Contract years, Developing Talent & Front Office Subterfuge

The work of a General Manager is easy to criticize, yet hard to fully quantify. Team owners are like dragons sleeping on their hoard of gold coins and other priceless treasures. Coaches want to build winning resumes. Players want to get paid. The GM has to be the go-between that gets all these parties (with differing motivations) on the same page. The GM has to get a coach the players he needs to win. The players want the promises they need before signing on the dotted line (salary, role, playing time, etc). And for the team owner, well, the GM has to placate this obstacle on a near daily basis and convince the owners not to devourer the GM on sight -- while suggesting that parting with part of their hoard (on the 1st and 15th of each month) is the smart thing to do.

At times the NBA can be distilled to purer components, of winning and losing, and of the honesty of the game. Yet, at other times the NBA can expand into a complex juggling act more akin to micromanagement in a strategy game, or a RTS click-fest. For players, the game is the game. It's simple in that way, and relies on skill, speed and quick reflexes -- a Video Game analogy would be the first person shooter. For coaches, it's series of complex decisions, not unlike the original turn based strategy game called "Chess". (you may have heard of it) The GM, though, has to delve into the previously mentioned RTS click-fest:

But instead, imagine dealing with salaries, egos, scouts, coaches, players and injuries . . . also less cannons, probably . . .

*Ahem* Back to the point . . . a GM's job is rarely done perfectly because of how difficult it tends to be. Some GM's are great talent evaluators (for example, there's Isiah Thomas, just look at the player's he has drafted in his career, most of them have been All-Stars or award winners in some regard: Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Marcus Camby, Damon Stoudamire, David Lee, and so on) but poor on other sides of their job description. Other GM's have good connections with other teams, and always seem to do business with them (look at Kevin O'Connor and all the deals he has made with Philly over the years). Some GM's are really good with managing money, while others are known for turning things around in short order. At the end of the day, though, the GM is a salesman. He is essentially selling his services to a consumer -- in this case the team owner. Part of sales is to buy low and sell high. Another part of sales is to be consciously deceptive in just what your wares are. That last part does not really apply fully to the GM - Team Owner relationship, but rather to the GM to GM relationship. Sometimes you get a lemon, but you have to pass it off as a safe family sedan. Other times you (as the GM) are working not against the team owner, the other GM's, but the actual assets -- the players and their agents.

You want to keep a good player on your team for the least amount of money it's going to take to keep him there. All Team Owners expect the GM to be able to do such a thing. This part of the job ties in directly with the buy low/sell high and deceptive doctrines. If the first step is acquiring a player (via a Trade, Free Agency or the Draft), then the next step is evaluating that player (though, we hope that some evaluations have taken place before the player is traded for/signed/drafted). The next logical step would be to give playing time to that player and develop him. The last step? Making a decision on that guy -- sign him again when his contract expires, trade him, or let him walk. Parts of the last step depend greatly on each of the previous steps.

• For example, say the team acquires player A. They evaluate him, see some things they like, some things he needs to improve on, and play him accordingly. He either gets better or worse. If he does well, he becomes more valuable to the team -- and more valuable as a player. His asking price may go up, and making the last step (in this case: deciding to keep him) harder to do. An example of this Jazz fans may be familiar with would be All-Star Mo Williams.
• Player B, on the other hand, does not appear to have much upside, does not make the most of his chances on the court, and is not in the future plans of the team. They can get rid of him in a variety of ways, the team's disinterest in retaining him opens up options for his removal. An example of this Jazz fans may be familiar with would be Kris Humphries.

It's not always this simple, though.

• What about Player C . . . the team that drafts him knows him best, and knows that there is hidden potential deep inside. If they go about normally giving him playing time, allow him to develop openly (instead of only during closed practices and workouts with the team), then other GM's may wish to pry him away. Even if the original team wishes to keep him, retaining him may become very difficult as the exposure led to quicker development, which led to a greater player value. This would be repeating the same mistake with Player A all over again. What if, instead, the team decides to develop him secretly, give him less exposure, drive his asking price down, remove interest other GMs would have in him, and basically, keep him on the "down low".

This is pretty much the only way to retain those people that you think *can* blow up (in a good way), without having to give them a lot of money to make them stay. Deron Williams deserves the contract he got. It's an expensive contract though. Some teams are forced to over-pay to retain their talent (don't need to look farther than a young, uninjured Andrei Kirilenko half a decade ago). In general, you want to avoid doing that. If anything, I think we can clearly place the curious case of C.J. Miles as an example of a Player C scenario.

At the end of C.J.'s first season he was getting more playing time, and in the last game of the season he played really well. How well? 23 points (8/13 fg, 2/5 3pt, 5/8 ft), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal -- as a rookie with extend playing time playing against a tough Western Conference team. Every off-season since then there have been fishy things going on. He was a consistent no-show in future summer leagues, but instead opted to work on his game by himself. During times of injury he would be pressed into the starting line-up, only to return to the end of the bench only a few days later. C.J. should have played more than he did in when he was on his rookie contract. The clock struck 12 on C.J.'s contract though, and the Jazz simply put themselves in a situation to match whatever contract someone threw his way by virtue of him being a restricted free agent. No one really bit, not knowing what they would be getting . . . until Oklahoma City offered him a 4 year $15 million dollar contract. We all know how that story ended, as the Jazz eventually matched. Was $3.75 million per season too much for C.J. Miles? Perhaps . . . but at the same time, it's a lot less than it could have been had C.J. been playing like he is now at this time last season. (or perhaps, getting the playing time that he is getting now at this time last season) Back then I thought the Jazz were (in chronological order) a) not developing C.J. enough, b) using him only for spot duty, c) giving his playing time to guys who did not deserve it.

This season Ceejay has been everything from a solid deep threat, a versatile 2nd option on offense, to invisible . . . sometimes all in the same week. This is his 4th season in the league, and his first where he has averaged over 11.5 mpg. I'm sure he would be better, more seasoned player than he currently is if he was playing 20 mpg every season after his rookie campaign. I'm also pretty sure that he wouldn't be on the Jazz then. In effect, one could directly point to a systematic way in which the Jazz brass (Sloan and O'Connor mostly) lowered interest in a prospect, sequestered him from exposure (he only got one short stint in the NBA DL), yet did not develop him for fear of losing him. At the end of the day the Jazz have C.J., but not the C.J. he could be right now, and C.J. is not earning as much as he perhaps thought he would be after his rookie contract expired.

