Utah Jazz finish preseason 7-1?!?!?! - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

EricaLubarsky · 10-24-2003, 09:15 PM

I just thought that it was extremely weird, especially since the whole team is built completely out of spares.

Sure they are taking advantage of other teams getting it together and the preseason doesnt really matter, and at their pace they are going to wear themselves out, but they did win all but one game. Props to Jerry Sloan for whipping spares together and inspiring them to play.

huh.

Bookit · 10-24-2003, 09:31 PM

7-1 is pretty good. I guess the system that Sloan runs is pretty good also. Even Howard Eisley played well in Sloan's system. Go Figure. The Jazz will just never die. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

ReDIRKulous · 10-24-2003, 10:18 PM

Shaq Attack2 · 10-24-2003, 10:41 PM

Tthis is just one of many things that proves preseason means nothing, though it's fun to watch.

MavsFanFinley · 10-24-2003, 11:09 PM

Quote:

I just thought that it was extremely weird, especially since the whole team is built completely out of spares.

The Jazz have a couple nice pieces. I wouldn't say they're built completely on spares.

They won't be as impressive during the regular season but I bet they give some teams a surprise or two.

They may not be stacked like the Mavs, but they are built around a lot of hard workers. And Sloan is the perfect coach to make things work.

Ostertag/Clark
Collins/Ruffin
Harprin/Kirilenko
Bell/Stevenson/Pavlovic
Arroyo/Lopez/Williams

They have cap room plus Ostertag comes off the books next year as well. And they have some young talent in the back court to go along with Kirilenko, Harpring, and Collins.

If they could get a center in next years draft they should be all right next season.

MavsFanatik33 · 10-24-2003, 11:39 PM

If you look at the preseason standings, mostly all the teams that made some deals this off-season have a losing record. The teams that didn't gain anybody stayed the same. I think that all this means is this pre-season the top teams that amde trades just had to get used to the whole new team. There's no way Utah even gets past .500 this season.

bogey · 10-25-2003, 12:23 AM

Here is an oddity....

Vegas has Utah as a 80-1 odd to win the NBA championship.

Denver is at 250-1

What the hell?

EricaLubarsky · 10-25-2003, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: bogey
Here is an oddity....

Vegas has Utah as a 80-1 odd to win the NBA championship.

Denver is at 250-1

What the hell?

$8,000 sounds nice but I think Ill save my 100$

dirno2000 · 10-25-2003, 03:11 AM

Quote:

They have cap room plus Ostertag comes off the books next year as well. And they have some young talent in the back court to go along with Kirilenko, Harpring, and Collins.

If they could get a center in next years draft they should be all right next season.

.

What good is cap room when nobody wants to play in Utah. They were basically used as a big bargining chip this offseason. In additon to a center, they need a guy who can fill it up. I don't know how they're going to score this year. They better draft well.

Epitome22 · 10-25-2003, 03:13 AM

I have a feeling that the Jazz might very well become the Pistons of the Western Conference (against harder competition of course). A bunch of spare parts, forgottens, has beens, never wases and never will bees, who come together and form a semi-competitive team. I won't promise the moon or even a playoff birth, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have a much more competitive year than people give them credit for.

Bookit · 10-25-2003, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Epitome22
I have a feeling that the Jazz might very well become the Pistons of the Western Conference (against harder competition of course). A bunch of spare parts, forgottens, has beens, never wases and never will bees, who come together and form a semi-competitive team. I won't promise the moon or even a playoff birth, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have a much more competitive year than people give them credit for.

I agree with this. It is Sloans system that gets the best out of its players. They will be competitive.

Nash13 · 10-25-2003, 08:18 AM

The Mavs were 7-1 in the preseason a couple years ago. The ended up 53-29, and made it to the second round of the playoffs.

MavsFanFinley · 10-25-2003, 12:42 PM

Quote:

What good is cap room when nobody wants to play in Utah. They were basically used as a big bargining chip this offseason. In additon to a center, they need a guy who can fill it up. I don't know how they're going to score this year. They better draft well.

Quite a few people visited Utah that didn't end up with their old teams.

I think those that signed offer sheets visited for more than bargaining chips with their teams.

BQuinn2210 · 10-27-2003, 10:30 PM

Utah pretty much raped us in preseason. They had spairs like arroyo playing harder than our starters. They will never be as good as they are this preseason, but AK47 is gonna have a huge year.

Lonnie · 10-27-2003, 10:58 PM

If the Jazz can avoid their first lottery appearence for another year i would be amazed. I dont think they will be in last place like all the power rankings are predicting but i dont think they get past 11th in the west. They simply dont have the talent to sustain a whole year in the NBA.

Stressboy · 10-28-2003, 10:33 AM

Dirno2000,

All that cap space is making them a facilitator which is getting them a lot of picks. They have a couple of good young players, they just need to suck enough to get a top player in the draft in the next 2 years or so. Then they can go overspend on a restricted free agent. They will get it back together. It might not be great to live in Utah, but that organization is top notch.

