The Greatest SEason Ever: Post 2

In my opinion, I feel like the Utah Jazz are getting an upgrade in Al Jefferson and if he lives up to his potential (remember, he’s only 25 years old) this Jazz team could potentially be a Western Conference Finals contender. Carlos Boozer was completely at home in the flex offense, and was probably a better rebounder and passer, but Jefferson is bigger. Out west, size matters. Also, Jefferson has averaged over 20 ppg while shooting close to 50 percent with a bevy of third-string point guards and combo guards running the show in Minnesota over the past three seasons. Now, he’s playing with arguably the best point guard in the Association who loves to pass. And let’s not even get into coaches. Jerry Sloan is easily a top-5 coach. He’s a Hall of Famer. No question Jefferson will benefit from Sloan’s greatness. Jefferson is a certified 20 and 11 and will probably shoot in the high 55-58 percentile this year.

Now, if he can use his size on defense, I think the Jazz have the potential to be better this season than last (as long as injuries don’t bite them too hard). Sure, they lost a lot of wing depth when Portland stole away Wes Matthews, and the Bulls (along with Boozer) swooped up Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer.

But the additions of Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward and Jeremy Evans have the potential to offset those losses, if not immediately, then certainly in the future. The hope is also that the maturation process of young guys like CJ Miles and potentially Othyus Jeffers or Ryan Thompson continues.

I get the line of thinking from Utah brass—Hayward is the new Korver, Evans is the new freak athlete, and Bell is the steady, defensive-minded, three-point shooter replacing Matthews. I like the mix. Even if Evans and Hayward are in fact, a year or two away.

Though Bell has only played in 73 games over the past two seasons, he’s maintained his ability to shoot lights out beyond the three-point line (around 43 percent). While he may not be the elite defender he used to be, and he’s certainly not the athletic defender and steals machine that Ronnie Brewer was, Bell is far more of an offensive threat and will hold his own playing scrappy defense sans gambling. With Andrei Kirilenko, Bell and Deron Williams, this Jazz team could be a much improved defensive squad.

Evans has the potential to be something really special, especially in a system that creates easy looks for him. With Bell on the floor, you can play Evans at the three and not worry about a lack of outside shooting. Evans will be free to slash and crash the glass. And he’s an excellent rebounder who is currently tied for the team high with Jefferson thus far in preseason (in 18 less minutes too).

Now, don’t get me wrong, Matthews is a very nice player, but at nearly $7 million per season for the next five, not sure he lives up to that contract. He shot well last year, played solid defense, and learned how to fit in, but is he really $1.2 million better than Trevor Ariza (for that matter, Lamar Odom makes $8 million)? Ariza is at least equal defensively, a far better athlete and pick-pocket, and just as good, if not better, of a spot-up shooter, evidenced by his 41 percent from beyond the arc post all-star break (after Kevin Martin joined the Rockets). And the two are separated in age by a single year, though it should be noted that Ariza has six years in the L to Matthews’ one.

Speaking of Ariza, I think he’s going to have a bounce back season. After the Rockets acquired Martin, Ariza blew up and once again became the ultimate glue guy. Every single statistic except ppg, went up or improved in efficiency. With Chris Paul running the show in New Orleans, David West the clear-cut second banana, and Emeka Okafor providing a relevance in the post, Ariza will have the freedom to roam the range.

He’s going to put up about the same averages, it’s just that everything will be done at a more efficient clip. I think 14 ppg, 7 rpg, 3 assists, 2.2 steals and a block while shooting 47 percent is very realistic.

Lakers Fall, D-Will Rises

Well, I'm pretty sure Kobe Bryant misses Vladimir Radmanovic. Luke Walton can be good. Emphasis on "can." And he certainly understands and executes the triangle more effectively than Vlad Rad. But damn, there's no doubt in my mind that Kobe misses Vladi. Luke can't shoot to save his life. Vlad, as shown by his 8-16 from beyond the arc in two games with the Bobcats, most certainly can.

The Lakeshow shot a stinky 5-19 from three last night (mostly behind Kobe's 1-7) but boy hooie could they have used a streaky 3-point shooter.

Luke Walton is frustrating. In the third quarter, Pau Gasol steals the ball and Luke streaks down the court for an open layup. Mehmut Okur (yeah, the super fast guy on the Jazz) closes in on Luke and tries to swipe at the ball and hits Luke's left arm. Luke misses the gimme and one opportunity. He then steps up to the stripe and bricks both freethrows basically turning a for sure and-one into a turnover. On the defensive end, Lakers get the stop with Paul Milsap airballing straight to Kobe. Kobe brings the ball up and chucks up a semi-contested 20 footer (more on his poor shot selection in a second). Luke hustles down and almost has an offensive rebound that is knocked out of his hands by Ronnie Brewer. Luke takes the ball out, gives it to Gasol, gets it back and curls around and then tries to lob a pass to Pau. The ball is stolen. The Jazz fastbreak. Fisher makes a great play to stop C.J. Miles dribble. Miles passes back to Brewer but Luke makes the hustle play of recovering back on defensive and then knocking the ball out of bounds.

