Flashback Friday: "WE'RE GOING STREAKING!"

If you're between the ages of 12 and 40, and are a man living in Western society, you should know what I mean. Though, if you don't, there's this video: (totally not safe for work due to full-rear male nudity and frank talk of boudoir activities) (upon further inspection possibly not work safe for another reason: Leah Remini)

Why am I even blogging about this? Well . . . it's because the Utah Jazz are going streaking right now. The Jazz are on the precipice of a 10 game win streak, Frank the Tank would be proud, so would Frank Layden.

In the history of the franchise the team has won 10 games straight only 8 times before:

• 10 in a row during the 1977-1978 season;
• 10 in a row during the 1993-1994 season;
• 14 in 1994-1995 [an even more amazing 23-2 at one stretch];
• 15 TWICE during the 1996-1997 season;
• 10 games in a row during the 1997-1998 season;
• 11 games in a row during the 1998-1999 season;
• and most recently last season, 10 games in 2007-2008

Honorable mention goes out to the 1983-1984 Utah Jazz that only won 8 games in a row, but managed to go 13-1 during a stretch of the season (and followed that up with a 16-3 stretch). The Jazz play the Denver Nuggets tonight and can make it the 9th time in franchise history. If they win, it's great. If they lose, they join the 1989-1990 and 1999-2000 Utah Jazz teams with only 9 wins in a row. The average (over the 35 year history of the franchise) largest win streak in any given season is only 7 games -- a pretty high number, but it could be much higher if it wasn't for those early years where the longest win streaks were only 2-4 games long (4 of the first 10 seasons were like this).

In previous seasons (especially those dominant years of Stockton to Malone back in the mid to late 90s) these streaks included complete road trips against playoff teams, and beating Western powers at home. This streak, admittedly, has been a little different. Sure, this streak happened during the tail end of a difficult period in terms of injuries *and* this streak included wins over the World Champion Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers and the very respectable New Orleans Hornets -- but as many in the blogosphere will tell you, this streak isn't anything to be too happy about. Simply put, these were all games the Jazz were supposed to win. (This is an obtuse statement, how many people really thought that the Jazz would beat the invincible Lakers *and* Celtics? These were not all games the Jazz were supposed to win.)

That said, you still have to win the games, and the Jazz have done that (for the most part, the streak would be 13 wins in a row if they took care of business on the road in Oakland back on February 8th). As a result, I think that this is a pretty big deal . . . it's hard to win 5 games in a row (the Phoenix Suns have yet to do that this season, and they have at least THREE of HOF guys on their roster: Shaq, Nash and Grant Hill), but to win 10 would be awesome.

During this streak the Jazz have played only three games against 'bad' teams. While some may point to those games against Memphis, Minnesota and Sacramento as reasons not to hype up this streak, let's not forget that the Jazz won those three games by an average of 16 points. So they blew out bad teams during this streak, they didn't just scrape by. They also beat title contenders when the Jazz were missing key guys to injuries during this current win streak. The Jazz (playing without top scorer and rebounder Carlos Boozer) were able to beat both the Boston Celtics and New Orleans Hornets. Furthermore the Jazz defeated the mighty LA Lakers without Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko nor Brevin Knight. So the Jazz beat some great teams while they themselves were not healthy.

Others contend still that since a majority of these games have been at home (and scheduled in 'favor' of the Jazz) that these wins shouldn't count. If that's the case, then I propose that you throw out all the losses the Jazz 'earned' on their poorly scheduled road trips as well. Either the schedule is a factor that absolves teams of some losses (and takes away some wins); or the schedule eventually evens out over the course of a season and all wins (and losses) are created equal. Which is it? I'm going for equality.

Hence, this streak is legit . . . especially since this streak isn't just for the sake of winning games, but also evocative of a greater improvement of play by the Jazz. It wasn't but a few weeks ago that the Denver Nuggets were up 6.5 games on the Jazz for the division lead. In what appears to be the blink of an eye the Jazz are now poised to close the gap with the Nuggets for the division lead. A win tonight against the Denver Nuggets will do more than just consummate a 10 game win streak (#9 in franchise history), but also send a message to the rest of the West that the Jazz are going to be major players the rest of the way. The schedule for the rest of this month isn't horrible, and as a result, some would wish for the streak to go to 15 maybe . . . though I'd be happy with 10 right now.

Go Jazz Go!

Flashback Friday: The first 10 games of the last two seasons

Last season (2007-2008) the Utah Jazz won 54 games in the regular season, but only 6 in the post season, for a grand total of 60 wins. The Jazz also won 60 total wins the previous season (2006-2007) -- 51 in the regular season and 9 in the post season. I think that this club is ready to break the 60 total win barrier and do something special this season. The years where the Utah Jazz start off hot as usually the most successful seasons for the Jazz as well. That said, it has to start somewhere, so let's take a look at the first 10 games of the last two seasons: 2006-2007 and 2007-2008.

