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Who is going to be the second man?

LunaticWolf

LunaticWolf

Well-Known Member
Who is going to be the second go-to guy when Deron is getting doubled and blitzed?

That is exactly what Dallas was doing to us, and it seemed like nobody wanted to step up and find a way to score.

Is it a player currently on the team? Do we need to trade for someone with the balls to do it?
 
I have no idea. And it's not about talent - we saw Jefferson step up in Orlando and in Portland. We saw Millsap step up in OKC and Miami. It's about their mental approach - who else wants to take a big shot? Too often the past couple weeks I've seen Sap and Al hesitating and lacking aggressiveness in the 4th quarter. Late in the 4th in Dallas there was a play when Millsap had an open 16-footer and pump-faked and passed it off.

In fairness to Sap, he's never been in a position where he's being counted on to be a primary scorer down the stretch. That's a big adjustment - mentally - in being able to take and make plays with the pressure on. Maybe he can develop this as the season progresses, but some players are never able to. We saw Sap do it in Miami - but there wasn't alot of pressure on him as there was on the Heat who held a seemingly commanding lead. I think Sap can get it done once he can get the hesitance he sometimes shows with the ball in his hands.

Jefferson also seems like a logical canidate because every shot he takes is from 15-feet and in - the problem is he misses too many of them to be consistently reliable and isn't very good (although he is improving) at making the next pass when the defense rotates to him.
 
Honestly we don't have another player with the offensive talent level to be that right now. Prime Memo could do that on some nights. But I don't think we are going to get prime Memo back.
 
LunaticWolf said:
Who is going to be the second go-to guy when Deron is getting doubled and blitzed?

That is exactly what Dallas was doing to us, and it seemed like nobody wanted to step up and find a way to score.

Is it a player currently on the team? Do we need to trade for someone with the balls to do it?
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Personally, I think this is what's preventing the Jazz from winning a championship. Our bigs are good enough to compete. We don't need any dominate bigs like a young Ducan, Shaq, or Malone since really, there aren't any dominate bigs anymore. However, our wing situation is bad. We don't have anyone that would start on any WC playoff team. Seriously, not one.

So I think we need to keep an eye out for franchises that are going to want to shut down early and plan for next season. Memphis, Minny, Charlotte, LA (Clippers), Toronto, Cleveland, NJ, Sacramento, GS, and Houston all come to mind as teams that might be looking to rebuild for the future come January. I'm not sure what those teams have and what we could potentially offer. But I do feel that we need to upgrade our SG/SF position if we hope to avoid a similar fate from the past 3 years.... A good 4-8 seed that gets out of the first round but cannot really make a legit run.
 
I think eventually Jefferson can turn into this role. This is only his first season here and only have >30 games on his belt. I dare to bet that after all-star break Big Al will significantly improve his numbers.
 
vslice02 said:
I have no idea. And it's not about talent .
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It IS about talent.

- we saw Jefferson step up in Orlando and in Portland. We saw Millsap step up in OKC and Miami. It's about their mental approach - who else wants to take a big shot? Too often the past couple weeks I've seen Sap and Al hesitating and lacking aggressiveness in the 4th quarter. Late in the 4th in Dallas there was a play when Millsap had an open 16-footer and pump-faked and passed it off.
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It shows that they are not big-time players, atleast not yet. You need a combo of talent and veteran savvy to get it done at the highest level. Jazz are lacking a bit in both areas. Mavs are loaded with talent and experience. Still, as a team we have a better system and our whole is usually more than the sum of the parts, thanks to the system and coaching staff. So we end up overachieving a lot of the time.


Even if Jefferson and Sap do make it, Jazz still need more talent at the wings.
 
Unless Millsap and/or BigAl proves that they are big time players, they can take the shots when it matters most and connects them at a high percentage, the only player that can make us comfortable, that we rely on is Deron. Actually, I'm more concerned with the offensive execution of the team in crunch time. PnR has always been the money, the go-to-play of the Jazz and having a couple of clutch shooters who can keep the pressure on the defense to keep it from clogging the painted area. So far this season, I have observed that BigAl tends to take a step back and shoot a 10-15 footer or unfortunately a "push" shot after a pick and roll with Deron, and Paul becomes basically a shooter. Maybe Al is more comfortable with that. The Jazz of old had Boozer and Memo who were not afraid to take the responsibility and that made the job a lot easier for Deron and Sloan.
 
well big al and paul will be entering their offensive primes in the next 2-3 years which is exciting. i guess the question is how soon can big al start gelling with d-will and the jazz offense. i believe he will be the 2nd option once he does so. millsap 3rd, memo 4th when he get's back.
 
This year we have to hope that any one of these guys are going to have a good night. (Millsap, AJ, CJ, or Okur when he gets back) Next year when we lose more dead weight then a 500 pound man after bypass (AK's 18 Mil) Hopefully we can get a decent 2/3 guard with some of that money. This would make us a VERY good team.
 
Millsap has the talent - remember we're talking about being a 2nd-banana here - he doesn't quite have the aggressiveness and confidence of being a primary scorer on a consistent basis because he's never been in that situation before in the nba. Alot of pump-faking - to me that's the sign of a guy not completely confident with his game - unfortunate because he has a mid-range game straight out, a turn-around jumper game in the post and a nice step-back on the right wing. At times he's more worried about drawing the foul than finishing - which is the complete opposite of how he played his first 3 years.

Jefferson has the ability but not the consistency - in crunch time it's hard to depend on players who miss as many 8-footers as he does and who aren't great passers. A crab-dribble and jump hook should become his go-to move on the left block - not the little flip-shot without ever taking a dribble...needs to make the defense work to guard him. He has significantly improved his baseline 15-footer over the course of the season so I think more improvement as the season progresses is likely.

To become a legitimate championship contender the Jazz will need another ball-hander/shooter - but I don't think you'll see that move this year. From January until the trade-deadline the focus will be on getting Memo back into the rotation and acclimated to the players we have now and hope we can continue to get more comfortable in running our offense.
 
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