Two Wins, Two Losses

The four game road trip has concluded and the Jazz did not win all four games - they did not lose all four either but split 2-2. A third win last night against the Mavs' would have been awesome (and they almost pulled it off even without Deron Williams) but they weren't a match for LeBron James as he took things over in the last few minutes of the game. That's what super stars do, right? Our guys should feel pretty good about their efforts though and hopefully they will come home and get some wins on the home court. Rookie Eric Maynor finished with 24 points on his first start in an NBA game. He promises to give quite a needed lift to the team.

Two Road Wins Down, One To Go

How happy I am to be celebrating TWO road wins for the Utah Jazz on this four game Eastern trip. They play again tonight so I am hoping (perhaps unrealistically) for one more win before the team heads back home. Tonight they are up against LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neil so they will have their work cut out for them. It was terrific that they won last night against the 76's especially since Deron Williams was not playing (personal family stuff). Deron should be back tonight so who knows?? Andrei was looking good last night, his shots seemed smooth and effortless. Would it be too much to hope for the same results tonight?

You Have Got To Be Kidding!

Another game, another loss. Same old story for the Utah Jazz. It is very disheartening to see how this team could play so well against the San Antonio Spurs a few nights ago and then SO bad against the Sacramento Kings last night. There was not even a name I recognized in the starting line-up for the Kings. Their premier player was on the sidelines with an injury. Even so they proceeded to beat the daylights out of our team. They hit 11 3 pointers!! Did we bother to guard them against their very accurate 3 point shooting? No. We actually lead by 15 points during the early part of the second quarter only to have them come back and outplay us for the next 2 quarters. We were down by 20 points going into the fourth quarter. What is with that? One can understand that you aren't going to have a fantastic game each and every night but how can it go from one extreme to the other so quickly? How can EVERYBODY be off their game at the same time? Deron Williams did score well, he always does. He was frustrated you could tell but the way things were going yet again. Now the teams heads out for a 4 game road trip. You can imagine how that is going to go. Talk about low morale. We're all suffering from that right now!!

Is This Really November?

I am not in Salt Lake (even though I heard that it is a gorgeous, warm day there today) but I am in St. George and absolutely loving this 82 degree weather. It is hard to believe that this is the Thanksgiving month when it is so often cold, snowy and bleak. It is the total opposite of that description. The flowers are still blooming in the yard and the grass is still emerald green. I am happy indeed because I have come to the conclusion that there is a direct correlation between the warm, sunny weather and my disposition. I know that it can't last forever but while it does I am going to be thrilled.

Thankfully!

It really happened! The Jazz actually stayed strong for all four quarters last night against the San Antonio Spurs. Deron Williams was his usual awesome self scoring 27 points with 9 assists. That was no surprize as Deron plays well night in and night out but it was wonderful to see Carlos Boozer also contribute 27 points for the evening. True, he's has been under some major pressure with all that went on in the off season and his seeming lack of commitment to the Jazz team but thankfully he's finding a way to play through it. Let us hope it lasts because we need his total effort every game and we are paying an awful lot of money for it. One thing is for sure, it really helps my mood to have the team win---especially in front of the home crowd. Keep it up!

Will The Luck Change?

It is now halftime of the Utah/San Antonio game and the Jazz are up by 10 points. I am crossing my fingers and holding my breath that we will get a much needed win tonight. It has been a dismal beginning to the season with one win and three losses. Sadly, the last two losses happened when we blew a nice lead by letting the other team dominate in the fourth quarter. The Jazz are working well together and getting everyone involved so far in the game tonight and I am hoping that they will continue that for the rest of this game and for the rest of the season too. This bad feeling everyone seems to have about the "Boozer situation" does not help matters. He has struggled so far in this early season and that needs to change. Tonight, he is looking good so far and I do hope to see that continue. It is going to be a very long season for the team and for the fans if the Jazz don't catch fire soon.

OUCH! First Game, First Loss

That is not the way I had hoped that the Utah Jazz would begin the 2009-2010 season - with a loss. And not just a loss, but with a lead for most of the game and a loss in the fourth quarter. That has happened all too many times in Jazz history and I really am hoping that this year will be different. It hasn't started out that way though with the team letting Denver outscore them 32-25 and outrebound them 15-11 in the final quarter. It was a scare to see Okur go down after only 14 seconds of play with what appeared to be a twisted ankle. He left the game for a time but returned and played although he was limping a bit. He finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Thankfully, he appears to be o.k. We can't really afford to lose anyone else to injury for quite a while. The Jazz have their home opener tomorrow night against the Clippers. Let's hope for a better outcome. WE WANT A WINNING SEASON!!

