NBA Team Needs — Utah Jazz
Deron Williams, Dime #41We continue our look at current NBA team needs and what they can do to solve them with the Utah Jazz…
The Needs — If the Jazz do nothing else this offseason, they still had a positive summer by signing Deron Williams to a contract extension. That being said, Utah is still missing the same thing since, dare we say it, Jeff Hornacek? With Okur, Boozer and AK-47, the Jazz still have one of the most formidable frontcourts in the league and their bench is one of the deepest. The missing piece to the puzzle? A legit scoring two-guard.
The Possible Solutions — In-house, the Jazz are really hoping that one of their current players step up. Chances are, they let C.J. Miles (restricted FA) walk to Oklahoma City, which really leaves them with two options: the incumbent starter Ronnie Brewer and D-Leaguer Morris Almond. Brewer (12.0 ppg, 1.7 spg) had a very solid season. He’s excellent defensively and has some breakout offensive games from time to time. Almond had huge scoring nights in the minors and the Jazz are hoping that translates to the League this year, but he’s been up-and-down in summer league play. Ideally, both come off the bench and continue to develop. No offense to Kyle Korver, but we don’t see him as a two-guard; besides, Utah had the perfect role for him last season, and that wasn’t starting. So what’s out there? Would the Jazz step out of their comfort zone and try to sign a J.R. Smith or Ricky Davis? Bonzi? Could the Jazz get a Michael Finley? The options are limited, but they’re out there.
Our suggested moves? — We like what they have internally in Brewer and Almond, and they might develop into very good players, but the Jazz should bring in one more guy in case they don’t. We don’t see Finley happening. If he plays for a contender, we’d think he’d re-sign with the Spurs. We don’t think Jerry Sloan would do do it, but the guy we’d pull the trigger on? J.R. Smith. In terms of talent, he’s what they need. Offer him a low-risk deal. If he’s more trouble than he’s worth, let him go. Good luck getting the Jazz fans to embrace him, though.
If you’re the Jazz, what do you do?
NBA Team Needs archive
7/23 – New Orleans Hornets
7/22 – San Antonio Spurs
7/21 – Detroit Pistons
7/20 – Los Angeles Lakers
7/19 – Boston Celtics
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July 24th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
doc says:
I go get JR.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Jim says:
Jazz fans are rabid and a little blind; if JR gave buckets they would love him.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
C Burner says:
Nah, stick with Ronnie Brewer. No 2 guard in Utah will score huge numbers, what with Deron, Boozer, and Meme each scoring around 20 ppg. Next year he’ll be even better.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
hahns says:
utah needs to dump okur…the guy is 7feet and allergic to paint
July 24th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Kobeef says:
- Boozer puts up big numbers in the regular season but always gets abused in the playoffs. I’d trade him while teams are high on him. Memo is skilled and gets his points – I’d keep him and trade Boozer for Turkoglu who was amazing in Orlando last year.
- They really need a quality SG. I like Brewer but he seems like a 6th man. Iguodala would look really good beside Deron (Darren?…)
- Keep AK47. The guy has way more skill then he is allowed to show in Utah. He is actually a pretty good scorer even though he never gets shots in Utah.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Wanabballer says:
Simply put, Deron is the only future. Get rid of Boozer – undersized PF and has a problem scoring with a bigger player on him. I was a HUGE AK-47 fan, till Boozer got healthy and Utah moved AK to the 3. Okur is a perfect compliment to a “POWER” forward, just keep him – he helps spread the floor.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
NYCBalla says:
If only Brewer hadn’t broken his arm when he was young he would have a sweet shot to match his hops and athletisism. Almond has a sweet shot but his game is otherwise limited. I think they should match CJ Miles offer. To me he seems to be the most versatile. Get rid of pretty boy Korver, or let him be a 3rd string guy coming in only when they need big threes of free throws.
With what’s available on the market, and with who would actually play in Utah….I would keep the team as is. You could even run Ronnie Price at the 1 and D-Will at the 2 if they needed some explosive scoring.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Justice says:
like half the teams in the league need a scorer like jr..and the say he isn’t getting calls? teams that can use him(im bored)
Nets
Knicks(well take anyone at this point)
76ers
Raptors
Hornets
Spurs
Cavs(danny ferry is phucking up)sign this guy asap!
Pacers(nothing to lose)
Nuggets
Seattle(risky but they can use a scorer of the bench)
Jazz
Hawks(childress gone)
Heat(Jr is better than ricky right now)
Magic(worst backcourt ever they need some help)
Golden State(jr plays nellie ball on every team)
Suns
July 24th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
ejay225 says:
JR + Sloan = Sprewell + Carleisimo
July 24th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
CJ says:
Impressive list Justice. The basically shows the fact that every team could use him and how insane it is that he’s getting no love (though that seems to be the theme with all RFAs this offseason).
For his sake I pray he doesn’t go to Utah. I still believe the right coach and the right environment could help him out. He’s a legit sixth man and in a few years a definite starter if he gets his act together. But running with melo and AI, getting more tatoos, and learning not to play D is not gonna help him develop.
Would he really not get his act together next to Lebron?
July 24th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Justice says:
lol i can see jr chocking the shytt outta that ahole sloan in the middle of warmups first game of preseason..
July 24th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Jim says:
“For his sake I pray he doesn’t go to Utah. I still believe the right coach and the right environment could help him out.”
