Clintonite33
Mar 26, 2010 May 30, 2012 26 2406
Clint Peterson
NBA Fanatic
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Thanks, Memphis, It Was One Helluva Ride
by Clintonite33 on May 17, 2011 12:19 AM EDT
on Straight Outta Vancouver
I enjoyed the Grizzlies' season tremendously. And that's truly an understatement.
With about a third of the way to go, and the best player down for the count, I found myself discounting any possibility for your gritty guys to see postseason action.
And then it began to happen...
You're Not Doing It Right, Other Guys
by Clintonite33 on Jan 8, 2011 5:43 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
This post is an extension of one I did for Shoot Hoops. I wanted to focus more on the Jazz end of things for the Utah fans. Plus, there's some things that weren't suitable to put in the original for a league-wide look; it would have come out too homerish for an international basketball blog like Shoot Hoops.
The focus is to try and determine where Jerry Sloan and the Jazz franchise stand in regards to player development. Sloan is all-too-often accused of not developing his young talent enough, or not doing it properly.
I can prove otherwise to the Sloan haters doubters.
In fact, I intend to pound those silly assertions right into ground, where they belong.
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Jazz Bigs Playing Little: The Good, The Bad, and The Just Plain Ugly
by Clintonite33 on Dec 20, 2010 6:10 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
Take away Al Jefferson's moniker. He doesn't deserve it anymore. In fact, I'm calling him "Little Al" until he kicks it in.
Actually, this goes for all three of the Utah Jazz's starting little "big" men, Al, Paul Millsap, and Andrei Kirilenko, since all are underachieving somewhere that the team desperately needs them to show up in.
There is a little good news coming from Al's numbers -career high blocks percentage and career low turnover percentage- but everything else in down. Way down.
The news on the ManSap front is a bit more heartening, but still, that career low rebound rate, especially from the former NCAA rebound king, is troubling indeed. And he has yet to reach those 20/10 numbers predicted from the numerous, vocal Boozer haters, any which way you spin it.
Then there's AK-47.
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A Lengthy Growing Season
by Clintonite33 on Dec 6, 2010 5:26 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
This season it's just felt like the Jazz were a lengthier team. However, I've been unable to identify why.
All season long, during 2009-2010, right into the postseason and beyond, it was pounded into our heads that the Utah Jazz lacked the length to beat the Los Angeles Lakers, a fact born out in painful fashion for Jazz fans as the Lake Show broke out the brooms last spring dropping the Jazz in straight sets in a series that never even felt close or competitive.
Granted, the loss of 6' 11" Mehmet Okur during the first round series playoff series of 2010 against the Denver Nuggets contributed to the difficulties Utah faced against the lengthy Lakers in round two, but let's be honest, Utah wasn't besting L.A. with the Turkish long-bomber anyway.
While every NBA front office and coach worth his salt will tell you it's foolish to build a team to beat any other single team, the Jazz's offseason mission was clearly to add some reach to at least be able to compete with the 20 feet 10 inches the Lakers' starting frontline featured (Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom).
A cursory glance at the Utah roster from last season to this will show that the Jazz did indeed add six inches. However, most of those added inches came in the draft in the form of picks Gordon Hayward and Jeremy Evans essentially replacing the roster spots last occupied by Sundiata Gaines and Othyus Jeffers. These are four players that have had little overall impact from game to game, though (aside from "Sunny D" Gaines' legendary buzzer-beater against the Cleveland Cavaliers, of course).
The acquisition of the 6' 10" Al Jefferson, to replace lost free agent Carlos Boozer, added only a single inch, and if we consider that Jefferson is playing in the spot last year occupied by the 6' 11" Okur and the 6' 8" Paul Millsap playing the position formerly occupied by the 6' 9" Boozer the Jazz appear to have shrunk rather than grown in the place that matters versus lengthy L.A., the paint.
But this is not so.
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Al Jefferson had Pau Gasol grimacing like a pair of Kobe Grinch shoes in the preseason meetings with the Lakers. Will we see this Al again tonight?