	2006-2007				2007-2008				2008-2009
	Opponent	Win	Record		Opponent	Win	Record		Opponent	Win	Record
1	Houston Rockets	Yes	1-0		@ Golden State Warriors	Yes	1-0		Denver Nuggets	Yes	1-0
2	@ Phoenix Suns	Yes	2-0		Houston Rockets		1-1		LA Clippers	Yes	2-0
3	Golden State Warriors	Yes	3-0		Golden State Warriors	Yes	2-1		@ LA Clippers	Yes	3-0
4	Detroit Pistons	Yes	4-0		@ LA Lakers		2-2		Portland Trailblazers	Yes	4-0
5	@ New Jersey Nets		4-1		Cleveland Cavaliers	Yes	3-2		Oklahoma City Thunder	Yes	5-0
6	@ Boston Celtics	Yes	5-1		@ Seattle Supersonics	Yes	4-2		@ New York Knicks	?
7	@ Milwaukee Bucks	Yes	6-1		Memphis Grizzlies	Yes	5-2		@ Philadelphia 76ers	?
8	@ LA Clippers	Yes	7-1		Sacramento Kings	Yes	6-2		@ Washington Wizards	?
9	@ Seattle Supersonics	Yes	8-1		@ Toronto Raptors	Yes	7-2		@ Charlotte Bobcats	?
10	Phoenix Suns	Yes	9-1		@ Cleveland Cavaliers		7-3		@ Cleveland Cavaliers	?

The last two seasons the Jazz started above .500 and went on to have pretty successful seasons (winning their Division, getting to (at the very least) the 2nd round of the playoffs). In 06-07 the Jazz beat some really good squads on their way to an amazing 9-1 record. (Phoenix twice, Houston, Detroit, etc) The next season the Jazz lost the games against harder opponents -- like the Lakers, the Rockets, and the Cavs on the road. This season how do you think the Jazz will fare?

The remaining games after tonight's game against Oklahoma (which we won, btw) appear to be 'easier' than having to face 5 Western powers in a row, though they comprise a really tough Eastern stretch where there are:

• two sets of back to back games (Nov. 11th-12th; Nov. 14th-15th)
• three different situations of 3 games in 4 nights (Nov. 9th, 11th & 12th; Nov. 11th, 12th & 14th; Nov. 12th, 14th & 15th)
• 4 games in 5 nights (Nov. 11th, 12th, 14th & 15th)
• and ultimately, 5 games in 7 nights.

That's brutal. If you have any Jazz guys on your fantasy team start them this week as there are 5 games -- but if you are just a Jazz fan, you do not relish the upcoming week.

Just because you are playing against the Eastern teams doesn't mean that they are just going to roll over. We're traditionally not that great on the road, and the schedule works against us here. Let's go over these teams and the games the Jazz will play against them in:

November 9th, 2008	@ New York Knicks
	New York (3-2) is a run an gun team that's nothing like the Eddie Curry / Zach Randolph disaster from last season. (101.6 ppg so far this season) Almost everyone on their team shoots threes -- 7 different guys on their roster has made at least one. Making things worse is the fact that we've been historically bad in Madison Square Garden over the years. This is not going to be as easy as we think to get a win here -- especially when we're going in there without Deron Williams. Nate Robinson has been playing very well this season, so far coming off the bench to average 16 ppg (48.4 fg%, 42.3 3pt%), 4.2 rpg, 4.8 apg and 2.6 spg. Wilson Chandler has a surprisingly effective offensive game as well. There's no guarantee to say we'll win this one.
November 11th, 2008	@ Philadelphia 76ers
	Philly (2-4) is supposed to be really good, a top team in the East -- at least according to pre-season projections by "experts" . . . so far their offense looks horrible and their team isn't winning. That said, they are long and big inside (Brand, Dalembert, Marreese, etc) and have some youth and athleticism in the likes of Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young and this Iguodala guy. Boozer hates playing against guys with longer reaches than he has -- and all three of those big guys have than on Booz. Additionally, stronger slashers with good first steps routinely can burn Brewer and Kirilenko -- and Thaddeus and Andre Iguodala both fit the bill there. By the time they play the Jazz, they would have had a 5 day rest.
November 12th, 2008	@ Washington Wizards
	Washington (0-4) has been playing without Gilbert Arenas, and is still looking for their first win of the season. Tonight they play the Orlando Magic and could very well be down 0-5 by the time that they play the Jazz -- but that doesn't mean they still can't hurt us . . . they are a good outside shooting team, and the duo of Caron Butler and Antwan Jamison (two mobile and active players on offense) can score with ease. It's about this time of the road trip that fatigue could be setting in as this is the 2nd game in a back to back and the first 'three games in four nights' set of the season for the Jazz. Through some quirks of the scheduling, the Wizards will have three free days before the game against the Jazz, and be rested.
November 14th, 2008	@ Charlotte Bobcats
	Logic suggests that a game against Charlotte (2-3) would be a relative breather at this stage in the 5 game road trip, but the Bobcats are long and athletic -- and have nothing to lose. They beat the New Orleans Hornets last night, and that should show us how dangerous they can be on any given night, thanks to Coach Larry Brown. They will have played the Toronto Raptors and Denver Nuggets this next week before they face off against the Jazz on Friday. We don't know what's going to happen with Gerald Wallace during that time period, but we know that they are strong defensively inside with Wallace (8.8 rpg, 2.4 spg, 1.0 bpg) and Okafor (11.0 rpg, 1.0 bpg). In addition there's this Jason Richardson (17.6 ppg, 1.2 3ptm/game) guy who is pretty dynamic and used to score on us at will back when he was playing for the Golden State Warriors. So far they are only scoring 90.4 ppg, and if there is one easy game during this road trip, this may very well be it. It's a 3rd game in four nights game, by the way.
November 15th, 2008	@ Cleveland Cavaliers
	This game against the Cleveland Cavaliers (4-2, who have games against Chicago, Milwaukee and Denver this week before they tip off against the Jazz)  is another 'three games in four nights' set; the 2nd night of a back to back set; and the fourth game in five nights. And yes, if you're keeping track, 5th game in 7 nights total. It's a game against the talented, bruising and defensive minded Cleveland Cavaliers. They are really big inside with Zydrunas, Sideshow Bob and Ben Wallace; feature a plethora of smaller guards who don't have any consciences when it comes to attempting threes (Boobie Gibson, Delonte West, Mo Williams, Sasha Pavlovic, etc). Last, but not least, they have LeBron James. Also Boozer hardly ever plays well there. If we win this game, I will give up eating bacon for a month. And I love bacon.

