SB Nation - Utah Jazz

It's Not Lame, it's the 10 Days of Christmas - On the 8th day of Christmas...

Basketball John — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:00:05 -0000

...the Utah Jazz gave to me... Millsap's "toxic" contract

The Jazz made it very clear that they were going to re-sign Millsap no matter if it would cause them to go into luxury tax territory. What should have been a relatively easy process turned into somewhat of a soap opera.

A lot of that drama came because of third parties.

The first source came when Millsap's uncle and agent, DeAngelo Simmon, took on a partner in Ara Vartanian. There were claims that the Jazz weren't offering Millsap a "fair" deal. The two sides couldn't get a deal worked out. So being a restricted free agent, the Jazz decided to let the market set his price.

And what may be a glimpse into what Kevin O'Connor and the rest of the FO might have had to deal with, we had this quote from Vartanian about Millsap,

"Paul Millsap has got more game than anyone knows,'' said agent Ara Vartanian, who represents Millsap. "People just haven't seen it because he played in a structured offense (in Utah). But he can shoot, and I'm talking (range from) NBA three.''

I know it's the agent's responsibility to get the most value for their client, and we all love Millsap, but saying that he has NBA three-point range is absurd.

Though Millsap's agents were contacted by many teams, not many had the cap room to sign him. Those that did have cap room weren't rumored to have been making an offer. There was some rumblings that the Thunder might use their cap space to sign Millsap. But once the Thunder stated that they had no interest in signing him, it looked like the Jazz were going to be able to get Paul on the cheap.

That's where the second round of drama comes in. See, the Blazers had gobs of cap space, not to mention a salary cap exception.

They were on the verge of signing Hedo Turkoglu when he backed out at the last minute and ended up signing with the Raptors instead.

That left a little egg on the Blazer's face. Feeling like they had to do something with the cap room, they turned their focus to Paul.

They promised to offer a "toxic" contract offer to Millsap, one that would hurt the Jazz financially should they match. It became apparent that the Blazers didn't want so much to land Millsap as they wanted to strong-arm Utah into a three-way trade with Chicago or another team that would have landed Portland a point guard.

So regardless of what happened, the Blazers would benefit by either getting Millsap, getting a PG, or at the least, doing some financial damage to a division rival.

When the Jazz didn't give in to that, the Blazers made their "toxic" offer to Millsap which included a front-loaded max bonus of $10M. As has been stated here before, the remainder of Millsap's 4-year, $32M deal is actually pretty reasonable.

What's hypocritical about that whole situation is that just earlier this year, Portland got worked up about someone signing Darius Miles just to stick it to Portland. You see, they had a salary exception because they had Miles retire due to injury. But if he played in 10 games, that $9M they were saving would be put back on their salary total. They threatened to sue anyone:

The Portland Trail Blazers are aware that certain teams may be contemplating signing Darius Miles to a contract for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers Salary Cap and tax positions. Such conduct from a team would violate its fiduciary duty as an NBA joint venturer. In addition, persons or entities involved in such conduct may be individually liable to the Portland Trail Blazers for tortuously interfering with the Portland Trail Blazers' contract rights and perspective economic opportunities.

In fact, after the Jazz matched, Ross Siler reported that Millsap never had contact with the Blazers,

From what we learned Saturday, though, Millsap never visited Portland, never spoke on the phone with GM Kevin Pritchard or coach Nate McMillan and didn't get a July 1 call, raising the question of just how interested Portland was in actually having him.

Doesn't sound like they really ever wanted Paul.

What's done is done though and Millsap is still a Jazz man. He's still having to play behind Boozer this season. He's having a career year in FG% and FT% but is 0-2 from three-point land. Shocking.

