What a run the Jazz had. I could not be more excited to be a Jazz fan. Michael Wilbon made an incredible point last night during the broadcast. He pointed to the fact that with Stockton and Malone, everyone was wondering when the window of opportunity was going to close. With this team, the window is wide, wide open.
I just can’t believe what a difference 17 games makes. Before the playoffs started, the Jazz were on a slide and nobody, with the exception the few truly optimistic fans, expected them to make noise in this years playoffs. The thinking was that they were young, inexperienced, and in the middle of a funk.
Now, the Jazz are viewed as a true title contender. And not just for next season, or the season after, but for the foreseeable future. Not only that, but the Jazz play an exciting brand of basketball, much more fast-paced than the Stockton-to-Malone era teams.
What this means is that the Jazz are in the perfect position to really get over the hump. In other words, they are now in a position to get the “Karl Malones†of the world (star players past their prime seeking a role on championship team). Utah may have a bad connotation with many of the athletes in the league, but I am sure they would gladly spend seven months here for the opportunity to win a championship. This is especially true in the luxury tax era, where few teams are willing to throw down loads of cash for a marginal improvement.
I am very optimistic about next year and beyond; as is everyone in the national media. What a difference 17 games makes.
May 31st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
After watching this amazing playoff run, it is clear to see that this is Boozer and Williams’ team. They are the ones who stepped up time and time again when others seemed to be silently hoping that the amazing playoff run wouldn’t ruin there precious “VACATION” plans. The Jazz front office must keep those two happy and build around them. They are the best young tandem in the league and given time it will not be their last appearance that deep in the playoffs. The worst thing the Jazz can do this off season is nothing. There are still some pieces missing for this team. They must get better now because next year they may not get another lucky break (GS taking down Dallas for us). Great Season Jazz!
June 2nd, 2007 at 8:45 am
There is no doubt about the fact that the Jazz are going to be great for a long time to come, there is no better young team then the Jazz. They are exciting and very talented. Moving on to the off-season. I propose that the Jazz trade Giri and possibly Memo. THey are great shooters, and Memo is an offensive threat, (except during the playoffs apparently) and a pretty dang good defender when he really wants to be, however it seems to me that neither him nor Giri have a desire to win. They are here for paychecks. As long as they get paid it doesn’t matter if the team wins or loses. I’m not entirely sure i totally like the idea of trading Memo, but his stock couldn’t get higher. If we have any desire at all to trade him, this summer is the time. Buy low Sale High. I agree that there are going to be some free agents looking for a championship that will consider coming to Utah, as long as we show that we have a desire to win. Williams, Boozer, Fisher, Sloan, Harpring, and Kirilenko, clearly are in it to win a ring. Millsap has not only the desire to win, but to put every team that passed on him in their place. Dee Brown, Can’t really say enough about this kid, he is a winner, and it shows. Ronnie Brewer needs gametime minutes to get his confidence up, but look out if he can find himself.
There is quite a list of possible free agents, you know Kevin O’Conner is going to do everything he can to land a big name. Personally i feel we need a legitimate shot blocking Center. Boozer to do the scoring, the center to do the defending. Its got to be a long shot, but maybe somehow the Jazz can entice the most deserving of a ring NBA player (currently active) KG. If there was some way we got our hands on Kevin Garnett, can you even imagine the possabilities!!!
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:26 am
I have to politely disagree with your take that Memo is only in it for money (unless you are talking about his 3-pt shooting). The guy played tough defense all playoffs long and scored a lot of points in the Golden State series.
National commentators time and again made the point that they had never seen anyone, anyone!, play better defense one on one against Tim Duncan. And the work he did on Yao in the first round was legendary. It can be argued that he is the only reason that the Jazz got out of the first round, and the only reason that they even won one game against the Spurs.
Memo is all about winning. Scorers, like him, don’t just give up their offense just to win.
Memo Forever.
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
No matter what his motivation for playing for the Jazz is, Giricek has been the player most likely to be traded all year. The biggest gap in the entire Jazz team is at shooting guard, and when given the opportunities to step up, he hasn’t proved that he is able to.
The problem with a trade is that there is no guarantees that we will get a player who can step up and fill that position. I find it hard to believe that the Jazz weren’t looking for a better shooting guard before the trade deadline last year, and Giricek would have been the first player they wanted to move, yet nothing happened.
Ronnie Brewer will need to get more minutes next season if the Jazz are going to hold onto him past that, so maybe we will see a bit less of Giricek even if he stays around.
For the most part the rest of the team looks promising, most of the bench looks strong, especially Harpring and Millsap. Dee Brown will develop into a good backup point guard and can hopefuly step into Fisher’s shoes once he retires. Hoffa has done a good job when given the chance, and I personally would prefer to see him playing most of Jarron Collin’s minutes over the next couple of seasons. tough decision to be made with CJ Miles as to whether they believe he can step up and make it as an NBA player, for me he is probably the player most likely not to be with the Jazz next season, but it would be a pity to see him go, as he is still very young and has a lot of potential.
It would take something pretty special to improve the team by trading Memo, I can’t imagine how the team could package something that would get a superstar to play for Utah. I remember last year reading an article in the Tribune about the possibility of trading for Gasol, but that was at a time when Memo’s stocks had never been higher, I would say they have dropped significantly since then.
It is also going to be a big year for Kirilenko. He definitely seems to play better on teams where he is the main focus full stop. It is unfair to expect him to be putting up 20 points a night now that he has Boozer, Williams and Okur playing on the same team as him, but the real concern has been the lack of numbers from a defensive point of view. He has quite literally been outplayed by Matt Harpring many times during the season, and that is not good enough for your most highly paid player.
Hopefully the new year will bring some improvement for him. I’m certain that if he were playing for a team like Memphis he would be putting in 20 points a night and playing like a star, but that opportunity is not going to come at Utah. lets hope we get a bit more of the real AK47 come November.
It was a great season for sure, but a disappointing way to end it. The really disappointing thing is that if the league hadn’t handed San Antonio the series against Phoenix, we could really have made some noise against them in the Conference Finals. Next year we may not get so lucky with the draw, so if we are going to get back there, we are going to need to finish in the top 3.
This is going to be an interesting off season! I am really excited about 07/08!!!