The Jazz financial situation is horrible right now. If it does not improve shortly than there may be a few more Player A type situations in the future with key contributors Paul Millsap and Ronnie Brewer. The Jazz would love to keep them for reasonable contracts, though their development (and production) have elicited quite a bit of exposure. Good for their bank accounts, perhaps not so great for the Jazz.

That's where the micromanagement comes back into play. You want your players to be good, productive and develop . . . but you do not want to lose them to other teams after you put in all the hard work to make them useful. Gilbert Arenas comes to mind, he was drafted, developed, and then left to get paid in free agency. Right now the Jazz are playing the "front office subterfuge game" with some other young players that could possibly be helping the Jazz right now.

Morris Almond: He is a scorer's scorer, who despite having limited quickness and has played defense only once in his life, could be doing a whole lot more for this Jazz team. He's looked horrible in his rookie season with the Jazz where he never got to be involved in the plays that the regular rotation run that get swingmen easy buckets. He didn't play a minute with Deron Williams last year, and was relegated to garbage time spot up shooting from the corner. Reason for not getting playing time: He's behind a few key guys on the depth chart and doesn't rebound or defend as well as others. For some reason this has prevented him from playing one single second in the NBA-DL this season. Something fishy: Why hasn't he played in the D-League at all this season then, if there's no space for him on our current roster? Do the Jazz know that he's a raw gem that only seems to look better when he gets to play?  Utah is healthy now, so there's no real risk to put him in the game at all . . . maybe practice with the Jazz is better than games with the Flash? Or maybe they don't want him to get too much exposure right now? Utah has opted not to extend his contract, so seemingly he is out . . . but maybe they are trying to keep his going rate low so that they *can* still have a shot at retaining him for a while. After all, they scouted him, interviewed him, drafted him, are developing him . . . Harpring's contract expires next year, and the Jazz will need a wing player who can come off that Harpring curl and hit the mid-range jumper. Financial situation aside, that sounds like something the Jazz have in their laps right now with Almond. Alas, this is exactly not the contract type of year a young player wants to have (being buried on the bench). Co-incidentally, this is exactly the type of contract year the Jazz would want him to have . . . after all, they did the same thing with Ceejay, they know what they are doing.

Kyrylo Fesenko: Very large man (7'1, 300+ lbs.) with the same wingspan and standing reach as Greg Oden -- yet uninjured and a capable passer and interior defender who has, due to injuries, been pressed into defending the likes of Yao Ming to Andrew Bynum . . . and done so well. Very likely that he is more talented than the guy ahead of him on the depth chart (Jarron Collins), but lacks experience, familiarity with the system and seasoning. Reason for not getting playing time: Work ethic and personality appear to anchor this man to the bench, though at some level talent and ability should trump that. Something fishy: As a rookie, this wet behind the ears, 2nd round draft pick center joined the Jazz and played in 70 games, and played over 20 mpg. This player joined a playoff team that was contending for a championship. This player had no experience with the Jazz system prior (as a rookie) and ended up getting playing time over a limited, soft center who had much more experience in the system. This young player was Jarron Collins. What, did you think I was talking about Fesenko? Heck no, Fesenko has played only 200 minutes with the Jazz in his 2 year career, let alone played in 70 (@ 20 per) as a rookie. Why is there such a disparity between Collins' and Fesenko's early careers? I don't know, but it seems kind of fishy to me. Even more fishy is that Fes only had one stint in the NBA-DL this season (8 games), promptly did exactly what we'd want him to do (be a defensive presence who rebounded, blocked and changed shots, shot a high percentage and eventually was averaging a double double) . . . and was called back and never played again. Ever. Hmmmm . . . he improves, shows that he's good at what he does . . . and can be a free agent this season . . . 'need to reel that big boy in, and hide him somewhere!' (which was the original plan with drafting a little known, poorly scouted player from a minor European league in the first place) More so than Almond, I think that Fesenko has a future with the Jazz, or at the very least, in the NBA somewhere as teams always want size, and if the guy is talented, he's going to get a contract somewhere. If you gave him the playing time, I'm pretty sure that he'd be able to get Rookie Millsap type of numbers for sure.

Paul Millsap: Speaking of the 'Sap, he got some great exposure this season. He produced as a starter due to injuries to Carlos Boozer. He's a free agent, and he's going to get paid this off-season. No doubt about it. Interestingly enough, at the first whiff of a hobbled, rusty Carlos Boozer the Jazz sent 'Sap back to the bench and as his fantasy owners know firsthand, 'Sap just hasn't been the same since. Reason for being sent to the bench: Boozer was the starter before he got injured, the Jazz/Sloan doctrine on this is that you cannot lose your starting job due to injury. Something fishy: No one said anything about a starting job, but just let Paul start the first 4-5 games after Boozer comes back and then let Boozer slowly work his way back into playing shape, and then give Boozer the starting spot. A lot of teams do this, they bring a starter back from injury on the bench just to test things out a bit. Out of all of my conspiracies, this is among the weakest -- though I don't see why the Jazz didn't keep starting Millsap for 4 games while Boozer (who was playing limited minutes) worked his way back into starting shape. For one thing, this almost looks like a directed attempt to reduce Millsap's exposure (for the open market). It's probably not, but it just looks fishy -- during a contract year, no less.

Kosta Koufos: Let's just say that if this 19 year old was playing Brook Lopez type of minutes on a bad team we'd see Brook Lopez-ish production out of Kosta. Yet, a guy who is clearly more talented than Collins, and is a very hard worker (much more than Fesenko has shown), is completely lost on this team. Kosta isn't on the active roster right now, isn't playing in the development league, and isn't developing. Reason for not getting playing time: Apparently he doesn't know the plays. Sure, he's a smart shot blocking 7 footer who has a nice offensive game AND is a very hard worker who hustles . . . but he's not going to get to play because by playing him he would then be in a position to actually learn the plays, and then we would have even less of an excuse for why he isn't playing. He's almost a gestalt character that takes the size (mostly) and shot blocking of Fess, with the hustle and work ethic of Collins . . . and gets none of the playing time that he should. Something fishy: There is no good reason not to play this guy, develop him with real NBA minutes, or even send him to the NBA D-League for some in game action. He hasn't seen the developmental league at all in his career, instead getting better by wearing suits next to Carlos Boozer for 50+ games. That's another thing, he got some very minor playing time just because of injuries . . . this season was a prime season to be forced into playing and developing younger talent. Sloan had to work many games without being able to call on veteran bigmen . . . but still he elected to instead play Matt Harpring at power forward. Huh?

