[QUOTE]Four of the teams Utah played on the trip are in playoff position. The Grizzlies are one of the best teams in the NBA, while the Washington Wizards
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[QUOTE]Four of the teams Utah played on the trip are in playoff position. The Grizzlies are one of the best teams in the NBA, while the Washington Wizards
[QUOTE]Necessity forced a jump in Rudy Gobert’s playing time.
Keeping his minutes up might be the necessity now.[/QUOTE]
Might? They need to start building around him. He's obviously the most important piece they have right now.
[QUOTE]The Jazz are 4-4 over their past eight games, and Gobert’s emergence has played no small part in that success.[/QUOTE]
Probably 0-8 without him. They are competitive with him in the game. Without him they have sucked.
[QUOTE]But Gobert’s recent opportunities have been due to absences. First, there was an ankle injury that kept starting center Derrick Favors out of the lineup for two contests. Then there was a minor medical procedure that caused backup big man Trevor Booker to miss Monday’s game in Memphis. With both players back healthy, Jazz head coach Quin Snyder has decisions to make.[/QUOTE]
The franchise has decisions to make I imagine. Playing Rudy isn't helping their tanking efforts but at the same time they have to decide about Enes' future in the next few months.
[QUOTE]Does he continue to play Gobert, the defensive dynamo, at the expense of more offense?[/QUOTE]
Seems like a no brainer to me. He does positive things on the offensive end and that will just get better.
[QUOTE] Does he play Enes Kaner, a polished scorer, sacrificing defense in exchange for low-post footwork and a sweet midrange jumper? Or does he cut back playing time for Booker, one of his spark plugs off the bench?[/QUOTE]
Booker has to sit and maybe be dealt. Favors or Kanter need to go to the bench. Funny how there's no mention of Favors there though.
[QUOTE]It seems the answer, for now, is that it will just depend.
"It worked well for us, particularly against this team," Snyder said after the Jazz went big with Gobert and Favors and topped the Memphis Grizzles on Monday. "The NBA is all about matchups, and we needed to match up to their size."[/QUOTE]
Thing is even with small ball Rudy needs to play. He can cover smaller players too.
[QUOTE]The Jazz matched the Grizzlies with 32 points in the paint and outrebounded Memphis by a margin of 49-34.
"It’s one thing to be big, and another to be big and go after the ball," Snyder said. "We’re big, and those guys are all good rebounders. That helps a lot when guys are playing hard."
That certainly applies to Gobert’s play of late; he had 16 rebounds in the game.
Going back to the Jazz’s home win over the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 9, he has averaged about 25 minutes a night, up from his season average of 18.[/QUOTE]
and needs to play 10 or 15 more a night
[QUOTE]In that stretch, he’s putting up 6.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. And with the 7-foot-1 Frenchman on the court, the defensively challenged Jazz are defending like a top-10 team.[/QUOTE]
and there even needs to be a discussion about this? They are one of the worst defensive teams in the league without him.
[QUOTE]"I think with him," Snyder said, "getting more and more experience is going to help."[/QUOTE]
boy all those degrees have really payed off! :rolleyes:
[QUOTE]At this point in his career, however, Gobert represents a trade-off. Look at all the pairings of the Jazz’s four rotation big men, and Gobert is part of the best defensive combinations. He’s also part of the three worst offensive combos.[/QUOTE]
But offense isn't their problem. They need to figure out what the best line-up is around him starting with Enes and Favors. Might be able to trade Booker and others that don't fit with Rudy for some help too. But again winning isn't something they want to do too much of so there is the dilemma.
[QUOTE]If there were concerns last year about Kanter and Favors being able to play together on the offensive end of the floor (something they’ve certainly availed themselves of this season), Gobert and Favors truly provide some spacing issues on the court.[/QUOTE]
Wow! It's not Enes being thrown under the bus for a change. :eek:
[QUOTE]Their offensive rating, an estimated 95.3 points scored per 100 possessions, is the worst of the Jazz’s big-man duos.[/QUOTE]
That pretty much tells me the whole story right there. Either Favors is dealt in the off-season or they pay Enes and go with a 3 man rotation for the next couple of years until Rudy gets paid.
[QUOTE]But Gobert is showing himself to be an elite rim protector and a game-changer on the other end of the floor.
The sample size is small (just 37 minutes playing tighter over eight games), but Gobert and Favors look to have the potential to be an impressive defensive duo. In their admittedly limited time on the floor together, their defensive rating, an estimated 96.2 points allowed per 100 possessions, is roughly 20 points better than the pairing of Kanter and Favors.[/QUOTE]
And how does it compare with Enes and Rudy at both ends? The idea that Favors is part of any equation is ridiculous.
[QUOTE]So for now, matchups will most heavily influence Snyder’s rotation.
But Gobert is starting to make a case for himself.
