The votes are in, and Toronto’s Sam Mitchell has walked away with the 2006-2007 Coach of the Yeah Award. Jerry Sloan finished second in the voting, a good 90 points behind Mitchell. I suppose Mitchell deserves it for his team’s worst-to-first turnaround (though I think he owes a lot more to Chris Bosh, T.J. Ford and the Leastern Conference), but it’s unfortunate that after a 50-win season when most national media-types thought the Jazz wouldn’t even make the playoffs, Sloan STILL can’t get the award he deserves. Although, considering the recent play of the Jazz, and Sloan’s reluctance to make certain personnel changes, like playing Ronnie Brewer more and not playing Derek Fisher quite so much (see also: IJSPD), maybe there’s a reason he ended up second again.
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Layton Shumway is the copy chief for Brigham Young University’s Daily Universe. You can reach him at lss83@byu.net.

I was hoping my maiden post would be on a happier note. It isn’t.

I was hoping that Carlos Boozer’s herculean effort in Game 2, combined with Matt Harpring’s continued gritty play, would be enough to overcome the implosion of Andrei Kirilenko and the disappearance of Mehmet Okur. It wasn’t.

I was hoping that the Jazz would be coming home to Salt Lake City with the series tied, after shooting ten percentage points better than Houston in Game 2. They aren’t.

I guess that’s what I get for hoping.

Here are a few things the Jazz need to fix for Thursday’s game:

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The Jazz’s trouble started by not gaining home court advantage with this young team. How much better off would the Jazz be if they could have started at home with the best fans in the NBA? Instead they find themselves on the road trying to figure out how to win a playoff game.

If you can’t win a game after shooting 45% and holding your opponents to under 40%, while your star players scores 41, you are in trouble. If your max money guy thinks now is a good time to start crying about playing time, you are in trouble. If your head coach plays to defend the other teams mismatches instead of creating his own, you are in trouble. If you can get better production from the two guard spot, you are in trouble. If you think that a 6 foot guy is going to stop a 6 foot 8 superstar, you are in trouble. If Memo can’t figure out how to do something besides hit a set jump shot, you are in trouble. If you can’t get to the free throw line because you settle for jump shots, you are in trouble.

I don’t doubt the Jazz might make the series interesting but Sloan HAS to try something different. How about starting Harpring at the 2 and play big. How about trying to post up Memo, who is being covered by a guy 3 inches shorter than him. How about running a couple plays for Gira. You have to mix it up and create some mismatches Sloan. The system is a great one, unless the other coach is stopping it.

I hate to say it but the Jazz are out in 6 this year.