Check out Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, Brandon Roy, and Deron Williams in their Foot Locker House of Hoops commercials. The dudes talk about an experience in their own house of hoops and their overall love of the game. Not bad but it would’ve been cool if there were actual reenactments of their experiences. But I guess in this tough economy, Foot Locker’s budget only allowed for them to have the players, a basketball, and a white background. Oh they did give Deron a stool though.
The Utah Jazz have improved each year since drafting Deron Williams in 2005 and last season they won their first division title with him on the team. It was a nice accomplishment for the Jazz but in a way last season was also a step back as they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs after getting all the way to the conference finals two years ago. Nevertheless, Utah has been impressive these past couple of years and with their core still intact, they are primed to make another deep playoff run.
A wizard with the ball.
Face of the Franchise: Deron Williams. Many pundits criticized the Jazz for selecting Williams instead of Chris Paul in the 2005 NBA Draft. Despite CP3′s success, it’s safe to say they would do the same thing over again. The fourth-year man out of Illinois has established himself as a top-three point guard and an untouchable asset in the league. Some might even prefer D-Will over Paul and Steve Nash. At 6-3 207 lbs, he is bigger than those two and much better suited to defend the other point guards in the NBA. He shot an astounding 51% from the field while averaging more than 10 assists per game. Williams embarasses his opponents consistently with one of the smoothest handles in the league and has a jumper that rivals Michael Redd’s. He could stand to cut down on his turnovers but there’s very little to complain about when it comes to his game. The Jazz recently signed him to a four-year $70 million extension and he has shown he’s worth every penny.
Send Him Away: Carlos Boozer. Boozer is one of the top power forwards in the league and his selection to USA’s Olympic Team portrays that. So why send him away? Simply put, Boozer (who also has some defensive liabilities) too often disappears in the most important of games (i.e. Playoffs) and a player who will probably demand a max contract cannot do that. This former Duke Blue Devil will almost certainly opt out of his contract after the season ends and there are rumblings that the Jazz will not re-sign him. Again, it would be wasteful to let him go without getting anything in return and GM Kevin O’Connor would be wise to explore the market for Boozer.
Literally almost broke Kirk Hinrich’s ankles.
Impact Newcomer: Nobody. The Jazz only had minor personnel changes in the offseason, adding Brevin Knight and drafting Ohio St. big man Kosta Koufos. Knight can provide some quality minutes off the bench but it’s unlikely he makes much of an impact on the team. Koufos is only 19 years old and still very raw so he’ll probably be watching a lot of games from the bench.
X-Factor: Andrei Kirilenko. AK-47 had a few run-ins with head coach Jerry Sloan last year but they seemed to have put their issues behind them. You have to wonder how much their beef affected his play on the court. Kirilenko has long been known as one of the most versatile players in the league, both offensively and defensively. Fantasy players loved him as he was the definition of a stat sheet stuffer. His numbers dropped off significantly the last two years and the Jazz will need him to turn back to the player he was from 2003-2006. He is pretty much their lone defensive force and he’ll need to play well if Utah wants to make a championship run.
Forecast: Playoffs – 6th seed. It’s hard to picture the Utah Jazz being any better than they were last year. I can’t imagine them winning any more games (even though they were one of the worst road teams) and consequently, taking down any of the West’s elite in the playoffs. As much as I love Deron Williams, the Jazz will need to make some roster moves or learn to play better on the road in order to push themselves to that elite status. I just don’t see that happening.
Posted by david im 
