NBA Playoff's have been great. Except....

  The first round of the 2014 NBA playoffs have been absolutely fantastic!  The games have been what every NBA fan could hope for.  And to be completely honest the games should be the story, but unfortunately they are not.  The league is mired in controversy thanks to the ignorance of one "entitled billionaire"  While I have my opinion and share the opinion as many others, I am not going to let this buffoon ruin my love for the NBA or the Playoffs.  Adam Silver will handle his business and I will wait for his decision.

  So lets move on.....

  Lets talk about how great the Playoffs have been thus far.  There have been 7 overtime games already!  There have only been a couple of blowouts and only one series that has been dominated by one team.  There has been drama and excitement in every series.  This is why I watch playoff basketball.  Lets run down the series.

Dallas Maverick vs. San Antonio Spurs-

  This is the best series no one is watching.  For the basketball purist, this series has been a lot of fun.  These two team are the two "old men" teams at the Y or the Rec center that have played together since the dinosaurs walked the earth!  The execute you to death, play good defense and can flat out shoot.  At one point in game two, I watch Jose Calederon hit 4 straight jumpers from the left elbow, all pure.  But that was to be overshadowed by Vince Carter turning back the clock and hitting an unbelievable 3 in the corner for the win.  Right after Manu Ginobli had given the Spurs the lead on a great drive to the basket.  Fantastic series!

Atlanta Hawks vs. Indiana Pacers-

  This is a bad match-up for the Pacers.  The Hawks penetration and kick game has been unstoppable.  Jeff Teague has shown his superior speed and quickness and has given Indiana fits.  The Pacers Roy Hibbert is having a complete melt down and Lance Stephenson just wants to dribble the ball for the entire 24 seconds on the shot clock.  To be honest the Pacers are such a mess I find myself pulling for the Hawks and the upset to see how "Larrry Legend" handles things and if he blows up that team.

Brooklyn Nets vs Toronto Raptors-

  This one is going to come down to will....period!  The series is tied 2-2 with both teams having one a road game.  These teams don't like each other and it has been chippy at times.  Paul Pierce did what Paul Pierce does in the playoffs, he closed out game one for the Nets in Toronto.  This series has a bit of a "David vs Goliath" feel to it and Toronto is giving Brooklyn everything they can handle.  Deron Williams really has been a non-factor in the series thus far.  Game four he was held to 10 pts.  If the Nets want to move on Williams will have to be much better and play up to the contract that he received.

Memphis Grizzlies vs. Oklahoma City Thunder-

  This series has been interesting.  The series is ties 2-2 but could very well be 3-1 for either team.  There have been a number of 4 point plays in this series and some really boneheaded plays to close out games by Tony Allen.  Luckily for him, the Grizz have been able to hold on.  3 of the 4 games in this series alone have gone to overtime!  Gotta love bonus basketball!  Now we have a 3 game series and if it is anything like the first 4, you would be wise to tune in.

Los Angles Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors-

  This series is tied at two games a piece but would likely be 3-1 for the Clips had Sterling joined the 21st century.  I can't even call him an owner or Mr. he does not deserve even that consideration.  No one can tell me that this won't be a major distraction for the Clippers the remainder of the playoffs, regardless of Adam Silver's investigation.  Here is a team that had a legitimate chance of making the finals and now who knows where their heads will be.  This will be the ultimate test for Doc Rivers and his staff to get these kids refocused on the task at hand.  Best of luck to the Clips.

Charlotte Bobcats vs. Miami Heat-

  Gotta be honest here, I had hoped that the Cats could give Miami a little better series.  But with Big Al's injury that just wasn't going to happen.  Give it to the big fella, he is out there battling, but he is not 100% and that is what it was going to take to give Miami a series.  Lebron is doing what Lebron does, leading his team.  Dwayne Wade looks relatively healthy but time will tell.  This was the best first round match-up for the Heat as they won't have to overextend anyone and can continue to nurse their bumps and bruises.

Portland Trailblazers vs. Houston Rockets-

  In my opinion, this has been the most entertaining series thus far.  LaMarcus Aldrige has been amazing scoring 46,43,23 and 29 respectively!  The Rockets have had no answer for him.  James Harden has been ineffective and inefficient in the series.  Game 3 had a game winner by a rookie Troy Daniels playing in his first playoff game! Game 4 was all about grit and toughness.  It went to overtime where the Blazers pulled out a win 123-120.  The series is 3-1 Portland with the Blazers looking to close it out in Houston on Wednesday.

