The NBA's Most Valuable Position....The Swing-Man

  For NBA fans this is time of year is the culmination of a great season.  Conference Finals have just kicked off.  In the Western Conference You have the #2 seed the Houston Rockets Versus the #1 seed Golden State Warriors.  The Eastern Conference consists of the #1 seed Atlanta Hawks versus the #2 seed Cleveland Cavaliers.  These series will be exciting and a lot of fun to watch, but they play styles of this years conference finals will be different then those in recent history and those of the great 80's and 90's. 

  Back in the 80's and 90's playoffs were dominated by big men and post play.  Names like Mchale, Parish, Jabbar, Olajuwon, Thorpe, Robinson, Malone.  More Recently Garnett, Duncan, O'neal, Gasol, Nowitzki.

  But this year is different.  Of the four teams not one of them has a 2 way dominant big man.  Names like Howard, Bogut, Horford, Mozgof all more known for their defense.  The days of the dominant 2 way big man are history.

This season and this year's playoffs will be dominated by the 6'5" to 6'8" swing-man.  The NBA game has changed.  Speed, spacing and shooting are all a premium in today's NBA.  The days of pounding the ball into the posts are gone.

  In both series, all of these teams have a plethora of 6'5" to 6'8" swing-men.

  The Cleveland Cavaliers have Lebron James, JR Smith and Iman Shumpert. These three will all play major roles and will be vital to the Cavaliers success.  The Cavs also have Shawn Marion, James Jones and Mike Miller that all fit the category but will likely play a minimal role.

  The Atlanta Hawks have Kyle Korver, Demarre Carroll, Paul Millsap, Kent Bazemore.  Mike Scott is also in this class as well as Thabo Sefelosha.  Scott will likely play a lesser role and Sefelosha is injured.

  The Golden State Warriors have Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, Shaun Livingston and Andre Igoudala.  These five will all have major roles in the Warriors success.  The Warriors also have Justin Holiday and Brandon Rush that also fit this category.

  The Houston Rockets have James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer.  The Rockets have the least amount of swing-men of all four teams in the Conference finals.  This may affect the rockets chances with their lack of depth at the swing positions.

  The value of players of this size is that they can both offensively and defensively can play multiple positions.  While the size and versatility of these players is a must, all these players must be very athletic as well.  We have seen Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green defend shooting guards, small forwards, power forwards and centers.  Houston's Trevor Ariza will likely be guarding shooting guards and small forwards. But if Houston goes small will likely play some power forward.  Cleveland's LeBron James will guard all positions on the floor.
 
  Being able to do this allows teams to be very flexible.  Teams are able to play a small and play in transition with pace.  This also allows teams to slow the pace and play in half court set, as players of that size with a post skill-set stay in the game.  Players like Paul Millsap, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green as well as LeBron James all have a very good post skill set.  Being able to play both styles is a must in today's NBA.  The ability to go from transition to a post oriented game as the playoffs tighten up is a must.

  On defense, all of these teams have multiple players of this size and skill-set on the floor at the same time.  It allows them to switch everything whether that is in the pick and roll or chasing players on off-ball screens.  Defense maybe the most valuable part of this type of player.

  The Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks are the cream of the crop of this style of basketball.  It will be interesting to see if the Houston Rockets and the Cleveland Cavaliers have the horses to be able to compete with these two teams.  The lack of depth for both Houston and Cleveland could play a major factor in their series.
 
   So what does this mean for the future of the NBA and specifically for the Utah Jazz?  Currently the Utah Jazz have Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks, Joe Ingles, Dante Exum and Rodney Hood that are all legitimate NBA talents. The Jazz also have Chris Johnson and Elijah Millsap both considered to be fringe NBA talents that fit this category.

