Utah Jazz Team Preview 2010-2011 Season
Key Additions: Raja Bell (free agency), Gordon Hayward (draft), Al Jefferson (trade), Jeremy Evans (draft)
Key losses: Carlos Boozer (free-agency), Kyle Korver (free-agency), Wesley Matthews, Jr. (free-agency)
For the last four seasons the Utah Jazz have been a model of consistency averaging 51 wins per season. Their season endings however have been consistent as well with playoff losses to the Los Angeles Lakers over the past three years. Over the summer, their objective was to find some size and get them over the hump to combat the Lakers twin towers in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. While Carlos Boozer, their all-star power forward, had always been a stat stuffer on the offensive end of the ball, as an undersized post player he was often expected to guard equally potent offensive players and unfortunately was not adept enough in this area. After the season he bolted, along with two other former Jazz players Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer, and went on to sign with the Chicago Bulls. The time table for the ruptured Achilles tendon Mehmet Okur suffered during last spring’s playoffs is no later than late November leaving the Jazz frontline depleted. Losing Boozer was anticipated but losing Okur was unexpected. Fortunately they had enough bargaining chips to acquire Al Jefferson via a trade with Minnesota. He is a proven low post scorer and immediately becomes the player the team will look to go to in the paint. But even with this acquisition the Jazz’ off-season moves may still not be enough to get past their nemesis.
Deron Williams
The unquestioned court leader, Deron Williams, who is arguably the best point guard in the NBA, will have to be even more dominant, as teams around the league and within the Northwest division have taken steps to get better. After a year in which he made his first all-star appearance averaging 18.7 ppg and 10 apg, his play will dictate how far the Jazz can go this season. Despite losing key wing player, Wesley Matthews to Portland through free agency, the Jazz have a number of guards to complement D-Will in the backcourt, including: former Jazz player Raja Bell, and Earl Watson. Bell should be able to knock down some threes and play solid defense, while Watson is a solid backup for Williams at the point. CJ Miles increased his production last season, becoming more of a consistent outside threat. He’s intended to battle Andrei Kirilenko for minutes at the small forward spot.
The team has also signed two rookies in Gordon Hayward and Jeremy Evans. Rookie Gordon Hayward has played as expected during summer league and had a great offensive preseason performance versus the Los Angeles Lakers which opened some eyes, but the questions lie in his defensive capabilities as Coach Jerry Sloan rarely plays rookies that are poor defenders.
Paul Millsap always did an admirable job filling in for Boozer and over the last two seasons was groomed to be his heir apparent. With the injury to Okur, the learning curve of Jefferson he needs to be a model of consistency and grow from a great bench player to a reliable starter.
With the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trailblazers and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Northwest Division, the Jazz will have ample opportunity to see if they have progressed.
For this to happen for the Jazz, Deron Williams will need to limit his turnovers (3.3 TO pg last season). Al Jefferson must adapt and play within Jerry Sloan’s precision offense and not hold onto the ball as he’s been known to do in the past. Kirilenko, who is in a contract year, must regain his confidence and return to top form, playing tough defense and filling up the stat sheet with points, rebounds and assist.
The two biggest additions this off-season were Al Jefferson and Raja Bell which probably is not enough to “BEAT LA”, but two solid veterans to any team can add a few more wins, which is very important in the competitive western conference. With Jerry Sloan at the helm, the Jazz should be remain consistent and put up another 50 win season.
Predicted record: 50-32 (2009-10 Record: 53-29, 2nd in Northwest Division, 5th in West)
2010-11 Roster
NUM PLAYER POS HT FROM
19 Raja Bell G 6-5 Florida International
16 Francisco Elson C-F 7-0 California
40 Jeremy Evans F 6-9 Western Kentucky R
44 Kyrylo Fesenko C 7-1 Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
2 Sundiata Gaines G 6-1 Georgia
20 Gordon Hayward F 6-8 Butler R
6 Othyus Jeffers G-F 6-5 Robert Morris (Ill.)
25 Al Jefferson C-F 6-10 Prentiss HS (MS)
47 Andrei Kirilenko F 6-9 ST. Petersburg, Russia
34 C.J. Miles F 6-6 Skyline HS (Dallas, TX)
24 Paul Millsap F 6-8 Louisiana Tech
10 Demetris Nichols F 6-8 Syracuse
13 Mehmet Okur C-F 6-11 Yalova, Turkey
17 Ronnie Price G 6-2 Utah Valley University
5 Ryan Thompson G 6-6 Rider R
11 Earl Watson G 6-1 UCLA
8 Deron Williams G 6-3 Illinois
