Season Preview: Utah Jazz

A continuation of this madness or genius or spare time, however you want to look at it.

Utah Jazz

Starting 5:
PG- Deron Williams
SG- Ronnie Brewer
SF- Andrei Kirilenko
PF - Carlos Boozer
C- Mehmet Okur

Off the Bench
Guards: Brevin Knight, Matt Harpring, Morris Almond, CJ Miles, Ronnie Price
Forwards: Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver
Centers: Kosta Koufos, Jarron Collins

I'm a big fan of Jerry Sloan and how he's run his offense, ever since the Stockton and Malone era. Time and time again though, he's always been thwarted by Phil Jackson. I think this lineup looks solid, it's a physical, athletic team that has size and the ability to keep up with the smaller teams. Hence, these guys kill the Warriors every time. Boozer and Kirilenko are both fast enough to keep up with the smaller guys, and there's nothing a smaller lineup can do to stop them in the paint. Okur is one of those bigs who shoots threes but also has a somewhat underappreciated inside game due to the presence of Carlos Boozer. Easily get you 20-10 on any given night. Deron is a big point guard with great ball handling abilities, the first I think to be compared to "Jason Kidd with a jump shot". No one is really sure how they are going to solve the SG platoon, but I like their options. Brewer is an athletic, high energy guard that has a penchant for coming up with steals. Korver is a solid 3 pt threat. I actually would like to see Morris Almond get a little more love. I mean, granted he played in the D-League, but we're talking about a guy whose best lines include a 51 pt, 3 rbd, 3 asst, 3 stl outing on 51% shooting, a 53 pt, 6 rbd, 2 asst, 2 stl outing on 55% shooting, and a 43 pt, 4 rbd, 1 asst, 1 stl game on 60% shooting. Did I mention that he shot 42%, 42%, and 50% for each of those games from beyond the arc as well? His averages were 25.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.6 apg on 44.6% FG and 35.4% from beyond the arc, not stellar, but hey, they're not bad. Granted he had a lot of turnovers (4, 5, and 4 respectively) this guy can score, and to be honest, the ball won't be in his hands that often, so I like him both as a starter or a spark plug off the bench.

The bench is pretty deep, Millsap is a solid hustle guy, and Korver off the bench as some instant 3 pt offense looks pretty solid too. Rookie Kosta Koufos is supposed to actually be something of a Mehmet Okur 2.0, a big man with range and some nice moves in the low-post. I see him getting better as he eases his way into the league. A lot of their problems has been being able to achieve on the road, furthermore being a very physical team, they get called on a lot of fouls, which ends up being very easy points for the other team. Hopefully they can clean that up a little. Finally, one point is always how happy Kirilenko really is being the 4th option behind Williams, Boozer, and Okur in terms of an offensive threat. If he can live with that, and bring everything into his defensive game, pulling 5 asst, 5 stl, 5 blck lines regularly then the Jazz are in good shape. They're a young team that is already elite.

I can see them easily going to the Finals. A good 56-58 win season. Depending on how the matchups fall, Jerry Sloan could finally get his ring.