It's not that difficult to imagine that the Jazz are hurting their futures by risking not getting these guys playing time because they do not want to lose them to other teams . . . but they also get nothing out of these guys. Other teams play younger players during the regular season so that they may become contributors to that team . . . and even help them in the playoffs. Heck, our team did this with Paul Millsap as a rookie, or Shandon Anderson (more on him later), or Bryon Russell and a host of others. There's no doubt in my mind that if Fess of Kosta were getting 12-15 mpg this season that one of them would be able to contribute in the playoffs for us. Instead the development time has become much longer for a bunch of guys who could be helping us now. Also, it's not that difficult to imagine that the Jazz are hurting the values of their players by flat out burying them during contract years. No playing time = no exposure and no stats = bargain prices. They did this with C.J., and if they had a time machine, would probably like to do so with others as well.

The way that the Jazz develop talent seems to be highly unequal. Some young guys get regular burn, while others don't. This time is directly proportional towards development. I think that Jazz Brass feel the financial side to all of this needs to take precedence over the immediate development and returns from the players on the roster. The Jazz gave good minutes to a solid player (Shandon Anderson) as a rookie, and eventually left the team, the Jazz get nothing in the long term for it. The Jazz gave good minutes to a very talented player (Andrei Kirilenko), and end up having to really over-pay to keep him on the team. The Jazz don't want to get into anything like that again, and now underplay most guys during the span of their rookie contracts, so they they do not have to over-pay.

C.J., only after the Jazz matched an offer he got from another team, is finally getting playing time -- but as a 4th year guard with the potential that he had when he was drafted, he is behind where he should be. They seem to be guilty of doing that with Almond and Fesenko by not playing them in the NBA, nor allowing them to rack up stats in the D-League . . . which would have been a great way to audition for other teams during contract years -- or you know, actually get better and be able to help OUR team.

Some Jazz apologists feel like the practices the Jazz have are of greater value to a younger player than actually playing in the development league, or even playing in the NBA on poorer quality teams. I think that this is a very haughty thing to say . . . especially with how closely the Jazz *can* keep an eye on things with their development team being only a few miles away and the coach of that team is related to Jerry Sloan -- it almost seems like a no-brainer to send the kids down at least once each when none of them are even on the active roster with the Jazz. They threw C.J. a bone once by doing that, by giving him a chance to play, and that improved his morale. Why not do the same for a younger player this season? Sloan even goes out to harp on how great the D-League is, and how he wishes they had that when he first came into the league. If it's so great, why not use it, now that the rest of the guys are healthy?

As for how great the Jazz practices are . . . they rarely get a chance to practice on the road (they only practice on days off, and now at the end of the season, with the playoffs coming up, there may be less than the regular number of practices on off-days), so the younglings are getting even less time to improve than normal. This clearly is the case where the GM, at the behest of saving the team owner money, works with the coaches to screw the players out of money / job satisfaction. Or maybe that's by design, especially in their contract years?

Dollar$ and Cent$: Just say 'No' to the 2009 NBA Draft

First of all, if you are a Pete Maravich/Ricky Rubio fan, then you don't need to worry about this draft. Secondly, if you are the Utah Jazz, you don't want nothing to do with this one either, but for an entirely different reason: money. Money is a huge big deal in the NBA -- and in more than that art imitates life type of way. People want to get paid. (Even if they don't deserve it) Utah -- when healthy -- is a pretty nice team. In order to keep this team together the Jazz Brass (particularly Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor) is going to have to get new team owner Greg Miller to open the, how do you say, "cheque book". The salary situation is bananas. (but not in the "it changes every day" type of way) Just take a look for yourself. This off season the Jazz may have to ink new deals for Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Paul Millsap, Jarron Collins and Kyrylo Fesenko -- essentially all the bigmen on the roster except for Andrei Kirilenko and current rookie Kosta Koufos.

Boozer	Okur	Millsap	Fesenko	Collins
$12.7 mill next year, looking for more according to interview he gave weeks ago to ESPN	$9 mill next year, looking for more (according to Turkish media)	Making less than $800k, Restricted Free Agent will be offered 10x that on the market at least	Team option for less than $900k	Somehow making $2 mill this year

That's not all the free agents though, as the Jazz will need to figure out what they are doing with their point guard situation (both back-ups, Brevin Knight and Ronnie Price, have expiring contracts) and that Morris Almond guy . . . well, it's a damn shame what happened to that guy. The year after that (i.e. the Off-Season of 2010) there needs to be some money for Ronnie Brewer (who's qualifying offer is going to be at a hair under $4 million per season), Matt Harpring (who, for whatever reason, we are incapable of getting rid of) and anyone else who didn't get taken care of this off-season.

The 'best' thing is to find out which guys we really want, and develop a strategy to keep them. Out of all of those names the most important free agents (right now) are Boozer, Okur, Millsap, Brewer and Knight. Championship teams do not depend on the services of guys like Jarron Collins, or Ronnie Price. Brewer does not need a new deal until next season. Mehmet Okur has not made any waves about opting out, unlike Boozer, so both of them 'could' still be on the books for the next year. (At the rate of $9 million and $12.7 million respectively) If all three are on the books then we only really need to worry about Knight and Millsap. The back-up PG situation can be handled with part of the exception. (I could be wrong, as I'm not a cap-ologist) The rest of the money can be used on Millsap. (What money? Where is this money coming from? The Jazz are already over the cap . . . there IS no more money!) The closer to reality we get (and hence, the closer to actually dealing with the cap) the closer we get to recognizing that this situation sucks.

There just isn't enough money to go around. If you bare bones it, have Boozer opt out (and not be resigned by the Jazz), let Collins and Price walk, jettison Fesenko with the team option on his contract -- then you'll have enough money to go around for Millsap, Okur, Brewer and Knight over the next two season . . . but only have 9 players on the roster. You're not allowed to have only 9 players on your roster. The Jazz will have to pick up a few low cost scrubs in order to fill out the roster -- not a bad move, but still, there's no guarantee that Boozer will opt out now (even though he said that he would), and secondly, the Jazz may not (for whatever reason) get rid of Collins, Price *or* Fesenko. Under Larry H. Miller, R.I.P., the Jazz were a small town family more than they were a business. Guys like Harpring and Collins had expiring contracts a few seasons ago, and they were given (back then) seriously over priced golden handshake deals. It should have ended there, but I don't know if it really will. So, okay, let's scratch that idea of the Jazz actually going to 'not' sign company men. I really do not have a great solution to the Jazz financial situation, but, I do know where some money can be saved: the 2009 NBA Draft.

