Can the Bigs Keep Rolling?

  Tonight the Utah Jazz taking on the Ailing Sacramento Kings.  The Jazz are coming off a big win against The Washington Wizards Saturday Night.  The Jazz played with a lot of energy and closed out the game with the young core of Burke, Burks, Hayward, Favors and Kanter.  Enes Kanter and Alec Burks had big games for the Jazz. Kanter finished with 24 pts, 5 rebs, 2 asts and only 1 turnover.  Alec Finished with 15 pts, 3 rebs, 2 asts and no turnovers.  These are the kind of games that the Jazz need from these two players.  While Alec has been consistant for the last 2 months this was another bounce back game for Kanter. 

  The best part of this game was the fact that Kanter and Favors got some extended run together.  This is exactly what the Front office is needing to see from these to young players.  While it is a small sample size, the two seemed to work well together.  This morning on David Locke's Tip off podcast, there was the discussion of playing the 2 bigs together.  David brought up the point (which I have mentioned in the past as well) that if you are going to play 2 bigs together that one of them needs to be a good passer.  Exapmles of which could be, the Spurs, the Griz, the Pacers, the Blazers, all have very good passing bigs.  While this is something that still needs to be developed by Kanter and Favors I believe it is possible.

  Tonight will be interesting to see if the Jazz attempt to play the two of them together again.  The Kings may run two bigs with the likes of Aaron Gray, Jason Thompson, Quincy Acy and Carl Landry.  If the Kings deploy one of these front lines, look for the Jazz to give it a shot.  This is what we need to find out, for the future, if Kanter and Favors can play together.  Looks like the Jazz are on the way to finding out if that is possible.  GO JAZZ! 

MOTIVATION!....Derrick Favors snubbed by USA basketball

  Yesterday USA basketball announced their pool of players for this summers World Cup of Basketball and 2016 Summer Games.  The list has the usual suspects, but there was one name that was left off that I found very interesting, Derrick Favors.  The list looks like this...

Carmelo Anthony
Tyson Chandler
Stephen Curry
Anthony Davis
Kevin Durrant
James Harden
Dwight Howard
Andre Iguodala
Lebron James
Kevin Love
Chris Paul
Derrick Rose
Russel Westbrook
Deron Williams
LaMarcus Aldridge
Bradley Beal
DeMarcus Cousins
Andre Drummond
Kenneth Faried
Paul George
Blake Griffin
Gordon Hayward
Kyrie Irving
Kyle Korver
David Lee
Kawhi Leonard
Damian Lillard
Klay Thompson

  Taking a look at this list of players leaves me scratching my head a bit.  I know certain players like Kyle Korver are chosen for a specific purpose or skill they bring to the table.  But I think I have more questions than answers when it comes to the Favors snub.  Just looking at it, I would be happy to replace Cousins, Drummond, Faried with Favors.  Comparing Favors and Faried, Favs is shooting 52% to Faried 54%.  Favs is almost 2 rebounds more a game and a full block more.  Bur Faried got the nod.  DeMarcus Cousin, simply put is a bad teammate is put on this team.  I think if you look at the stats, Cousin are inflated due to the number of possessions the guy uses.  Drummond has had a great season, but he sure laid an egg going up against Favs last week.  Not sure if playing against a terrible eastern conference is helping his stats as well.

  I could sit here and pick a part this list and the player that I think Mr. Favors could and should easily replace, but I would be wasting my time.  So I am going to look at this from a glass half full perspective.  If the Derrick Favors that we have seen this season, is the guy who we think he is, this will motivate him.  He will feel that he has something to prove every time he goes up against another player on this list.  I believe it will fuel him to work on his craft and to become a better player.  I believe that he will be out to prove to himself and USA Basketball that they made MISTAKE!

Some things learned....

  The Utah Jazz fell hard again last night, losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-97.  This one was hard to watch.  I fully expected the Jazz to come out with more intensity.  This was not the case.  The Jazz started the usual starters minus Derrick Favors who was out with a strained abductor. Enes Kanter was plugged in and was ineffective.

  Last nights game showed a couple of things.  First the value of Derrick Favors.  I think the Jazz should be extremely happy with the contract extension and the development of the young Mr. Favors.  He is a game changer in so many ways.  On defense, the other team is always conscious of where he is.  He may not block every shot in the paint but I guarantee you he effects every shot in the paint.  Offensively he demands a double team simply because of his size.  If he catches the ball deep in the post there are very few people in the league who are going to deter Favors.  Last night really shows how important Derrick is for the future of the Jazz.

  To go along with the Derrick Favors and his value to the Jazz, we need to take a close look at the value of a rim protector.  Rudy Gobert played 27 mins, went 4-5 from the field scoring 8 points, had 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.  The stats may look a little pedestrian but Rudy's effect on the game was not.  The Timberwolves were very conscious of where Rudy was at all times on the floor. At one point he made JJ Barea shot a runner earlier than he would like.  You could see that it was totally out of rhythm and was a floater a long way from the hoop (unfortunately some how it went in).  It was great to see Rudy get some extended run.