It's Ron Boone's Fault, No Really
by Clintonite33 on Nov 25, 2010 1:46 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
via www.q4u.com
While we're counting our blessings on this day of thanks I couldn't let it pass without thanking the man who was the catalyst for my enhanced fan experience as it stands today; Ron Boone.
True story, I swear!
And it goes something like this...
Feast or Famine in the Fourth
by Clintonite33 on Nov 24, 2010 1:38 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
A few posts ago I listed the most pressing concerns in critical areas the Utah Jazz were lacking to truly contend with the elite of the league.
Since then the bench has crawled out of the cellar to contribute with an unlikely new-found chemistry among an even more unlikely lineup of a pair of aces, a stroker, and 14 feet of frontcourt (Watson, Price, Miles, Elson, Fesenko).
The offense has begun to find it's stride, and while the poor effort on the glass has now found it's way to the top of the list, the Jazz have somehow found their way to better winning percentage today than any they've had to end any season this decade, at a 10-5 .667.
Despite a difficult early season schedule Utah is hanging tough, keeping the leaders in sight. So where are the Jazz getting the job done?
It's pretty stark. The Jazz are clutch.
When Believing Backfires
by Clintonite33 on Nov 20, 2010 1:15 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
via thequickglimpse.files.wordpress.com
We've been snakebit by this Jekyll and Hyde Jazz team.
One minute they're posting their first ever undefeated preseason with a couple of dominant performances over the LA Lakers, and the next they're rolling over and playing dead like they're the LA Clippers. One minute they're the best ever comeback team in the NBA squashing Eastern Conference powerhouses like gnats, and the next they look like they'd get out-rebounded by Saint Mary's J.V. squad.
This team used to panic when they'd get down. Now they're calm and collected.
Too calm and collected. It's backfiring on them.
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Sloan's Supporting Cast is Strong
by Clintonite33 on Nov 19, 2010 11:59 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
via www.nba.com
I realize the knee-jerk reaction to this after the Spurs loss could get easily in the way, so I preemptively ask you to set that aside and look at this as objectively as possible. Try to recall all the times past when Jerry would get the boot in the butt mid-game and fans would go, "Well, we got this one now!"
When we first heard that Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan would be MIA for a pair of work days in his beloved occupation due to family affairs, Kevin Ferguson and I (@kfanferg makes a great follow, especially if you like baseball, PAC football, and MMA in between your doses of Jazz) began to speculate on "The Flog" about the potential of the team without him in attendance.
Sloan rarely misses a showdown, only 16 times in 1,983 games, or less than a single percent of them.
As I began to ponder the Jazz assistants a little more closely in my mind their accomplishments quickly piled up prompting me to spurt out "Any of the Jazz's three assistants could head coach for any of ten NBA teams."
Hmm, too brash?
Phil has been a head coach, a highly successful one. Ty has been considered for the top spot a couple of times. Scott has not only the bloodlines to bring the thing full circle, but also executive experience on one of the most brightly lit NBA stages.
Lets bio blast 'em to see what we can find out.
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A Historical Run by Comeback-Prone Jazz
by Clintonite33 on Nov 14, 2010 3:06 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
via www.ccfa.org
The recent road trip sweep of virtually the entire Southeast Division of the NBA --the division considered by many to be the best in basketball-- by the Utah Jazz made some memories that will live in Jazz lore for... maybe ever.
Few, myself included, expected more than 1-3, and even speculated that they could well go 0-4. Indeed, .500 would have been widely considered a win for the franchise.
But there's not an ounce of quit in these Comeback Kids.
What they've done is "unconscionable." It's where "amazing" happened. It's unparalleled in Jazz history, maybe even in NBA history.
Two games into it The Elias Sports Bureau chimed in, telling us that history had already been made (going back to the LA Clippers comeback). The Jazz may well have overloaded Elias' data banks since, leaving them sparking and sputtering, spewing a thin stream of smoke into the bureau's backrooms.