Right now the Jazz are not going to go over the hump with a late 1st round pick and a late 2nd round pick. Especially not from this upcoming draft. The last thing the Jazz need is to use money on a guaranteed contract that'll eat up some of the money that would be better served being spent on the likes of Millsap or Brevin Knight. Luckily, the Jazz are in just the position to get rid of their draft picks this year. We owe Philly a 1st round pick (from the Korver trade), and Philly owes Minnesota a 1st round pick (Rodney Carney trade). If the Jazz pick lower than 22nd in this year, Minnesota will get our pick. That helps out everyone involved, especially the Jazz. The hard part, though, is getting a good enough record to finish the season with so that we are picking at 22 or lower. The Jazz will need to finish with one of the top 9 records in the league when all is said and done. Where are we today? Sitting at #10, percentage points behind New Orleans. If Utah can leapfrog New Orleans, Portland and Houston we'll be in the clear -- while keeping Dallas, Atlanta and Phoenix behind us in the standings. Sounds very plausible, and while I'd love to give up on a very late 1st round draft pick and save money, I don't know how possible this is going to end up being. The longer we hold onto the pick that we owe Philly -- that they'll give to Minnesota -- the better the pick can possibly get (going upwards from #22 to getting near the lotto if we hold it till 2013). Better to get rid of it sooner, rather than later.

The 2nd round pick is an entirely different animal, as the Jazz may be willing to keep it in plans of a draft and stash with another International (most likely European) player. This way the money for that guy is not on the books, but we still keep the rights to him. We're currently doing this with International Men of Mystery Tadija Dragicevic and Ante Tomic. As far as I am concerned, we have enough European bigmen to last a few seasons. I don't think that European swingmen are the answer to our problems. Nor do I think that our future back-up PG is going to be a European point guard. Sure, we could draft and stash *any* International player, but I don't know how great our scouting of South America is. (If we're not getting a Euro, he'll be from the Americas somewhere -- don't see us drafting an Asian or African player -- I really don't think we're actively scouting those parts of the world) The answer here, again, appears to be giving our pick to Philly, as we still owe them future considerations in the 2nd round because of the Fesenko-Hill trade a few years back.

We skip the draft this season, focus on the players we have, and save some money right now. I think that's not a bad idea at all. Plus, then the next year's draft (2010), we'll have plenty of picks that we can use as assets for trades, or well, you know, draft picks. We may have a few holes to fill two off-seasons from now. We'll have two 1st round picks (our own, hopefully a low pick; and the Knicks unprotected, possibly lotto, pick). I'm sure both of those picks could be traded to a bad team if we wanted to move up in the draft . . . I dunno . . . if we actually find someone that we'd like to add to the team.

In completely unrelated news, doesn't this kid look like Fesenko's younger brother? This guy is Donatas Motiejunas, a Lithuanian center that projects to be a lotto pick in the 1st round of the 2010 NBA Draft. I don't know much about the kid, but I do know that unless he's the reincarnation of Wilt, I don't want the Jazz to ever get close to drafting this guy. We have enough young center prospects that we're not developing already.

Things to look for this season: Morris Almond

If you've been following this blog for a while (perhaps by some court ordered mandate or potential Gitmo torture method) you may have noticed that I associate C.J. Miles' trials and tribulations to that of the works of Shakespeare. (And really, it's almost apt!) Morris Almond (or 'Mobe' as I like to call him) requires a whole other author to describe him -- probably Charles Dickens. Most specifically the whole "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" bit from A Tale of Two Cities. For Almond the two cities are -- obviously -- Salt Lake City, Utah and Orem, Utah. These are the respective homes of the NBA's Utah Jazz and the NBA-DL's Utah Flash franchises.

Orem, Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah
Morris Almond is the star player for the Utah Flash, the NBA-DL's Impact player of the year who gave teams 50 twice that year and was involved in everything from the All-Star game, H.O.R.S.E. and set league scoring records.	In the Salt Lake he is a guy who only gets burn in garbage time, and seems to be unremarkable in any distinct way . . . save for his lack of hustle on defense and below average quickness and court vision. (3 assists last season, total)

Morris Almond is coming off quite the 'tale of two cities' Rookie campaign in 2007-2008 -- if it wasn't made absolutely clear by now already. This season his Rocky Mountain Review Summer League ball had ups and downs, but over all it showed us that he is a dynamite scorer with NBA ready moves -- but does not really grasp the team game yet (hence the name "Mobe", like "Kobe"). His work so far in the Pre-Season has been -- pretty much -- more of the same of what we expect of him -- just in less minutes.

• 8 points per game
• 12 FGM - 29 FGA (41.4 FG%)
• 7.25 Field Goals Attempted per Game
• 1 Shot for ever 2.45 minutes played
• 1 - 3 from the three point line (33.3 3pt%)
• 7 - 9 at the free throw line (77.8 ft%)
• 1.5 rebounds per game (RPG)
• 0.25 assists per game (APG)
• 0.50 steals per game (SPG)
• 1.25 turn overs per game (TOpg)
• 17:45 average minutes per game (MPG)

Ideally he'd have more than 1 assist in 4 pre-season games -- but let's not forget that is probably better than what he was getting in Summer League this past season. Some of his troubles must stem from the fact that he is essentially two different people depending on if he's with the Jazz or the Flash. In Orem his role is that of 'The Man' and he knows that on every offensive possession his team has the best chance of making a bucket if the ball goes through him. It's pretty much a continuation of what he had to deal with his last two seasons at Rice in the NCAA's. When he's wearing a Jazz uniform it's completely different -- he's at the bottom of the totem pole and his role is completely different. The offense doesn't run through him, it's his job to be a cog in the larger Utah Jazz offensive machine.

In some ways we kind of know who he is, and what he can do -- there's very little benefit to having him run in the NBA-DL anymore because it's not like that improves him as a player, nor does it better prepare him to play with the Jazz (as what the Flash need out of him is pretty much the opposite of what Jerry Sloan wants to see from him). That said, what three things should we look forward to this season from Morris Almond?