Last Day Of Preseason

Tomorrow starts the 82 game season for the Utah Jazz and I couldn't be happer. I so enjoy building a nice fire in the fireplace and settling down to cheer the team on. I am a bit nervous as we start this season because of early injury problems but I am hoping that our players will step up and play their hearts out each and every game. That is, after all, what they are getting paid a lot of money to do. I'm encouraged by the solid preseason play of the team and would like to think that they will continue those efforts into the regular season. According to Jerry Sloan, players will be heading back to the bench for some unwanted rest if they do not play good defense. One thing for sure, I'll be in position and ready for the first tip off of the new season.

I'm Concerned

Here we are almost at the tail end of preseason and so far the Jazz have made a pretty good showing. They have won most of their preseason games and looked fairly sharp doing so. However the concern is once again, health issues. We are due to start the regular season this week and already we'll be short handed. Kyle Korver will have to undergo surgery on his knee this week and will be out of action for a while. Meanwhile C.J. Miles is still recovering from the surgery on his ruptured thumb and Ronnie Brewer has been suffering from back spasms. To add to the mixture, Ronnie Price has missed four games due to a strained hamstring. This is worrisome indeed because it is all to reminiscent of last year and our continual long list of injured players. We would love to start a season with a healthy team and be able to have them stay that way for a while. Wednesday night we'll be starting the 82 regular season game in Denver. Here's hoping!!

So Few Are So Humble

It was so refreshing to hear the words of John Stockton as he accepted his induction into the basketball hall of fame last week. While other athletes go on and on about how great they are and their own wonderful achievements, this humble yet ultra talented guy gave praise to almost everyone else but himself in his speech. He credited his great coach and his awesome teammates and just about everyone else and said that he was never the best player on any team he had ever played on! Can you imagine this being said by the man who holds some basketball records that may never be matched? He is truly an inspiration to the sport. Jerry Sloan was also a model of humility in his acceptance speech. Oh, that there could be more of their ilk.

Great Things Are Happening

I've been remiss about keeping this blog current lately and I don't really have a good excuse except that during the summertime there isn't a lot going on in the basketball world. Things are beginning to change in that respect, however. This big news this week has to do with the induction of Jerry Sloan along with John Stockton to the Basketball Hall of Fame. I am thrilled about this honor that both Jerry and John are so deserving of getting. Both of them are humble, understated guys who perform extremely well in their chosen field.
The years of Stockton-Malone were awesome for the fans of the Utah Jazz. They were a consistent, fierce, highly competitive duo that gave all they had. You didn't see them missing games because of a bruised muscle or a strained ligament. Those guys came to play each and every time they stepped on the floor. I'm thinking that there's a very good chance we may never see their likes again. As for Jerry, yes he can be a bit crusty at times and has a mouth that can make most anyone blush if they're sitting very nearby and yet he has been and continues to be a great coach for the team. He is as consistent in his own way as Karl and John were in there's. Congratulations and well done to two of the best in the sport.

82 days to go!

The schedule has been released and says that the Jazz will play their first regular season game on October 29 - only 82 days from now! I am excited about that as it is one of my favorite past times during the winter months. What could be better than curling up in front of a roaring fire on a cold winter evening to watch a couple of hours of Jazz basketball. Awesome.

Where Will Boozer Go?

Reading the sports news is interesting lately - there's a lot of talk about Boozer - mostly by himself. It seems all the sweet talk he did about Chicago has had no effect thus far and even Miami, the city he call paradise and says that he'd LOVE to play in has given him no encouraging signs. In fact, Pat Riley (the General Manager) said he feels very uncomfortable with the remarks made by Boozer and that he hasn't been seriously considered at all. Interesting......

Boozer Keeps On Talking and Talking and Talking

The guy is amazing, and not in a good way. It's unreal how he keeps blabbing on about how great he did in the spring playoffs (Not), how healthy his body is (we've heard that before) how anxious he is to get moving and settled in his new team, whoever that is) Frankly, we're all just as anxious as he is for him to get moving. Rarely have I seen such a unemotional involved player as he is. The guy seems to have no loyalty, no conscience and no guilt. Quite a combination for someone who wants so much money to demonstrate his skills.

New Rumors For Boozer

Now another possible scenario presents itself - it seems that the New York Knicks have some interested in a trade. They would resign restricted free agent, David Lee and then promptly send him to Utah in return for Carlos Boozer. That's not an idea situation for the Jazz because although Lee is a terrific player, his strengths are very similar to those of Paul Millsap (who we just paid a ton of money to hang onto). It's anyone's guess how this is going to play out....

Still No Certain Destination For Boozer

While it continues to seem very likely that the Jazz will be trading Boozer at some point (or at least trying desperately to do so) nothing has been firmed up yet. There were rumors about going to Chicago and rumors about going to Miami but neither of those came to pass. It's looking like we're going to be able to keep Millsap (for some very big bucks) so it would be nice to free up some more money and trading Boozer would help accompolish that. The one thing that still seems a bit unsettling is Millsaps attitude about what's been happening. If we're going to pay that kind of money to keep him, we'd like to be sure that he is 100% dedicated to the team. After all, that was a big part of the problem with Boozer - his lacksadasical attitude. We'd like to be done with that.

