Utah Jazz Starting Lineup 2/11/11 (via atbjcseven)

I had mentioned before the game that I was going to record the starting lineups from the game last night so fellow Dunkers could judge the reaction that Deron received. 

What do you think? Mixed reaction? 

I wish I would have recorded when Ty and the rest of the staff walked out before the game, a standing ovation from everyone at the ESA. Pretty cool moment.

Oh, and fear not, I made sure to record the announcement of last night's referees. Too bad Zach Zarba wasn't there.

via nba.imageg.net

Once again thanks to the folks over at the Uni Watch Blog we now have a full image featuring the new Jazz logo and colors for next season.

I actually kind of like the logo on the front that is half green and half yellow. It looks like the music note on the side is featuring green, yellow, and navy (although I can't tell if that is navy, or purple. Thoughts?)

The hat above is the draft day hat for 2010.

I wonder how Evan Turner will look in it?

Not sure if anyone else has seen this or not, but the fine folks over at the Uni Watch Blog have posted a link to what the new Jazz logo will be for next year. He even mentions that it is very similar to the prototypes that the league had shown him a few months back.

Also in the same post there is a Twitter picture of Randy Rigby and Deron Williams holding next year's jersey. Apparently @GregInUtah (Greg Miller) was the one that posted the picture. As you can see on the trim of the jersey it looks like it will be Navy Blue, Yellow, and Green for our colors next year.

I wonder why they have to hold off until mid-August to unveil the jerseys. I guess to avoid "overshadowing" the playoffs, but now that the Jazz are eliminated I don't think this market has quite the same passion level for the NBA as it did oh, 72 hours ago.

The reports are starting to trickle out now from Denver that Mehmet Okur has ruptured his achilles tendon and will be out 6-9 months. Such a devastating injury both personally for Okur, and for the Jazz as a team. 

This is the same injury that soccer player David Beckham suffered last year which many were calling a career threatening injury. 

According to reports that I read Memo had a numbing injection in his achilles before Game 1 last night. As much as we as fans love to see players try to tough it out and play through injuries, this does go to show that it always isn't the smartest move.

Memo is headed back to SLC today and will undergo surgery in the next day or so. 

What does this do for Fesenko, and the Koof? Not only will they probably need to step up their games against Denver, but one of them potentially will be the starting center for the first few months of next season. Hopefully a silver lining out of all this will be how hard they work this summer to come back as a difference maker next year.

Here's to the team rallying around Memo's injury and stepping up their game in the playoffs!

Just read this over on the Uni Watch blog:

"A little birdie tells me the Jazz may have a significant uni-related announcement at their final home game, which is next Tuesday."

I wonder what it's going to be? Maybe a permanent memorial for LHM?

I wonder if we will get to see a sneak peek at the jerseys for next season.

Any thoughts on what else it could be? What do you want it to be?

AK's English seems like it has improved even from where it was a year ago. Either that, or I just didn't care what he was saying last year and tuned him out. Regardless this is a pretty good interview he did after the victory over the Heat last night.

For as much as I love watching NBATV Rick Kamla might be the worst studio host in the country. Is there anyone that can defend him to me? He is terrible. On the other hand Brent Barry saying to AK that the Cold War continues is quite high on my comedy scale.

Hey all,

I have two extra tickets to tonights game against New Orleans. If anyone is interested in them please let me know and I will leave them in Will Call for you. The seats are not great, they are Sec: 121, Row: 16, Seats 7 & 8.

Upper Bowl about 2/3 of the way up and behind the basket. Like I said not great, but at least you would be in the building for another chapter of 8 > 3.

The tickets are free, I got them for buying some gear at Fanzz before the holidays. I can leave them in Will Call for whoever wants them.

First person who responds can have them. Let's get some more Dunkers in the building!

Steve Luhm just posted over the Trib's Jazz Blog that Kyle Korver will not be making the 2-game road trip to Minny, and OKC. He is going to stay behind and rehab his surgically repaired knee.

Regardless of how you feel about Kyle on the court, his contract is a very valuable trade piece right now, and the fact that he can't even get on the floor is hurting the Jazz in more ways than just spreading the floor for Booz to get some shots in the paint.

It will be real interesting to see what happens if and when Kyle ever gets healthy.

Sorry Danielle!

Maybe it is just me, but is anyone else upset that the Jazz are doing nothing this year to honor Larry H. Miller? Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson who passed away last year is being honored on the back of the Pistons jersey in, what is believed to be the first permanent memorial on an NBA jersey.