[email]afalk@sltrib.com[/email]
Twitter: @tribjazz[/QUOTE]
Rudy belongs in there no matter the match-up. He is the man. Not Maxi G, not Favors, and certainly not Burke(Big 3, leader, :roll: ). Play him Enes and Favors. Plenty of minutes. Go with the hot guys and se what happens.
[QUOTE]"I've been on him hard. It's not OK for him to be passive, just to be out there and be in a backup role as a 19-year-old," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said last week in Miami. "He doesn
[QUOTE]Marc Stein: Rockets are making the rounds on Christmas Eve, offering up anyone in the bottom third of their roster via trade to make room for Josh Smith. Joey Dorsey, Tarik Black, Isaiah Canaan, Nick Johnson, Clint Capela ... Rockets seeking taker on any of the above to make room for Josh Smith. Twitter @ESPNSteinLine
Marc Stein: Rockets were confident they'd find palatable deal soon to open roster spot for Smith. HOU preference is one more trade over waiving someone Twitter @ESPNSteinLine
[/QUOTE]
[url]http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=m3qcpa4[/url]
Canaan looks better than Burke right now. He can shoot. His assists aren't as high but I'd guess he's just spotting up which he could do with Maxi G, Burks, Hood, Exum, Trey, etc. Steals are pretty good too. Turnovers a bit high. Seems to be a great fit for them offensively. Can't be any worse than Burke defensively. I'd guess the Jazz are familiar with him. He had to be on their radar coming out of the draft as one of the pg's in the draft. Makes them deeper. Jazz probably don't do it for the same reasons Neto isn't here.
Capela is young with upside. Blocks shots and rebounds. Need to put on weight. Send to D-league. Could be depth if Kanter or Favors go. Dorsey is a vet. He has a 2 year deal. I'm guessing next year is not guaranteed though. Jazz have too many big guys with this deal but Booker is starting to look expendable with some value for someone. Novak certainly is if they can find a taker.
For Houston they get a great end of the bench energy guy in Evans with an expiring deal. A young guy in Clark with some potential as a spot up shooter like Canaan but maybe better defensively and an expiring deal. Murry is non-guaranteed. They also save some money off their luxury tax bill.
Throw in picks, cash, Tomic, etc. to make it work.
:cheers:
Merry xmas!
[QUOTE]Most Valuable Player: With all due respect to Derrick Favors, who has been tremendous throughout the early season1, the nod here goes to Gordon Hayward. No Jazz player garnered more offseason attention than the swingman. Off the heels of a 16/5/5 season that saw him assume the primary option role with mixed results (41 percent shooting), Utah
[QUOTE]But for the Jazz franchise, now in its first season of a hybrid affiliation with the D-League
[QUOTE]the Jazz really have been experiencing a tough schedule so far this season.
According to NBA.com, the Jazz have possessed the second toughest schedule in the NBA so far this year
[QUOTE]As the NBA assists king, Utah Jazz legend John Stockton has seen it all, and so has his
[QUOTE]If not for Brett Brown, Joe Ingles might not be in the NBA.
On his journey to becoming a 27-year-old rookie with the Utah Jazz, the time Ingles spent with Brown, who coached the Australian national team for four years leading to the 2012 Olympics, was instrumental.
"He was huge for me," Ingles said. "He was probably the first coach up to that point that really kind of got the best out of me.
[QUOTE]"When you
[QUOTE]Guard Tony Wroten, the team
[QUOTE]Under Snyder, the Jazz have featured a new offense, a different defensive focus[/QUOTE]
Really? Could have fooled me. Without Rudy the defense has sucked as much as ever.
[QUOTE] and have seen contributions from several international players. The team is currently 9-20, but has showed signs of improvement. A 3-3 record on the recent Christmas road trip is an encouraging sign of where the team is going.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]It appears the Jazz are hoping to build a core of Hayward, forward Derrick Favors, guard Alec Burks and rookie guard Dante Exum, and then trying to find pieces to complement them. However, re-signing Hayward helped keep a significant part of the puzzle in Salt Lake for the foreseeable future.[/QUOTE]
No Trey? I thought he was part of their big 3? A leader?
Rudy should have them re thinking things. He's the guy to build around obviously. Favors has to prove he can play effectively with Rudy as does everyone else.
[QUOTE]The Sixers rank 11th in the NBA in defensive efficiency and in their last two games, wins over Orlando and Miami, they held the Magic to 88 points and Heat to 87.
A strong defense is something first-year Jazz coach Quin Snyder has been trying to instill in his team, and he
[QUOTE]Jody Genessy: Jazz SG Alec Burks did not participate in shootaround because of ongoing issues with his left shoulder. He is doubtful tonight vs. Philly. Twitter [/QUOTE]
not someone they can afford to lose with their lack of depth