1. Pass the Rock more -- Being a good offensive player is more than just being able to give other teams' buckets. If he's not going to get on with the hustling, rebounding and defending -- the least he can do is learn the playbook and make passes. I'm sure it's quite discouraging to actually pass the ball to an open guy in the NBA Developmental League, only to have him clang the shot. I watched every Summer League Game and I saw Morris passing the ball, only for his team (and his boxscore) to be rewarded with nothing. Pretty much he's been somewhat classically conditioned to dislike passing. Here I am being all Mr.Psychology and getting past the FA-err and try to figure out why he's seen as an offensive black hole. Whatever the cause, he has to break out of it. My solution would be with the Cognitive-Behavioral therapy of systematic desensitization. Basically, the more time he plays with other guys who can make shots the more and more he'll understand that positive results can happen when he passes the ball. He hasn't really played with good players (even in garbage time he's running out there with Jarron Collins, and not Mehmet Okur), so it's not like he's had good targets. If he's running around against second string guys with Korver, AK and Millsap I'm sure we'll see some more passes -- after all, passing is contagious.
2. Get caught up in a numbers game -- See what I did there? I put him on the bench in our team in Salt Lake City . . . I guess assuming that a) Brewer and Miles start and b) Harpring is still out for part of the season. The grim reality is that there are too many talented people for too few minutes. (96 total at the wings -- Brewer and Andrei need at least 30, and Kover needs around 20, so that leaves 16 TOTAL to be divided between C.J., Morris and Harpring) If you just take out guys playing small forward there's only 48 minutes to go round for four guys -- which is just insane any way you slice it. The time Morris does see on NBA courts are going to be high pressure situations for him as he tries to make a name for himself and earn more playing time. Basically this could just lead to him jacking a lot of shots as that's probably what he does best. That's quickly not going to fly with the Jazz brass, and even though it doesn't make him better, makes it harder for him to adjust to his role on the Jazz, and reinforces bad habits -- eventually may lead to him playing the majority of this 2008-2009 season in Orem . . . just like last year.
3. Take it out on the NBA-DL -- And that's just going to make him angry, and cause him to go all Hulk like on the NBA-DL out of frustration. (After all, he can audition for other teams that way, as it's filled with scouts, and after he drops 50 a few times next year some Shooting Guard anemic teams may drop Kevin O'Connor an e-mail or two).

I may be in the minority here, but I really think that the bad parts of the NBA-DL outweigh the benefits of sending Morris down there. I don't know what they do down there in Flash practice, but when it's game time they want to win, and they do that by having Almond shoot a lot. I only watched about 5 or 6 Flash games last season, and it doesn't look like they do anything but post him up, or run plays for him. Jerry doesn't call those plays in Utah -- so it's not like sending him down there makes him any better prepared for playing for Jerry. The best way to make him earn playing time with the Jazz is to -- I dunno -- have him be on the active roster? And for the record, he had more asissts per game with the Flash than Harpring did with the Jazz (and with better shooters) . . . I just say put Harp on the IR, and have Almond and others take his place. (unless we are playing Ron Artest or Carmelo Anthony -- he completely takes those guys out of their games)

Things to look for this season: Brevin Knight

Last season at this point in time I was cautiously optimistic about the Jason Hart signing. I was peeved that the Jazz chased away Dee Brown, and the primary reason seemed to be that the Jazz needed a veteran point guard to fill in the gap left by Derek Fisher's exodus from Utah to go to New York Los Angeles to be closer to where his daughter would continue to get treatment for her cancer. (btw, her specialist is still in New York, not LA guys)

I did not know much about Jason Hart, but he was a guy I picked up for my fantasy team a few seasons ago when he was money for 5 assists per game and at least 1 steal (late in the fantasy season you search out for guys who play on teams that have 4 games in a week that can help you win your head to head). Last season, though, my cautious optimism was quickly replaced with disgust as Hart would try to Will Smith is way through games, and never pass the ball. (He got a grand total of 86 assists last season for the Jazz, 1.5 per game -- and he's a point guard. Matt Harpring got 82 last season, and he isn't exactly known for his play making ability as a stone-handed forward.)

Alas, Hart is no longer on our team, as he was traded for Brevin Knight this off-season. I haven't been a huge Brevin Knight fan in the past because: he is really small (5'10 height), he can't stay healthy over a season (been in the league since 1997-1998, and has played in the following number of games each season: 80 {rookie season}, 39, 65, 53, 53, 55, 56, 66, 69, 45 and 74 games last year That averages out to 59.5 games played per season and Brevin possesses a truly epic shooting range disability: career 14.2 3pt %, 0 for 6 last season, has made only 16 in his 10 year career, never made more than 3 in a season before for a point of reference, Gordan Giricek only played in 22 games for us last season, and he made 12 in our uniform in 2007-2008 alone.

Photographed by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty Images

That said, the point guard spot is much better with Knight at the wheel than with Hart. Trading away a 3rd string guy for a possible 2nd string guy who makes less money is hardly a bad thing -- so kudos to Kevin O'Connor for that move. Additionally, Knight is less likely to take shots that he's not going to make -- unlike Hart who used to believe that he could make every shot he took. (2007-2008 statistics: Hart 32.2 fg%, Knight 40.4 fg% . . . ugh, that's not much better though) Anyway, what three things should we, as fans, look out for this season from Brevin Knight?

• Be a pure point guard: Brevin, due to a number of factors (size, inability to get easy shots for himself) has to be a pass first point guard. This suits Jerry Sloan fine as there are plenty of guys who can score on our team. He's a professional and he actually plays defense. Being a pure point is going to stabilize the 2nd (or 3rd) units as he is a 10 year vet, and the oldest guy on the team (at the ripe old age of 32). He's been playing against our offense for 10 seasons, and none of the plays have changed, so he comes into training camp with more experience than his competition (Ronnie Price -- who actually played here last season) does. Additionally, as fun as Price is to have on the floor, he's really an under sized 2, while Knight is an under sized 1. Price has better scoring ability, but Knight is a point guard's point guard. Which gives him the inside track to play the 8-10 mpg that Deron isn't going to in the playoffs.
• More playing time at PG than Ronnie Price: That doesn't mean that Price isn't going to get playing time this season -- he may very well beat out Knight as the season goes on -- but over all Knight is going to get more playing time at the PG than Price will. This is partly because Jerry Sloan has been experimenting with having Knight and Price on the floor at the same time (with Brevin handling the ball), going for a very fast, tenacious back court that he's had to contest with in previous seasons with varying results (i.e. a Chris Paul, Jannero Pargo style line up). I really don't know how often we'll see that backcourt, but it would give the Jazz a different look than in previous years.
• Don't expect 5+ apg and 1.5+ spg this season: Knight has career averages of 6.6 apg and 1.8 spg. Those are very nice numbers to have . . . though those numbers are predicated on playing over 20 minutes per game. Last season he had a relatively healthy season (he played in his 2nd most games in his career) and gave the LA Clippers 4.6 ppg, 4.4 apg 1.9 rpg, and 1.4 spg. He also played 22.6 mpg last season. There are only 48 minutes per game at the point. Deron Williams can be penciled in to play anything from 35-42 on a given night. The last two seasons Deron has played 36.9 and 37.3 mpg. I think with the dearth of point guards this season Jerry will attempt to regulate his star's minutes, and scale that back to around 36 mpg early on; though I wouldn't be surprised to see him average 38 for the season. That leaves about 10 minutes to divided between Knight and Price. This problem is a little easier as Knight isn't a lock to play in 80 games in any given season, but one of those two guys looks to pile up a lot of DNP-CDs this season. 10 minutes makes it very hard to really get a lot of stats. Knight is a good assists and steals guy -- but how stat-happy will he be in playing less than half of the minutes that he's averaged over his decade long career?

