The Utah Jazz
What can I say I am a sap for the pick-n-roll. I grew up as a Utah Jazz fan and I never waiver from that fanhood. Yes it has been tough seeing the Jazz go 2 and out with the Chicago Bulls and not win a championship, but what can you say other then “All Hail his holy Airness.” I come into every season with a high hope that maybe this is the year they make it again. You can only hope though, for the Utah Jazz are the most injury prone team in the nation. Every year starts out with a fresh start of something knew with a great team. But one month into the season you hit the first injury and it is all down hill from there. There is Okhur and his achilles, Kirlenko and his back spasms, and the constant “Super Star” on the team with a little pusidice. (Pusidice is a word referring to the star of the team just being a straight up loser and not wanting to play cause he is to cool for school, or pussy-pardon my French.) I love my Utah Jazz but I just can’t see them winning the NBA Finals any time soon so don’t get your hopes to high.
If we look at all the great players that have played for the Jazz, many are sure to stick out. First you have John Stockton. The man that wore short shorts tell the day he called it quits. He wasn’t one to follow trends of others, but he was a person to stick to how it should be done. He was a prolific point guard that had eyes all other and knew where you were at all times on the court. Then you have Karl Malone or “the Mailman.” He and Stockton alone become two of the greatest players to ever play the game. There are also many other names such as Pete Marovich(only play for the New Orleans Jazz), Jeff Hornacek, Adrian Dantely, Thurl Bailey, AK-47, and I guess you can but Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams in those names but they are the ones that had pusidice and couldn’t play unless their needs were met. You can see the talent hasn’t lacked in the locker room for the Utah Jazz, I guess you could say what lacked was mostly passion to win most of the years. I can go on also about the coaches but that is coming next.
I don’t want to bash on the Jazz to much but I have been such a good fan for so many years I feel I have the right to point out the many flaws they have had along the ways.
The latest flaws have been trading Deron Williams, and the whole Boozer era was a huge mistake. D-will was a great point guard and he sure knew the game very well. He played very hard for his first couple seasons and really brought pride back to Utah after losing the Mailman and Stockton. It wasn’t easy to keep a superstar like him happy and it was only a matter of time before his pusidice stepped in and he would want to leave for a bigger market of the game. He left and it has destroyed all chemistry the Jazz had. It isn’t easy to see them struggle but with struggle comes growth and hopefully it all works out in the end. Now onto Boozer and his crazy antics on the court. Yes Boozer came in with a good heart but after a couple seasons he just gave up and you could see he wanted out. But instead of using him as bate for a good trade, they held out to free agency to let him go. He then moves on to a mediocre Bulls team, to what is now a championship ready Bulls team. Why he didn’t like Utah? Well my theory is Jerry Sloan. Yes he was one of the greatest coaches of all time, but he was stuck on the whole defense first, then get down the court and set up the pick-n-roll. It was a game changing offensive scheme, but with new players comes new talent so you need to play to what they have to offer. That is where Jerry Sloan slacked in his last years as coach of the Jazz.
I know this is just a bunch of thoughts put down on a piece of paper but for now it will do. There are so many things coming about the Utah Jazz I don’t want to give it all away on the first day. So for now this is good bye and tomorrow brings yet another adventure for me and my writing.
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