Three consecutive series that end with Luke almost making a 3-point play but coming up with nothing, almost getting an offensive rebound, and then almost making a steal.

As for Kobe, I don't know what happened or what's been said to him since Bynum went down, but he's not looking to pass much at all. He's not moving the ball as much anymore and is instead taking a bunch of contested shots. Little ball movement. A lot of one on one. When he's on, it's brilliant. But when he's taking tough shots and they ain't falling? He needs to start working the ball around.

The Lakers played crap defense last night (the Jazz shot 59 percent from the field and scored 113 points) but it was Kobe's poor shot selection that cost the team the game. He took 33 shots, and add to that 4 other attempts that ended in fouls...that's 37 attempts...three times as many as the next closest Laker (Pau and Odom who shot a combined 15-26).

Mr. Bryant...pass the damn ball. What happened?

Mr. Odom, three straight games and three career rebounding nights. If he can keep this production up, he'll grab 50 boards the next time the Lakers play the Jazz during the last regular season game. Ha.

Speaking of the Jazz, Mr. Deron Williams is blazing hot as stated in the last post. He dropped 31 and 11 on the Lakeshow. Amazing how people still think Chris Paul is so much better.

On Point

If I told you that there was a point guard out there who, when given 40 minutes of starter’s PT, averages 16 points, 9.5 assists (with a 3.1 assist to turnover ratio), 1.7 steals and 4.5 rebounds, all on 45 percent shooting, you’d say those are all-star worthy numbers, especially in the East.*

Well, you might be surprised that this dude was coming off the bench and only getting 15 minutes a game. So who was starting in front of him? Chris Paul? Deron Williams? Tony Parker? Uh, try Luke Ridnour.

Now, those numbers aren’t rounded per 40 minutes, those are actual game time 40 minute numbers. His name is Ramon Sessions, and if you don’t remember a 5 game stretch last April during which dude averaged 14 points and 15 dimes on 50 percent shooting, then you obviously weren’t playing fantasy basketball. I picked him up and then dropped him and nearly lost my league’s championship due to that stupid move.

Well, this year, against Detroit this past Saturday, due dropped 44 points and 12 dimes on 72 percent shooting.

Never understood why Milwaukee went out and traded for Luke Ridnour this past offseason. I get why they traded away Mo Williams. Big contract, injury prone, wasn’t known to play defense, and Sessions seemed to be a big time talent ready to take over. But, looking at how well Williams has been playing (big time all-star snub) this season, seems like Damon Jones, Ridnour and Adrian Griffin is a ho hum package.

Ridnour’s played pretty well this year. He’s hit some big shots, but Sessions is the real deal and should have been manning the point all season long. Over the next four weeks, with Ridnour sidelined, the Bucks will get to see a whole bunch of Sessions. He’s got to work on a consistent J, but he’s great at getting to the hole and finds open men.

* * *

I know it’s only over the course of 6 games, but anyone who still doesn’t believe Deron Williams is at least on par with Chris Paul, better do a double take. Finally starting to show his health after playing most of the season on a still recovering ankle, Deron has gradually played himself into his MVP caliber form.

In the new year, Deron’s averaging 23 points, 10.3 dimes and 3 boards on a scalding 49 percent shooting. Chris Paul’s at 22, 11 and 5.4 on 50 percent. Paul’s been better, but no question there is a legitimate debate there.

* * *

Sometimes a new coach and a little bit of freedom is all a guard needs to take off. The Grizz have most assuredly been boosted by the return of Darko Milicic (only two of Memphis’ 15 victories have come without the big Serb), but it’s been a loosening of the reigns by new head coach Lionel Hollins that has helped starting guard Mike Conley Jr. take that next step a lot of us bball freaks thought he would take this year.

After a shaky first game with Hollins at the helm, Conley’s really responded to more freedom posting 13.6 points, 6.4 assists and 4.4 boards on 44 percent shooting over the past 7 games. The most important stat, 4 of those games ended in Grizzlies’ wins.

* * *
Another example of setting a point guard free can be seen on the Dallas Mavericks. At the end of last month, coach Rick Carlisle told Kidd to be more aggressive and stopped calling plays for the 14-year, surefire hall of fame veteran. The result? A 5-1 record against some pretty good teams—Orlando, Portland, and Miami. The results shouldn’t be surprising, least of all to Mavericks brass, who, according to owner Mark Cuban’s blog, have J-Kidd rated as the second most productive player behind only Lebron James based on the Mavs’ own enhanced and complicated player and team evaluation system.

No disrespect for Mr. Trip Dub, but any system that evaluates team and player stats and comes out with J-Kidd as the second highest rated player in the league has a LOT more tweaking to do before it gets it right. Just for the record, Kobe Bryant is 15th on the list, behind border all-stars like Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis and luminary talents like…er, Randy Foye.