  Gordon Hayward did return to the lineup and played well.  No rust for Gordon.  He and Alec were really the only offensive bright spots for the team.  Hayward finished 10-17 from the field, 2-5 from 3pt for 27 pts.  Alec finished 6-14 from the field, 1-1 from 3pt for 18 pts.  The Jazz just did not get much else from anyone else offensively.

  One of the most frustrating parts of the game was the inconsistency in the calls by the officials.  I try not to bring the officials in to the game or anything that I write, but last night it could not be ignored.  So much so that even Coach Corbin made a comment or two about the way the game was officiated.  Looking at it, the Timberwolves shot 24 free-throws to the Jazz 12.  Its not very often that the home team is doubled up on the free-throw attempts.  Ty did mention early on that Minnesota was the aggressor, but I did not feel that it was that big of a discrepancy.  The Jazz also lost the rebound battle 42-41 and the turnover battle 9-14.  As far as the boards go, the Jazz did a much better job as a team in comparison to the previous game.  That was good to see.

  With the way this season has developed we can safely say that Trey Burke and Derrick Favors are the Jazz most important/valuable players.  This team flounders when missing one of these two players.  While I love Gordon and what he brings to the team, those things were filled by the other players on the team for the 2 weeks that Gordon was out.  If anything this may help the Jazz with their negotiations with Gordon this summer and will also help the front office decide how important he is to this team.

"A finesse game"

  So just came across a great piece on ESPN aka The Mothership, that I thought was so good that everyone should check it out.  Its an interview done with Kobe Bryant, and while I don't personally like him, I have to give credit to what he does on the court and the type of basketball player he is.  Check out the article here....

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/10325177/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-calls-nba-finesse

  He makes some great points about the direction of the league, the players today and defense!

Jazz looking for revenge tonight!

  The Utah Jazz are coming off a 3 game road trip, having gone 1-2 with a win in Detroit.  The first game of the trip, the Jazz took the Spurs to the wire, but ultimately came up short.  Game 2 of the trip, they dominated the Detroit Pistons.  This wasn't even a game.  Game 3 the roles were reversed.  As the Minnesota Timber Wolves had their way with the Jazz.  The Wolves front court of Pekovic and Love combined for 45 points and 27 rebounds.  The Jazz had no answer.  This was the second game of a back to back and I would have guessed the Jazz would have had more energy than they did, considering the outcome in Detroit.

  Tonight the Jazz are back in the comforts of the ESA and look to return the favor.  It will be interesting to see how the Jazz come out tonight.  Gordon Hayward did practice with the team yesterday but is a game time decision for tonight's game.

  Versus the Wolves, the Jazz lost the 3 key statistical categories.  They were out rebounded 60-42, free-throws 34 attempts to the Jazz 29 and turnovers 15-16.  You can't win games if you lose all 3 of these categories.

  The Wolves were the aggressor from the tip.  They got both Trey and Alec in early foul trouble and it was all down hill from there.  The level of play dips drastically when Trey is off the court.  When Alec has to go to the bench, the Jazz lose their best penetrator and creator.  Alec's December and January have been the best 2 months of his career.  He seems to be in a great rhythm and understands his role with the team.  The best part about Alec's play has been the consistency.  He has been able to string together good games and has been effective in other facets of the game beside scoring.  Alec was the only Jazz player in double figures versus the Wolves and that was after the foul trouble.  The Jazz will need that kind of effort again tonight especially if Hayward is a no-go.

  Look for the Jazz front court to take this game personally.  Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter and Marvin Williams overwhelmed by Love and Pekovic.  Prior to the game at Minnesota, both Favors and Kanter had been using a quick offensive move that was very effective for both players.  Kanter spoke of this change in the post game at San Antonio.  He mentioned that Andres Biedrins and mentioned to him that the Spurs were loading up on him when he caught the ball in the post and advised Kanter to go early.  Make a move on the catch.  I have noticed this being used by both young bigs since the Spurs game.  Look for both Kanter and Favors to make quick moves in the post, trying to catch Pek and Love off guard.

  Lastly,  I have to give credit to Ty Corbin and the staff.  Since Trey's return to the line up the Jazz, as a collective, have really developed.  Favors offense, Alec Burks progression, Kanter coming out of his slump all this plus the kind of effort the staff has been able to get from this team every night has been remarkable.  I can't remember the last time I watched a Jazz team compete and compete for a full 48 minutes regardless of score.  This young team is headed in the right direction.  I really feel, baring a major injury or trades, the Jazz will play .500 basketball from here on out.  With that being said, the piece the Jazz get in this summers draft, regardless of position may just be the piece to get this team back to the playoffs.  Its good to be a Jazz fan!

GO JAZZ

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