  With the NBA Draft just around the corner and the Utah Jazz would be wise to look at players in this size with this type of athleticism.  This year's draft is full of players of this type.  Stanley Johnson, Kelly Oubre, Justin Anderson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Sam Dekker, DeAngelo Russell, Emmanuel Mudiay, Mario Hezonja, Justise Winslow, Devin Booker, RJ Hunter. 

  This class of players ranges from point guards to post talented players as well as knock down shooters. There are elite athletes, great length and talented defenders.

  If you are the Utah Jazz, with the direction of the NBA, this is the type and pool of players you should be picking from for this year's draft.  Now it's time to pick your poison!

Ready for blast off, Jazz take on Rockets Tonight!

 The Utah Jazz tip off tonight at 7:00 pm versus the Houston Rockets.  The Jazz are coming of a second hard fought loss the previous night to the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix.  This is going to be every bit as big a test for the Jazz as was the Oklahoma City Thunder game.  I would have to put Houston in my top three teams in the west with the likes of OKC and the Clippers.  I think people feel that they need to gel first to get that lofty position, but the type of basketball that they play is one that does not take much time for that.  They play a lot of pick and roll, push the tempo and drive and kick basketball.  Not exactly execution heavy basket ball.  Lets take a look at the keys for tonight's game.....

Defensively-The Jazz will see two things in heavy doses, pick and roll with Harden/Lin and Howard and drive and kick.  For the Jazz to be successful against this type of offense, the rotations on the perimeter will need to be spot on.  Look for Kanter, Favors and Gobert to close the lane hard thus creating the need for the "help the helper" situation.  Currently the Rockets lead the league in NETRTG at 13.8 and an EFG% of 53.7%  The Jazz will have to be monsters on the boards again tonight.  As Houston is ranked first in rebounding and the Jazz second.  The Jazz will need Gordon to crash the boards as effectively as he did last night versus the Suns.  This should make for an interesting match-up as Hayward and Jefferson will be matched up with the likes of James Harden and Chandler Parson.  Both good 3pt shooters and Parson is a very good rebounder from the small forward position.  Houston is averaging 27 3 point attempts a game and shooting it at 37%.

Offensively-The Jazz will need to have the same first half performance they got from Gordon for the entire 48.  He can not disappear in the second half like he did in Phoenix.  Look for Gordon to continue to attack the basket and create for teammates.  Tonight is the kind of night that Jazz need the likes of a Richard Jefferson, John Lucas III or Ian Clarke to get hot from the outside.  Houston has the likes of Dwight Howard and Omer Asik down low, that will make it tough for any of the Jazz wing to be effective in the paint.  Look for Burks to take it at Houston's bigs as he seems to be the only player on the roster right now, fearless enough to go strong.  Hopefully it will play in the Jazz favor and get Howard and Asik in some foul trouble.  Favors and Kanter are going to have the toughest test they have had early in this season.  Kanter will need to be very effective with his pump fakes and pick and pop game.  I would like to see Favors go to work early in the post.  Don't wait, when he catches the ball in the post, make a move right away going to the basket.  He has been very effective when doing so and does not give the defense time to set up of double.

Secondary Stats-Really need to be primary stats tonight.  The Jazz can not turn the ball over the way they have in the first 2 games.  Luckily for the Jazz, Houston has been equally terrible in that department with 21 TO a game.  Secondly the Jazz have to be better on the free-throw line.  They are shooting 64.9% from the line.  They need to been in the 75%  range minimum to take advantage of the number of times that they get to the line.  Also the Jazz had just one block shot last night against the Suns and that came from Ian Clarke!  I think they really had 2 but they did not give Gordon the block on the PJ Tucker dunk attempt last night.  Kanter, Favors, Gobert all need to be more active at the rim tonight.  The Jazz will need to be equally effective at moving the ball as a team and pilling up assists.  As a team the Jazz are averaging just under 23 assists.

  Should be a good test for this young Jazz squad that has battled hard the first two games of the season and been right there at the end.  I think that is exactly what the front office and Jazz fans really like to see as this team develops.  GO Jazz!