Washington Wizards vs. Chicago Bulls-

  Can't say I saw this one coming!  This series has been all Wiz and their team balance.  The Bulls are known as a defensive juggernaut but they simply can not score.  Mike Dunleavy had an outburst in game 3 scoring 35 pts hitting eight 3 pointers and giving the Bulls their only win of the series.  The Wiz will look to close it out on Tuesday in Chicago.

  This is why we watch.  To watch these incredible athletes compete and give it everything physically possible to give their team a chance.  I love this time of year and am not going to let one moron be the focus of this great game and these great series.

The Blueprints: What the Utah Jazz are trying to build

  So far we have taken a look at the foundation of the Utah Jazz and also some of the "Raw Materials" that they have to work with.  As stated previously, I feel optimistic with the pieces the Jazz have and what they feel should be the foundation for the organization going forward.

  Now lets take a look at the "blueprints" for the Utah Jazz.  First off, we should define "blueprints"  I would consider the blueprints to be the design or concepts to building this franchise.  The blueprints could include certain "materials" and dimensions of "materials" needed to build the structure the Jazz are looking for.  It could also provide some instruction and definition as to how those materials and concepts are to be used.

  Now that we have an understanding as to what the "blueprints" could or should contain, lets begin to draw the "blueprints" for the Utah Jazz franchise.

  To begin, there must be a concept.  Everything that this franchise does or will do will be predicated off of a concept.  So there are a handful of different concepts out there that the Utah Jazz can look at or adopt.  The Jazz can look to be a defensive elite team, a balanced team, an offensive juggernaut and I would say one wild card, that being the superstar conglomerate.  There are also subsets to each of these concepts that can give the franchise a more detailed picture or "blueprint"  We can classify teams right now that are running each of these concepts.  Defensive elites consist of the Chicago Bulls, Indian Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies.  The well balanced teams look to be the Golden State Warriors, Portland Trailblazers, Toronto Raptors and everyone's favorite the San Antonio Spurs.  Offensive juggernauts look like the Houston Rockets, Los Angles Clippers and believe it or not the Washington Wizards .  Then we have our superstar conglomerates consisting of the Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets and the Knicks tried but failed miserably.

  So what concept is the best for the Utah Jazz?  While we would all love to be a superstar conglomerate, we know that the market of Utah and the stigma attached will likely never allow for that.  So lets just toss that one out now.  That leaves us with our 3 main categories.  Dennis Lindsey wants defense.  Hardcore Jazz fans and those with a knowledge of the game also want defense.  The casual fan needs to be entertained so the likely lean towards the offensive side of things.  Granted you are never going to make everyone happy but what if you go with a well balanced team?  For the Jazz, you end up as the San Antonio Spurs and no one wants to watch you because your boring, slow and do the same thing over and over.  The Spurs have been in the playoffs for the the last 17 years!  They have competed for championships in better than half of those 17 years.  Is that such a bad thing?

  Also, look at what is taking place in the playoffs as we speak, the #1 seed Indiana Pacers are down 2-1 to the #8 seed Atlanta Hawks.  Indiana is an defensive elite team that can not score the ball!  The Houston Rockets, an offensive juggernaut the #4 seed are down 2-0 to the well balanced #5 seed Portland Trailblazers.  Teams that are one extreme or the other perform well during the regular season and can stack up wins.  When it comes to the playoffs teams have more time to game plan.  A balanced team can adjust and change some of their subsets to the concepts that they run and exploit their opponents weaknesses.  It is much harder for a team that is offensive or defensive heavy to make those adjustment late in the season or on the fly in a series.

  Now where would this concept and the subsets come from?  I am going to say two places, the "Engineer and the Foreman"  The "Engineer" I would tab as Dennis Lindsey.  The "Foreman" would be the coach and staff that are brought in to develop these concepts.  What type of foremen is Lindsey looking for?  There have been a number of names and possible candidates out there but the hiring process has yet to begin.  Also President Randy Rigby mentioned that this will not simply be a Dennis Lindsey hire.  He stated that Dennis is looking for input from all parts of the organization.  I believe that will be to the benefit of the entire franchise as they narrow down the search.  Once the decision is made on who that "foreman" is going to be, will we have a better idea of what direction and what concepts the Utah Jazz are looking to use.

  With that said that and the "raw materials" the Utah Jazz have it makes complete sense to choose the concept of a balanced team.  The Jazz have defenders in Favors and Gobert.  They have offensive spark plugs like Alec Burks Enes Kanter.  The also have well balanced players like Gordon Hayward and Trey Burke.  I believe if you add that one "superstar" and the correct  "foreman" you have the design for a structure that can be extremely successful.