The Fan”jazz”tic 4

October 1, 2012; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors (15) and center Al Jefferson (25) pose for a portrait during media day at the Zions Bank Basketball Center. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Who ever said 4 would never work?  The Fantastic 4 is about four individuals who gain superhero powers and work as a team to defeat evil.  They each have a different set of talents that together help the team become unbeatable.  Now I understand this is a stretch to compare a fictional superhero team to the Utah Jazz “log jam” of big men but I want to present the idea that the Jazz having 4 big men is a huge asset not a problem.  The Jazz version of the Fantastic 4 all have different strengths and are a handful for any team that try to stop them.

Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter would be the 4 guys for the Jazz that i’m referring to.  Al Jefferson will be entering his 9th season and Paul Millsap will be entering his 7th so both players have been in the NBA for a while and on this Jazz team they are considered seasoned veterans.  While Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors will be entering their 2nd and 3rd years respectively.  It gives the Jazz options to put 2 guys on the floor with experience or 2 different guys with energy and who are eager to prove themselves.  It also gives Corbin a ton of options of what guys to put on the floor in different situations for whatever team the Jazz are up against.

Now just like every superhero story, everything isn’t always peaches and roses.  There are always problems that come along and the Jazz do have a problem.  The problem is minutes, can Coach Ty find enough minutes to go around for these guys to keep everyone happy.  It’s definitely not an easy task, you have all Jazz fans screaming to hand this entire team over to Derrick Favors and give him 30+ minutes a game.  At the same time you’re paying Al Jefferson 15 million this year and you can’t keep a guy that makes that much money sitting on the bench.  We all know what Paul will bring us, he is going to play his guts out every single night no matter what the circumstance.  Lastly we drafted Enes Kanter 3rd overall in the draft and we can’t really waste a pick that high on a guy we don’t intend to play.

There’s the problem that the Jazz have. There are only 96 minutes a game for the 4 and 5 spots and you have 4 guys that ideally would play 30+ minutes a game. The numbers just don’t work to give those guys that many minutes.  I personally am happy we have this problem instead of having too many minutes for guys we don’t want to play.  Coach Corbin is going to play who he thinks is best in every situation and as long as these guys go out every day and give it everything they got then there is no issue.  An NBA season is long and things happen that are unexpected so having 4 guys who could potentially start for any NBA is a huge asset for this Jazz team.

I’m in favor of keeping these guys together if the Jazz see success in the first half of the season.  If it works out the Jazz could have a deadly second unit off the bench.  This is what makes the Jazz more dangerous, having our 4 and 5 starters taking a rest and bringing in 2 guys off the bench who can dominate the middle.  If our young guys, Favors and Kanter, show this year that they have improved then it could be very dangerous for opposing teams.  That’s why I don’t think the Jazz need to make a decision on these guys right away to free up minutes for one player or another.  The Jazz have flexibility and why not play the hand they have and make a decision after half a season to see what these players can do together.  The Jazz are in a great situation with their big men and I say lets keep The Fanjazztic 4 together and dominate teams in the paint night in and night out.