D. Chris Estey on August 28, 2009 said:

I couldn’t have said it better. I really agree with pretty much everything you said here Brian. I have been saying for a while that we haven’t seen this team at full strength since the Korver trade when we ran off the best record in the NBA in the second half of the season. That’s scary. It’s worth waiting to see what happens with everyone first. I personally would not be surprised to see Carlos resign. I know it sounds crazy but how many players have we seen publicly denouncing their teams and screaming their dissent and frustration only to go on and resign with the very team they publicly bashed. Don’t be surprised if it happens. Anyway, nice article Brian.

Matt Sanchez on August 28, 2009 said:

Good stuff. I totally agree with Carlos having a great seaon in 09-10. I frimly believe in the “contract year.” He knows he must play at a very high level to get that contract he wants.

I also think C.J. is so close to breaking out. With the exception of Deron, he gives more glimmers of another level than anyone else on the team.

Trent on August 28, 2009 said:

I enjoyed the article, and I think everything is right on. Everybody doubts the Jazz because we have the same team that made a first round exit last year. They always seem to forget that we weren’t at full strength for most of the season. This team is dangerous!

The Jazz can make some noise this season, perhaps win 60 games as Brian said. I believe!

Go Jazz!

Annie on August 28, 2009 said:

How will Carlos know that he’s being booed anyway?

Joey on August 28, 2009 said:

That was great, I can’t even think of anything to add. I think the main theme to all of what you said is that KOC is a very patient, deliberate man. He doesn’t do something just to do something, which I think is a mistake that a lot of GM’s make.

ME on August 28, 2009 said:

Yeah i totally agree with you

Brian McCann on August 28, 2009 said:

Annie- Good point. knowing the way he thinks, he will probably just sub-conciously tell himself everyone is saying “Booz” anyway. He probably wont think twice about it.

Joey on August 28, 2009 said:

Annie, I had that same question. )

He has the perfect name to be a “villain.” He and Blue Edwards can do whatever they want and never know they are getting booed.

dwilljazz8 on August 28, 2009 said:

Well I do agree with everything that you are saying, except for that fact that Amare does play Defense. Better than Booze, Yes, most definitely, great defense no, but hey at least he is better then Booze. Also he plays the Pick N’ Roll a lot better then Booze does, so he would do well with us. Also I would be very surprised if Booze ends up resigning with the Jazz next year. The only wy that would happen, is if for some reason he sucked, and no team wants to sign him, so he ends up having to resign the Jazz, just to earn money, VERY UNLIKELY. I expect him to have a great year, then we draft either Ed Davis or Greg Monroe with the knicks pick in the 2010 draft, and Booze signs with some other team for around 13.5 million. I see a championship for us in about 2-3 years, depending on how well our young guys develop. This season we will win 55 games, and make it to the second round of the playoffs, that is what I am hoping for.

sonom on August 28, 2009 said:

wow you just gave me hope

mike on August 28, 2009 said:

he knows hes being booed because he can clearly hear it 40% of the time when hes just sitting on the bench. in fact he has to text while on the bench to distract himself from the booing.

Brian McCann on August 29, 2009 said:

dwilljazz8-Amare’s biggest critics in Phoenix consistantly hammer him for his D. I hear it often because my wife’s family lives in Mesa and they are all huge Sun’s fans. Frankly, they say he doesn’t play any defense at all. Also, I have to disagree with your pick-n-roll comment. Amare does run it beautifully, but so does Booz. In fact, other than his ability to go to his left hand, I would say the pick is Boozers best offensive weapon. He is amazing at reading the offense perfectly to roll at the right time.

Booz might not play as much defense as we would like, but he is an amazing offensive player. And I think the Jazz would resign him if he had a great season offensively with iimproved defense. I think they would look to unload AK if Boozer stepped it up and had a great season as a leader of the team and helped them to go deep into the playoffs. Nothing will make the fans and Jazz management forget the past faster than if Boozer learns to lay it all out on the floor this year. Remember, he is still young, and most likely hasn’t hit his peak yet.

I agree with 55 wins or so, and I’m stoked to watch the Knicks tank it this year!