My question is, why aren't the Jazz doing this? Has there been another owner in the Association that has meant more to his franchise than LHM? I mean he paid for his own arena, and has done everything possible to ensure that the Jazz are never going to leave Utah.

Just my humble opinion, but I think think the Jazz missed the boat on this one.

via www.babakus.com

When the Jazz lost to the Lakers in the first round of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, the focus immediately turned to the potential free agents on the roster. Kyle Korver, Carlos Boozer, and Mehmet Okur all had player options for the 2009-2010 season, and all of them opted-in. Of the three, only one has been signed to an extension. Just a couple of days after opting in Okur signed a 2-year $20.8 million that will keep the 6’-11" Turk in Jazz colors through the 2011-12 season.

Memo had a big year for Utah in the ’08-’09 campaign averaging 17 PPG, and shooting a career best 45% from 3-point range, good enough for 6th in the Association. Okur was also one of the team’s best free throw shooters averaging nearly 82% from the charity stripe. Okur battled a few injuries down the stretch of last season which cost him 10 games, including the first three games of the playoff series against the Lakers. Upon returning he was clearly not at full strength playing only 21.5 MPG and averaging a paltry 4 points per contest.

Aside from the hamstring injury at the end of last year, Okur has been one of the most reliable Jazzmen over his first five seasons with the team averaging 77.6 games played per season. This has been crucial for a team which was plagued by injuries to two of its biggest stars last year.

While Okur will never be known as quick on the floor, a big weapon for him that he has continued to improve on is his ability to pump fake from the outside and get past his defenders to the rim. Add that to a hook shot that he has added to his arsenal this off-season and Okur becomes one of the most versatile big men in the Association.

As I mentioned in my Carlos Boozer season preview, having Boozer on the floor helps create spacing on the floor that is desperately needed for Utah’s offensive to be efficient. No one benefits from this more perhaps than Okur. When the Jazz have another low post presence it allows Memo to roam a little bit more around the 3-point arc while his defender has to help double down on Boozer (or Paul Millsap) on the block. Not only does this free him up for the outside ‘J’, but it also gives him the ability to do the aforementioned pump fake and drive to the dish.

A reoccurring theme for the Jazz in past seasons has been off the court family issues. With the well publicized Derek Fisher issues of a couple of years ago, and Boozer’s sons battle with a disease of his own, one thing Jerry Sloan mentioned that would be crucial for the year would be not only the health of his players, but also his players families. The reason I mention this is Memo’s wife, Yeliz, is pregnant with their second child and is due around the all-star break. While I obviously wish nothing but the best for the Okur family, it is worth noting how much this will weigh on Memo’s mind throughout the season.

As I did with the end of the Boozer preview, I am not going to make any grand predictions on what Okur will do this year, I instead will hope that you all will comment on this preview and let me know what you expect. How will the contract extension affect his play? Now that he is secured for a couple of years will he relax and "slack off", or will he work hard and prove he is worth the money he said he deserved this off-season? Much like with Booz, I can’t wait to find out.

via 166.70.44.68

Coming off of a tumultuous season in which Carlos Boozer made more headlines off the court than on, many Jazz fans around the world are wondering what to expect from the Duke University product this season. Will it be the All-Star and team leader of two years ago, or will it be the injury prone selfish businessman of a year ago?

In the campaign, Carlos played in only 37 games (all starts) after injuring his leg in November, which eventually led to a mid January surgery. While we can only speculate when Boozer finally became 100% he averaged 16.2 points per game and pulled down 10.4 rebounds. Both are right around his career averages, and his 32.4 minutes per contest were right on par with what he had done in his 7 years as a pro.

Injuries and stats aside, Boozer perhaps made his biggest blunder of the year during the teams annual pre-Christmas road trip in New York City, when he told ESPNs Chris Sheridan that he was "opting out, no matter what, Im going to get a raise regardless".
He went on throughout the summer talking about how much he would like to play in his hometown of Miami, or how he thought that hed end up in Detroit or Chicago, but ultimately he did decide to opt-in, and will be in Jerry Sloans starting five come opening night in Denver.

How much this affected the team will only be known by the players and staff behind closed doors, but I think it is pretty clear to see that Boozer lost the respect of his teammates, and has spent the better part of training camp and the pre-season this year working to get it back. Throw in the big money that Paul Millsap signed for and the competition for minutes at the 4, and you have perhaps the most important year of Boozers NBA career.