I'd like to think the Jazz could end up with another 9-1 record, but I don't count on it . . . the schedule is the main opponent for the Jazz during this 5 game Eastern Conference road trip, and the main opponent the Jazz are going to face during our first 10 games of the season. I wouldn't be surprised for the Jazz to limp home after this trip with 3 losses. Then again . . . this is all speculative appraisals of the situation based on a world where Deron Williams does not suit up in any of these games. (And it looks like he's not going to suit up at all for a while now, according to the Deseret News.)

The Jazz have 5 more games -- all on this East trip -- how do you think they'll finish? Will the Jazz go 10-0 to start the season? 5-5? 6-4? What do you guys think?

N.B. All Images are photographed for NBAE/Getty Images

Flashback Friday: Andrei back when he was AK-47

Once upon a time, there was a promising young forward who was all over the court, blocking shots, catching alley-oop passes and making crazy passes. Fast forward through a few injury plagued years, one trip to the All-Star game, and numerous role changes and we have a new incarnation of Andrei Kirilenko -- the dynamic pass first Point Forward springing to life off the bench to wreck havoc like the monster created out of the mind of Coach David Blatt. Unlike what some people think, Andrei's ego didn't explode by being 'benched', nor did the former MVP of Europe (2007) cry about it at all. His own team owner said that Andrei is all about winning, and will do whatever it takes to win. If coming off the bench is going to help the team win, he will do so. This isn't the Andrei is the 6th man article though, this is the Andrei as a player article . . .

A major criticism that I find to be very unfounded (and confounding) is that some people don't think Andrei plays with heart anymore; and that his statistically inferior recent seasons are bereft of desire. (If he didn't care why did he cry a few seasons ago about not being able to help the team?) They look at the stat differences from the good old days and now and they think that it's simply an effort issue. I looked at the stats, I looked at the stats harder than they did (I spent over two days looking over 258 games over the 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 seasons). It's not an effort issue. It's a playing time and role issue.

A youngster	An All-Star	An MVP and Champion	Mr. Everything on D	A 6th man?

Sure, there are other factors at play, like the quality of the roster, the number of shots he takes, the shift from power forward to small forward and the like . . . but there is a very visceral consistency in his play over the last five seasons (his All-Star year till now) when you view his stats in games where he plays around the same number of minutes. Sure, his season averages look like they are going down, but Andrei is actually improving in some ways -- it's just that his minutes have gone all over the place the last few seasons, from 37 one season to under 30 the next. (Really, this happened -- 37.7 mpg in 2005-2006 and 29.3 mpg in 2006-2007.)

When he was an All-Star (and averaged over 37 mpg) back in 2003-2004 he was on a team without Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Deron Williams, or young guys like Paul Millsap and Ronnie Brewer. He was the only guy with real talent, and had to do a lot of everything. His season averages were (with rounding) 15.5 ppg, 8 rpg, 3 apg, 3 bpg and 2 spg -- all the while his points to FGA ratio was 1.31.