ME on August 29, 2009 said:

i agree, and if you really care about this franchise you will do whats best for it, and whats best for it is not booing Booz when he comes back, and i totally agree, what has happend happened, and its time to move on forgive and forget, and just be ready to crush next season.

J R Stewart on August 29, 2009 said:

As the late, great linguist Karl Malone once said. “They did a complete 360″

Without the injuries, plus more experience, the Jazz are back in hunt. Almost the same team. They are very similar to the Wizzards.

A Boozer trade is worth LESS than his expiring contract. If the Jazz just take back contracts, they’ll be in deep luxury tax do-do for years to come. Unless the Jazz can save significant luxury tax and get a young, low priced player, with potential, I think Boozer is here for the year. I think he finally realizes that, as evidenced by stopping the “media tour.”

It will be a lot like when Blue Edwards returned. Were they “Blue”ing him or Boo-ing him?

The Jazz have lost Knight and Collins, which is great for the young kids to finally get a chance.

Will they lose Matty?

I too, am excited to see the new AK (hey! just give me the old AK) and the improved CJ.

I actually think Boozer will work out just fine…go easy on him!

Jazzaholic

jeff burnham on August 29, 2009 said:

K here is the problem with keepin boozer….. next year in the offseason he is a free agent and we all know what his plans are. He doesn’t plan on being a part of our jazz team he has said it himself, hell it was in the newspaper, so why wouldn’t we try to trade him?? We might as well trade him for what we can and get something for him while we still can. If we don’t trade him in the offseason we lose one of our best offensive players and get nothing in return. At least if we do trade him, for as you said haslem and 2016 2nd round pick, we get a decent backup for millsap and clear up some money to maybe get another player in next years offseason. So i say trade him for darius miles and a ham sandwich cause it will get us money

tman11 on August 29, 2009 said:

Cj and, AK need to put up or shut up I still think Jerry needs to come out and, tell then what there role is on the team. AK has been fading because he isn’t asked to do as much as what he use to you can’t expect him to play as well when jerry has more guys to run every thing thru. I mean he was the player we ran every thing thru about 3 or 4 years ago and, once Dwill started being a stud a BOOzer started tearing up to post AK was ask to do less. I know every one disagrees with me but, Jerry ruined AK career. I’m scared about this next year we have way to many questions and, don’t know whats going on, if we don’t figure it out we will have a subpar season like last year.Since BOOzer is on are team he needs to be treated like Marbury with the Knicks last year. Shut your mouth and, play on I’ll bench ya and, watch you become worthless to this league. On an upside though we haven’t charged are players at all so team chemistery will be alot better. Also BOOzer can’t get hurt if he wants a big contract so he should have a great year. Jerry just handed the team over to Dwill so it’s going to be exciting if he can turn into a leader instead of just a great player it should be a scarey but, fun year

Brian McCann on August 29, 2009 said:

Jeff- If Boozer walks the Jazz will have enough cap space to go after a decent backup. They dont need to trade for one right now that they really dont want just to get Boozer off the books. They could even let Boozer walk and trade AK this season for expiring contracts and then have a ton of money next summer to re-sign Ronnie and bring in an impact player.

Trading just to make things different is not the answer. I’m with JR.

J R Stewart on August 29, 2009 said:

Jeff:

As many an FBI agent has said, “follow the money!”

The Jazz were free and easy, until Booz opted in. No tax problems, then whamo, $12.65m plus the luxury tax. They counted on him opting OUT!

If they take back any contract beyond this year, they’re right back in the luxury tax again next year, hand cuffed to sign or trade for players.

There are only a few teams with cap room or a PTE to absorb any extra salary and relieve this years tax bill for the Jazz in a Boozer trade. He’s more valuable sitting at home until the end of the year, than taking back a long term contract.

It’s going to have to be a no brainer trade (player, contract and tax) for the Jazz not to sit on his expiring contract. Most teams trade for some dud, with an expiring contract. At least the Jazz have an All-Star, disgruntled-yes, but still a 20-10 guy, with an expiring contract.