Orlando Magic 102, Houston Rockets 87

Ben Q Rock — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:14:11 -0000

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Dwight Howard once again led the Orlando Magic to an ugly, grind-it-out win at home as they defeated the Houston Rockets, 102-87, for their third straight victory, and first home win over the Rockets since April 8th, 2002, when now-Rockets guard Tracy McGrady scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Orlando. Howard scored 13 points, corralled 20 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots in just 32 minutes, shutting the Rockets down in the paint and forcing them to take jumpers for much of the night. Vince Carter had yet another poor shooting night, missing 10 of his 16 shot attempts, but nonetheless led Orlando with 18 points. Rashard Lewis scored 15 points and made four three-pointers for the second consecutive game, while Jameer Nelson also scored 15 on an efficient 6-of-11 shooting. He propelled the Magic on a decisive 15-0 run in the third quarter, scoring 8 points and dishing an assist to Lewis for a three-pointer during that stretch. Ryan Anderson became the latest Magic backup to shine, scoring 14 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in 18 well-played minutes, which Magic coach Stan Van Gundy deemed "a very good effort." Reserve power forward Carl Landry paced the Rockets with 20 points on 11 shots, so Van Gundy subbed Howard in for Marcin Gortat, and Howard responded. Van Gundy pointed out that the Rockets "went to [Landry] once [against Howard], he shut that down and that stopped [the Rockets from looking for him.]"

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Rockets	91	96.0	42.7%	20.7	13.3	11.0
Magic	95	107.9	52.4%	15.3	24.4	16.9
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

The third quarter was when Orlando really broke the game open after allowing the Rockets to trim a 12-point lead to just 3 at halftime. Houston scored 13 points on 4-of-20 shooting in the period. Rockets coach Rick Adelman said "we just had a real poor third period" and "we couldn't get anything going [...] and they kind of took control." Indeed the Magic did, as previously described. Specifically, Houston missed 8 shots and committed 2 turnovers during their 6-minute scoreless stretch, in which Orlando increased its lead from 1 to 16. The Rockets' offense is opportunistic, predicated on ball movement and finding the open man. There weren't many men open during that stretch, though Adelman did say of his team's overall shooting performance, "I didn't think they were bad shots." I'm not one to challenge anyone with a resume like Adelman's, but I don't consider a contested Trevor Ariza long two-pointer off the dribble is a good shot. Ariza, the former Magic forward, shot 1-of-10 and struggled to create his own shot all night. He fared better in a complementary role with the L.A. Lakers last season. He hasn't had the opportunity to complement anyone in Houston, with franchise center Yao Ming out, so it's far too early to say the Rockets' decision to sign him was a bad one. Yet the early returns aren't promising.

The main reason for Houston's perimeter-oriented attack was indeed due to Orlando's defense of the paint, although the Rockets are perimeter-oriented to begin with during Yao's prolonged injury absence. Sure, Howard did more than his share, and Gortat fared well up until Landry got hot in the fourth quarter. But overall, the Rockets shot 19-of-40 in the paint for 39 points. Adelman attributed the Rockets' overall offensive struggles to their inability to "get anything going to the basket." Aaron Brooks has a slight quickness advantage on Nelson, and blew by him for the Rockets' first points of the game the first time he challenged him in the first quarter, but Nelson generally tended to keep Brooks from getting to the rim. Brooks countered by draining 3-of-5 three-pointers during the Rockets' stellar second period, but managed only 2 points on 0-of-4 shooting in the second half.

A message written on the team's whiteboard after the game described of what the Magic were most proud: allowing 35 points in the entire second half. Van Gundy mentioned it in his post-game comments, and Carter cited the stat in his post-game availability as well. Said Carter, "defensively, that's where we're trying to make our mark." Once again, the Magic succeeded in that area. In their three-game homestand since allowing the Miami Heat to score 104 points on 86 possessions, the Magic have limited their opponents to 269 points on 287 possessions for a defensive rating of 93.7. Howard, in particular, is leading the charge. Said Howard, "I tell the guys, 'Hey, I got your back. Continue to play good defense, I'm going to be behind you to erase the mistakes.' And that's what it takes." He emphasized the importance of his own "blocking shots and rebounding," using a version of that phrase three times in responding to one question. Van Gundy said he's encouraged Howard, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, to try harder on that end: "We made the point that he had backed off [rebounding and blocking shots] early in the year, and he has stepped it up in a big way now." Since the Magic's two-game losing streak to the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns two weeks ago, Howard's averaging 16.7 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per contest.

