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.

 

The Y's Senior Squad closes out the youth Jazz in the 4th.

  "Old Men" Duncan and Ginobili were carried tonight by there younger counter part Tony Parker, as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz 91-82.  The final score is not indicative of how the game really went.  The Jazz led this game and were the aggressor through 3 quarters.  Tony Parker took over in the fourth, and the Spurs benefited from a few "vet calls" tonight.  Lets take a look...

• Alec Burks did a good job starting as a point guard.
• The hardest thing for Alec is trying to switch from PG to SG.  Getting Trey back and the addition of Garrett will really help Alec play his natural position.
• The first quarter as a whole was fantastic.  Great offense and defense.  Jazz scored 29 to Spurs 16.
• End of the first brought some questionable substitutions.  JL3, Garrett, Harris all on the court at the same time?
• Early in the 2nd that Jazz shooting to many jumpers.  They were great in the post, not sure why they went away from it.
• Effort on the boards was good.  Specifically from Favors and Kanter
• Jazz had very active hands on defense.  A number of deflections, finished with 9 steals as a team.
• Foul trouble hurt the bigs and Alec down the stretch.
• Jazz played 3 quarters....
• Hayward finished with 9 rebs but missed a few of assignments on the defensive glass.  His man secured a handful of offensive rebounds.
• Gordon shoots 5-23 from the field, 1-7 from 3.  Missed a lot of wide open shots.
• Late 3rd Kanter drove hard twice, got shot blocked that appeared to be fouled, no calls.
• Jazz gave this one away, shot 38.2% from the field.
• Favors was a MONSTER 20 pts 18 rebs 3 blocks 3 steals 2 assists.
• 18 turnovers again.....
• VET CALLS Spurs shoot 22 free-throws to the Jazz 11.  Jazz appeared to be the aggressor the entire night, so not sure about the discrepancy.
• Tony Parker NEVER tries to land on his feet.  He hits the ground on almost every drive to tries to get the foul calls.  This was the case tonight.
• Kanter was solid again on the defensive glass.
• Richard Jefferson play 43+ minutes....this is not good, as it will take a toll on RJ as the season goes on.
• Gobert in just of 3 minutes had 5 boards!

  The Jazz just gave this one away with the lack of shooting.  I thought Alec was solid at the PG as a starter.  To be honest he has been the best PG we have had all season.  That being said, its hard for him to transition when substitutions are made and Ty moves him to the 2.  His mindset has to change completely.  Hayward clearly frustrated tonight knowing that he missed way too many shots he normally makes.  The Kanter Favors duo continues to improve and seem to be gelling..  Disappointing to lose but can't say that we expected the Jazz to win this one.  This was definitely a glass half full game tonight even with the loss.

2 in a row...maybe...please. Jazz take on Spurs

  Just a quick analogy to start, if you have ever played and league basketball or even pick up games at the Y or Rec centers, everyone knows about "Old Man Game"  No matter how much younger, or how much better you think or know you are than the "Old Man" on the court, there is nothing you can do to stop him.  He makes all his jumpers, even if you only give him an inch of airspace!  He is the guy you like to have on your team for a sub, but hate to play an entire game against.  Well the San Antonio Spurs have plenty of old man game and are still extremely difficult match-up.  Lets take a look at tonight's game....

Defensively-The Spurs are the epitome of execution.  They do not break plays or offense.  They will run their sets all the way through and if nothing there its possible the may run it again.  If the do not run the set again, it will surely be a high pick and roll with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, with a player in each corner.  Setting up the drive and kick, pick and pop or Parker all the way to the basket.  The Jazz defense will need to be active in the passing lanes when Parker looks to kick it out for the corner 3's.  Also the bigs are going to need to cover the paint on the pick and roll, stick with the ball handler Parker.  I think we would rather have Duncan shooting 17-20 ft jumpers all night, than let Parker have a straight run down the lane.  The Jazz will need another TEAM EFFORT on the defensive glass.  The Spurs do like to push the ball in transition as well, but their transition attack is more of a one man fast break with Parker, the rest of the team acts as trailers and runs to the 3 pt line.

Offensively-ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK!  The Jazz must take advantage of their youth and run at every opportunity.  Spurs have Duncan and Splitter in the middle but I feel that the Jazz can attack both of these players in either the pick and roll or in the post.  Neither player is quick laterally and the Jazz will need to attack that.  Tonight the Jazz need the same kind of effort from the bench and the vets.  Marvin Williams and Richard Jefferson were key in the Jazz victory over the Pelicans.  Jefferson was and will need to continue to be aggressive attacking that basket.  I think Jefferson may feel he has something to prove, as the Spurs kind of dumped him as dead weight to the Warriors.  Marvin was fantastic at spreading the floor and opening space for the pick and roll to work late.  Hopefully he can continue his hot shooting.  It will also be very interesting to see how Diante Garrett handles his second game with the Jazz.  I don't think he had the chance to get or have nerves.  Tonight may be a different story.  I really like the way Garrett played.  He was good in the pick and roll (which the Jazz have run primarily the last 2 games) he did not force plays or passes and he made the right pass.

  I have to say that the game against the Pelicans was great!  Fun to watch and the guys played with heart.  As I have been critical of coach Corbin, feel the need to credit him for some changes I did notice against the Pels.  He was not stomping up and down the sidelines chewing out the players as they came back to the bench.  I even saw him discussing and developing young players, specifically Garrett.  He also handled the flow of the game very well.  Made appropriate timeout calls when it appeared the game may get out of hand or that momentum was shifting.  This is what I want to see from Ty.  He may do this a lot more than we are aware of, in practice and what not.  But we only see the negative at the games and broadcasts, so it was nice to see some development from Ty.  Tonight's game won't be an easy one but we are on a winning streak right?  GO JAZZ!

http://www.nba.com/gamenotes/spurs.pdf
http://www.nba.com/gamenotes/jazz.pdf