Wounded Jazz beat the Kings on the road

Hey all . . . posts have been slow lately as I try to a) re-organize and b) back up my work these past few weeks. [Not just blog stuff, but all my files] I'm almost all done, but don't worry, I'm still watching every game and taking down notes. December started off with a win for the Jazz on the road in the usually (just not this season) difficult to win in Arco Arena. The Kings aren't perfectly healthy right now, but it's not like they are missing two Olympians or anything like that. (For those keeping score at home, yes, Utah is in that situation right now)

Anyway, it was a close game much of the second half, with the Kings making it an 8 point game a few times. Spencer Hawes (14 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals) was a major catalyst for the Kings. Brad Miller (18 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks) was out Memo-ing Memo with outside shots and their wings were working hard all game long. Kevin Martin played in his first game in a while, and came off the bench to punch in 33 minutes of action. He was having his way against our defense when out of desperation Sloan had to substitute in Morris Almond. Martin would still end up scoring 22 points, but most of that would come at the line (he was not sent there often by Morris), otherwise he had a forgettable 6-16 shooting night. Almond did well enough on defense -- fighting through screens and hounding his man without being called for fouls -- to earn some time on the court that normally would have gone to the starting wingmen.

Almond (who would end up playing all of the 4th quarter, most of it with fellow bench player Kyle Korver) finished the game with 12 points (5-9 shooting, 1-2 from three, 1-1 from the free throw line), 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist and 1 steal. It's very easy to conclude that this was his best game of the season, and perhaps his best game ever in the NBA. Good for him. He contributed to the Jazz win, and was instrumental on defense. So he gets mention here, even though this is not the official game recap.

Here Kevin Martin took a wild drive and propelled himself forward (attempted flop) late in the 4th quarter trying to force the ref to call a foul -- but Morris Almond moved out of the way so Martin ended up taking an awkward shot that missed badly.

I may appear to be an Almond sympathizer, in that I am unlike many other Jazz fans who are quite hostile and outright wishing that Almond does poorly.

I like Morris, I think that he can be a solid pro. There's no playing time right now for him, but that doesn't mean that we should be rooting for him do play poorly. He's young, and apparently capable of working hard. I don't quite get why we should be automatically hostile towards this guy. No one said that he was NBA ready on defense when he was drafted -- he has a lot to work on. I just think that if given the chance he can do well. After all, this was his first game playing with Deron Williams, it's no surprise that Deron was able to find another guy who can finish a play on offense, and score the ball. It's pretty much what I said all along, when he's the only guy who can do anything, all of his faults are magnified -- when he's the 3rd or 4th option on a team, he can do some good things when he's being passed the ball where he can do something with it. (Seriously, I'd take getting passes from Deron Williams over passes from Kevin Kruger any day . . .) He's not a perfect player, and we can clearly see that he's incapable of making those Brewer type of passes, but if this last game is any indication, then he is making strides to improve. And he gets props for that from me.

Photographed by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE / Getty Images

The D League is not poop.

It's come to my attention that I may have been overly critical of the NBA developmental league. In my defense, I don't think I was clear in my original statements, so allow me to elucidate my point of view. I do not think that the D league is poop. In fact, I think I enjoy the NBA DL on more pure levels than I love the NBA. I've longed for a real farm system in the NBA for years and I'm happy that we finally have that (though not every team has their own affiliate). The NBA DL is a fantastic place filled with stories of hard work and a path to greater glory. Personally, I think a guy like Randy Livingston should be the first guy in the NBA-DL Hall of Fame as a player (at least on some life time achievement level at least).

Without sounding like one of those "some of my best friends are _______ (insert previously maligned group name)" after the fact apologies I do have to say that I watch NBA-DL games even when my team isn't playing. Some people love the NBA developmental league more than I do, and that's cool . . . but I wanted to say sorry if I sounded like I thought it was pointless.

I just think that in the selfish world of making Morris Almond a better NBA player he's only going to get better by playing against other NBA players. (Like defending other NBA guys, or getting passes, screens and so forth from other NBA guys) This was the number one observation I made after watching him play in the Rocky Mountain Review a few months ago. His ceiling is pretty much maxed out in Orem. That's my personal opinion. I know that the Jazz keep close ties to the Flash, and Jerry Sloan's nephew is the head coach down there in Orem . . . but that doesn't mean that there is complete equivalency between the two systems. There just cannot be, because there is such a talent gap. In Orem Almond may drive the ball to the free throw line, have defenders prevent him from shooting a good shot, and have him reverse the ball to an open Kevin Kruger . . . only for him to brick an open jumper.

Photographed by someone for NBAE, I'm guessing . . . and here's is Almond posting up, when was the last time the Jazz posted up a SG (or SF, for that matter) in the course of a regular game? They almost exclusively get the ball off of screens and cuts, not post ups. Something tells me that these are plays that don't help Almond get better for Sloan's non-SG posting up offense.

Though, Kruger is a statistically accurate shooter for a guard at 43.5 fg% and 38.8 3pt%, I've seen this happen more often that I'd wish for. If Almond was playing with the Jazz a) he'd be passing the ball to NBA talent, and b) Deron would be the one driving, and Morris would be the guy with the open shot.

In some ways I get the feeling that KOC, Sloan and the rest of the Jazz brass may look at the NBADL as a chance to ship people off to (and have them improve magically) while not really developing them directly; or even worse, just a place to stash someone who is on contract and forget about unless there are injuries to the senior team. (Like what happened with Fesenko last season when Boozer and Memo went down and he had a whale of a game against the LA Lakers in a Jazz win)

When C.J. Miles went to the d-league he was 18 years old and had no college experience -- it clearly helped him both times he was sent down. Morris Almond is in a different situation has he'll be 22 this season, and had 4 years of college. (And he already spent most of the season with the farm team, so he's experienced that already)

I think that guys like Kosta and Fesenko need the farm team, because it can help them get better for playing with the senior team. The farm system has helped guys before in the past (like CJ). I just fail to see the long term utility of it for SPECIFICALLY Morris Almond.

That's just my two cents. In closing: NBA D-League is awesome, I just would rather Almond play 10 mpg for the Jazz and get into 60 games under Sloan than play 35 mpg with the Flash and end up playing in 10 NBA games this season.

RMR Game 3: Initial post-game thoughts

The jazz finally win a game, and defeat the mighty Persian empire . . . or something like that. It was a blowout, and it always looked like one. After the first quarter with their amazing fans cheering them, Iran looked like they were going to destroy the Jazz. Eventually their lack of familiarity with playing at that altitude; their lack of depth (after injuries); and their shooting that finally cooled off allowed for the Jazz to tell them, once and for all that . . .

Image created by me . . . so yeah . . . kinda silly, I know

Yeah . . . something like that at least . . .

I'd like to say that the Jazz 82 - 57 win over the Iranian national team was because of Morris Almond, Kyrylo Fesenko and Kosta Koufos . . . but it wasn't. It was pretty much Kevin Lyde's game of destiny. Hiram Fuller also had a solid game, and Kevin Kruger (of the NBA D-League Utah Flash) and Yaroslav Korolev had supporting games as well. The games that are coached by Ty Corbin feature many players, 15 total guys played tonight, Almond didn't even play 20 mins in this game. I'll post more later on about this game as more information is available.