That may be something to look out for as the season goes on. He's not going to make a stink according to his off-season interviews around the time of his trade, so that's good. And when it comes down to it, I'm just happy that the Jazz got rid of Jason Hart . . . it's even better that we got Knight out of the deal. (even if he just plays 3rd string) This season is going to be special for Brevin, because it's his first on a contender, and that usually brings out the best from long suffering veterans. (He played for the late 90's cavs, the bobcats and the clippers among other teams in his career! That's harsh!)

Mehmet Okur Evolution . . .

This is for collethegoalie . . . enjoy

Well . . . he's really gotten better over the years, David Locke suggests that he looks really good and in shape so far this pre-season, and as such, he IS in a contract year . . . I kind of wish he kept the full beard, instead of 'styling' it.

Cool RMR Pictures!

You don't have to be completely Jazz obsessed to enjoy this (or maybe you do), but I really enjoyed BasketballJohn's pictures (via SLC Dunk) of the RMR. I'm totally going to steal all of these, but give credit where credit is due! Thanks BBJohn! Keep up the great work!

YouTube Tuesdays! Jerry Sloan's Summer

Jerry Sloan -- love him or hate him -- is still a good quote. It's all jokes now (Fesenko should ask him if he wants to be a coach or a clown), but he does make some good points. The Jazz need to win on the road, and they need to play defense. Utah is a great offensive team (no one thinks it, but look at the stats), the other side of the ball is a whole different story. Anyway, here's Sloan talking about his summer, about the benefit of being old (you can be lazy) and about how his wife stays in the kitchen. Additionally, he also swears in this. So it's basically Jerry Sloan, as usual.

Coach Jerry Sloan talks about the summer [1:43], uploaded by OfficialUtahJazz, so thanks guys!

Things to look for this season: C.J. Miles

Ceejay had a newsworthy summer -- like last season, but even more absurd this time around. As a quick recap, C.J. opted not to play in the Rocky Mountain Review Summer League for the Jazz for the 2nd straight year (something which made life hard for him under Jerry Sloan the next season); the Jazz made him a restricted Free Agent anyway by offering him the minimum that they had to; he didn't sign that contract and played the waiting game; eventually Oklahoma City offered him a multi-million dollar, multi-year contract ($15 mill / 4 years); the Jazz then waited a full week; before finally matching the offer sheet, which it was concluded was dirt cheap. I can only hope that his 2008-2009 season will be more eventful than his off-season -- which really was 'much ado about nothing'. (He was a young RFA who was offered a pretty cheap contract for 4 years and was matched)

The next step, now that he has some level of financial security (unless his financial planner is MC Hammer), is to actually work on getting that next contract after this one that he just signed. He does have his work cut out for him this season has he has to develop from a 'that guy who plays when we have injured starters' to 'that guy who always contributes'. Sure, the Jazz have a legion of swingmen who can give other teams several looks: Ronnie Brewer (6'7) -- starts at the 2, and can play 3 Andrei Kirilenko (6'9) -- starts at the 3, and can play 2 Kyle Korver (6'7) -- can play the 2 or the 3 Matt Harpring (6'7) -- can play the 3 or the 2 Morris Almond (6'6) -- can play the 2 or the 3 Paul Millsap (6'8) -- can play the 3 Ronnie Price (6'2) -- can play the 2 But . . . there is only 96 minutes at the swing spots to give out to those guys -- and one other guy -- C.J. Miles. For him (or anyone) that's a lot of competition.

One thing that C.J. has going for him is that in his 120 game career (+8 in the playoffs), is that he just turned 21, and is the youngest out of that entire crew. Additionally, aside from Harpring and Kirilenko, he's been with the team the longest (this will be his 4th training camp with the Jazz). Essentially, he has the most NBA experience with the Jazz out of that younger shooting guard crew, while being the youngest.

Another 'thing' that C.J. can be happy about is that the Jazz seem to do well in games where he actually starts (9 - 4 last season, 5 - 1 in the last 41 games of the regular season). In those games he has scored 11, 6, 7, 6, 8, 2, 7, 9, 2, 13, 4, 7, 29 -- which averages out to 8.5 ppg in 20 mpg. That's a nice improvement over his season averages of 5 ppg off of 11.5 mpg. He spreads the floor pretty well, and shot the ball at a very acceptable rate for a shooting guard last season: 47.9 fg%, 39.0 3pt%, 78.8 ft%. When extrapolated to playing 36 mpg he (statistically) becomes a 15.5 ppg scorer who also gets you over 4 rpg, nearly 3 apg, and nearly 2 spg. (And yes, for those who wanted to know, that's basically what Hornacek was giving the Jazz in those glory years) Should C.J. be playing 36 mpg next season, or even start for the Utah Jazz? Mostly definitely no, but he does have the tools to be a solid contributor.

What are three things we should look for this season?