Stressboy

Mavs Rule · 10-30-2003, 11:35 AM

How about the win they had last night. As an almost unanimous pick to be the last place team in the league, they will turn some heads this year. I don't think they will make the playoffs, but they look to be closer than many think.

Its moments like this when I wonder why the hell we gave up Raja! He was a spare, but who's to say he's not a better spare than Delk?

Quote:

Utah 99, Portland 92
Jazz Start New Era With Comeback Victory
Box Score | Jazz Home | Blazers Home

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 29 (Ticker) -- The Utah Jazz began life without John Stockton and Karl Malone in rousing fashion.

NBA TV highlights from
Blazers-Jazz: 56k | 300k
Carlos Arroyo scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and added a career-high 13 assists as the Jazz erased a six-point fourth-quarter deficit in a 99-92 triumph over the Portland Trail Blazers.

After enjoying the productivity of future Hall of Famers Malone and Stockton for nearly two decades, Utah is facing a potentially long season with an influx of at least five new faces.

"I thought our guys played really hard, especially down the stretch," said Utah coach Jerry Sloan, who is beginning his 16th season with the club. "It looked like we had a little bit of an idea of what we were trying to do. ... and the guys played well."

Among those expected to take on added responsibility is the 24-year-old Arroyo, a journeyman point guard from Puerto Rico who averaged 2.8 points in 44 games last season as the third-stringer behind Stockton and Mark Jackson, who are 1-2 on the all-time assists list.

But Arroyo took over in the fourth quarter, making a series of good decisions down the stretch.

"I think we did a great job as a team," Arroyo said. "We can never give up and that's the most important thing. We can be down and we're not going to give up, we're going to keep on fighting and that is what happened tonight."

Andrei Kirilenko chipped in 16 points, including a key dunk with 1:47 remaining.

Swingman Raja Bell, one of the offseason acquisitions, tied a career high with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting off the bench.

"Carlos I thought played terrific, Raja did a terrific job for us, Andre was sensational down the stretch," Sloan added. "It was fun to get a win; that is what you play this game for."

"That's the makeup of our team," Bell said. "We got to play hard and we got to play hard from the jump on until the last whistle in order to have a chance in games. I think when we do that a lot of teams don't play hard most of the game, so we'll have chance to get back into the game and pull them out at the end."

Zach Randolph scored 22 points and Rasheed Wallace 21 for the Trail Blazers, who allowed Utah to shoot 57.5 percent (42-of-73) from the field.

Portland led by 13 with just over six minutes left in the third quarter but was clinging to an 81-78 lead with 6:37 to go. Bell, who eclipsed his previous career high of 16 points, made a 3-pointer 35 seconds later to tie the game and had a layup with 5:35 left to give the Jazz the lead for good.

Kirilenko followed with a layup and another jumper by Bell gave Utah an 87-81 edge with 4:08 remaining.

The second of two free throws by Randolph got Portland within 87-85 with 2:55 to go but Arroyo answered with a jumper with just over two minutes to go.

Arroyo and Kirilenko sealed the win with four points apiece down the stretch. Utah made all six of its free throw in the final quarter.

"I played with Carlos in college so I know his game and I know he'll come every night and he's very capable so I'm not surprised by his 13 assists," Bell said.

"I don't know at what point we lost it," Portland coach Maurice Cheeks said. "We had a timeout, up six points, and then just played a terrible fourth quarter. Our whole game let up, not just the rebounding, our whole game. Our team looked uncomfortable out there, and just let up."

Utah first-round draft pick Aleksandar Pavlovic, a 6-7 forward from Serbia and Montenegro -- had an impressive debut with 14 points and two blocks in 21 minutes.

Damon Stoudamire had a solid game for Portland, making 7-of-12 shots and collecting 16 points, six assists and two turnovers in 41 minutes.

Portland, which has lost seven of its last eight meetings with Utah, shot just 43 percent (36-of-84).

"Once they got into a rhythm we started rushing our shots," Cheeks said. "Pretty much the whole game we had easy shots, we just started rushing them."

"We're a team that's got to play hard every night," Stoudamire said. "We didn't play hard for four quarters, and they kept on playing hard, and it seem that they outwilled us."

harsh euro barge · 10-30-2003, 11:43 AM

Portland's like the reverse Mavericks: they lose games to bad teams..

dirt_dobber · 10-30-2003, 02:16 PM

RAJA BELL alos had a great game last night.
I don't have his line with me here but he played
great as far as I can tell from the highlights.

.

kingrex · 10-30-2003, 02:27 PM

Last night Raja's stat line was 16 pts. 3 rebs. 4 asts.

Not bad for coming off the bench.

Dirk41= konsesjonen · 10-30-2003, 06:02 PM

Utah is not as bad as people think. They are scrappy. AK47 is a budding star, Harpring is a solid player, Arroyo looks fabulous, 13 assist with that O??? Tag is still a decent center, Pavlovic is isn't O off the bench, he can score like lightning, had what, 16 points in 18 min. last night? Bell is a good role player, Keon is decent.