I'm sitting here watching the end of this Jazz-Suns game finding that I am really impressed with this young Utah team. I know that's a sacriligious statement on this board, but they are a fry cry from the thug tactics of Malone, etc. They've got a great young nucleus that seems to have good chemistry. AK-47, Okur, Boozer, and that rookie point guard from Illinois (Walker?) all seem to play really well together. And to top it off, they are well coached by Sloan. They still make a lot of mistakes that you would expect a young team to make, but I won't be surprised at all if they are in the playoffs a year or two from now.
I liked how Charles spent the entire half-time talking about how their season is over and now they're about to beat Phoenix. I think they're only like 2 games out of 8th too.
I like how Charles kept saying Sloan lost the team after He mistakenly predicted the UTAh to be in the playoff and a sleeper team.
It's almost unbelievable how much ground AK47 covers on defense. And I like their roockie PG Williams. He will be better than our own RA very soon. He should be, he's the #3 pick.
With Tmac's health problem, I'd love to see this happen. However, none of these four guys involved has a pretty medical record.
Yup. Tmac can carry the team offensively, AK can carry the team defensively, and Yao can carry the team on both ends of the floor. If we have AK on the team, the NBA needs to cancel it's next 5 seasons and just hand the rings us. Our team will be so good and it won't even be funny!
AK is by far my favorite non-rocket right now. I love his game. If the rockets could land AK while keeping TMac and Yao, I would die from happiness.
What's up with this Jazz praise? Well, I watched the game as well, after I watched the Rockets game. I couldn't do anything else, because I was so depressed. I enjoyed the game very much, but it made me even more depressed. Damn, those Utah players played hard, they just didn't give Nash any room, although he was still 20-10, but the whole production was down. Those young Jazz, not only did they play very good defense, but also can they drive and shoot. Man, I am so jealous. If we could have that kind of energy around TMac and Yao Ming, instead of all the old guys or NDBLers sitting on the payroll or bench, I just refuse to imagine, coz that would be too good to be true. Sigh I respect Sloan a lot, as always. When Malone is gone, I really don't have much reason to hate that team. I just like the way they play.
I must add, If it were anyways possible, I would replace JVg with Jerry Sloan in a heartbeat. Unfortunately Jerry's not leaving Utah. Les has sold his soul to JVG. Sloan >>> JVG.
It's funny you are saying that, because you might just get what you are wishing for. In Utah, some people are screaming for his head, because they think he's not connecting with his players and he's too old school. Heck, Charles Barkley was asking him to step down during halftime.
Great!!! Tell him to bring AK47 along. We will send JVG towards Utah. To make it fair, lets throw in Bowen and Juwan. Alston for their rookie PG from Illinois would be added bonus.
Coaching makes all the difference, and he's one of the best. I think the next question is how long will he continue to coach? At his age, if I were to make a completely wild guess, he would probably try to get them into the playoffs for a year or two before calling it a career. I've always admired the guy, both for being a great basketball coach and for not bailing on the Jazz after Stockton to Malone was over. Salt Lake won't be screaming for his head when he molds them back into a playoff team.
