I enjoyed Jonathan Kendrick’s recent post about Carlos Boozer being the 12th man on the roster.  Let’s call it what it is:  he’s the last choice on the team.  Really, on the USA men’s basketball team, being the last option isn’t bad at all.  But I don’t care who you are, being picked last stinks. 

Recently, on a family vacation, we all decided to play a little kick-ball.  Captain’s were chosen; a 6-year old niece, and a 3-year old niece.  Out of 12 members of the family, guess who got picked last?  Not Grandma–oh no, she was picked first!  Of course when looking through the eyes of a 3-year old; who wouldn’t pick Grandma first?  It still stung though. 

The only thing I could do was lead our team to victory.  After all, how could my niece have known in her short six years, of all the accolades I’ve received in my kick-ball career?

Of course Carlos Boozer is going to say it’s all good, because it is!  He’s in an enviable position.  He’s a member of team USA.  Over the years, thousands, if not millions of people around the world have dedicated their entire young (sometimes older) lives to have the chance at being in a similar position.  But don’t for one minute think that Carlos doesn’t think about being picked last (to play), it’s humanly impossible for him not to think about it.  The only thing he can do is show everyone why he has a spot on that coveted team, during the small amount of minutes he does receive.

KICKBALL!!!!!

Below are the standings that were on USA Today’s NBA Power Rankings that were released on Monday August 18th 2008.

A few things come to mind:

1) this guy is high, the Jazz are at 12?!?
1b)This guy was eating paint chips; the 76ers, Blazers, Mavericks, and Magic are all rated ahead of the Jazz
2) Is this guy in high-school? The Jazz finished 4th in the Western Conference last year and return a veteran squad now featuring OLYMPIC experience. Let me repeat: WESTERN CONFERENCE. That isn’t the sissy-Eastern Conference that may or may not of improved this year.
3) Will someone remind me not to look at the USA Today’s player rankings when Fantasy seasons come up! This totally obliterates any standing they had as a sports reporting authority, in fact, consider my subscription closed!
4) Last time I checked my watch the Spurs, and Pistons are getting OLDER are they not? To me the point of diminishing return has come and gone in regards to their “veteran” leadership roles. It’s time to forget names like Horry, Finley, Billups, McDyess, and Hamilton - in fact they picked up the laughable Kwame Brown to “strengthen” their interior.
5) Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t the “Indomitable” Cavaliers finishing with records of 45-37 in again what I will call a weak conference even by High School standards?
6) They write: “how much better can Deron Williams get” - tell ya what, stick around and watch him play a little ball and you’ll be seeing just how much better he’s going to get. Read more…

If you have been watching the Olympics you know that Carlos Boozer is essentially the 12th man on the Team USA roster. He gets 5-10 minutes a game. The last “warmup game” before the Olympics he didn’t even see the court.

According to public reports and questioning – Boozer is fine with his role. He is there to do whatever the coach asks and help win a gold medal. It’s a great answer, and he is probably 100% sincere. After all 12th man on a Gold Medal winning team of All-Stars isn’t that bad. Just ask Christian Laettner.

But I hope Booz is ticked off. I hope he is angry and bent. I hope Coach Krzyzewski sets him down and tells him his defense is so bad it forces him to play small ball. I hope Carmelo calls him a scrub and Kobe asks Boozer to carry his bag. I hope Texas A&M contacts his agent asking for the rights to turn the famous “12th Man” to the “Boozer.” When he gets back to camp I hope everyone asks him about his Olympic playing time.

Basically I hope there is a chip on his shoulder and everyone continues to feed it. We have all seen the focus D-Will has had after being snubbed or overlooked in the past few years. Here is to hoping it work for Boozer. Coupled with the Laker series – Boozer might just be a beast waiting to be unleashed.

 Recently, another Boozer-rumor came down the pike; he would consider going to Europe to play if the money was right. Should this upset us? Should this scare us? Does this sort of thing have the potential to dismantle the NBA? Or does this sort of thing open up the world to basketball even further?