That the Jazz did this thing with four games in five nights book-ended by a pair of back-to-backs makes it even more remarkable.
Here's some of the highlights of the five-game win streak.
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Where the Jazz Showed Improvement
by Clintonite33 on Nov 13, 2010 2:16 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
via d.yimg.com
The list of concerns for the Utah Jazz coming into the season was fairly substantial with six fresh faces. It ranged from perimeter shooting to black holes, and while in the preseason and on paper the Jazz appeared to possess depth the opposite has in fact been the reality thus far.
Until last night.
Strides were made in the win over the Atlanta Hawks in many of the areas that Utah needs to improve.
As is often the case, Jerry's Jazz came out with the first few offensive possessions scripted in an attempt to establish the low post early. This means the ball goes to Big Al Jefferson. It's also meant that time suddenly stops for everyone else on the floor. They just stand there as if frozen in time and space at the event horizon of a black hole.
3 Reasons You Should Jump for Joy:
by Clintonite33 on Nov 11, 2010 5:53 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
Christian Petersen/Getty
For Jerry Sloan's Extension
Recently Jerry Sloan was offered an extension to continue his Cal Ripken-like streak of commanding the floor for the Utah Jazz.
There's always those who wish Sloan had retired 5, 10, or even 20 years ago, and they're always too happy to vocalize their displeasure that Jerry is the Iron Man of coaching and still there yelling and flashing what could be misconstrued by a J.R. Smith fan as gang signs.
Some 20-odd years ago, I admit, I was a Sloan basher too.
A couple of years into what has become a tremendous tenure I said to a friend and fellow Jazz fanatic that I thought Utah needed fresh blood on the bench, that Sloan didn't have a clue what he was doing. I mean, he never called timeouts to quell runs. He had no business running this team on game nights.
My pal, a wiser young man than I, told me to chill out, that I was mistaken. That Sloan was a great coach and knew exactly what he doing. That I needed to pay closer attention and give the man a chance.
I did, and over the next couple of years found that I'd become a staunch supporter of Jerry Sloan. I came to appreciate his unrecognized-at-the-time brilliance, and to identify the little things that made him such a basketball savant, such a genius among his peers.
What follows are a scant few examples of Sloan's real genius, from the epic win in the Miami Mill-slap.
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The Jazz's Big 3 (See what I did there?)
by Clintonite33 on Nov 9, 2010 1:29 PM EST
on SLC Dunk
Chances are you clicked on the title of this article expecting to see some spiel about Deron Williams, Paul Millsap, and Al Jefferson, but this particular "Big 3" are the three biggest deficiencies on the ball club so far this season and how they pertain to the game tonight versus the Miami Heat.
I urge you to check out Clark's post on the second most troubling aspect, and Yucca's on the third, both are chock full of excellent research presented in a more-than-readable manner, but we will start with the most glaring one, the one that will hurt the most in the marathon that is 82-plus games.
Most of the starters have already suffered dingers, so Sloan having to depend on 'em so much this early will only create more problems later.
1- The Bench
There's a good reason this gets top billing. While the offense has at least shown up in one-third of the games, the bench has yet to do so at all, aside from C.J. Miles' occasional flashes of bench brilliance.
Superstitious Dirk Goes Anti-Samson, Again
by Clintonite33 on Nov 8, 2010 1:56 PM EST
on Mavs Moneyball
After keeping it even with the Denver Nuggets through three quarters, only to result in yet another heartbreaker for Dirk and the Dallas Mavericks, Nowitzki felt it was time to break out the clippers (no, not those Clippers, Dallas doesn't get a second freebie from them until late January), prompting the following tweet:
@swish41 Dirk Nowitzki
It was time for my annual BUZZ CUT. Hair was really annoyine me and I needed a change after that brutal last game. Sorry ladies
I couldn't help it. He opened the door. I had to walk through it...
Jazz Bench Must Improve
by Clintonite33 on Nov 6, 2010 7:33 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
Some of you may have noticed that Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has leaned heavily on his starters so far this season, more so than years past.