Last season, 2007-2008, on a team with Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Deron Williams, with younger players like Paul Millsap and Ronnie Brewer he played the three, instead of the four as an all-star. In games where he played more than 35 mpg (and he played in quite a few and in those games averaged 37 mpg, just like his All-Star season) he averaged 14.5 ppg, 6 rpg, 5 apg, 2 bpg and 2 spg. (again, rounded up and down accordingly)

	MPG	PPG	FGA	Points/FGA	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals
2003-2004	37	15.5	12	1.3	8	3	3	2
2007-2008	37	14.5	9.5	1.5	6	5	2	2
		-1	-2.5	+0.2	-2	+2	-1

What's the difference? He's not playing inside anymore (and he has more competition for boards and blocks) and ended up getting 2 less boards and 1 less block. Guys get less rebounds and blocks when they are defending the three point line instead of the paint. [Though this point is debatable...] He scored less, but he shot less (2.5 less FGA per game, and his points/FGA ratio was actually higher -- 1.5 to 1.3 when he was an All-Star) as well. The only other difference was that he got 2 more APG.

I could (if I wanted to), present the full breakdown from each season, and each different playing time block (all games, only games where he played 30+ mpg, only games where he played 35+ mpg, only games where he played 38+ mpg, or only games where he played 40+ mpg) . . . but I don't need to belabor the point here. Every season for every playing time block since his all-star season his AVERAGE in points / FGA has been between 1.4 and 1.5. His rebounds have been between 6 and 8. His blocks between 2 and 3, his steals between 1.5 and 2, and his points between 13 ppg and 16 ppg. [If you've been following along, those are the same numbers that he has now when playing those many minutes]

His teammates make a little bit of difference, as does his role -- but the major variable in his production is time. Not between 35 mpg and 38 mpg . . . but between playing 35 mpg and playing less than that. (It's a bigger jump than between playing 30 mpg and less than 30 mpg surprisingly!)

Long story short, Andrei isn't a worse player. He's shooting less (he used to shoot it 12 times a game, the season where he cried he shot it 6 times a game and was playing 8 mpg less); and more than anything else -- he is playing much less than he used to. When he gets to play the same amount of time as he used to, he produces similar statistical results. (Again, this is not opinion, I worked it out between season stats, and the stats for the past 5 years where he played 30+ mpg, 35+ mpg, 38+ mpg and 40+ mpg . . . but he's not going to get a shot to average 38 mpg over a season, so basically I just did more work than I needed to.)

He's the same guy, he just has an insanely high contract that he could never justify, especially when his coach changes around what position he plays, or how many minutes he gets to play. He shouldn't be playing 30 mpg, especially not when a lot of that time on the floor has him just watching other guys handle the ball and shoot. But I'm getting ahead of myself here . . .

If he gets enough time he has shown that even with a stacked roster, and on a winning team, he can get crazy stats. Or at least, stats that are very similar to what he used to put up in his All-Star year. He's a consistent producer when he gets consistent minutes. He's actually gotten better as a distributor over the years.

I wonder why some people still think that he's gotten so much worse? Just because his Coach doesn't play him enough minutes? That's a poor reason.

Flashback Friday: The 1990 NBA Draft

I remember back in the day when stupid kids brought up on Ahmad Rashad's "Inside Stuff" used to tell me that Kenny Anderson and Derrick Coleman were going to be better than John Stockton and Karl Malone. (most likely the same kids who'd tell me that Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp were going to be better than Stockton and Malone a few seasons later...) I still laugh at these types of suggestions. They are entirely preposterous. Anyway, I loath Derrick Coleman so much that I rank him as one of the worse 1st Pick of the Draft's ever. (Not as bad as Kwame Brown, but no where near as good as other 1st round picks) This lead me to looking at the 1990 NBA Draft. There *HAD* to be someone better than Coleman in his very own draft class . . . right? I think that looking at the actual draft class pretty much proves my null hypothesis incorrect . . . this draft was crap in so many ways -- almost a re-do of the Len Bias draft of 1986. Aside from Coleman being picked 1st, what other notable names were there?

• Chris Jackson Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was picked in the lotto and battles Tourette syndrome and his short shooting guard status to make a few key buckets for the Nuggets
• Dennis Scott was 2 seasons away from being the kick out man from Shaq triple teams in Orlando
• Kendall Gill was drafted 5th, and had a pretty good career
• Felton Spencer was drafted 6th by the T-Wolves (crazy...)
• The L train (Lionel Simmons) went to the Kings, but he wasn't an All-Star like Coleman was
• Tyrone Hill was an All-Star one season, but he was just too ugly to ever be better than another player
• Loy Vaught was drafted in this 1st round as well, but did not really come around till a few seasons later, and did not last as long in the league
• Dee Brown (the dunker) was in this draft, but how was he not Nate Robinson before Nate Robinson?
• The end of the first round brought us this trio of bigmen: Dwayne Schintzius, Alaa Abdelnaby and Elden Campbell -- truly a fine way to end the round
• The 2nd round was very hit or miss, giving players like Toni Kukoc, Carl Herrera, Greg Foster, Bimbo Coles, Antonio Davis, Cedric Ceballos and Sean Higgins (probably best known for fighting with players when he became an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors)

Oh yeah, I forgot this guy . . . the guy drafted right after Coleman . . . a guy they called The Glove! Coleman wasn't even the best player in his draft, and guys like Kukoc, or Ceballos did just as much as he did (if not more -- Ceballos did play in the finals). Payton was a multiple All-Star, played in the NBA finals, won a Gold Medal in the Olympics, and picked up a ring in Miami. He's going to the Hall of Fame, and was a better player and had a better career. Coleman shouldn't have been picked 1st, or heck, maybe 3rd at best. So, in closing . . . Coleman sucks.

