defense.

 

[addictionary]

Al-Favors-Gordon had 7 blocks tonight. Jazz beat the block party team 8-6. Let's hope it happens again when they're full squad. I'm sure Kanter will add 2 more.