Sloan rarely plays guys for 40 minutes-a-game if he doesn't have to, but this year Deron Williams and Al Jefferson have both logged two games of at least 40 minutes, while Paul Millsap has been required to play three of 38, 38, and 39. Both Williams and Jefferson are averaging better than 36 minutes-per-game.
It's been out of necessity, however, as Utah's bench has struggled. Sloan wants to win and his starters give him the best chance to do so. He knows an entire season can come down to one game, i.e. Phoenix last April.
The average set of NBA starters plays 67% of the game, with the second-stringers logging 30%, and 3% being what we'll call "deep stringers," who play out necessity of injuries to starters/rotation players, or "gastric distress," or what have you.
Not so for the Jazz.
Outstanding Jazz Anything But Average
by Clintonite33 on Nov 4, 2010 6:54 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
Sometimes stats lie.
Case in point, the following from TrueHoop (note the excellent point-spread-stat comment from Chadeous while you're there):
TrueHoop reader Daniel finds a certain kind of perfection in the Western Conference standings. In the early going, the Jazz have been fantastically average:
- They have two wins. They have two losses.
- They have won one game at home. They have lost one game at home.
- They have won one game on the road. They have lost one game on the road.
- They have won one game in their division. They have lost one game in their division.
- They have scored 106.8 points per game. They have allowed 106.8 points per game.
Let me say first that I realize that neither Daniel nor Mr. Abbott's intent was to say that the Utah Jazz are an average team, and that that is an amazing set of circumstances. Good eye, Daniel! (Does Daniel tweet? I'll follow)
However, I'd hate for "average" fan to let that tell 'em the story of the Jazz's season thus far. For the true story is something else entirely, and it goes something like this...
3 Reasons You Shouldn't Press the Panic Button
by Clintonite33 on Oct 30, 2010 5:57 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
"Expectations are high for us. We realize that."
After going 8-0 in the preseason only to be blown out seven of the first eight quarters of the season where it counts, Jazz fan is ready to jump off the proverbial cliff. Allow me to talk you down from the ledge.
The Jazz don't win games played before October 29
Never have.
Since the NBA schedule was changed beginning in the 1981-82 season to start in the last week of October, the Utah Jazz have played five games and lost them all.
The Dynamic Dallas Dirks
by Clintonite33 on Oct 27, 2010 11:29 AM EDT
on Mavs Moneyball
Note: I actually wrote this post as a request from another site, but it never got published when the original concept never came to fruition. However, the site admin suggested it was good enough as a stand-alone and I should drop it somewhere so it wouldn't go to waste. Hope you enjoy!
The burning question for last season's 2-seed in the Western Conference playoffs isn't 'Can we do it yet again? Be a top two seed?,' but rather 'Will we ever get past the 2nd round again?'
The Dallas Mavericks have been one of the best regular season teams in what may well be the toughest conference the NBA has ever seen, let alone what had consistently been it's toughest division. Since the 2004 divisional realignment, up until last season when the Northwest took over the tag, the Southwest Division had sent at least three of it's five teams to the postseason very year, even sending four of their five twice.
So to have been a 50-win team that's made the playoffs for ten straight years, winning the division two times and the Western Conference once, expectations are always high. Yet they have yet to live up to standard that you may expect to see from the third most valuable franchise in the league (behind only the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers) led by it's most polarizing owner, Mark Cuban.
Don't worry, Mavs fans, we aren't going to make you relive those nightmarish series with the Warriors or Heat. But our readers do need to understand just how good the Mavericks have been in the regular season, and on the flip-side, how disappointing in the postseason.
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8-Oh Yeah! A Utah Jazz Preseason Predication
by Clintonite33 on Oct 23, 2010 5:36 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
Save me a spot for the parade on John Stockton Drive. The Utah Jazz are co-Preseason Champions!
Coach Jerry Sloan, what do you think of that?
Now we gotta start playing for real and we'll see what we've got. Hopefully we can play a little better than what we have the last couple days.
Aw man, what a downer...