1. Just be on the floor more -- Play in 75 games, and averaging greater than 13 mpg for the season should be a good start for Miles. His career has gone from 23 games to 37 games to 60 last season. The Jazz coaching staff should try to get him playing in almost every game by at least, the 2nd quarter -- after all, the Jazz Brass didn't sign him to a $15 million dollar contract just so he could continue collecting splinters on the bench. Kyle Korver can become a free agent, and really, the Jazz should focus on a guy like Miles who can become an okay defensive player instead of giving playing time to the pacifier that is Kyle Korver (he shuts up an immediate need, but may slow down progress in other areas).
2. Be a better shooter -- Again, the main competition for playing time right now appears to be Kyle Korver. I do love seeing Korver knock down threes, but I do believe that the future can be Miles. In order for Miles to be on the floor more one of the things he needs to do is become a better shooter -- particularly from three and from the free throw line (two Korver specialties). For the majority of the season CJ was shooting around 43 % from three, but it tapered off as the season finished. He needs to finish above 40% to be considered a really good three point shooter. Additionally, as a guard he needs to be hitting above 80% from the free throw line. I'm not expecting him to become one of those 88-92 ft% shooters, but he needs to be better than Deron Williams for sure. (If he's not, then there's no point in having him in the game at the end of the game when the other team is fouling) If he's going to get playing time at all, it should be at shooting guard, and if he's going to get playing time at shooting guard, he has to be at least comparable to his competition there. He needs to be a high 40%/40+%/80+% guy. Right now he's a high 40%/high 30%/high 70% guy. Korver's career averages (5 seasons) are 40+%/40+%/high 80%. [With the Jazz last season Kover was a 47.4 fg%/38.8 3pt%/91.7ft% guy] For Ceejay to take some of Kyle's minutes, he's going to have to shoot that efficiently, or near to it.
3. Continue getting better on defense -- One thing that Ceejay can get better at is on defense. He's only going to get increasingly stronger, and right now is miles (if you excuse the pun) ahead of Korver in terms of foot speed, quickness, lateral quickness and athleticism. For example, Korver plays more minutes per game, but gets less steals than Miles. At some point, Jerry Sloan is going to buckle and end up playing whomever can play defense better . . . and Miles has the tools to get better (especially when you factor in that he's only 21 and he's going into his 4th season in the NBA), Korver is going to be 27 by the time the playoffs roll around this season, and he's not getting any younger, or quicker. Eventually C.J. Miles should get better at defense (keep improving at his current rate, he doesn't need to make a quantum leap), and he should eventually start to play more regularly, and more minutes per game.

Basically, what we need to look for this season is the continued improvement of CJ, he's a young player still, but he's not a rookie, or someone who doesn't understand the game. He's going into his 4th season, and as such, his expectations should be higher than that of someone like Morris Almond. Look for improvement, and if he is able to display said improvement, he should get more playing time. Deron Williams is a huge CJ fan and suggests that we should expect as much. [They were both picked by the Jazz in the 2005 NBA Draft, and both were raised and went to high school in Dallas, Texas]

Andrei's agent denies stupid Internet rumor

It is no secret that I think that rumormongering is pretty weak -- and discredits blogging and bloggers everywhere. Seriously, we're better than Peter Vescey, right? So I was aghast when I saw ballhype hyping up such a silly and insane rumor. In order for this deal to go down (AK to CSKA) a few giant leaps would have had to be made (like getting out of an NBA-Player's Association deal, or getting bought out for $50 million dollars, and so on) -- the largest being a leap in logic. Andrei wants to finish his contract here, he can always retired from the NBA later and play ball in Europe. Many European players have done so previously, like Sabonis or Marciulionis for example, retiring from the NBA, only to play another 5 or so seasons back in their home continent. Anyway . . . from the horses mouth really,

"There's no question that they would love to have him," agent Marc Fleisher said of CSKA. "But to my knowledge, they haven't made any efforts this summer -- at least through me -- to get him, so I don't take it (the rumor) very seriously." (Mark Fleisher, via the Deseret News, 2008)

Marc Fleisher works as an agent with EnterSport, and represents Andrei Kirilenko, Tony Parker, Mehmet Okur, Jerome James, Sean Marks, Willie Solomon and Nathan Jawai.

Things to look for this season: Paul Millsap

Essentially, what the Jazz brass end up doing with Boozer the next summer will -- on some level -- be dependent upon what Paul Millsap does this season. Either he's a potential starter at power forward who can be counted on to get a double double, or he's a glorified energy player who cannot sustain his level of play for 30+ mpg. I think that what we know of him suggests that he is either one of those people, and not a combination of the two.

Here is what he gets done when he plays 27+ mpg (according to 2007-2008 seasons stats including playoffs): 16 points (6/10, 4/6 ft), 10 rebounds (3 off), 1 block, 1 steal @ GSW on Oct 30th, 2007 24 points (7/8, 10/13 ft), 5 rebounds (2 off), 1 assist, 1 block, 5 steals vs. CLE on Nov 7th, 2007 20 points (10/14, 0/2 ft), 9 rebounds (2 off), 1 steal vs. LAL on Nov 30th, 2007 20 points (7/14, 6/9 ft), 13 rebounds (6 off), 3 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals @ PHX on Dec 12, 2007 7 points (3/8, 1/1 ft), 5 rebounds (1 off), 3 blocks, 4 steals vs. SEA on Dec 15, 2007 28 points (11/15, 6/10 ft), 7 rebounds (3 off), 1 steal @ ORL on Dec 21, 2007 14 points (7/10), 6 rebounds (4 off), 2 assists, 2 steals vs. POR on Dec 31, 2007 16 points (6/9, 4/5 ft), 10 rebounds (3 off), 4 assists, 2 blocks, 3 steals vs. DEN on Mar 08, 2008 13 points (4/7, 5/7 ft), 6 rebounds (5 off), 3 assists, 2 blocks, 3 steals vs. LAC on Mar 28, 2008 15 points (6/8, 3/4 ft), 7 rebounds (2 off), 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal @ MIN on Mar 30, 2008 4 points (2/5), 6 rebounds (2 off), 3 assists, 2 steals vs. WASH on Mar 31, 2008 17 points (7/13, 3/4 ft), 10 rebounds (6 off), 1 assist, 1 steal @ LAL on May 7th, 2008 during playoffs

So, in 12 games where Paul has played more than 27 mpg he averages: 16.2 ppg (62.8 fg%, over 6 fta/game @ 68.9 ft%); 7.8 rpg (3.3 off); 2.4 apg, 2.2 spg, 1.9 bpg. That really is not too shabby for under 30 mpg of work. Especially not for a 2nd year NBA player who still doesn't get the respect from the refs on defense. In his rookie season he played 18 mpg and had 6.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg and just around 1 apg, 1 spg and 1 bpg. In his soph season he upped his mpg to 20, and boosted his stats to 8.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, and similarly around 1 apg, 1 spg and 1 bpg. He is not going to be a great contributor, or even want to stay in Utah, if he continues to play less than half the game. And clearly, it's not like he is an inefficient player by any means, as he has a career fg% that's easily above 50% and when he plays heavy minutes his FG% averages out to be an insane 62.8 fg% (see above). Dude needs the minutes, especially in this pivotal year where the Jazz may have to make a decision about Millsap or overpaying Carlos Boozer. That said, what are the three key things that we have to look out for this season from Paul Millsap?

