What the Utah Jazz Need to do to be Contenders
By Josh Haslam
I know it seems like the Utah Jazz have a long way to go to be contenders in the West again. That may be the case but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it needs to take lots of time either. From the time D-Will was drafted the Jazz took a total of 2 years before they were back in the Western Conference Finals. Only an 8 year hiatus from the previous time. That may seem like a lot of time but most teams would give anything for that next opportunity.
The way I see it the Jazz need to do 3 things this year to make that jump again:
1. Decide their future and let them run.
It’s no secret that the Jazz have 4 very young guys that know how to play basketball and have more ability and athleticism than the guys playing over them. The Jazz need to decide if these guys are part of their future or if they aren’t they should trade them to get someone that is. All four young guys have big trade value and could bring somebody in that can impact the game immediately. The problem is, these four guys can have that same effect as well. Give them the reigns and see them flourish, most young guys wouldn’t take the team far but these guys are very talented.
With Hayward, Burks, Favors and Kanter the Jazz should be able to run up and down the court and be very competitive. The benefit and upside of all these guys will allow the Jazz to dictate what type of game they want to play, whether it’s the run and gun or the half court pick and roll.
2. Find the Leader/Point Guard
If the Jazz want to go somewhere and make some noise in the Western Conference they will need that guy that can lead an offense. The Jazz have not had a great distributor since D-Will and have not had a great point guard defender since Stockton. Whether the Jazz need to do this in the draft or through free agency is the question. Guys like Jose Calderon will be available but he’s 30 and probably only has a couple good years left. The Jazz could draft a guy as this draft seems to be the deepest at the point position and can really lead a team. I’d like the Jazz to take two point guards in the draft just to make sure and get that missing piece the team has been without for a few years now.
3. Coach better
The last couple years with Corbin have been less than exciting. It seems players had no idea what the coaches expected of them and they all just deferred to the vets of the team. In game adjustments were less than stellar and timeouts were rarely called. Momentum is on the coaches and the coach can control a lot with being able to maintain a crowd on the road and keep them from that euphoric stage. Simple timeouts or in game adjustments will go a long way into helping the Jazz win a few more games and keeping them in games til the end. Too many times this past season the Jazz elected to not put in Favors when we needed a defensive stop and it ended up ending the Jazz season short due to the fact that the other team got easy buckets inside. That cannot happen any more, period. Now that Hornacek has left for the Suns job the Jazz will desperately need to find someone that knows what they are doing cause in my opinion he was the only guy on the bench that understood the game enough to make a difference.