But remarks like this are nothing new to the seasoned Jazz fanatic, and they carry weight and validity with them. In typical Sloan style the Jazz's head coach dropped references to the things the team still needs to work on.
3 Reasons You Should Be Pumped:
by Clintonite33 on Oct 18, 2010 3:06 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
via d.yimg.com
About beating the LA Lakers
The preseason doesn't matter, right?
Wrong.
To an offensive system that requires you to do your job without thinking about it, the preseason allows a plethora of fresh faces the time required to settle into it, to make the proper cut and curl after two screens, putting the player in the right position to catch and shoot in rhythm, leaving the opposition on it's heels forced to answer at the other end.
Which is exactly what rookie 9-pick Gordon Hayward did last night.
1- 1st Q 5:18 Gordon Hayward enters the game for Raja Bell
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Burning Basketball Questions: Sunny D or Ronnie P?
by Clintonite33 on Oct 17, 2010 6:02 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
With the Utah Jazz's backup point guard spot likely well in Earl Watson's hands, our attention turns to a tight race for a roster spot between 5-year vet and locals fav Ronnie Price and Cav killer Sundiata Gaines.
Price is under contract for $1.38 million through the 2010-2011 season already so the onus to make Greg Miller's wallet lighter falls on Gaines' shoulders. The Jazz typically keep no more than 13 players on the regular season roster so the four current spots occupied by Demetris Nichols, Ryan Thompson, Othyus Jeffers, and Sundiata Gaines are likely to be the first trimmed.
How many players can be on an NBA roster?
By the numbers thus far...
Ronnie P
56 total minutes (5 games)
11.3min, 3.4pts, 1.6reb, 2.6ast, 0.8stl, 1.4TO, 47%FG (Okay, actually a hair below, but I don't want to seem biased...)
Sunny D
45 total minutes (4 games)
9.0min, 4.0pts, 1.0reb, 2.3ast, 1.0stl, 0.75TO, 47%FG
Gaines, who seemed to come into camp having followed coach Jerry Sloan's advice to "practice more intensely" last summer, says he's
"coming and competing; that’s all I can do. I know the system..."
In the four games he's played this preseason for the Jazz he has tried to play within the system --a thing Price has always raised an eyebrow among fans and coaching staff alike for not doing-- and been more efficient in his given, but limited playing time than the former Orem-favorite whose spot he hopes to slide into.
Do the Jazz really need four PGs?
Probably not, but any of the four could play together on the floor at a given time, and we've seen Deron Williams excel at the 2-spot alongside Chris Paul in the Oly's, and even saw Sloan field a lineup a couple of different times last season that featured two 1's (Williams/Price) and three 4's (Kirilenko/Millsap/Boozer).
via fsa.zedge.net
Gaines and Price finished off the Suns together in Energy Solutions Arena the other night. This group of guys gives Sloan and the staff options out there on the floor.
Price brings an energy off the bench that can rarely be matched, oft times firing up a sluggish squad that seems to be running through the deep end of the pool. That Tasmanian devil-type of spark can be both boon and blessing or detrimental to the game flow, depending on whether pogo-stick-Price gets ahead of his 'mates or plays Jazz ball. He tends to get in the air before having made a decision with what to do with the ball, creating awkward-at-best, turnover-conducive situations for himself.
When Price plays within we get games like the 13pts, 6ast, and 1TO he hung on Atlanta last year. Outside the Sloan system and we get ones like his 5pts, 1ast, and 4TOs versus Denver, in 20 minutes.
While Gaines may come across a little too cool and relaxed to the Jazz brass at times, his efficiency in limited PT is turning heads, serving notice, that he indeed deserves to be on an NBA roster. Could we see him in Ronnie P's old stomping grounds in Orem in a Flash uni instead of in the cool new Jazz colors? Maybe...
Is the Price already right or will we get another shot to see the Jazz unleash the power of the Sunny D on some unsuspecting soul? I bet there's a good chance we see him make Miller dig a little deeper at some point.