The Magic's offense was a more balanced attack, with five players scoring in double figures; Orlando moved to 14-2 on the season when that occurs. They weren't too far away from placing 7 men in double-digits, with J.J. Redick scoring 9 and Matt Barnes adding 8. However, it wasn't a great performance in terms of efficiency, and Van Gundy said, "we've still got to do a little better job of getting [Howard] the ball." He added that he "wasn't really upset with the shot selection," though. Turnovers, and not shooting, contributed more to Orlando's mediocre offensive outing. Nelson and Carter had 4 apiece, accounting for half the Magic's turnovers, which Houston converted to 16 points. Counting tonight, Orlando has performed worse than their season average in turnover rate in each of their last five games, something Van Gundy wants them to correct very soon.

Orlando will practice early tomorrow to give players enough time to finish their holiday shopping, then will face the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day. Though Van Gundy and the players had plenty to say about that game when asked, it didn't appear as though the Magic were caught looking ahead with a poor performance tonight.

Recap - Utah Jazz @ Miami Heat - L - 70 - 80

Basketball John — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:04:16 -0000

Pretty much everyone is in a bah, humbug mood right now.

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What, you were expecting Santa Claus? Santa only comes to good boys.

The Jazz have had back to back games where they should have pulled out a win. They had Orlando where they wanted them but couldn't put it away as their offense dried up.

Tonight was one of the ugliest games of the year. 20 turnovers will do that for you. What was most frustrating about those was that most of them were unforced. And it was one right after another.

And when they managed to hang on to the ball and get into the offense, nobody outside of Deron and Boozer could hit a shot and Boozer couldn't hit anything after the first quarter. It was one brick, airball, and

Given the struggles (putting it mildly) the Jazz have had on the road, you would think they'd be able to take advantage of a poor offensive night by the Heat. Miami's offense was equally woeful. Had the Jazz played even half speed they would have won tonight.

I can't think of anyone that had a game worth remembering. Memo just struggles mightily on the road and tonight was no exception. Boozer started out on a tear but didn't do much damage after the first quarter. No shooting, sloppy offense, and too many jumpers. Normally if your jumpers aren't falling you try to get closer shots. Not the Jazz, they kept jacking them up.

The highlights of the game came from Deron on a behind the back pass to himself for a layup and a monster dunk in the lane after completely confusing Wade when he faked left and blew right by Wade.

Wade topped that earlier when he abused Matthews for a drive and filthy dunk himself.

There's no reason why the Jazz continue to play to whatever level their opponent is. They should have jumped out to a lead in the first when the Heat couldn't hit anything. But the Jazz got into foul trouble early and couldn't keep a handle on the ball.

As for the offense, some games it seems like they're unstoppable and other times it looks like they'll never score another basket as long as I live. The Jazz have scored 68 points in half this year and needed a KOOF dunk late just to crack 70 for the game.

At this point I'm not sure even what a trade would bring to this team. We don't need a particular position or player as much as we need a major shift in attitude and intensity. Can we sign Charles Oakley? We need someone from the old school that can help whip these guys into shape.

The Jazz are back home Saturday before finishing out the year with two games on the road at Minny and at OKC. Do we see a trade like we did at the end of 2007? I'm not sure it would be that big of a difference.

Peninsula is Mightier

The Downbeat - 23 December 2009 - #128 - The Very Quick and Late Edition

Basketball John — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:30:17 -0000

DJ White wears #3 in OKC. Think Maynor will have to buy it from him or will he have to get a new number?

Will Maynor have to continue his rooking hazing? Does he have to start over?

Here's betting Dontell Jefferson gets the callup today. I wonder if it will be a 10-day contract? Can they even do those yet? Or would it be a non-guaranteed deal?

Mark Stein has a good take on the Maynor trade.

I can tell you that if the FO turns around and can pull off another trade for some missing pieces, they might just instill a bit of confidence into the fan base. If nothing goes down, then we pretty much are looking forward to the off-season.

It's Not Lame, it's The 10 Days of Christmas - On the seventh day of Christmas...

Basketball John — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:48:26 -0000

High fives for opt ins.

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...the Utah Jazz gave to me... "No opt outs"

The Jazz had known for quite some time that there was a chance that everyone that was eligible to opt in would do exactly that.

But they had to be hoping that somebody would opt out so as to not have to face getting hit with the luxury tax. In fact, I believe Greg Miller went to KSL for an interview for the main purpose of trying to make sure that Boozer opted out. He spoke well of Okur and Millsap in that interview. He questioned Boozer though.