For all the Jazz fans who complain that Boozer is only about the money, this could be the biggest benefit to a team who is trying to re-establish itself as a contender in the uber-competitive Western Conference. Regardless of whether or not Boozer is a Jazzman after

[Note by Basketball John, 02/17/09 1:15 PM MST ] - Ross Siler confirmed AK will play tonight.  Also, Memo left practice sick.

Well, so much for a healthy start to the "2nd half" of the season. According to a text message from KFAN, Carlos Boozer is listed as OUT for Tuesday's game at the ESA against Memphis, although Andrei Kirilenko is listed as probably. 

No details on when Booz will return, but I'd love to see him get a practice in on Wednesday and play either Thursday against Boston, or Saturday night against the Hornets. 

Just like many of you, I just received a text from KFAN informing me that Deron is OUT for tonight's game against the Bobcats with a Quad Contusion.

No other information in the text in regards to how long he may be out, or if Brevin or Ronnie will start in his place.

I will now spend the remaining 6 hours of my work day figuring out what we as Jazz fans did wrong last off-season that has injured everyone on our team from LHM to the Bear.

Just received the text from KFAN (as I'm sure many of you did as well), but Andrei Kirilenko is going to undergo surgery on this right ankle tomorrow morning. No mention of how long AK is going to be out for, but they mentioned earlier in the week that it would be around 4 weeks.

The Jazz only play 11 games in February, as opposed to the 15 they played in January, so if this had to happen it did come at a decent time.

Really some very sad news coming out today... The following is the article that the AP has put out on LHM's surgery this morning:

Longtime Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller's legs were amputated 6 inches below the knee on Friday.

Jazz spokesman Jonathan Rinehart said Friday's surgery was the result of complications from Type 2 diabetes.

Rinehart said the 64-year-old Miller is recovering in a hospital.

"Larry is doing well and is expected to continue to recover in the coming weeks and months," Greg Miller, Larry Miller's son, said in a statement. The statement said Miller's family would not be releasing any details.

[+] Enlarge

On Thursday, Gov. Jon Huntsman chose Miller to chair a new commission that will look for ways to increase Utah's low voter turnout and improve ethics in government. Miller did not attend the announcement -- the reason given was that he had a hospital appointment.

In October, doctors found a bone infection and diabetic ulcers on one of Miller's feet. He had outpatient surgery.

Miller had a heart attack over the summer. Complications including kidney failure and gastrointestinal bleeding that required blood transfusions followed, keeping him in the hospital for nearly two months.

Medical problems continued, including a nine-day hospitalization for dialysis to remove excess water weight.

Miller bought a 50 percent share of the Jazz in 1985 and purchased the rest of the team a year later.

Due to his father's health, Greg Miller was selected as the CEO of the Larry H. Miller Group over the summer.

The group owns the Jazz, radio and TV stations, restaurants, car dealerships, movie theaters, advertising and finance firms, sports arenas, a race track, a movie production company, ranches, a real estate development company and a minor league baseball team.

According to Ross Siler at the Trib it looks like Millsap will miss tonight's game in Oklahoma City. He underwent an MRI this afternoon after shoot around but is still hopeful of playing on Friday at Memphis.

I'm not to thrilled to hear Millsap say that it "don't feel right". It's never a good sign to hear an athlete say that he doesn't think something is right in his body. Argh!

http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_11452136

It's good to know that Paul is still getting more rebounds in a game than CJ Miles even when he isn't playing. According to this article the NBA has credited Paul with an additional rebound in the Bucks game last week, which gave him a double-double for the game, keeping his streak in tact. Kudos to the D-News reader who pointed that out. Paul should buy you a diet soda or something.

Just got word that Carlos Boozer will be having his knee scoped likely on January 9th. I haven't heard how long Boozer will be out for, but I can only speculate that he will be out for at least another 4 weeks (from today). 

I wonder what this is going to do to his free agent status this winter if/when he opts out? What are your thoughts if Booz decides not to opt out, and stays in Utah for another season?

According to Steve Luhm at the SL Tribune it looks like Mehmet Okur will be back in the starting lineup tonight against Philly. Definitely some good news, it is never a good thing to be compared to the Houston Rockets injuries in any reports, but especially in Marc Stein's power rankings at ESPN.com.

My wish list for 2009 looks like this:

-Get Booz and Paul healthy and back out on the floor.

-Watch Jarron Collins play a game... in another teams jersey.

-Watch Deron Williams take over the first 46 minutes of game, instead of just the last two.