Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul - Playoff Style - Grant

There are simply some comparisons that will go on forever. Here is a brief list:

Jessica Alba vs. Jessica Biel

Little Ceasers vs. Dominoes

Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning

Michael Jackson vs. Prince

Britney Spears vs. Christina Aguilera

Lord of the Rings vs. Matrix

Lebron vs. Kobe

Waking up for school vs. Sleeping in and playing Halo

We will be undoubtedly be debating these topics for a long time. One of the greatest debates in the NBA is Chris Paul vs. Deron Williams. There have been tons and tons of articles and blog entries dedicated to figuring this out. I am sorry to tell you, but this is yet just another one of those. However, I feel that it is my duty as a Jazz fan to shed some light on this topic. I will do so un-biased like. Lets look at the following (according to NBA.com):

2009 Playoff Stats

Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul
20.2 - PPG - 16.6
3.8 - RPG - 4.4
10.8 - APG - 10.4

The stats aren't too much different when you look at them in this context. NBA.com, however, makes a great comparison with their Efficiency Ratings. Deron Williams has a +23.2, while Chris Paul has a +19.00. D Will was simply the more efficient player. If you still have doubts, then look beyond the stats and see who has won more playoff games and gone farther into the playoffs. That is what it comes down to. Either way they are both amazing basketball players. It's too bad that the two best PG's in the game are both out of the playoffs!

There is no I in team?

I was inspired by the last two entries. All that stat info made me delve deeper into thinking about what is wrong with the Jazz. Alright so let me explain what I noticed.

The top scorers in the NBA are (with their PPG):

Dwayne Wade - 28.7
Lebron James - 28.0
Kobe Bryant - 26.3
Danny Granger - 26.2
Dirk Nowitzki - 25.8
Kevin Durant - 24.7
Chris Bosh - 23.3

So now where does the highest scorer on the Jazz rank. Well he, Deron Williams, has a whopping PPG of 16.8. In fact there is not a single Jazz player within the top 40 scorers in the league right now. Paul Millsap has an average of 15.6, while Ronnie Brewer has an average of 12.8.

While the Jazz as a team score decently, there is not a player that is scoring in the 20's for an average. Every elite team in the NBA has a person who can score at will. Do we really have one?

Another problem we have is rebounding. Paul Millsap is doing a good job here coming in at 1oth in the league with an average of 9.7. The only problem with this is that there is not another Jazz player in the top 35.

What this tells us is that the Jazz need someone to fill the role of the leading scorer. Someone who is the go-to guy. After this issue is fixed they need to find someone to share the load of rebounding.

LOSE BOOZE!

Lose Booze. 

What more really needs to be said?

An article I once read said Carlos Boozer seemed to get injured if one sneezed at him. (It was a great article in the Deseret News, can't find it at the mo but I will post it if I find it).

Anyways, let's let the stats tell the story.

2008-2009 season: Carlos Boozer

12 games. 12!?

FG%: .559

Rebounds/Game: 11.7

Assists: 2.7

Points/Game: 20.5

Salary: $11,593,817 (if he plays the last 25 games of the season as he claims he will try to do, he is making $313, 346.41 PER GAME PLAYED THIS YEAR)

St. Paul Milsap

39 games

FG%:.564

Rebounds: 9.7

Assists: 2.1

Points: 15.6

Salary: $707,581

Someone explain to me why Boozer would be paid max money for another 5-7 injury-riddled seasons in Utah while Saint Paul can be retained for 1/10th the price and is nearly identical to Boozer in most major statistical categories?

Good riddance, Carlos. Enjoy rebuilding Miami.

Friend or Foe?

Friend or Foe? This is the age old question any devoted Utah Jazz fan must ask themselves when talking about some of the star basketball players that call Utah their home. Without naming names, Karl Malone....Derek Fisher, Utah has been the home to some of the NBA’s greatest sellouts ever. With the most recent landslide of events being the words that just happen to spill out of Carlos Boozer’s mouth in an interview with reporters, we may just have yet another great sellout story to record in our books.