Where Is Millsap Going To Land?

As the days tick by, I am getting more and more nervous about what kind of team the Jazz are going to be for the upcoming season. I so much want us to be able to keep Ronnie Millsap but I'm afraid the grandious offer presented to him by the Blazers is going to prohibit that. Talk about a payraise! He'll be going from under $800 thousand for a year to $9 million!! His hard work last season when Carlos was sitting out for almost 50 games has paid off big time. I'm still hoping that we can unload Boozer and recoop some of the big bucks he is costing us.

Will Millsap Go Or Stay?

That's the big question for the Jazz...will he go or stay? Most everyone would like to think he'll be staying but like so many other things, it's a question of money. Thanks to Boozer, we don't have as much money to work with for the team as we'd like so we'll have to wait and see what happens. Meanwhile, the Blazers are preparing to make Millsap an offer which may be pretty hard to match....

Summer League Under Way

Summer league is under way and so far the jazz are 1-1 with a win against the Nets/76ers and a loss to the Celtics. Instrumental in the win was John Duncan with 5-6 shooting. Eric Mayor, our first round draft pick is playing very well also and should give us a real boost next season.

Coming or Going

Actually it appears that nobody is going as far as the Utah Jazz are concerned. I'm a little sad about that too because I was certain that Carlos Boozer was going to opt out and that we'd have some salary room for someone with more dedication but, no such luck. I continue to believe that the organization will find a way to send him packing before too much time passes and I think that will be better for the team. Meanwhile I am happy that Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver are both staying. I have a lot more confidence in their agenda's for the upcoming season.

Jazz Draft Pick

The news is out - the Jazz picked 6'3" point guard, Eric Maynor out of VCU for their first round choice. He's thin but very fast and Kevin
O'Connor (General Manager) seems to think he'll be a good fit for the team. We're all hoping so. Management also extended the qualifying offer to keep Paul Milsap and we hope he'll opt to stay with the Jazz. He played great for us during all the time Boozer was out with injuries last season.

Local Player Works Out With Jazz

During these slow months of summer as managers and coaches and teams work to get their roster in shape for the upcoming season there isn't a great deal of exciting news about the our favorite team. I did read, however, that a local player named Geoff Payne has been working out with the team. Payne played high school ball with Alta High in Sandy and since then he's played for Snow College, Westminster College and Southern Utah College. He jokes that at 6'7" he's too small to play anything big and that he's not good enough to play anything small. We'll see.

The Slow Season

This is that very slow time of year between the end of the playoffs and the begininning of pre season. I always find it to be a long wait in between. Tomorrow will be game 5 of the finals between L.A. and Orlando and it's looking like the Lakers are posed to finish strong. I don't have much interest in that particular match up but am waiting to find out what the Jazz intend to do to improve their chances for next year. The current news is that they plan to hang onto 22 year old Kyrlo Fesenko. Although his size could be a great benefit to the team, so far his conditioning and seeming lack of focus have compromised that attribute. Hopefully, the minimal improvement he made last year will accelerate during the upcoming seasons. We need everyone to work hard to stay in shape and be committed to do whatever is necessary to have a chance at playoffs for next year.

The Slow Season

Here we go again, Boozer

Once again Carlos Boozer is being very wishy-washy about his intentions for next season. He appeared very recently on a nationally televised program and said that he still wasn't certain whether he'd opt out of his Jazz contract or stay in. He said he needs to do what is best for him and what makes him happy. Not only that, he said if he decides to stay he expects a raise for next season. WHAT?? Did he not miss a huge number of games this last season which really hampered our teams progress? And for that he deserves a raise. I think not. When he first arrived here in Salt Lake, I loved watching him play and was delighted that he was part of our team. Those warm and fuzzy feelings began to fade fast when I saw how seemingly uncommitted he was. I was used to the kind of loyalty and complete commitment that we saw for all those years in John Stockton and Karl Malone. We're not seeing near so much of that these days.....

The Long Road To June

Basketball season lasts a long time and for that I am grateful. It starts with pre-season action in October and runs through June IF you're one of the two fortunate and talented final teams. The Jazz did not find themselves playing very late in the season. They exited abruptly after losing the first round to the Lakers. Most had high hopes for the team this year and were disappointed with the results. Carlos Boozer, our very high paid power forward was out for 45 games this season so that pretty well defeated our chances for June play. Injuries happen in the NBA and that's just part of the package but what was even more troubling than Boozers injuries was his attitude. Much speculation is going on about where he'll end up next season and many die hard Jazz fans have pretty much given up on him. Personally, I'd like to see somebody in that power forward position who has some loyalty to the team.