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Why is this team so much tougher?

Its like the team has (mostly) checked their egos at the door and are more committed to playing like a team. I can definitely get the mutual respect vibe coming from them.
 
Are we really a tougher team on defense? So far we have been giving up around 104 PPG, thats the 7th worst in the league not to mention that we are 5th worst in giving up rebounds to our opponents while being the 8th worst in rebounding.

Thanks god we also happen to be the 8th best offense though, which kind of balances things out.

It seems that contrary to belief the loss of Bozzer didn't have any significant effect on our offense so far, but his and Okur's absence of their so called bad defense has taken it's toll... ok maybe not, but at least the rebounding was probably a little better with those guys.

My guess of our recent success would be:

1) The arrival of some much needed veteran presence:
We do not quit so easy and keep fighting. Much the same as it happened the season we had Fish, people might recall how they called us the comeback kids. We did not quit and kept fighting back even after horrible letdowns in the first halves of the games and that is exactly what we seem to do right now.

2) We give our starters much more burn then the opponents:
We we are basically playing in play-off mode with a much tighter rotation, which helps our starters to gain ground against the opponents scrubs of course.
 
jazzman12 said:
I think everything you brought up has played a major role in in an increased toughness, and has already been mentioned lets not forget about Fess as well.

For my money, I think Raja is the biggest difference. Go back last night to Miami. At Halftime, reportedly Sloan started ripping into the team. A season ago, does anybody stand up and back up what Jerry is saying? Does another player have the stones to get up and get on everybody's ***? Of course not.

I don't think Bell is going to play like an All-Star out on the court for Utah, but so far he has brought the EXACT kind of leadership I thought he would and I think it's exactly what this Jazz team needed.
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Sir, I'm inclined to believe you.
 
I don't think Boozer or Okur ever bought in to what The Jazz try to do defensively - specifically the help defense aspect. That probably created some bitterness behind the scenes, particularly with AK, who was expected to do everything on defense and get no looks on offense.

As far as Korver is concerned, I think he did whatever was asked of him - he's just limited defensively.
 
I haven't seen anyone say it yet, so I will.

Sloan.

He has made great substitution decisions, timeout calls, and he knows when to bark at his players/refs. Did you see him in the final minutes of the 4th quarter against Miami? He didn't even look phased. That guy is cold as stone and tough as a John Deere.
 
jhenderson008 said:
I haven't seen anyone say it yet, so I will.

Sloan.

He has made great substitution decisions, timeout calls, and he knows when to bark at his players/refs. Did you see him in the final minutes of the 4th quarter against Miami? He didn't even look phased. That guy is cold as stone and tough as a John Deere.
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So, Sloan makes the team tougher this year? What happened last year? Wasn't he the coach then too? Your logic escapes me.
 
zman1527 said:
So, Sloan makes the team tougher this year? What happened last year? Wasn't he the coach then too? Your logic escapes me.
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Read it again.

If you were around the boards last year, all we ever heard about on this board were people complaining that Sloan didn't make good subs, called bad timeouts, etc. I'm saying that he is making good decisions this year that don't take away from the team's momentum, ability to win.
 
The Thriller said:
Was it the departure of Boozer?

The exile of pretty-face?

Was it the addition of Raja?

Or is it Millsap?

why is this team so much mentally tougher?

Or perhaps, just maybe, this team is finally maturing? Perhaps it started in Denver in the playoffs? When this team was counted out by all, and beat all the odds to punk the Nugheads?
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KOC is the man! His effort is the main reason.

Way over the cap and still pulled off moves that showed D-Will that the team wants to win, not just put on a nice regular season show.

Raja coming back was huge. It said to the team that respected guys DO want to come to Utah.

And Millsap is Man JR.

Hopefully the team gels soon and puts out consistently good quarters.
 
jhenderson008 said:
Read it again.

If you were around the boards last year, all we ever heard about on this board were people complaining that Sloan didn't make good subs, called bad timeouts, etc. I'm saying that he is making good decisions this year that don't take away from the team's momentum, ability to win.
Click to expand...

Your logic is completely absurd. This thread is about why the team is tougher this year. How can it be the coach if he is the same guy? Was he a wimpy weenie last year? Is he getting testosterone injections this year?
 
Last year's team on the road spent half the game trying to get Memo going with his three point shot. Memo was dreadful on the road last year. This year's team looks like they are trying to run the offense on the road.
 
zman1527 said:
Your logic is completely absurd. This thread is about why the team is tougher this year. How can it be the coach if he is the same guy? Was he a wimpy weenie last year? Is he getting testosterone injections this year?
Click to expand...

You can simply disagree. I don't care.
 
He gets what you're saying. We all do. The point is that Jerry didn't magically become a different coach this past offseason, which is pretty much what you're suggesting.
 
Quite a few good points in this thread.
I think the main differences in toughness is they believe they can overcome anything for reasons in this order.


1- No Boozer
2- Add Raja
3- Add Jefferson
4- Playing as a team defensively and as to effort (Unity).
5- Memo out
6- Another year together (for the most part) for chemistry and learning the system.
 
I still don't understand how we are a tougher team on defense when
1) we given up the 7th most points to opponents (104 PPG)
2) are the 8th worst rebounding team
3) give up the 5th most rebounds to the opponents

Yeah we didn't quit the last couple of games and managed to win, but we did the same back when we had Fisher. There are still lots of concerns and a lot of games to be played.
 
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