Is there a better environment/coach for a supposedly good kid than Utah and Sloan? And I’m a SPURS fan.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Celts Fan says:
JR Smith, Ricky Buckets, or Bonzi Wells?!? Jerry Sloan’s head would explode.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
SayItAintSo says:
@4 Haha, I couldn’t agree more. Okur is weak-sauce…lookin like a big’ol ferret out there. Dude NEVER mans up and roughs it down low.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Just me says:
What the Jazz truly need is defensive big man. Both Okur and Boozer are less than average defenders. The Jazz are fine on the offensive end.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
GsusX says:
Finley would be a great fit. Veteran leadership, great shooter. I think he could be the right piece to help them contend for a ‘chip
July 24th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Amar says:
okur can score down low, but he doesn’t when boozer is playing. when boozer was injured for 40 game stretches they ran memo down low. memo does his work on the glass too, look at his rebounding numbers in the playoffs and the last few months of the season:
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/mehmet_okur/game_by_game_stats.html
he had nights with these # of boards:
vs. lakers 2nd round: 10, 13, 11, 19
vs. htown 1st round: 13, 10, 11, 18, 16
last 25 games of reg. season: 13, 15, 14, 17, 16, 10, 10, 10, 18, 11, 14, 12, 17, 13, 11
he’s also a clutch shooter and basically, not the guy the jazz need to get rid of.
the SG problem will sort itself out. hopefully. utah’s a good squad with young players. they currently have 14 guys under contract, and there’s no playing time for another wingman: (brewer, kirilenko, korver, harpring, almond, maybe miles) all need more than 10 mpg. brewer plays 24 mpg (half the game), AK plays liek 30. getting a guy who chucks shots isn’t going to be good for team chemistry.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Amar says:
the need for a defensive big man is really the major issue, I agree “just me”.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Borgs says:
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Utah’s offense. Not a thing! If you haven’t seen much of them, at least examine the numbers. They kill the boards, have arguably the PG in the NBA, and possess above-average shooters at various ranges (Boozer, both hands in close and out to 20 feet; Okur, anywhere once he’s crossed the half-court line; Williams, strong finisher inside and out to 25 feet; Kirilenko hits jumpers at a good enough rate for a psuedo-PF; and Korver off the bench). They have one back-court guy – no less than the Lakers, Spurs, Pistons, Celtics or Hornets – who can consistently break down his opponent off the dribble in D-Will, and they play system basketball, anyway. The problems exist purely when their opponents have the ball. They need a shot-blocker and better team defense. End of story. I’m sorry to say JR Smith ain’t providing that.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Borgs says:
“I think the main thing with (Kosta Koufos) is just convincing him that he doesn’t need to score. He just needs to rebound, and defend, and block shots. That’s what we really need.”
- Deron Williams in Las Vegas early this week.
See? Defense and shot-blocking.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Dave says:
They need to lose Kirilenko. He’s a shadow of himself on the perimeter. He’s an out and out power forward that’s giving the team hardly anything as a small forward.
He’s only an average one-on-one perimeter defender. He’s one of the best shot blockers in the NBA who can wreak havoc around the basket for opposing. Keeping him out on the perimeter stops him from using his best skills defensively.
Offensively it’s his perimeter skills as a power forward that make him such a special talent. Regular power forwards can’t handle/pass the ball like he can. His scoring suddenly looks versatile and he’s extremely dangerous driving on slower players. Putting him out there as a small forward …. all those skills become distinctly average or worse.
The Jazz are killing his career by playing him as a small forward. He needs to leave.
Kirilenko is also hurting the Jazz because of his inability to play small forward. Trade him for a real small forward who can play quality one-on-one defense and provide some offense … it would transform that team.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Dave says:
The Jazz do lack an interior presence defensively
It’ll be hard to cure because you have Memo and Boozer starting who clearly are both highly influential players for the Jazz and both are necessary scorers for the team. To upgrade you’ll have to lose one of them and that’s a hard move.
Another option is to upgrade their perimeter defense. The Rockets defense is exceptional because of Battier and the rest of their perimeter defenders. When Yao went down they were able to keep their defense at a very high level (with low minutes from Deke) with their 6-6 to 6-9 big men who provide no shot blocking. The reason was their perimeter defense.
The Jazz already have a very good defender at the point in Deron Williams. In Brewer they have a developing defender who would be a very good 2nd defender on the wing. Unfortunately Kirilenko is fairly equal to Brewer as a perimeter defender and nowhere close to a Battier.
If the Jazz can upgrade their perimeter D there’s a good chance they can live with Boozer-Okur because of their production offensively and quality rebounding. Both Boozer and Okur are also capable post defenders, where they struggle most is with their help defense which is fairly poor.
Replacing Millsap with a Varejao type would also be a big gain for the club. He’s a free agent next year.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
kiri says:
good job!i like it
ya plane sometimes sounds good
i think too,boozer can livin soon,we need to replace him,and we need a sharpshooter for a starter position
we have team,we have a strong,good andd young team,we got brevin knight he can give some routine too for us,our coach is 1 of the best,our PG is 1 of the best,we need to improve a lil bit more,we can do it
July 25th, 2008 at 12:31 am
daQuesT?On says:
yooo i dont get why the cavs dont sign smith asap, he can shoot the three, go to the basket and is super athletic, he could be lebron’s scottie pippen and they are both super young so the cavs could have a solid foundation for the future