But one day after Korver announced that he would be back, both Memo and Booze announced that they too would be back.

Wow. I don't have any idea what Larry H Miller's reaction would have been had he been around to see this. We know that he was iffy on bringing CJ back at $4.7M per. He was adamant about not paying the luxury tax. I suppose though that he must have known that it would be a possibility.

They all came back for the same reason mostly. None of them were going to be given a raise with that poor market.

I believe Memo truly wanted to stay though. He followed up his opt-in with an extension. He always spoke fondly of living in Utah.

Korver I think didn't have too much of a preference other than he wanted to play for a contender. I think Deron probably helped sway him a bit into staying. We also know that he has a certain affection for a certain Dunker.

And Boozer was all about the cash. Nothing else. That's fine if that's why he wanted to stay but let's not pretend otherwise.

So here the Jazz were looking at a Knicks-like salary and not having a championship team. That's a lot of cash to pay for a second round exit in the playoffs.

I guess that makes the Hapring/Maynor trade today kind of timely. The biggest reason for that move was to dump salary. The Thunder weren't going to just do the Jazz a favor. Their payment was a young point guard who has shown a lot of promise. This kind of reminds me of when small market baseball teams get in over their heads and they look to the big market clubs like the Yankees to take their payroll mistake.

OKC made out like bandits because they were able to relieve the Jazz of some salary. They get Harp's expiring contract that has most of it paid by insurance. They also get a very cap-friendly deal in Eric Maynor that they'll control for the next 3 years.

It is a steep price to pay for the Jazz but something was going to have to happen when everyone opted in and the Jazz no longer controlled their fate.

Hopefully the Jazz have learned from this and it will better prepare them for contracts down the road.

Jazz Trade Eric Maynor, Backup PG; Need a Replacement. D-League, Hooah!

Scott Schroeder — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:19:41 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Dontell Jefferson (2) is the best defender in the D-League. Unfortunately, judging from this picture from his time with the Charlotte Bobcats last season, Deron Williams still blew by him on the way to a lay-up. Like they always say, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"

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If you missed it yesterday, the Jazz traded Eric Maynor and Matt Harpring for some dude named Peter Fehse. Since I assume you come here for obscure information regarding such things, I'm going to let Sham explain the details.

The reason I'm discussing this here is that the Jazz traded their backup point guard without getting a point guard in return (or anything aside from cap relief, really). This, as far as I can tell, means that the Utah Jazz are preparing to do what every other team should have done in the past few weeks: Sign Dontell Jefferson from the Utah Flash.

Dontell Jefferson, who topped the first edition of the Randy Livingston Memorial "On The Edge" Call-Up Rankings, is a 6'5" pass-first point guard who played part of last season in the NBA after being called-up by the Charlotte Bobcats. He also plays for the Utah Flash, is coached by former Jazz scout Brad Jones, and runs the Jazz system (what that is worth, I'm unsure).

Anyway, now that I've developed a post aimed toward getting Dontell Jefferson a call-up, he'll be called-up tomorrow. If you're skeptical, take a look at this. I'm one-for-one when it comes to predicting Dontell Jefferson getting called-up. It's science, Jeff Potter might say.

Plus, considering he's a smart, defense first point guard who knows the system and the Jazz need to add a player to meet the NBA's 13 player minimum requirement, it just makes sense.

BREAKING NEWS: The Thunder Acquire Matt Harpring and Eric Maynor from the Jazz for Free

Zorgon — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:19:18 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

That's right! He works for us now!

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Via The Salt Lake Tribune:

Credit to Mleetch352 for breaking this news to me.

All I can say is....HELLS YEAH!

The Thunder just basically robbed the Jazz blind by taking a expiring contract and a promising backup Point guard in Eric Maynor. What did we lose? Some fool. And by that, I really do mean some fool.

We lost the rights to Peter Fehse, a 2nd round draft pickfrom Germany. The pick was made in 2002, back when Gary Payton was still wearing Green. So really, it's not loss at all.