Imagine if you will, a higher talent level being played overseas, then as the bar raises a little further, the competition from our FIBA compadres grows stronger and stronger. Will the USA be forever fielding “Redeem Teams” as they begin to lose international competitions back and forth?

Another thougth I’ve been associating with all this overseas player movement: lets shop a few players to some teams in Russia, Greece, or Italy. International trades - In the words of Keystone advertising guru’s, “wouldn’t it be great?”

The Euro’s obviously have grown fond enough of our talent levels that more names are pouring across the Atlantic every week; Boykins has signed over seas, Childress is gone to Greece-land, Trent Plaisted is rocking the Italian Isle’s.

 Why can’t we trade players with the Euro-League yet? They are offering large contracts to our players over here; talk about a globalization of the economy.

We could trade Harpring to Italy for some Cannoli, a young project player, and a couple cases of their finest vino. Imagine sending Collins to Germany for some cases of Frankfurters, a lanky center, and casks of Ale!

Furthermore, should we be placing clauses in players contracts that if they aren’t working out we can send them not to our D-League affiliate, but to a country abroad? Talk about a way to keep players honest. I wonder what the CBA would have to say about that…

‘Kobe Cashing In?’ (AP)

What interesting news!

Kobe will probably opt out of his contract with The Hated Lakers at the end of this season, like Brand and The Barron did this year. He likes The King James’ version of a $50 million contract in Europe, preferably Italy, where he grew up, perhaps combined with part ownership.

WOW! We’d be stunned to see you go, but, my first reaction is, don’t let the door hit you on your way out. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Kobe hater, but I love to watch him play, and do consider him the best player in the world right now. It’s just his personality and behavior, which I find offensive. However, greed is what it is, and Kobe’s ego is what it is.

How could this go down? Since I’m on Social Security myself, I’m not sure what the tax bracket for $50 million would be. I can’t even imagine! With Fed, State, local, FICA etc, it must be at least 40%. As I understand it, there would be no income tax, if he played in Europe. If that were true, that would mean a $30 million contract in Europe would be about the same as $50 million in the US. MJ got that a few years ago in Chicago, so it’s not unreasonable to think about. But, it gets better. The Euro is inflated to currently about 1 and a half times the value of the dollar. A $30 million contract is only 20 million Euros. Add to that a minority ownership in the team, and maybe you can decrease the Euros even further. Also, they would be adding a very prominent spokesman to the organization (a la Magic Johnson with the Lakers + minority ownership) as well as the best player in the world (a la David Beckham in LA). Read more…

‘The Fearless Jazzbot’

After reviewing hundreds of well written entries form Jazz fans everywhere we have narrowed our search for additions to our official blogging team to 27. Now we need your help in selecting the final team. Please vote here.

Thank you to all who participated in our search. The decisions are very difficult.

Go Jazzbots and Go Jazz!

‘Our Beloved AK’ (M. Majchrzak - NBAE/Getty Images)

The past few off-seasons has seen questions surround Andrei Kirilenko.

Last offseason Kirilenko lead the Russian National team to the top of the FIBA European Championship, earning the tournament MVP honor in the process. Unfortunately, by the time he made it back to training camp, this great achievement had taken a back seat to the question of whether or not he can co-exist with Coach Sloan and other members of the team.

To his credit, Kirilenko was never a problem to the chemistry of the team, as he took his role as the teams 4th option on offense and first line of defense. It’s hardly the role the former All-Star would have chosen for himself, but at least it was clear.

I never saw any of the game tape from the European Tournament. I am guessing most of his NBA teammates and coaches didn’t either. Kirilenko is playing the same role this offseason – only on a bigger stage at the Olympics – with everyone watching. Kirilenko has arguably played the best game of any opponent against the vaunted American Redeem Team. His efforts drew praise from fellow Jazzmen Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer. Both saying to some extent that if Kirilenko played like that next season the Jazz would be playing for a championship.

