Notes from the Revue and Beyond

Posted by Annie Whittaker on July 29, 2008

‘Just another ‘Dream Team’?’ (Nike Basketball)

I was lucky enough to attend the 2008 version of the Rocky Mountain Revue last week. It’s a great opportunity to get a live basketball spectator fix during the summer. A few of the tangents that I will probably wander off on, are as follows:

1. The Jazz “veterans” were extremely disappointing. Fesenko, is-um-was a crowd favorite, until the first two games were over, then Fes fizzled in the popularity department. I wish he understood how important his performance in this tournament was. Morris Almond wasn’t great either. I think we all feel that these guys can and should play much better. I think they both feel the same. (They did improve in the last game). It was just a summer tournament though, at least it wasn’t during the NBA season. Now they’ve had a chance to knock some of the rust off, they should be great come early fall.

2. International basketball is fun to watch. The Iranian team brought with them an intensity that was evident in the way they played, and in the way that their crowd cheered. They would be losing by 30 points and the Iranian crowd continued to roar and chant, and the basketball team continued giving it their all. I would love to see some of that work ethic and passion from team USA in 2 weeks.

3. Speaking of team USA and roaring; I wonder if Carlos Boozer will be as vocal as he became during Jazz games during the last season. I know that it’s become the new thing to rail on Boozer for last season’s performance, but this isn’t part of that trend. I’ve frequently wondered out loud during games, if his incessant “and-ones” were affecting the desire of referees to call more fouls in his favor. I think not. I think referees tend to swallow the whistle when it comes to constant whiners. I’m wondering if it’s any different when it comes to international referees. If they don’t have as much experience with the same players over and over again as they would in the NBA, I wonder if they will have less or more tolerance then say, Joey Crawford dealing with Tim Duncan.

Don’t worry, I’m not down on Carlos, probably because it is so popular to be so with Utah Jazz fans right now (always got to fight the trends). I’m very psyched to see him play with Deron Williams in Beijing, and for the Jazz in the next year. The Jazz are going to rock it in the next season, mark my words. As for the Olympics, I have high hopes, but I can’t count out some of the other teams. International play has really improved in past years and the disparities between skill level and scores has continually become smaller and smaller. All the more reason to be excited to watch every minute possible in the coming weeks!

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4 Comments

Linda McFarland on July 30, 2008 said:

Sounds interesting. We tried to watch as many of the games as we could but when you aren’t watching someone who is really being outstanding it is hard to get too excited. It seems like in the last 2 years prior, we had some Jazz players who were really showing exciting promise but this year it was very much your #1 comment. I too am very excited about the basketball in the next few weeks!! It should be interesting to see if the players from other teams (especially one) will play team basketball so we have a chance at the gold.

justalars on July 30, 2008 said:

This has nothing to do with this article, but I had this thought. If you have an opportunity to trade Boozer for Josh Smith and another player or a draft pick depending on the contract size of the contract he signs. Do you pull the trigger? Smith averaged 17.2 pts, 8.2 reb, 3.4 ast, 2.8 blk, 1.5 stl. and 3 to while boozer averaged 21.1 pts, 10.4 reb, 2.9 ast, .5 blk, 1.2 stl and 2.6 to I guess my only thought is if Smith can get to 20 and 10 then yes you do, but thats anyone’s guess. Plus I have no idea if smith has a jump shot.

Johnathan Kendrick on July 30, 2008 said:

justalars

Check back in a little bit.

justalars on July 31, 2008 said:

I did some research and Josh Smith only shoots 30% from 2’s that aren’t lay ups and 25% from three. Hollinger said that he did much better by cutting his 3’s attempted in half for the 2nd half of the season last year. They also played him at the three. He is 40 lbs lighter than Boozer, and also 3 years younger. They biggest gripe they had about him was his attitude, I dont see that translating well with Jerry. Lets just hope Boozer steps it up Defensively this year.

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