Joey Parker on November 03, 2009 said:

I think the worst part of the game was the fact that our Power Forwards only ATTEMPTED 8 shots between them! How is that possible?

I think it will greatly help us when Korver and Miles get back and are able to take the minutes now used by Matthews and Maynor, but even then, we’re going to go nowhere if we can’t get consistent scoring from our Power Forwards.

Oh sorry, something positive…. Memo has been on fire in both games he has played. Brewer looks good also. Deron is great of course, but he can’t be perfect every game.

Jared on November 03, 2009 said:

I agree, this was a horrible game, but here is an attempt to be optimistic. Game 1 was horrible for Millsap and Boozer, and they rebounded with good play against the Clippers, maybe they will likewise rebound against the Mavs. AK looks borderline healthy with the new weight he put on, and may be able to avoid being pushed all over the court this year. D-Will is simply fantastic, although by the end of the game vs the Rockets he looked a bit disheartened by his teammates. But, Kyle Korver and CJ Miles were out, and without their ability to stretch the defence, Millsap and Boozer will have a harder go of things. When they get back we could see a considerably better team. Then there is the Rockets who, even without their two best players, had just taken down the Blazers. Rick Adleman gets his men to buy in and play defense. Not only that, we seemed to be looking past the Rockets at home towards our match-up with the Mavericks, and the we are the Rockets hated Nemesis, they were geared up for the game. So although the loss was a stinging one, there are reasons to believe that it is an aberration.

That being said, the comments after the game were disheartening. Boozer apparently feels like he is working too hard, and D-Will seemed resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to be getting any help. I missed the 1st quarter and part of the 2nd, but it seemed to me that if we had put in Koufus and Fes we could have really dominated them down low, but Jerry seems to me to have stopped trying to win games. I thought his comments after the game were just more of the same, lack of effort crap that he has been saying going back into the 4th quarter of last season. Maybe the reason that our guys are showing less and less effort is that they no longer believe that the system they are running will win? Let’s face it Jerry Sloan has said several times that he doesn’t think that it is his job to motivate the team, and he sure did absolutely no motivating last night. I think that we should be ready for more games like this before things get better. If I owned the Jazz, Sloan would be done.

Ames on November 03, 2009 said:

“Jerry has yet to incorporate the 3-pointer into a key part of the Jazz offense.”

THANK YOU! I’ve been saying this all along and everyone thinks I’m crazy! Sloan HAS a good system, but he needs to add some 3 point plays to make it work – did anyone notice last night that all 5 Rockets players had a toe in the paint EVERY time the Jazz had the ball? Why? Because they know the Jazz won’t shoot 3s unless they HAVE to! Boozer, Milsap, and co. are getting mugged down low, and rather than calling a different play, Sloan just sits there – thinking about what? He has always been stubborn, but this is ridiculous! This organization needs to find some answers – either get rid of Coach Sloan, or force him to update his system to the 20th century, cuz his ain’t workin’!

“If I owned the Jazz, Sloan would be done.” @Jared: Amen.

Woody on November 03, 2009 said:

I have been so stoked for this season to come, now all I can say is …”Are you kidding me!” That was possibly THE worst game (besides the loss at home last season against the Bucks (or Grizzley’s, I’ve tried to forget) with an unexperienced 7 man roster) that I have seen the whole Jazz team play. The Jazz might have excecuted a play twice, Scola has had Boozers # for years, but then he shut down Millsap as well. I know that coach didn’t dare put in the big fellas because Chris Rock and gang were running circles around us as it was but, MIX IT UP A LITTLE COACH! Use a time out when the opposing team gains mommentum, beg Almond to come back and send Maynor back to college, have a family home evening at brother Big T Baileys house and review old tapes of the Jazz famed pick and roll, remind Millsap that he got a huge raise, also remind Carlos that he will need to work harder than this to get his big raise (wherever it may be), and last but not least try harder to control the pace of the game a little better on your home court! On a positive note- it can’t get any worse.

asdf on November 03, 2009 said:

year after year; same thing.. the jazz need a new coach and a real star player and leader. they need a dirk, carmello, kobe, lebron, paul pierce, howard.. anything close to a player along those lines. otherwise it will be the same depressing, conservative thing. and actually it looks like they are progressively getting worse, the players don’t even look excited and enthused to be playing.

Blake Stewart on November 03, 2009 said:

I keep blaming Boozer for our defensive mistakes (He is the worst defender in the league). I was wrong what happens is Sloan keeps insisting on playing Memo and Booz together. When Fez is in the game he makes us better because he keeps the other teams out of the paint and allows either Booz or Memo to operate on offense. Look at tonight’s game against the Mavs. What happened when Jerry took out Fez with about 9 minutes to go in the fourth quarter? When you pair our two worst interior defenders together it spells disaster. Sloan wont coach to win games, he coaches to be consistent, he is consistently losing games with his rotations (Sets rotations and then goes on cruse control). I love Sloan and he will always be my favorite coach! I am sorry to say i think the game has passed him by, he still thinks players cant hit three point shots (On offense and defense). I get really emotional after games given away with bad game management. At least next year Booz wont be hear, so Jerry can actually put in a decent line up.

J R Stewart on November 04, 2009 said:

Jerry is not a motivator and he has begrudgingly allowed the 3 pointer, instead of embracing it, but if you fire him, or he retires, Phil probably retires too. Then, who can you find who is a better coach? Watching the NBA coaching carousel who would you try to get?

I’m all for upgrades, and the Jazz could probably pay a new coach less than the $5.5m, but it needs to be an upgrade, otherwise why do it?

Jazzaholic

Jared on November 04, 2009 said:

Jazzaholic – I would probably try to hire Avery Johnson. He is definitely a motivator, and he has a ring, so the players will listen to him.

I think that the reason that the Jazz look worse and worse, is because they have less and less faith in the system, which makes them less and less confident that they can win, especially on the road. For all of the Jazz’s home court success, Jerry’s system has never been good on the road. I think that we had a winning road record for only one or two of the seasons that John and Karl were on the team. I think that the lack of moves this summer further complicates things for the players. They don’t believe that the front office is committed to putting together a winning team. In my opinion even if all we had gotten for Boozer is cap relief over the summer, the players would have looked at it as a step forward.

Ames on November 04, 2009 said:

@asdf:

We have a superstar – his name is D-Will. While he may not be capable of putting up 40+ points a game, he can certainly take over; but Coach needs to unleash him. Give him more freedom.

As far as coaches are concerned, Avery Johnson is a good pick – he’s young, and comes from the Greg Popovich-bandwagon. His Mavs were a great team – too bad Cuban has the patience of a 10-year old school boy.

Shannon in Sacramento on November 04, 2009 said:

GRRRR! That is all I can say right now. Funny, how is it that the Jazz ALWAYS Loose in the fourth quarter? Why do they think that they can play only three good quarters? I’m getting frustrated real fast with them. I do wish Jerry would switch things up. I swear, I can call all his plays by now. C’mon, let’s change and adapt. The good teams always do. Why is it that Houston is playing better than us, oh and the Suns? The Jazz brass like Jerry. He just got another extension. Something good, well, he has had only 1 loosing season, but the way things are looking, this may be his second. I still have faith though, c’mon Jazz, let’s play! I hope the game tomorrow against the Spurs looks prettier than the Houston and Mavs games. I don’t get to watch all of the games, so please, throw me a bone Jazz. Please!