Now AK has two years left and might actually be a better trade possibility for the Jazz.

Jazzaholic

ME on August 29, 2009 said:

Yeah i agree go easy on booz!… I mean, look we all say things we shoul’d and regret later, like boozer has, but hasn’t he already said it was wrong of him to say those things when he did?? Give him another chance, and see what he can do. And comon’ we’re all smart enough to know that booing him is gonna help nothin!!

Linda McFarland on August 29, 2009 said:

Brian…….good blog and so true. You don’t have to like Boozer, you just have to remember that you love the Jazz and he is part of the team. The LAST thing this team need this year is to be seperated by their fans. Give them a chance and let KOC have the headaches about what to do and when to do it. That is what he is good at gets paid for.

michael England on August 31, 2009 said:

to jeff burnam,
If we trade for Darius Miles and a ham sandwich, when would we receive all of the money that you are talking about, next year? Carlos here is worth more to us than taking back a long term contract. first off if Greg miller doesn’t care about the luxury tax, why should we and name another power forward that makes us a team that contend, Chris Kaman? Big Z? who, regardless of whether we have Udonis or Carlos, we will still be in a luxury tax for this year, we would not be able to sign another free agent, and either player will give us cap room next year, the only difference is that we would be trading an allstar for a backup to a backup (Paul Millsap).

Brian McCann on August 31, 2009 said:

Michael- Well said.

Rick on September 01, 2009 said:

1 i say that saying that sloan ruined ak is absolutly ridiculous, they way sloan coaches brings out the best in players, doesnt make them worse. remember b russell? he was great with the jazz, when i was younger i thought he was so great, but what heppened to him after the jazz? does anybody even know?…. yeah thats wha i thought. ak just doesnt work as hard as he used to. i’m not saying he is bad, but instead of using the strengths of his new teammates to help him improve his game and become a bonafide allstar he has slacked off. all his fault not sloans. 2 keeping booz and having him play the best season of his career is the smart thing to do. i dont think too many good players are going to be leaving their teams next off season so i’m kinda on the fence about trading him or keeping him. but resigning him would be a disaster in my opinion. i personally think that resigning him judt because of his good contract season would be as much of a mistake as resigning osterfag just because he showed small sparks of imrpovement. i personally think that if we had spent the money on other players that the jazz could have had more shots at a title and perhaps even a couple under their belts. and 3 cj hasnt lived up to what he could have and might not live up to what is expeced of him this year. you have to gambles on develpong players like him but his breakthrough season hasnt come when it should have. sometimes you takes those gambles and they pay off big time like orlando taking not so sure pick of d. howard (STAR) over the sure thing in e okafor (bust). so i think we lost so far with this gamble, maybe he will develop but i think we should be looking in a different direction soon. in all yes the jazz have a good team and what makes them dangerous is that theyre so young, the league has to watch out for them and portland. changing everything isnt the answer but inorder to keep up there must be change, the good teams from last year got better and we stayed pretty much the same…. for some reason that doesnt add up to being greater. we need to become a deeper team to be able to truly contend, and the requires a little more change than what we have had, but kudos to koc for getting us this far and being level headed and such a smart gm

Wilma Jones on September 01, 2009 said:

Andrei Kirilenko is the best all around player on the team. When he was asked to be the man he was. When he was asked to play for the team, he has. If jazz fans want to se the 5×5 stats again then they better hope that Sloan wakes up to what is going on.

tman11 on September 02, 2009 said:

Wilma is right he may not put up all the pionts and rebounds but, he does a little bit of everything. Jerry may bring out the best in his players but, when he starts taking away a player role he makes them worse it work both ways. Jerry is an amazing coach but, he screwed up big time with AK and, with Price. To call AK a slacker is a lie I hear to much during every off season about how hard he works to be better and, to get bigger. He just has a few things working against him. Him bein so small is that his matbolism works so fast that by seasons end all that wieght he gain just went bye and, having your best all around player come off the bench and spilt time with a player I’m going to call a bust also hurt his play. AK isn’t like Russel he doesn’t play jazz ball I put big time money on it if he played for a run and gun team like the Suns, Knicks or, Warroirs he would have been a 5 or 6 time allstar by now. that’s why we need to get rid of AK I hate to say it but, he doesn’t paly are style so send him to a team wherehe can play his style and, be the star that he is and we can get a guy that plays jazz ball. As far as Boozer goes hold on to him for as long as you can it’s contract year he will put up big numbers he has to. You might be able to get a player in jJanuary that has as much value as he is worth but, as of now your kind of stuck with him unless you just want to drop him for cap space wich is a bad idea. Once January roles around teams will be putting up alot for Boozer if he shuts his mouth and, plays ball and, doesn’t get hurt. wait and trade him later. Milsap can’t play like half as good as Boozer. So wait until we can get a starter for him so Milsap can continue to come off the bench.
As for CJ I’m just going to say he is a bust. he had a lot of potential wich is why you draft players espcially in the second round but, he nver did and, never will put it all together find a way to get rid of him to

Rick on September 04, 2009 said:

but yhou see part of the reason why he is slacking is because he doesnt play the jazz style ball, good players adapt to what they have to, they dont or shouldnt make the teams divert to them. yeah you see big name players who get their way, but they arent class players, you know like kobe, he may be an amazing player but in my eyes he is just a spoiled ball hog but whatever. and he reason that the run and gun would help andrei is because it helps everybody, your stats go up no matter how good you are. thats why david lee thinks he is the shiz and should be getting tons of money for his play but everybody knows that his starts are all thanks to di antonis system. and my talk about ak isnt because i dont like him, i think he has tons of potential and loved t0 see him play, but you cant go where the jazz want to go just on the back of one player thats why ak’s roles have been taken inorder to give him help from other good players, but its true if we want to see ak do well he needs to play more. and if we are going to keep paul as a backup then we shouldnt have him here because thats too much for second string, but i guess we will see in due time.

tman11 on September 05, 2009 said:

I agree with your fact that he is in the wrong system but, i don’t as far as great player adapting to a system. Alos how can he adapt when every year he keeps getting less and, less playing time? that makes it really hard for a player to adapted. AI is anther great example the Pistons picked him up trying to get anther scoring threat on there team but, he couldn’t adapt to there system.. You will most likely say the AI is also a ball hog and, all that but, he is a super sstatus kind of player but, just couldn’t fit with a system. Great player play there game and, teams adjust to fit there style. It’s not the other way around, AK isn’t a great player though is is a piece to a puzzle not a player you build a team around. Thats why he need to be traded and, given an opportunity to be the star he is. As far as run and, gun offencehelpin everyone is a lie it doesn’t help guys like Boozer, Okur Shaq, Howard or even Dwill if you can’t get up and down the court and, aren’t a speed demond it wont help ya out. The Lakers don’t even run run and, gun they run a triangle offence wich is totally diffrent. they have bynum on there team they can’t run and gun. Kobe being a ball i also incoorrect he scores 40 pionts a game but, he causes turnovers and fast break piont for some of those and, he also gets 5 or 6 assist a game. If you told me that three years ago I would have agreed with ya but, he changed his game and, his whole life around in the last three years or so. David Lee is a pretty good player in his own right as well it has nothin to do with a run and, gun system. he is pretty legit. Get your faxts staight before you start dssing on other players and, style of play

Linda Kay on September 05, 2009 said:

Tman11….I am curious as to where you read or hear all your facts?

tman11 on September 06, 2009 said:

Why Linda because they sound crazy or what? Haha I know they do sound crazy, it’s what I do for a job I get paid to analize teams and, scout palyers. Most of it is just stuff I pick up when I watch the team and, how they are doing and, react when they are in certain positions.

Linda Kay on September 07, 2009 said:

No, not crazy. You seem to know a lot about a lot of players so I wondered just where you worked and who pays you to scout all of them? That would be a neat job. I don’t always agree with you but that is normal for me.

tman11 on September 07, 2009 said:

i am an asistant coach for my old schol south moutain community college down here in AZ and, yeah it’s fun. gettting paid to study te greatest game ever made besides rugby. Any how that’s just what i see when i look at the jazz.