Granted, we did have to waive Mike Wilks and Shaun Livingston, but that's no biggie. It must really suck for the both of them to be told they're off the team right before this game starts, but hey, that's the business. Eric Maynor will compliment Ollie and Westbrook well. Wilks was just an emergency backup, and Livingston really wasn't playing like he used to. Kind of like a Westbrook-lite. Still, I wish only the best of luck for Livingston and Wilks. Both guys who played solid in pinches for this team.

Now, what can Maynor and Harpring contribute? Well, Maynor is obviously the man who's going to take over the backup point guard spot. It'll take him some time to get adjusted to the team, so Ollie might start in front of him at first, but he'll get that spot eventually. Will he ever take over for Westbrook? Well, that's a question that only time can answer.

Matt Harpring will most likely never be used. He's out for the season, and his contract expires at the end of it. I doubt we'll resign him unless we need a Small Forward to use in pinches. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see some Matt Harpring in action, but it's just not going to happen.

Eric Maynor's Yahoo Profile

Matt Harpring's Yahoo! Profile

I thought trades like this happened only in Sim Leagues, but I guess they happen in real life, too. I'm excited! Now, say it with me....THANK YOU SAM PRESTI!

Poll

Do you like this trade?

Eric Maynor and Matt Harpring Traded to Oklahoma City

Basketball John — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:09:10 -0000

More photos » by Donna McWilliam - AP

Matt Hapring, or at least his contract, is gone. Ronnie P will take over as backup PG.

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From Ross Siler,

The Jazz on Tuesday traded 2009 first-round draft pick Eric Maynor plus Matt Harpring's rights to Oklahoma City in exchange for the rights to Peter Fehse, a forward from Germany who was a second-round pick of the Sonics in 2002.

With only 12 players on the roster, the Jazz will be forced to make an additional move to reach the league minimum of 13.

Is something else on the horizon? Bigger news coming? Is this the first domino? There has to be something else happening.

Ronnie Price will take over as the backup point guard. Given that Sloan loves to have 3 PG and Price's recent injury history, do they have something else in place to bring in another PG?

OKC already has 15 players on their roster including 4 PGs with one out. ~~Are they going to be cutting people~~? Looks like they cut Livingston and Wilks. Thanks Sherbs

I can't see them giving away Maynor like this without expecting some other deal to happen. Sloan loves to have his three PGs. Also, given Price's injuries the past couple of seasons, we need some insurance. And like Siler mentioned, they're going to have to add someone.

My guess is that they don't want to bring on more money, so there could be a 2 for 1 or 3 for 2 trade coming shortly. My immediate thought was a Boozer for Hinrich and Thomas swap given that the Jazz need another PG (although very expensive) and the Bulls need a shakeup right now. If the trade fails for the Bulls, then at the worst they lose Booze's contract next season and they become big players in the FA market. Maybe the Jazz move Hinrich to the two at times and pair him with Deron?

Losing Maynor though kind of hurts because he's a solid player and could be a good PG in the league. He would have been one of the last players I thought would be traded. I guess he's free of his pink backpack now.

I don't know though. Just throwing that out there.

More coming...

Orlando Magic News for December 22nd: Stan Van Gundy Praises Dwight Howard's Defense; More on J.J. Redick

erivera7 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:23 -0000

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Orlando Magic notes: Stan Van Gundy calls Dwight Howard "anybody I've been around" defensively
Dwight Howard receives praise from his coach, particularly about his defense.

Stan Van Gundy has coached some excellent interior defenders, including P.J. Brown and Alonzo Mourning.

But Van Gundy says Dwight Howard, the NBA's reigning defensive player of the year, is on a different level.

"He's a better pick-and-roll defender, probably, than Alonzo was and a better shot-blocker than P.J. was," Van Gundy said. "There's just not much he can't do defensively. I think as a big guy he's as good as anybody I've been around."
The Orlando Magic, nine other teams will debut new shooting shirts on Christmas
Josh Robbins shares apparel news concerning the Orlando Magic.

If you attend or turn in to the Orlando Magic-Boston Celtics game on Christmas Day, don’t be surprised if you see the Magic dressed just a bit different during warm-ups.

The Magic, the Celtics and the eight other teams playing on Christmas will debut new adidas shooting shirts.
Carter Slides as Redick Rises in Orlando
Tim Povtak of NBA FanHouse talks about J.J. Redick's emergence.