Boozer and Millsap: Two Halves of a Whole
by Clintonite33 on Apr 27, 2010 11:18 AM EDT
on SLC Dunk
via i.cdn.turner.com
The following is actually from an email conversation with an electronic acquaintance, but I thought it was so interesting that I ought to share it with you. I hesitate to drop a second stat-geek-filled post so soon after Clark's interesting (to me, at least) number-crunch-o-rama, but you, the dedicated, passionate fan, deserves to know.
Now, I don't know if it's the Utah versus BYU mentality that's so ingrained locally, or if it's just the human nature of needing competition, even if it's at the expense the team mentality, but with many the "Boozer or Millsap" thing just won't die.
So I'd like to put it to rest for you.
Awards Watch: The Jazz's Post Man
by Clintonite33 on Apr 11, 2010 4:51 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
[Note by Basketball John, 04/12/10 7:19 AM MDT, the Jazz are promoting Boozer, Deron, and Millsap for places on the All-NBA team and 6th Man of the Year award. We'll be writing on why each of them are deserving ]
via i.cdn.turner.com
A picture of consistency, Carlos Boozer hasn't received the kind of accolades he's earned for his season. From endless speculation on all fronts about his will to win and likeability as a teammate in the preseaon, resulting in endless articles and columns on his bailing out of Utah at the first chance, or the Jazz brass giving him the heave-ho, to getting snubbed in favor of a Kaveman at the February festivities in Dallas, Carlos has been leading the charge in the paint for the Utah Jazz, a staple of the Sloan system.
Boozer is having as good of a year as any he's ever posted. Maybe even his best. He's outpaced John Hollinger's PER preseason prediction for him by several points, and many analysts had Utah missing the playoffs this year altogether.
If there's any power forward in the league that's deserving of First Team All-NBA Honors, it's the Jazz's post man, their power in the paint.
A Rosen Rebuttal
by Clintonite33 on Apr 3, 2010 6:44 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
Absurd, half-true assertions fire me up like few other things do. And FOX seems to have found a niche in the market for the journalist that calls himself an analyst, yet comes across as more of a paper shock jock than "someone who is skilled at analyzing data."
Only days removed from throwing the Lakers under the bus, after they finally looked human when struggling in hostile territory (LA are still the ones with the target on the backs of their collective jerseys, remember), Charley Rosen, rather than address what the team he covers did right, instead turned his venomous keystrokes on the Utah Jazz
Specifically, one particular Jazzman more than any other; Carlos Boozer.
I find this to be a disturbingly myopic, hate-based viewpoint, grounded in a lack of real facts on the matter. How does one ignore the fact that Boozer actually won his matchup with Pau Gasol? Or at the very least played him to a draw. To lay the blame at Boozer's feet for the loss is absurd.
I'm not buying it.
The Key to Kobe Bryant
by Clintonite33 on Mar 30, 2010 7:16 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
via nimg.sulekha.com
The other day I was hit up by Twitterer pal o' mine, @Windfamiliar, concerning a potential Utah Jazz / Los Angeles Lakers playoff matchup, specifically, what would be the most problematic matchups. Naturally, I gave the good ol' reliable response about Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom's length, which is a valid concern, but that wasn't satisfactory. He also wanted to know how to stop the prolific Kobe Bryant.
Having already been tracking just such a thing (who isn't on the lookout for a way to douse the Lake Show?), I immediately knew where to go with it.
You don't.
You let him shoot 'em out of it. The Lakers are a more-than-mortal 3-5 when The Black Mamba strikes for at least 30 FGA's a game. But it doesn't end there.
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We're Number Two?
by Clintonite33 on Mar 26, 2010 5:06 PM EDT
on SLC Dunk
via dimemag.com
Dallas and Denver are falling apart at the seams opening the door for the Utah Jazz. Heck, they're practically holding open a set of double-doors at the ESA for 'em, with a begrudging half-grin (something that in Dirk Nowitski's case might be coming from his right elbow).
What gentlemen! Jazz Nation thanks you kindly.
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