Kirilenko is playing power forward for the Russian team – a position he has rarely played the past few years in the NBA. The Jazz of course have Boozer and Okur on the blocks – and a capable reserve in Paul Millsap. Leaving the best opportunity for Kirilenko to get on the floor at small forward.

All this leaves the question for this season – how could Kirilenko be better utilized? Maybe more minutes backing up both Boozer or Okur. Maybe more minutes in general or a more prominent role in the offense. Either way you ask it – it’s a better question then was being asked last year.

‘Redeem Team: Olympic Dreams?’ (Associated Press)

Following USA Basketball’s destruction of the Chinese team on Sunday, a reporter asked Dwayne Wade—a former NBA champion—about playing on the world’s biggest stage. Wade gave all the right answers, making the obligatory comment about this experience being unlike anything else. And he’s right, nothing compares to the Olympics in terms of international spectacle.

But these games mean something different to the other athletes in the Olympics because the competition truly represents the defining moment of their athletic careers. While the men’s basketball team certainly competes with national pride and wants to bring home the gold, not a single member of that group would choose a gold medal over an NBA title. For this reason, NBA players actually don’t belong in the games.

As I write this, I just watched Alicia Sacramone spin and twist through the air after launching herself off the vault. The entire sequence took only a few seconds. Sacramone—an American female gymnast—will compete for her team on the beam and the floor before later taking her shot at an individual medal. Then her career will end. At twenty years of age. She’ll go on to have a successful life in whatever path she chooses, but these few days in Beijing represent the pinnacle of an athletic career that began soon after Sacramone learned to walk. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, and the rest of Team USA Basketball will return to their multi-million dollar jobs and continue battling one another for the top prize in their chosen sport. Read more…

‘Ready for the Next Level?’ (M. Majchrzak - NBAE/Getty Images)

I predicted a few things right last year, but only could visualize 48 wins for the Jazz. That even looked wildly optimistic, until the New Year and the Kyle Korver trade. The Jazz ended up winning 54, with a great finish. Glad I was wrong!

So how will the West go this year?

1. The Hated Lakers. Despite losing Turiaff to the Warriors, they are the team to beat in the West. With Bynum back, alongside Pau-Pau and the best player in the world, they are number one until someone, hopefully the Jazz, show us different.

2. Rockets. There are a lot of #2 possibilities, but the Rockets played well with and without the most dominate big man in basketball, Yao. With wacky Ron Detest, they will be tough, unless health problems again devastate them.

3. Spurs. It’s hard to keep the Hornets or Jazz out of #3, but the Spurs will drag their walkers up and down the court for another year. With Barry gone, Big Sh*t Bob (I’m sorry, Cheap Shot Bob) hopefully gone and Finley using a motorized wheel chair, they, like The Hated Lakers, must be dethroned by the upstarts, before you can demote them. Read more…

‘Lebron: One of the Chosen Few’

I took a road trip into the Mississippi Delta this past week. Nothing but world class destinations when I get behind the wheel, for sure. As I drove, my mind began wandering like the country roads and abandoned train tracks that crisscross the region’s fertile farmland. With the Jazz’s opening tip months away, a non-Jazz-related question kept dancing through my brain. It is a question important to all sports fans, one I have been asking myself for several years now. Who would you rather be: Derek Jeter, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, or LeBron James? At this moment, injuries and playoff disappointments have dulled the shine that once accompanied the respective mantels of Jeter, Brady, and Tiger. But if you put each man in his prime, the question regains its poignancy.

The strongest argument for becoming Derek Jeter is being single, good-looking, and the most famous player on the most celebrated team in the world’s greatest city. While the fans crucify the losers, winning in New York is not like winning anywhere else. It’s better. Jeter has earned four championship rings in New York and never missed the playoffs in his career. Even today, five years since his last World Series appearance, Jeter remains the most beloved athlete playing in New York. Read more…