Flashback Friday: Ranking the Rookie Seasons

Ideally black budget Utah Jazz scientists are working on a way to combine CJ's potential and youth with Ronnie Brewer's athleticism and Morris Almond's scoring ability . . . into one player. (I don't know, something like C.R. Almond) The realistic alternative is to really develop two out of the three guys, and let the other guy go. Popular consensus makes Morris Almond the odd man out . . . though my hypothesis is that he's the best fit when it comes to being called an NBA level shooting guard. (you know, based on who out of the three can do what Rip Hamilton can do right now) We don't have much to go by, but we can look at the stats . . . specifically of their rookie seasons, then make inferences upon what Mobe can or cannot do after looking at how the other two guys progressed.

	C.J. Miles	Ronnie Brewer	Morris Almond
Rookie season	2005-2006	2006-2007	2007-2008
Age	18	21	22
Games	23	56	9
MPG	8.8	12.1	4.3
PPG	3.4	4.6	1.4
FG%	36.8%	52.8%	26.7%
FT%	75.0%	67.5%	66.7%
3pt%	25.0%	0.0%	25.0%
3PT made	5	0	1
RPG	1.7	1.3	0.2
APG	0.7	0.4	0.3
SPG	0.3	0.7	0.1
BPG	0.1	0.1	0.0

Wow, look at those numbers! Almond played the least (by a significant margin, getting in the least number of games, and playing 50% of what CJ played and 33% of what Ronnie played). As a results, his numbers are utterly pathetic . . . though in 33% of the time on the floor he had almost as many APG as Brewer, so put that in your pipe you guys who are part of the "Almond doesn't Pass" lobby. Part of the reason why Mo didn't play much has to be that the Jazz had their own full-time NBA-DL team at this point, and that they didn't think he would help the Jazz any by playing this season. The other part has to deal with the fact that Almond has a metric tonne of competition ahead of him at this point -- especially when compared to what little resistance CJ had as a rookie, or what Brewer got when Giricek was relegated to the dog house.

Ronnie FG% is sky high as a result of his smart shot selection (you can't fault him for having the sense to not take shots he doesn't think he'll make), but aside from that, Ceejay was really "better" than Ronnie, and he played less minutes. What happened after their rookie seasons?

Well, C.J. has played three seasons, and each season he has yet to reach the MPG that Brewer got as a rookie (CJ's career best was 11.5 mpg, and again, Ronnie got 12.1 mpg as a rookie). Last season was CJ's first season topping Brewer's rookie ppg as well (5.0 vs. 4.6). Over the last few seasons CJ has developed his body and his basketball IQ and last season he shot 47.9%/39.0%/78.8% . . . which is pretty darn good. Each season his mpg has gone up slightly, but he has improved on what he was supposed to. This season, his 4th in the NBA, he'll start it off as a 21 year old . . . the age Brewer was as a Rookie.

Brewer, on the other hand, won the starting job last season, and exploded to average 12.0 ppg in 27.5 mpg while shooting 55.8 fg% !!! He also made 11 threes this past season (CJ made 19 more threes in 1400 less minutes), to bring his career average up to 18.6%. That's not hardly enough for a 'shooting guard', if you ask me.

Almond figures to receive an incremental increase in playing time (more like CJ than Ronnie), and as a result, his career arc will have a much smaller rise than Ronnie's has. There just isn't any minutes for the poor fella . . . and even if there were, would he earn them? That said, if I had to pick one of these guys to score over 50 points in an NBA game in their career it would have to be Almond. When he gets playing time and knows that he's going to be able to work in the offense to get off 'his' shots he has been nothing short of a beast on offense. C.J. played two seasons in the NBA-DL, and while he looked much better (total games played was still only 19), his NBA-DL career was completely eclipsed by Almond's scoring ability. (14 ppg vs. 26 ppg)

The question remains though, will we ever get to see Almond play 25 mpg for the Jazz? Probably not with the other two guys ahead of him on the team (and that Korver guy too!).

Flashback Friday: The 1988-1989 Utah Jazz

This 1988-1989 Utah Jazz team is historic for a variety of reasons. First of all, this team was the first in franchise history to win 50 or more games in a season. (They would win 51, a mark that the Jazz have equaled or bested 12 times since then) Second, they featured a 25 year old Karl "The Mailman" Malone who was coming into his own.

