Deron Williams Trade: What Exactly Am I Rooting For?

This Deron Williams trade left me even more shell shocked than Sloan's retirement. I spent the day avoiding thinking about it, trying alternatively to convince myself of and talk myself out of the notion that it was a prank, and listening to break up music. I spoke to a few friends about it and they essentially said the same thing. This is what sports is all about. You're being tested. They weren't going to win a championship anyway. And, the most common refrain, you have to stay loyal to the team.

At the start of this season things were exciting for us Jazz fans. A lot of the team had left during trades and free agency, and we had signed a lot of new players. This season was wide open. We were probably going to be worse than we had been, but maybe we would be as good, and there was a slim chance we would be better. Things started well. Then we hit a wall. Our team slumped. And slumped and slumped. Although I made excuses for a while, it became apparent to me that this team was just no good. At least we still had Jerry Sloan and Deron Williams, though. Then Sloan quit. This was distressing, but it had to come. At some point, the guy was just going to give out. And it just happened this year.

But trading Williams was terrible, terrible news. The Utah Jazz were a team with one amazing player, a top ten player who was arguably the best at his position -- something that is very, very hard to come by -- and a bunch of others below league replacement. That wasn't fated, however. The mediocre cast that surrounded Williams was the product of a number of bad decisions made by our General Manager Kevin O'Connor. While he probably could never save Boozer, he could have tried to trade him two years ago when it became obvious he was leaving in free agency. He could have avoided giving away Eric Manor and Ronnie Brewer, or if he had to give them away, he could have tried to pair them with Kirilenko's bloated contract, so as to free up some cap space. He could have made an effort to keep Korver and Matthews, but he didn't. He didn't do any of those things. And when things blew up, he tried to rebuild on the fly. And when that failed, Williams and Sloan both fell on the sword for him.

There is now very little that connects the Utah Jazz as it's currently constituted with the team I rooted for last year, or as a child. The only major connecting element to what came before and what currently exists are the General Manager and the Owner (even here, the beloved Larry H. Miller is gone). Everything has changed. The coaching staff is different. The players are different. Even the uniforms and team logo are different. Kevin O'Connor and Greg Miller are the only connecting elements. One of them can't do his job. The other called Deron Williams after the story had already leaked to ESPN to inform him that he wouldn't be playing for the team any more. He didn't ask for his input. He didn't give him any warning. He just told him to pack his stuff. That phone call lasted 30 seconds. I realize I'm not privy to what went on behind closed doors and that Williams very well might have left anyway. But none of that excuses that kind of behavior. That is cold blooded and cruel. Worse than what LeBron did to Cleveland.

Rooting for the Jazz boils down to rooting for Miller and O'Connor, as they are the only two Jazzmen (with minor exceptions) who have any kind of established identities as Jazzmen. One is incompetent at his job. The other ruthless, or, best case scenario, an unfeeling buffoon. Why should I root for them? Why should I root for this team?

The Best Thing Ever?: A Video Essay

According to Elias, via the TrueHoop blog, via the delightful folk at The Basketball Jones, the Utah Jazz are the first team to come back from being ten points down in the second half to win three times in a row in the modern era (meaning, in this case, post introduction of the shot clock). That they did so after deficits of 18, 22, and 18 is impressive in itself. But that they did so on back to back games against two of the leagues top five teams, makes things all the sweeter. Beating the Heat was especially sweet (I can't wait to tweet, what a treat) and ridiculously improbable event. The Jazz's final output in regulation, during which they scored 14 points in 28 seconds, had they done that well all game would have them scoring 1,440. According to Hollinger, the odds of Williams, Kirilenko, and especially Millsap scoring their last 3s was 1 in 873. There's, of course, the fact that Millsap had never really taken 3s and that Miami dared him to do so, leaving a career 2 for 20 shooter open again and again. But none of these numbers hold a candle to actually seeing the performance:



Unbelievably awesome. The Jazz are down 8 and hit 3 after 3 as Miami misses only 3 of 11 free throws. After Millsap's last 3, Williams fouled out before the ball was even in play. So the Jazz had to play the last few seconds and all of overtime without him. Sloan had also decided to bench Jefferson, who was having a week night. And, at the end of the game, Fesenko took himself out, feeling that his free throw percentage was too risky and might cost the Jazz the game. So they finished things out with AK, CJ, Price, Millsap, and Elson out there. Sloan also coached the shit out of that shit. Pulling Jefferson at the right time, managing the clock brilliantly, and playing zone at the end to force Eddie House into taking a 3 with .4 seconds left. He played the zone again last night, which crippled Miami. I'm not sure why, but it seems like the Jazz have learned how to play it.

The awesome win against Miami came after Raja Bell gave a very inspiring speech to the troops at halftime, filled with discussions of heart, being underdogs, and other cliched sports things. In other words, filled with things that the FreeDarko group might disdain. But in their defense, they get results. What makes it so sweet I can barely keep it down, is that the Jazz lost in Miami back in 09, in a game during which they were up by several in the last few seconds. I remember watching that game on gamecast, and sickeningly believing the Jazz had put it away, only to see them blow it, blow it again in overtime, and then lose outright in overtime number 2. So, symbolically, this is huge. Beating the best team (eh, maybe 2nd best), at home, on a crazy comeback, to potentially spark a season as revenge for a season sunk in the same building? Come on, it's too sweet, even for you. What's also sweet is how many, shall I say, fair weather fans left the building at halftime and how many more did with 28 seconds left when they thought it was all over. Here's some Jazz comeback footage:



And here's some footage of their improbable victory against the Magic last night:



So why wasn't it the best thing ever? Well, Tracy McGrady did a similar thing to another team that was really, really good at defense. And while the Miami Heat are the most hated guys right now, and Millsap will probably get more credit for his destruction, the Spurs were actually defending.



