Fish or Cut Bait
Derek Fisher was a great guy, good leader and great trade for the Jazz, divesting themselves of 3 marginal players, their salaries and opening up 2 roster spots. That being said, Fish left something to be desired in his play. He was certainly not a 2, and his presence denied Brewer an opportunity to develop. In the Jazz opening run, and at spots after that, he played well, but overall his play didn’t measure up to his leadership.
I felt that 3rd string Dee Brown actually did a better job of getting up court quickly, running the point and distributing the ball, than Fish did. Frequently Fish ended up dribbling out the shot clock, while the offense stagnated, settling for a forced shot to beat the buzzer. But Dee had little opportunity, because the Jazz was enraptured with Fish, his rings and his leadership ability. So when he opted out of his contract, I felt it was the best thing for the Jazz. The Jazz freed up some massive salary and a roster spot. Underneath their serious visages at the press conference, the Jazz should have been ecstatic. They got ride of an older player, who was an inconsistent, low percentage shooter, with a bloated, unmovable contract, while opening up space, and money, for some younger talent. It also gives D-Wil and C-Booze the opportunity to step up and become the true team leaders.
Fish is going to his best situation, the triangle offense in sunny LA. The triangle doesn’t require getting the ball up court quickly, before the defense is set up, nor the creation of opportunities for assists, like a true point guard offense does. And, LA is sooo much closer to medical care in the big apple.
It was a win-win situation for both sides, neither the great loss to the Jazz, nor the great magnanimous gesture by the Jazz, as portrayed in the media, but a sound roster move. Financially, Fish takes a small hit on his salary, but how many millions do you need? He’s fixed for life either way. The Jazz got rid of an older player with an untradable contract, and Fish gets his freedom.
How many teams, in similar situations, are doing costly buyouts, taking poor/troubled players or bloated contracts? The Jazz got out of this unscathed and looking to the future.
If Kevin O’Connor didn’t have some back-room discussions with Derek to facilitate this, I’d be surprised. If he did, he deserves an award!
6 Comments to “Fish or Cut Bait”
Search Jazzbots.com
Be connected!
Get the latest from Jazzbots delivered to your email
Get the latest from Jazzbots delivered to your phone
Bookmark and favorite Jazzbots.com
Jazz Inside Scoop
The FREE, Official E-mail Newsletter of the Jazz.
The Inside Scoop is one of the best ways to keep up-to-date with your Utah Jazz. We'll provide you with information year-round about the Jazz -- breaking news, special event information, unique merchandise & ticket offers, promotions, advance contest opportunities and more.
Featured Sponsors
Jazzbots Recent Readers
Jazz Polls
Loading ...
You know, I was never totally convinced with the way Fisher played during the regular season, but I think he proved his worth in the playoffs (in spite of THAT layup!). The Jazz wouldn’t have been able to go as far as they did without Fisher’s emotional contributions. I think he was a man other players listened to, and he was worth having when you’re one of the youngest teams in the league. But you do have a point in that he had a burden of a contract and freeing up the money was a sound move. I respect O’Connor because he did it in a way that it won’t count against the salary cap.
I wish all the best to Fisher and his family. I don’t believe he used his daughter’s disease as an excuse, as some others are trying to portray. He gave his best when he started going through it, and always maintained that the best possible care was found in 6 cities (including NY and LA), and him winding up in LA is no surprise to me. Can you blame him? If I had to chose between the two cities, it would’ve never crossed my mind to play for the Knicks…
Fisher’s presence wasn’t what prevented Brewer from developing. Brewer’s complete inability to hit a jumpshot is what prevented him from getting playing time.
I think fisher did really great for us last season and he will be truly missed. But I do understand why he left the Jazz. Because of his daughter Tatum. Too bad he had to go back with the Lakers because of the Jazz - LA Lakers rivalry. But I think I will still clap for him when he is introduced when we play the Lakers on November 30th.
I agree that Fish was a great pickup last year. He provided leadership, and I think that he was a good example to DW and Boozer about how to lead a team. I think that his departure was fine. We might miss his leadership, but I feel good about DW filling those shoes, so the timing really works out in my book.
While I liked D Brown last year, I didn’t feel that he grew very much, and I felt that he was out of control too often and committed turn-overs to easily. I had hoped that we could have signed him onto the D-League team so that he could have had picked up the minutes to help him make better use of his speed w/o the turnover liability.
While I liked the drafting of Almond, I am a little disappointed that the Jazz haven’t been able to spend any of the Fisher money to pickup a better shooter (2 guard). I am excited to see how the Jazz do this year, but now it looks like all of our team improvement is going to come from the development of Brewer, Almond, CJ, and Millsap. I don’t want to discount Hart and Price, but I’m not sure how much ‘improvement’ they are going to represent over the Fisher/Gira we had playing 2 guard last year. I was hopeful that the Jazz here ready to be a Western Conference contender, but with all of the “Squirt Gun 47″ drama (thanks Rome), I guess we should all just be happy to stay a lower-seed play-off team.
I do not think that it was Fishers fault for not playing Brewer it was Ronnies bad shooting and being lazy when he got a chance.
All great comments!
Fisher was a great emotional leader, just not a great point guard or shooting guard for the Jazz system, but he had some great moments.
No one knows if the reason for leaving was sincere or a desire to move on, but the Jazz made out like bandits. Who would have wanted to buy him out or get a poor trade in return for his bloated contract?
His minutes restricted all the shooting guards from extra time to improve, not just Brewer, who couldn’t shoot very well.
It ended up a win-win situation. Fish went to LA (I think his doctors still may be in NYC) and the triangle, which suits his skills. The Jazz got rid of a bad contract, added salary flexibility, shifted leadership to DWil and Booze and opened up the shooting guard minutes to young players
J R Stewart, aka Jazzaholic
Leave your Comment