Where did Paul Millsap go?
- Thread starter GoJazz
- Start date
carolinajazz
Well-Known Member
....probably out spending his guaranteed money.
carolinajazz
Well-Known Member
...but in his defense...he's not at the tattoo parlors.
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
He came back down to earth. Scoring millions of points and nailing 3 balls all over Lebron James and Chris Bosh isn't necessarily going to be a typical Millsap game.
Of course, we might never know how good he is, since teams realistically don't need to guard 2 of our starters. Our "shooting guard" and "small forward" have two problems on offense:
1. They can't shoot worth a damn.
2. They can create worth a damn.
So perhaps if the Jazz had a legit starting SG/SF in their lineup, both Millsap and Jefferson would be doing better offensively. I know Dallas had a lot of success clogging the lane for Deron, Millsap, and Jefferson by switching into a zone. Similar defenses that take away the easy shots that the Jazz want, forcing them to beat teams from the outside, has worked marvelously for opposing defenses.
Perhaps that, more than anything, is bringing Millsap back down to earth. But we might not know, at least, until we actually acquire some wings that will force defenses to actually defend us out on the perimeter.
All well.
DukeJazz
Member
How is he undersized when he's the average height and weight of a power forward in the nba?
Really?
JAZZFAN_2814
Active Member
His skillsets, as opposed to some box scores, should have told you that he isn't, and wasn't, a star player.
But this reality is rarely if ever acknowledged. Ignorance is bliss, and the rabble of this board will be back to the positive hype whenever Paul has another nice two week run.
From a lynch mob to a bunch of proselytizers, and back again.
Great line!
vslice02
Well-Known Member
This. We should know by now that Millsap isn't a #2 scorer that you can rely on night-in and night-out. He can make open shots and score on the move but he's not someone you can give the ball to late in games when the defense digs in.
The thing you expect from Millsap is defense and rebounding, which was the most disappointing thing about his performance last night. We know Aldrige had a major height advantage - but too often Millsap gave up position and clean looks to Aldrige and Cunningham. It's probably unfair to expect Sap to outwork every player he faces - but he definitely got worked over last night.
The guy who has to step up is Jefferson. Theoretically he should be the #2 scorer we're looking for, but as we approach the halfway point of the season - despite looking much more comfortable in the offense his shooting percentage remains dismal - in spit of the fact every shot he takes is 15-feet and in.
Millsap and/or Jefferson. One of them has to come to play. If both are no-shows there's just too much pressure on Deron and he'll be worn out by April.
gomretat
Well-Known Member
What are you smoking?
Marty McFly
Well-Known Member
Millsap puts up 20 and 10 and he's a great replacement for Bozzer - possibly an All Star. A bad game, and he's suddenly an undersized guy who can't ever be relied on to score, but works hard, kind of. Note: the whole team sucked last night besides Willy.
Paul is averaging 18 and 8 on 56% shooting.
Paul is averaging 18 and 8 on 56% shooting.
vslice02
Well-Known Member
As with most things on this board, people developed unrealistic expectations of Millsap. He's not an all-star but I'm glad he's on the Jazz. It's an 82 game season; he'll have some good games and some bad ones in there as well.
It's no different than during that 4-game road trip in November. Numerous posters thought we were an elite team and now they're saying this team absolutely needs to make a trade to get a better wing.
When it comes to this board, the Jazz are never as good as they think they are after a win, and never as bad after a loss.
It's no different than during that 4-game road trip in November. Numerous posters thought we were an elite team and now they're saying this team absolutely needs to make a trade to get a better wing.
When it comes to this board, the Jazz are never as good as they think they are after a win, and never as bad after a loss.
Inn Dawn
Well-Known Member
No, not really.
David Stern
Well-Known Member
We need a REAL center. And no, Jefferson and Okur are not Centers.
Perhaps he did not notice that Aldridge is like 4 inches taller than him.
InGameStrategy
Well-Known Member
There's a great new invention called the Internet that allows you to support your statements with sources before you spew them from your fingers. But maybe you're playing the gadfly or troll role, so quality doesn't matter to you.
Typical NBA power forwards are 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m) to 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 m) tall.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_position#Power_forward
Average height of a small forward: 6'8".
https://wiki.answers.com/Q/Average_height_of_a_small_forward
So the average SF height is equal to Millsap's listed height on NBA.com, which is either accurate or exaggerated but definitely not underestimated.
https://www.nba.com/playerfile/paul_millsap/
Millsap's mass (250 pounds) is fine at PF in most cases, but his height has hurt the Jazz in some games. Millsap is the second least of Utah's worries, but he has limitations, and when he's not getting it done, his minutes need to be reduced.
Aldridge hurt Utah big time last night, and Sloan did nothing (besides throwing Elson and a recovering Okur on the court for a while) to remedy that problem. Maybe Sloan yelled or threatened or grumbled at them during a time out. That doesn't really faze most NBA millionaires; holding them accountable for their minutes on the court might.
BTW, Elson had limited point and rebound production (a criticism of Fesenko and an argument against playing Fes, btw) and had three fouls in relatively short minutes (ditto). Aldridge didn't play much with Elson on the court, which doesn't makes sense, given that FE is a slow but better matchup heightwise than Aldridge. LA and MC (Camby) scored little more than a couple of points with Elson on the court. Fes got zero playing time, even though the starting lineup was sucking and the backups (Okur and Elson) were so-so.
Welcome to your new Utah Jazz: so far, with Okur's return, they've gotten worse. The game last night doesn't rest on MO's shoulders anymore than anyone else, and we can reasonably hope that Okur will continue to improve somewhat, but again, if Fes had even half of MO's TOs last night, there would be cries for him to return to the end of the bench. The inconsitent treatment continues (not just in the frontcourt, but on the wing, also). Six points and 5 rebounds (and positive +/-) from Okur are promising, but when you combine Okur's and Jefferson's TOs last night (and negative net blocks), you have a big problem from the big man spot.
ANY ONE of the backup bigs (not just Fes) should've gotten more of Jefferson's PT last night, especially when he was tentative offensively and/or passive defensively. Same goes for Millsap, despite higher effort. And Miles should've been in there in Q4 for Hayward alongside Bell; instead, Sloan took out Miles with 5 minutes left and settled for a Bell-Hayward wing lineup against a zone defense with which Hayward didn't have much experience. Just because it randomly worked in the last game, Jerry, in a different situation, doesn't mean it would work here.
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Marty McFly
Well-Known Member
Wow, you totally missed the point of my sentence. I was saying when he puts up 20 and 10 people start threads about how he's = or > than Bozzer, but when he has an off night, he sucks.