Man, that guy's like the next Kobe! Anyway, as far as best things ever go, this recent Jazz development, good as it was, can still not hold a candle to this:


(H/T: Owen)

Late Nineties Redux

This time in the Bulls vs. Jazz series that so thrilled/suicidally dissapointed me as a youth, the issue is not back-to-back battles in the finals, but roster swapping; specifically, the Bulls taking a large swath of our roster from the past 4 seasons. It seems that the argument is that what was holding the Jazz back was a good defensive center (a very valid point) and the point guard skills of Derrick Rose (a much less valid point). But, since I like Brewer and (somewhat less) Korver and (much less -- bordering on luke-warm, take him or leave him sentiment) Boozer, I wish the new Bulls the best of luck in losing in the playoff's second round. Have fun guys, you earned it!

Trade Day: In Review

This year marked a more exciting than usual, but still not as exciting as some hoped, trading deadline. Nevertheless, some exciting things happened. Keeping with this blog's storied tradition, I thought I would examine the day through the solipsistic lens of what it means for Jazz fans. First of all, it seems the Knicks cleared house, getting rid of (in rough order of importance) Nate Robinson, Darko Milicic, Cash, Jordan Hill, and Jared Jeffries. And acquiring in their stead Tracy Mcgrady, Edie House, J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker, and Brian Cardinal. This is important because the NBA trade rules allow New York to dump all the money they've splurged on nobodies (see above list) all at once when McGrady's (and others') contract runs out this summer. That'll leave them with a huge amount of money to land LeBron, Dwayne Wade, or Chris Bosh or maybe even two of those dudes (more on that below). But all that future of basketball in New York stuff aside, this is good news for the Jazz. It looks like New York has completely and utterly given up on this season and is now willing to take a knee, muddle its way through till the end, and recoup during the off-season. That will rise the value of their first round draft pick, which the Jazz own.

And, speaking of the Jazz, they had a spirited day of talks with Miami. The Heat front office came at them with a crazy-desperate-last-minute, non-stop list of names for a possible Boozer deal. The Jazz held their ground, as they have all season, even when Chalmers and Beasley were added to sweeten the deal. What this tells me is that the Jazz think they've got this season locked enough that they can attract real talent next year on the strength of their green jerseys and Deron, Don. It also tells me that Miami is seriously and severely worried that D-WADE! will leave them if they can't acquire anyone whose presence would put the heat in serious contention (I write Dwayne's nick-name like that because it's the least respect I can show him, his normal, terrible nickname being not worthy of his skill). And while the ship has not yet sailed on that (they might sign Stoudemire, whose Suns turned them down today and yesterday, in the off-season). It's looking screamingly likely that the Heat's management are too incompetent to hold onto their golden god. I see him in NY along with Bosh (after my dream finals of Nuggets vs. Cavaliers, I see both LeBron and Anthony sticking with the teams that brought them this far [oh shit, they're playing as I type and are tied 102 -102!!!!]).

The Jazz also traded my favorite puppy-dog/explosive dunker Ronnie Brewer for some garbage Memphis pick and cap-space relief, so we'll see how I feel in a few days. But as of right now I'm cautiously optimistic that this was a pretty good day for the Jazz. Our show runners seem to know what's up, New York is conspiring to help us, and while nothing happened to really shake up the West (possibly sinking our foes), such a shake-up might have spelled our doom. We know where we fit in this West, and that's as the third best team. We can beat all of these teams with the dual exceptions of Denver and LA. Nothing about Trade Day drastically changed that.

Boozer Blues

It's time for an update on Carlos Boozer. Certainly for Utah fans, but perhaps for other basketball followers as well, this story is developing into one of the bigger ones of the summer. First there was speculation that there would be some sort of blockbuster trade with Chicago, Utah, and Portland. Then, there was the idea that the Jazz would frantically trade Boozer to Miami for nothing more that Udonis Haslem (!) and a maybe one or two more mediocre players. David Aldridge quickly squashed these ideas, and simultaneously made me realize that he is incredibly well connected in the N.B.A. so that when he talks, it is generally wise to listen.

After trade rumor after trade rumor died and others rose from obscurity to replace the older ones, I am left wondering what will happen with Boozer. At first, I was eager to see him go. The more I have followed the situation, though, I realize that he is probably a top five power forward in the league, and thus worth something. He will never take Utah to a finals appearance, and maybe this is why fans are so upset. He will consistently take them to playoff appearances, however, and perhaps he will do it better than anyone that they can get. So the Jazz are essentially stuck it the mud , damned if they do, damned if they do not. They will constantly be close enough to smell true greatness (all puns intended), but never quite taste it. This will be the case at least until the Boozer era comes to a close.

My favorite option is a trade for Michael Beasley. As Shoals points out, this is truly investing in the future. The Jazz also have that juicy first round pick from New York for next year, meaning they can do some serious rebuilding. Sloan has yet to fail me when coaching a player, so even though Beasley seems lost now, he may find new life in Utah. But before (and if ever) this happens, we will be stuck with good offense, bad defense, and many nearly reached dreams of glory.