Late night Jazz- Hitting all the low notes

Only 3 games in and the Jazz season is already so dramatic.

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”  - Marcelus in Hamlet

In Hamlet the above quotation is about an uprising and civil war and a murderous brother who lusts after his brother’s wife.  In Utah, it pretty much sums up the Jazz season so far.  Something isn’t right about the Utah Jazz.  It is hard to put my finger on it, but I think I can smell the direction that the rottenness is coming from.  At least I have some ideas.

Carlos Boozer is still on the team

This looks all too familiar.

I am not going to say anything about Carlos Boozer personally.  I have nothing against the guy.  That needs to be stressed, because what I am about to say concerning Boozer isn’t kind.  He is killing this Jazz team right now.  I think the players even like Carlos as a person.  But I don’t think teammates like the things he said this offseason.  He has had his defense and leadership questioned off the court and rightly so.  But most importantly, Boozer is killing the Jazz offense.  He is not only missing shots, but he is settling for jumpers and getting his shot blocked all night long.  Boozer has had 8 of his 54 shots blocked and has only shot 17 free throws this season.  Which means that he isn’t attacking the basket, and when he is, he is getting his weak stuff thrown back in his face.  He isn’t helping the team in any way right now.  You may believe that he will settle down and do better, but I don’t think he will.  Unless he is playing for a new team and has a new, fresh start.  It would be best for both sides to find ANY trade for Boozer at this point.

The young guys are getting their deserved minutes pinched

He doesn’t have a chiseled body…but Fesenko has a big body.  And he likes to block shots.

Kyrylo Fesenko has shown that he deserves to be on the floor.  He is defending the rim and taking up space defensively.  But most importantly, he is not killing the Jazz offensively.  He is finishing at the rim, which is more than the Jazz can say about their last handful of centers not nicknamed “Money.”  Andrei Kirilenko has had some brilliant minutes and he would get more time without Carlos Boozer around.  Paul Millsap would obviously get more time as well.  Even when he isn’t playing great offense, Millsap is always moving his feet well and challenging the rim on defense.  We saw many extended minutes of a Jazz team without Carlos Boozer against Dallas and what we saw was gritty, defense with good rebounding.  When Fesenko was in, especially, the Mavericks settled for more outside jumpers.

The Jazz are vulnerable without shooters on the floor

Dear Kyle,

Get well soon.  Thanks.

Sincerely,

The Jazz offense

This is no secret and nothing new for the Jazz.  But the Mavericks simply packed the paint tonight to stop the Jazz in the fourth and dared the Jazz to beat them from the outside.  Outside of Mehmet Okur, Deron Williams is the only reliable outside shooter on the team and he is already doing too much offensively for the Jazz.  He is the only Jazz man who can break his man down one on one, but defenses are just going to force Jazzmen not named Deron to hit jumpers.  Against Dallas, the Jazz couldn’t.  It would be nice if the return of CJ Miles and Kyle Korver would change this problem, but they have never been clutch 4th quarter performers.  The Jazz may need to find one more go to scorer to ever be considered contenders again.