1. Season averages of 25-28 mpg: Really, this should be a given, and don't tell me that there isn't enough time to go around, I've been playing with time and rotations for part of the summer, and I know there is. (Even if that means that Carlos Boozer gets some playing time as the back-up center) 12 games is only 15% of the entire season, but I think that the foul situation provided, he can be a key performer when playing more than half the game.
2. Meeting Statistical Benchmarks: This part is easy to understand . . . there will be more confidence in his game over the season by the coaching staff and brass if he can meet certain statistical benchmarks. I know that they must have some for him, and I do not know what they are, so here are mine:
1. 5 different games of at least 20 points;
2. 3 different games of 10 FTA;
3. 45 games total of at least a combined 1 block and 2 steals, or 2 blocks and 1 steal;
4. 3 3PTM
5. At least 240 minutes of 4th quarter action
3. Use quickness on offense more: He's a beast of an offensive rebounder due to his quickness, and he makes good cuts and gets open for dunks because of it . . . however, he needs to be able to use his relative quickness (compared to other PFs out there) when he gets the ball on one-on-one moves. He has solid ball handling for a big guy (he's no Odom or Kirilenko, but he's no Larry Nance either), and he has a rudimentary cross over and can do significant damage when he faces up his opponent. I'd like to see him get the ball at the high post, face up his man, and drive on him -- ultimately resulting in him getting to the FT line a bit more.

79.2% of people are absolutely insane

ESPN.COM recently asked their 25 member NBA staff to rank the teams from top to bottom in each conference. The Jazz managed to snag the 4th over-all spot and are predicted to win 51 games next season. If this was a prediction for 2006-2007 that would be spot on. How accurate is this as a prediction for 2008-2009? Probably highly inaccurate at best as the Jazz were an absolutely horrible road team last season, were very flawed, and still managed to win 54 games. Furthermore, the vast majority of ESPN's Sportsnation (they allow you to vote on these things, you see) believes that this prediction (51 wins) is either on the money or too high. How many people is this? I don't know, but only 20.8% of people think that 51 wins is too low for the Jazz.

So basically the Utah Jazz are going to regress after being a year older and wiser, and getting a great backup PG (for the price of Jason Hart), and a few young 7 footers -- either that, or ESPN, their "Experts" and 79.2% of their Sportsnation are flat out insane.

Anyway, here is just as a short refresher course on the Jazz' recent history:

* 2004-2005 (26 wins) -- AK and Boozer are injured for the majority of the season, the Jazz end up paying guys like Curtis Borchardt, Randy Livingston, Ben Handlogten and Aleksandar Radojevic money to fill out a roster for a team that is lead (in total points) by Matt Harpring for a season. Among other crazy stats that season the Jazz had 5 different point guards start at least one game: Keith McLeod (47 games), Carlos Arroyo (16 games), Raul Lopez (15 games), Randy Livingston (4 games) and Howard Eisley (1 game).

* 2005-2006 (41 wins) -- Boozer misses yet another season while the resurgent Utah Jazz miss the playoffs by 1 win as they are lead by Mehmet Okur (18.0 ppg, 9.1 rpg) and the outstanding Andrei Kirilenko (15.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 4.3 apg, 3.2 bpg, 1.5 spg). Over the summer the Jazz traded up in the NBA Draft and selected Deron Williams with the #3 pick, yet Keith McLeod and Milt Palacio still manage to start a combined 50 games this season.

* 2006-2007 (51 wins) -- The Utah Jazz remain mostly healthy this season and win the division and end up winning 9 playoff games in their first trip back to the post season since the Stockton and Malone days. Carlos Boozer had a great season (20.9 ppg, 56.1 fg%, 11.7 rpg) while Andrei has a stinker (8.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.9 apg, 2.1 bpg, 1.1 spg) when compared to this production (as a point forward) the previous season. Deron Williams also breaks out for 16.2 ppg and 9.3 apg -- second best in the league that season.

* 2007-2008 (54 wins) -- This past season had the Jazz dominating teams at home, and losing to some absolutely crappy teams on the road -- but still increased their season win total from last season to 54 wins and won another division title. This team finally got rid of Gordan Giricek (good player, wrong fit for this team) and tweaked the line-up a bit as Ronnie Brewer (in his 2nd season) became the full time starter at the two and responded with 12.0 ppg (55.8 fg%) while chipping in 2.9 rpg, 1.8 apg and 1.7 spg in less than 28 mpg. The Jazz lost to the eventual Western Conference Champions in a tough 6 game series in the second round of the playoffs.

Unless ESPN has some sort of parabola idea (i.e. the season after the 51 wins we go back down to 41 wins, and then 26), then this makes little sense. You don't have to be John Hollinger to understand how to read this.

So . . . it's obvious that the Jazz are going to win less games this season, even though every season the Jazz get more experienced and play better while the roster improves. None of our starters are 30, and we added Brevin Knight (who never turns the ball over) to be a part of our 2nd unit. None of that matters because of Ron Artest now plays in Houston, and uh, Chris Paul has dreamy eyes! Therefore, the Jazz will not win, at least, as many games as last season. We have made few headline breaking moves this season. Also, apparently, none of our young players will get better, if Deron Williams can go from being a 2nd year player to a guy who averages a double double in the NBA Playoffs then that obviously indicates that the Jazz draft players who do not project to improve -- hence, Ronnie Brewer will not improve from what he has become after 2 seasons in the NBA. Same deal with Paul Millsap (who could start for a lot of teams), C.J. Miles, Morris Almond, Kosta Koufos and Kyrylo Fesenko.

Woe is us . . . back down to 51 wins this season. Right ESPN? Either that, or fire your "Experts"

	ESPN.com's "expert" picks for the 1st round of the 2006-2007 NBA playoffs -- Utah won the series in 7 games.
	ESPN.com's "expert" picks for the 2nd round of the 2006-2007 NBA playoffs -- Utah won the series in 5 games.

A special shout-out to the fan who created those images and posted them on the Internet! Thanks!