Since the beginning of his contract with the Utah Jazz, Carlos Boozer has been a great asset when on the floor, the only problem there in is getting him on the floor to play. In fact, since 2004 I believe most of the complaining about our good friend Carlos has not come from the fans, but instead comes from the very bench that he has sat on while being injured for a combined time of nearly two full seasons with the jazz. The contract was signed in 2004 where he was offered $70 million dollars. Let’s take a break and do some math: A $70 million dollar contract divided into 6 years equals roughly $11.7 million dollars a season. That means the jazz have handed Carlos Boozer over $23 million dollars just to show up and have a front row seat to two season’s worth of games. WOW! What a deal. I’d be willing to take a deal like that, I bet I could even promise the Utah Jazz that I’d not mention to media that I’m planning on bailing out at the end of the season for more money either.

When it comes down to it, as fans we have shown our respect for what Carlos has done, but it’s time for us to move on, apparently he moved on long ago. So the question is asked again, is he a friend? Or a foe? While his name still sits on the roster list, and his butt on the bench, for the time being he’s still a friend, but it’s only a matter of time before we have yet another sellout on our hands, but don’t worry Carlos, you and your friends in Miami will have a wonderful welcome visiting us here in Utah, after all, we have the most ruthless fan in the league.
-Jimmy Stewart-

The Elephant in the Room - Grant

Anyone familiar with this phrase? Ever been in a situation where there is a giant issue but no one wants to address it. Well, I just got done watching the Jazz lose to the Houston Rockets. Basically I think it is time we recognized the elephant in the room. The Utah Jazz are just no that good. It hurts me like a swift kick to the groin to say so After screaming my voice hoarse, downing 6 cans of Coke, and almost throwing my remote control at the T.V., I have determined that I must vent about the problems with my beloved team. There are I believe 3 main problems that the Jazz must fix in order to truly be one of the elite teams in the NBA right now. So without further delay...and since I know that only Mitch, Jimmy, and I will reading this, I will solve the Jazz's problems.

1. Lack of a true center - Let's face it. The Jazz have no good center on the entire team. Memo is pretty good, but in all honesty he is more of a power forward then a center. What the Jazz need to do in this situation is the following. I propose that we trade Memo, Kirilenko, and maybe someone like Morris Almond or Jaron Collins for a genuine center. Some centers I would feel would be a good fit and could possibly work would be Chris Bosh or even Pau Gasol. They are both great centers who rebound and most importantly defend.

2. Injuries - I know this is the obvious problem but it's true. The Jazz just have not been the same without Carlos Boozer. The team was comfortable with him in the game. It seems as though injuries have made their rounds through the team as well. Deron Williams came back from an injury but took a good two weeks to actually get back to playing form. Hopefully next year this problem will have resolved itself.

3. Playing on the road - I know what it's like to be homesick, but for crying out loud this is basketball! I do not feel that you should play basketball better closer to home than you do away from it. I also understand that traveling can be tiring and stressfull, but they way that teams travel and stay now should have resolved most of those issues. The Jazz have been ridiculously bad on the road. It is seriously weird how big the difference is. If the Jazz could play on the road like they do at home, they would have been champions last year.

These are the problems. Have courage though Jazz fan's, when I own the team, things will change!

Modern Day Cool Runnings - Grant

In Disney's classic movie called Cool Runnings we have 4 black guys who don't like the cold, have never been in a bobsled, and are coached by an extremely large John Candy making it to the Olympics to compete for a gold medal. It is a good movie that inspires everyone, whether you are black or not. The tragedy in this story is that on their gold medal run, after making record time during the whole run, their bobsled flips. Ultimately they don't win gold, but walk their bobsled across the finish line. I don't know about anyone else, but everytime I see it I say to myself, "What the crap? They should have won the gold!" I get the feeling every time that they got ripped off. So why am I even telling this to you? Let me explain.

Utah 31 - Alabama 17

Let's suggest that Utah is our Jamaican bobsled team. They did everything they needed to do to win a "gold medal" but got ripped off in the end. Utah's bobsled flipped over. Everyone who understands this tragedy needs to sound off as to why Utah can't get respect.

Any person who really follows sports can tell you that that score meant a lot. A team from a supposedly "weak" conference, pummeled a team that was ranked #1 in all of college football for 5 straight weeks. Keeping that in mind, let me pose a few questions.

1. Why did over 90% of people pick Alabama to win.
2. Why does Utah not get any National Title consideration at all?
3. Why can't the Jazz get it together? (Oh that's for a different column...but seriously why not?)

For more insight into this, look at this column by Dan Wetzel - http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-utah010509&prov=yhoo&type=lgns