[Tangent Alert: I hate all the hype Amare gets, if dude is so good and a beast why isn't he scoring 30 a game like Karl did? Karl Malone >>>>> Amare Stoudemire. For the record, all Karl did that season was score 29.1 ppg (51.9 fg%), go to the free throw line 11.5 times a game, average 10.7 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.8 spg and 0.9 bpg. What did the "Beast" Amare do at the age of 25? He got 25.2 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 1.5 apg, 0.8 spg and 2.1 bpg. Amare didn't even get to the FT line 10 times a game, or ever has in his 6 year career, Malone did it 3 times in his first 6 years alone. Karl even shot better from the three that season (5-16 [31.3%] to Amare's 5-31 [16.1%])! So aside from blocks, his age 25 stats are owned by Malone at 25. And as for blocks . . . Karl was playing with Mark Eaton who sent back 3.8 shots a game "so yeah . . . think about it!" (read the 3rd one on that page to get this joke)]

Back to that Jazz team . . . aside from Malone becoming a force of nature, he also had some help from Eaton (previously mentioned as blocking 3.8 shots a game, but also getting 10.3 rpg on his own on his way towards being named and All-Star and the Defensive Player of the Year); Thurl Bailey chipped in 19.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 1.1 bpg; Griffith kept people honest on defense with his outside shooting (61 3pt made in an era where that would be one of the top totals for any player) . . . and this John Stockton guy had one of his several seasons that are arguably better than Steve Nash's MVP seasons. John would finish up with 1118 assists that season, a pretty average output for him, but still 221 more than Nash's best ever season. [I guess the whole Stockton vs. Nash thing is another tangent altogether . . . so just click here if you want to read an empirical analysis of their recorded effect on the game.] This season was also the last for Frank Layden, who would give the coaching job to Jerry Sloan 17 games into the season.

Mark Eaton blocks one in the All-Star game . . . one of his over 300 blocks that season.	Due to Karl's development, 6'11 Thurl was often left posting up on small forwards . . . to the tune of nearly 20 ppg as the 3rd option.	Dr.Dunkenstein's career was wrapping up, but he still had enough to average more than Kirilenko or Brewer did last season.	Frank Layden was a more fun coach than any coach after him . . . or perhaps before him.

There are many reasons why the 1988-1989 Utah Jazz team could be called historic. There were many good things that happened this season:

This team had a coaching change during mid-season, and they were motivated and rejuvenated by having a young coach at the helm They had some very talented players (three All-Stars, Bailey and Griffith) to offset an anemic bench They won the Mighty Midwest Division Title for the first time with this core group (the first time in post-Dantley, post-Maravich era) Last season they took the NBA Champion LA Lakers to 7 games in the 2nd round of the playoffs -- and scared them good. The sky was the limit for this team that turn into a 'contender'

That said, there is one reason why I find this team particularly interesting. This team, for all of their successes, took a step back after building so much momentum. Sure, three seasons later they would reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history (and reach there 5 times in the 7 successive seasons) -- but during this upswing in success the Jazz fell back down and were swept from the Playoffs in the 1st round. (Thanks Golden State!) This troubles me because right now the current Jazz franchise is experiencing a second upswing and a similarly linear progression . . . and it would really suck to have to go through those bumps and bruises all over again as a fan. (I've been emotionally invested in this team since the 1987 season, and am finally getting over all those 1st round losses)

I am even tempting fate here by even bringing all of this up right now . . . as our beloved Jazz are 'perhaps' (if history repeats itself) primed for a less than stellar playoffs? (After all, we did just play LA in the 2nd round of the playoffs 20 years after the first time it happened) Ultimately you have to look at all of the good things that happened this season and find them to be inconsequential when examined against a 0-3 playoff elimination in the 1st round to an underdog team with no bigs. The 1988-1989 Utah Jazz season was not a good one . . . simply because where they where and where they ended up fell below expectations. This Jazz team is even ahead of the curve because they've already been to the Western Conference Finals (2 seasons ago), while at this point 20 years ago, the Jazz were still three seasons away.

I wish for the best for the Jazz in this, and all seasons; but would really pray against another regression year. After all, there is no guarantee that our current window of opportunity as a contender will stay open for as long as the window we had 20 years ago.

Flashback Friday: First 20 games of previous seasons

As the trees change colors and all the snotty kids begin to learn their locker combinations at school the seasonal dynamics take another turn -- a turn towards the return of the NBA. Before you know it, it'll be opening night. The NBA schedule makers usually have to give the Jazz the short end of the stick (because our owner doesn't fancy home games on Sunday), and our last month of the season (April) the last few seasons have been absolutely brutal. That said, the Jazz usually start off strong in the first handful of games before taking a mid-season nose dive in December.