Van Gundy has rewarded Redick's improved play with more playing time recently. He has responded by scoring in double figures in five of his last seven games. His defense is better, too. His assists are up, and his understanding of the game is as good as anyone else on the team.

"He's playing with great confidence, and with good reason. Success breeds confidence,'' Van Gundy said. "He's so focused, so on top of everything. He's got great confidence in himself now, and we've got confidence in him.''
Hanging with my man C-Booz
Dwight Howard posts on his official blog today and states how he and Carlos Boozer were able to hang out while the Utah Jazz were in town.

When Booz came to the house on Sunday, we hung out and watched a lot of the NFL games on TV. Of course, everybody was asking me if we talked about playing together since he’s going to be a free agent this summer. Of course, that would be a dream come true for both of us, but we’ll have to see what happens. Booz will have to make a decision on his own and do what’s best for him and his family. That has to come first in any decision.

It's Safe to Say That J.J. Redick is Figuring Things Out in the NBA

erivera7 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:05:23 -0000

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There's one player on the Orlando Magic roster who's been turning heads lately - no, not Dwight Howard - and his name is J.J. Redick. Last night against the Utah Jazz, Redick came off the bench and torched Jerry Sloan's defense to the tune of 20 points. And Redick did it in an extremely efficient manner (7-9 FG, 2-2 3PT, 4-4 FT). Efficiency is the name of the game in the NBA and for Redick, he provided a textbook example of how to not waste possessions on offense. Nearly every time Redick attempted a shot in yesterday's contest, he put points on the scoreboard. Thing is, Redick has been doing this all season - he leads the Magic with an Offensive Rating of 125.2 (3rd in the Association and ranked better than some guy named Steve Nash). That's excellent.

Against the Jazz, Redick scored in a variety of ways (via Hoopdata):

	FGM-A	AFGM*	eFG%
At Rim	3-3	1	100.0%
10-15 Feet	1-1	0	100.0%
16-23 Feet	1-3	0	33.3%
Threes	2-2	2	150.0%

*Assisted Field Goals Made

In the second quarter, Redick got things going with a jumper off the dribble after Utah's rookie Wesley Matthews, the player defending him, gave him too much space to work with. A few possessions later, and with the shot clock winding down, Redick made a very difficult, off-balance three to beat the buzzer after the Jazz played perfect team defense for 23 seconds. Can't be too surprised that Redick made the shot, given that he's been on a shooting tear lately. With the period winding down, Redick once again operated off the dribble and was able to penetrate into the lane for a layup. What's interesting about this particular play is the fact that Redick was clearly looking to pass before he, at the very last minute, decided to put up the attempt. Whatever works.

Redick didn't re-enter the game until the start of the fourth quarter and it didn't take him too long to score again, as he was able to make a jumpshot off the dribble along the baseline after being set up by a screen from Dwight Howard. A 2/5 pick & roll, in other words. After a few minutes, Redick was able to make another layup off the dribble after being aggressive and attacking the basket. Redick followed that with a three in the corner off a pass from Anthony Johnson on the fast break.

Confidence.

That's the word that perfectly explains why Redick has been playing so well on offense since the start of the regular season. Redick is developing some swagger, too.

There's one more play that epitomizes the confidence Redick has been displaying on offense. For the first time since I've been writing at Orlando Pinstriped Post, I'm going to go breakdown this possession frame-by-frame.

FRAME 1: Orlando sets up in a 4-out/1-in offensive set. With Howard posted up, Utah decides to double-team him with Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams. There's a few things to notice in this screenshot. Despite being double-teamed, Howard has an unobstructed angle to potentially pass to Redick and they both know that (look at Redick's posture; he's getting ready to make a move). C.J. Miles, at the same time, is looking directly at Howard and not keeping an eye on either Redick or Johnson in the corner.

FRAME 2: Howard passes the ball. As such, Miles gambles and sprints to Johnson but makes the wrong decision. Miles realizes, albeit a little too late, that Redick is cutting to the basket.

FRAME 3: Redick is left unimpeded in the lane ...

FRAME 4: ... and scores.

If there's one thing to take away from the Magic's game against the Jazz, it's that Redick is proving to be more than a spot-up shooter. Redick can score off the dribble and opposing defenses are going to have to start realizing that.