Phil Jackson is the king of the smart-ass, “Did he just insult me?” sneaky insult; Stan Van Gundy is good for more blatantly throwing you under the bus and making it work; Gregg Popovich will scream at you in front of 20,000 people but never lose your respect; and Mike Brown will get himself ejected in a minute going to bat for you — so long as your name is LeBron James. But you have to love the way Jerry Sloan gets it done: No games, no tactics, just telling it like it is whether he’s in a closed locker room or in front of a crew of reporters … Watching the Nuggets spend all night at the free throw line (41-of-49 FT) in Sunday’s win over Utah, most coaches would blame the refs. Sloan wasn’t going there. Read More »
For Chris Paul and Deron Williams to go head-to-head and put up underwhelming numbers isn’t a surprise anymore. For Devin Brown — the rare NBA starter who could also appear on “Who He Play For?” and stump Charles Barkley — to steal the show from both of those guys is definitely a surprise … Brown (30 pts, 5 threes) got it rolling early, scoring 10 of N.O.’s first 18 points, wetting jumpers and getting layups in transition off Utah turnovers. Despite Brown’s hot start, however, the Hornets struggled overall, falling behind by double-digits in a first quarter highlighted by C.J. Miles‘ 360 two-hand dunk. Read More »
Even with Carlos Boozer’s contract coming off the books, the Jazz don’t have a lot of cap room in 2010. For that reason, nobody is really talking about Utah as a major player in the Summer of LeBron (and D-Wade, Bosh Joe Johnson, etc.).
But even without that cap room, the Jazz will be in position to add an instant impact player or two to their roster, who could be the missing piece in getting Jerry Sloan a championship before he retires and giving the Western Conference a new powerhouse. Read More »
If you were ever going to forgive a guy for committing double-digit turnovers in one game, forgive Monta Ellis for his 11 miscues last night. With the majority of Golden State’s roster out of action (including Nellie, who has pneumonia) Monta was one of three guys who played all 48 minutes against Dallas and led the Warriors to a win. Anthony Morrow and Vlad Rad also put in a full night’s work, as fill-in coach Keith Smart used just six players. Smart looks like he could’ve put on some kicks and dropped a few baseline jumpers, but that’s probably against some rule … Read More »
While struggling to understand why Matt Harpring was analyzing game tape on NBA TV this past weekend, it got me thinking about the Utah Jazz. Being from Denver, I don’t normally enjoy publicly praising Utah for any of their success. Still, credit due when credit earned. While Brandon Jennings and Ty “Mbenga Banga” Lawson are undoubtedly on top of the PG rookie heap right now, Jazz rook Eric Maynor is right behind them. Read More »
Four matchups to watch on Thursday’s two-game schedule…
Chicago @ Cleveland: Luol Deng vs. LeBron James
For all the grief he took last season — getting the big contract, then promptly going into the tank with injuries and subpar play — Deng has been earning his money this year (17.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg). Read More »
In a sports world where a coach can endure a couple of bad weeks and lose his job, Jerry Sloan has job security like Steve Jobs. Sometime in the next week or two, NBA.com is reporting that the Jazz will once again extend the legendary coach’s contract for at least one more season. This annual or bi-annual tradition between Sloan and the Jazz organization has been going for the past decade. Read More »
Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…
Who do you want your offense to run through with everything on the line? Counting down 30th to 1st (one per team), I’ve ranked the League’s go-to guys…
It takes a special point guard to hold down the dual responsibility of being his team’s on-court quarterback and its go-to scorer. And in this new golden era of PG’s, Deron is built to handle both jobs better than just about anyone. Read More »
Thanks to some sloppy play by the Nuggets and that same ol’ sharp execution by the Jazz, there wasn’t much excitement left by the end of last night’s NBA preseason opener. Deron Williams (16 pts, 6 asts) and C.J. Miles (16 pts, 3 stls) led Utah as they teased a 20-piecing before halftime, allowed Denver to cut it to single-digits by the break, but pulled away in the second half to win 103-87. Carmelo (13 pts, 4-11 FG) and James White (13 pts) led the Nuggets, who had 27 turnovers as a team … Carlos Boozer started at PF and finished with seven points and seven boards in 20 minutes, while Paul Millsap came off the bench for seven points and three rebounds in 18 minutes. Boozer somehow didn’t get resoundingly booed by the home fans, but he didn’t exactly get a hero’s welcome, either. Read More »