In the 2002-2003 season Utah went 12-8 in the first 20 games of the season. Some of the boxscores were just flat out nutty on that team. For example, the first game of the season (a 100-75 loss to the New Orleans Hornets) had Malone lead the team with 20 points, had Mark Jackson lead the team in rebounds with 7, and Malone and Stockton led the team with assists with only 4 each. Malone led the team in scoring 11 times, Kirilenko 3 times, Harpring 4 times, Stockton 2 times and Ostertag 1 time. (The next few games were even crazier, including increasingly less scoring from Malone, and more from Kirilenko and Harpring, who would lead the scoring for the Jazz in 9 of the next 10 games.) Clearly it was a season of transition. By the start of January Malone had broken 30 points in a game once, and Harpring and Kirilenko did it a combined three times. That team finished the season 47 - 35 and was bounced from the playoffs in the first round by Sacramento in 5, Stockton and Malone's last game together.

The next season (2003-2004) was the first season without John Stockton on our team since the early 80's. The Jazz started the season 11-9 and were led by the likes of Arroyo, Kirilenko, Harpring, Stevenson, Bell and Lopez. A mid-season trade for Gordan Giricek proved to be a smart move immediately as he helped the team with his scoring (24 points in a win against Detroit, 21 points in a win against the Lakers, 33 points in a win against Phoenix on the road, 25 in a loss to the Raptors, 19 in a win against New Orleans, 22 in a loss to the Spurs, 25 in a win against Memphis and 23 in a win against Houston -- all in the last two months of the season) on the way to a 42-40 final record. The Jazz barely missed the playoffs and this special shooting guard seemed to be a big part of that. (I wonder what happened to this guy who could go off for 20+ points on any given night?) Andrei was an All-Star this season, if I remember correctly.

That off season the Jazz front office had a free agent coup by signing Carlos Boozer (FA), and Mehmet Okur (RFA) to big money deals. The results of the first 20 games of 2004-2005 speak for themselves though: the Jazz went 9-11. This was the first time they were below .500 to start the season in quite a long time. The future looked bright for the Jazz as Boozer was scoring quite a bit (27 in the 1st game of the season, and win against the Lakers; quickly followed by games of 30, 34, 27, 25, 27, 36, 29 and so on) and Andrei was doing his all around thing . . . but both went down and did not finish the season. The Jazz finished with a 26-56 record, and a date with the ping-pong balls.

The very next season Carlos Boozer got injured in the pre-season and the 2005-2006 season was beginning to look a lot like Deja Vu for Jazz fans. Utah limped to a 8-12 record to start the season, some wins relying on Matt Harpring scoring 30 points and Jarron Collins getting 10 boards. Utah finished the season 41-41, just baring missing the playoffs again! This season finished with the starting lineup of Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko (at the 2), Matt Harpring, Mehmet Okur (at the 4) and Carlos Boozer (at the 5). For those who forgot, the Jazz won 7 of their last 10 games (2 of those losses were to the Spurs though).

Utah finally makes the playoffs in 2006-2007, winning the Northwest Division title and breaks 50 wins in a season for the first time in what seems like eternity. The Jazz go 51-31 off of some strong performances by Boozer, Okur and Williams, after an amazing 15-5 start! Everyone was finally healthy and a 2nd year Deron Williams powered the team as Memo and Booz were honored to be part of the Western Conference All-Star team.

Last season (2007-2008) the Jazz improved on their win total and end the season with a 54-28 record. How did they start? They started the season 13-7 -- which is less than the previous season, but they ended up winning more games. They ended up trading Gordan Giricek for Kyle Korver and won their 2nd straight Northwest Division title (sorry AI and the rest of the Denver Media Hype Bandwagon).

Here is a recap of the past 6 seasons:

Season	1st 20 games	Season Record	Playoffs?	Won Division?
2002-2003	12-8	47-35	Yes
2003-2004	11-9	42-40
2004-2005	9-11	26-56
2005-2006	8-12	41-41
2006-2007	15-5	51-31	Yes	Yes
2007-2008	13-7	54-28	Yes	Yes

So we can clearly see that starting off well is very important to the Jazz actually making the playoffs. Every season where we've won at least 12 of the first 20 games has us making the playoffs and being close to a 50 win team. It's probably something to watch then as winning games early and making the playoffs seem to share some common factors, if not are correlated to one another.

What do our first 20 games look like this season?

Game	vs.		Game	vs.
1	Denver	1-0	11	Phoenix	8-3
2	LA Clippers	2-0	12	Milwaukee	9-3
3	@ LA Clippers	3-0	13	@ San Antonio	9-4
4	Portland	4-0	14	@ Memphis	10-4
5	Oklahoma City	5-0	15	Chicago	11-4
6	@ NY Knicks	6-0	16	Memphis	12-4
7	@ Philadelphia	6-1	17	Sacramento	13-4
8	@ Washington	7-1	18	New Jersey	14-4
9	@ Charlotte	8-1	19	@ Sacramento	14-5
10	@ Cleveland	8-2	20	Miami	15-5

Sure, that's with the homer hat on, but I think that we will finally beat the Knicks in NY, and drop games against the Cavs on the road, and against the Suns, Spurs and Kings (in Sactown). This may be a conservative estimate, but after the first 20 games we very well should have around 15 wins!

Flashback Friday: Guns 'n Roses + Sabonis = ?

