What I’ve learned from the poor start
Posted by Keith Haney on November 04, 2009
When is enough, enough? For the first time in my 3 years as a Jazz season ticket holder and 25+ years attending games, I left before the final buzzer sounded against Houston. I always stay to the end win or lose – if only to watch the 11th and 12th man get some play time. After the team followed the Rockets loss up with the debaucle last night in Dallas, I don’t know where to go from here.
It’s hard for me to tell myself, “It’s early in the season, things will get better.” The reality is, these last four games might as well be numbers 83-87 tacked on to last season. This is the same team with the same old problems.
I’m not giving up on this roster, but my optimism is waning. This is where my mind is. I thought I’d share.
Realizations about a 1-3 start…
1) Record-wise the Jazz are tied with the Knicks. Everyone knows Utah gets their first round pick this year. Imagine having 2 lottery picks? Sometimes you have to lose today in order to win tomorrow. It happened with the Spurs and the Magic back in the 90s when they lucked into Duncan and Shaq/Hardaway respectively.
Take your pick of two of these players: NBA Draft 2010. Imagine a team with 2 of those guys on the team? I’m picking Derrick Favors (PF) and Larry Sanders (C) for now.
This is what I look forward to. That’s kinda sad.
2) The pressure is on to trade Boozer now more than ever. The man got booed during a run of the mill possession Monday night! I’ve never seen a player get booed by his home crowd during a game just for holding a ball. We’ve reached a point were I would be trade him for Darko Milicic or Jermaine O’Neal It’s that bad. Getting this over now instead of half-way through the season will make things better in the long run.
3) The pressures to change other aspects of the team are getting stronger. The league has changed dramatically in the last 5 years. Winning teams MUST take more 3s. Winning teams must have athletic wings who can shoot and drive to the basket. Winning teams must limit their fouls. These are all problems for the Jazz that have been exposed more and more as the rest of the league gets stronger and they stay the same. This is like dating some girl you met at a dive bar in Vegas, having it end badly, then going back to the same bar in hopes of meeting someone different. Meanwhile, the rest of the league is picking up hot chicks over at the pool.
4) Sloan needs to retire. I love Jerry. But there comes a time in life when a change is needed, just for the sake of change. These players have seemingly quit on him. Or maybe it’s the other way around. I don’t know. It’s probably a bit of both. I have t-shirts that I’ve worn since High School. I’m 32. They still fit and I love them, but styles have changed around me, and I need to move on. So do the Jazz and Sloan. I’ll give up my Lucky Dice t-shirt if Sloan retires after this season.
5) Less is more. On paper, this team is very deep. Depth is good to have, but come playoff time you really only need a solid core of 8 players, not 12. If I were Kevin O’ Connor, I would start moving this team in that direction. It’s better to sign one player worth $12M a season that two players worth $6M. This seems so obvious, it’s frustrating just to type it. Yet, the Jazz will fall into this trap next year when they will like have both CJ Miles and Ronnie Brewer sharing time at shooting guard and each making roughly $12M combined. Could they have traded New Jersey for Vince Carter this past summer? Maybe Harpring and Korver for VC? Uggggghhhh. Too late.
So I realize after writing all this stuff down, that I’m not saying anything that hasn’t already been mentioned elsewhere. Maybe that’s what I’m frustrated about above all else – this team is running in place and everyone seems to know it, yet nothing changes. I left the game early in disgust Monday for the first time in my life and it probably won’t be the last unless I have a reason to stick around.
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Woody on November 04, 2009 said:
Keith, what bar in vegas did you find your ex girlfriend? I enjoyed your thoughts. See ya outside the ESA 5 minutes before the San Antonio game ends Thurs because Im sure we will still be disgusted.