I'm not crazy, but sometimes I sound like it when I suggest that had Sabonis joined the NBA back when he was drafted (the Len Bias draft in 1986) he would have flat out wrecked people. Portland would have been a dynasty and -- yeah -- Jordan would not have three-peated back in the early 90's.

Anyway, Guns 'n Roses + Arvydas Sabonis = pure joy

Thankfully, Greg Oden is not this good . . .

Flashback Friday: All-Star Game Introduction Rap

This has already made the rounds quite a bit, but well, it's been a long week with few postings . . . maybe next week will be better . . .

It's from the 1988-1989 All-Star Game that was played in Houston. (Karl Malone was the MVP of this game . . .)

Flashback Friday: Remembering Duckworth

 

This last week we lost another large part of my youth as a basketball fan to the passage of time. On Monday Kevin Duckworth passed due to complications of congestive heart failure. How old was he? Rather, how young was he? He died at the age of 44 -- which we all can agree, is just too soon to go. Many bloggers have already discussed the event, their reactions to it, along with their memories of Duck. Now I throw my hat in the ring as well.

Kevin Duckworth Tribute [3:54] The best picture is the one with the deer. Such a gentle man, sad to see him taken from us so soon.

As a die hard Utah Jazz fan there are several franchises out there they I find it very hard to root for / feel sorry for when bad things happen to them. The first one would have to be the Los Angeles Lakers -- as they have (so far) book ended my career as a Jazz fan with 2nd round defeats (first a 7 Game series back in 1987-1988 and most recently in 2007-2008). The second team would have to be the Chicago Bulls -- as they defeated Utah in the finals twice -- partly due to some dubious calls (Game 6 of the Finals in '98 for example). The last one would be the Portland Trailblazers (though the Denver Nuggets and Charlotte New Orleans Hornets are getting up there). [Additionally the San Antonio Spurs have earned their own personal layer of hell in my heart, and don't fit into this equation.]

I still vividly remember the Jazz getting eaten up by Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Buck Williams and crew back in the 1990-1991 season, and how the Jazz lost in the West Finals to that Portland team (a team that featured Kevin Duckworth) again the next season in 1991-1992. Then Portland took the Jazz out a few seasons later in 1998-1999 -- and ended Jeff Hornacek's career in the 2nd round.

That said, losing Kevin Duckworth cannot make anyone, save for the greatest Portland hater happy.

I watched him play for many seasons and he just looked, moved and acted differently than other members of the Jailblazers Franchise. He was a starter on some very good teams and while he never averaged a double double in his career (that was over a decade long), he was an All-Star twice. He did average over 20 and 10 in the playoffs one season (1987-1988) though. As the Blazers continued to get better, and gather better talent, he appeared to be the weak link in their starting lineup. (Terry Porter, Clyde Drexler, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams and Duck) Eventually he became a pariah and was not always loved by the fans (which conflicts with the revised story that they apparently always loved him, which came out after he died). I seemed like a really nice, Type B personality guy who for whatever reason, ended up playing basketball as well as he could -- but that was hardly good enough for some people. In that regard he reminds me of how fans, coaches and players treated Greg Ostertag. He was doing his best, but giving your all wasn't good enough sometimes.

One great moment in time that I look back at happened on some TV game back in the early 90's. The Blazers were well on their way to winning the game. Their coach (Rick Adleman) was taking out the starters in slow waves and the home crowd gave each a healthy applause. The TV crew working the game (including Bill Walton and Steve Snapper Jones) concluded that he was leaving Duckworth for last because he had been playing spectacularly well -- and deserved the positive ego boost of hearing the crowd cheering him for his good work. It was a grand gesture that would have made Duckworth happy -- and even though I hated the Blazers, the thought of him -- the underdog -- getting his day in the sun, made me happy.

Unfortunately there would be no happy ending, as after all the starters (save Duckworth) were on the bench and the celebrations started Adleman called a time-out, and Duckworth was substituted out in this manner -- he never got a chance to hear his name called over the arena PA system, he never got his applause, he never got the love that he deserved. And that really sucks.

The only other great Duckworth memory that I have was back when my brother and I would play video games together. We happened to be playing NBA Live '95 on the computer. He was using the keyboard, and I was playing with the mouse (which you can imagine was very hard to do). We were the Washington Bullets and playing against a much better team. It was a close game and many people had fouled out. I controlled Kevin Duckworth with the mouse, and as time was ticking down was able to push the computer's ball handler out of bounds (without a foul being called), thus giving us a final chance to win the game. (Which we did with a Rex Chapman buzzer beating three)

Anyway, Duckworth had career averages of 11.8 ppg (46.8 fg%, 73.6 ft%) and 5.8 rpg. His best seasons were between 1987-1988 and 1990-1991 where he scored at least 16 ppg every year and played around 30 mpg. He was an important cog in several NBA Final's teams, and did a great deal for the community after his death. I am sad to see him go. Why couldn't God have taken Bonzi Wells instead? R.I.P. Kevin Duckworth.