An apology

Turns out I unfairly maligned a member of the Jazz in my last NBA post.

This team can't win more than half its games without [Deron], as no one else can run the offense or even create their own shot.

Eric Maynor, I am sorry.

"Who is Eric Maynor?" you may ask, as my brother who is in France did on Monday. After being the Jazz's first-round pick in the 2009 draft, Maynor spent a lot of time on Utah's bench, playing under five minutes per game and even recording two DNP - Coach's Decision's early in the 2009-2010 season.

I figured if he wasn't good enough to beat out Ronnie Price for the backup point guard spot, then the bench was where Maynor belonged.

And I was wrong.

After Deron left a road trip last week to be with his sick daughter, Jerry handed the keys to the rookie and said, "Play on, son."

Okay, so maybe those weren't his exact words, but Maynor played 35 and 40 minutes against Philadelphia and then Cleveland, both on the road in back-to-back games.

How did he respond to this sudden chance to prove himself?

Pretty darn well, in my opinion.

Against the 76ers, he shot 6-14 from the field, dished out 11 assists, recorded one steal and hit a 3-pointer, all while turning the ball over only twice.

The next night, against King James and the Cavs, he scored 24 points on 9-16 shooting, including 6-7 from the free-throw line, handed out four assists and grabbed three rebounds in a tight loss.

This kid is for real. His first step is quick enough he can get by most point guards in the league, and once he's in the lane, he has a real nice floater (a la Chris Paul), can use the glass to score and is pretty decent at finding the open man.

And today, that's all a point guard really needs to do to succeed.

Against Cleveland, he hit two clutch free throws with two minutes left in the game to bring the Jazz within one point (95-96), then made a tough tear drop runner over LeBron with 14 seconds left to bring the Jazz within two points. If Andrei hadn't launched that abomination of a 3-point attempt just before that, the game might have ended differently, but I can't blame the rookie point guard for the loss.

So there you have it. Maynor may be skinny (6' 3" and 170 pounds), but he's quick, can dish and knows how to use the glass. He may be a good one for years to come.

Expectations

I am tired of reading how I should be 100% pleased with everything BYU football is in 2009 because Max is the winningest QB in school history and Bronco has an awesome winning percentage since he became the head coach. "10-win seasons abound, so shut your yapper!" is the message I get.

I just fail to see how anyone who experienced 2007 can feel great about this 2009 team. In 2007 BYU won 11 games with young skill players. The future was bright. How good could these guys be one or two years down the road?

The answer? Not all that much better.

These same players are now seniors (okay, Harvey is a junior) and we've seen little to no offensive improvement. BYU's defense is going to be suspect more often than not, but with this amount of experience at the helm of the offense in 2009, and considering the successes of 2007 and 2008, was it entirely unreasonable to expect BYU could score enough to hang with anyone they played?

The dissatisfaction comes from the complete inability of the offense to keep up with Florida State or TCU. If these were shootout type games, and BYU lost after scoring 40 or 50 points, then so be it. BYU fans are used to that type of thing. But to turn the ball over and fail to convert third downs time and time again is unexpected.

After taking a closer look at that 2007 team, all of the big wins can be credited to the defense.

BYU beat TCU after the defense held the Frogs to 22 points. They beat Utah after the defense held them to 10 points. And then a win over UCLA in the Vegas Bowl where the Bruins scored only 16 points.

This year the defense can't come anywhere near that level, and as a result, these games are losses.

In short, these offensive skill players are not elite. Not the best we've ever seen. I reserve the right to be dissatisfied with this season. And if the wheels come off against Utah again this year, you'd better believe I'll be complaining.

Time to start tanking it, the Jazz

The payroll for the 2009-2010 version of the Utah Jazz is $85,111,807.

That is almost $30 million over the league salary cap of $57 million.

The only team with a higher payroll this season is the Los Angeles Lakers.

The difference between the two teams? One is coming off a championship season and is currently 7-1.

The other is 3-5 and in danger of not even making the playoffs this season.

Know what this means? Time to throw in the towel, Utah. You already own the Knicks' first-round pick next summer, and as New York is sitting at a pretty 1-8 at the moment, an excellent lottery pick is all but assured.

But you know what's better than one excellent lottery pick? Two excellent lottery picks.

There is nothing to be gained by winning just enough games to squeak into the playoffs and get steamrolled by the Lakers (again). There is everything to be gained by getting great draft picks next summer. Next summer Boozer (and his contract) are gone. Korver and Harpring's salaries come off the books. 2010 is the last year of Andrei and Okur's contracts.

Here's what I propose: tank. Tank hard. You took a good step today by having Deron sit out for tonight's game due to "personal reasons." Now shelve him. Say his back trouble is keeping him out and don't let him near the court. And to be honest, that's all we need to make the lottery. This team can't win more than half its games without him, as no one else can run the offense or even create their own shot.

Next summer, take a talented big man who can fill the lane, adjust shots, rebound and score about 15 a game. He doesn't have to be the next Tim Duncan, but that would be nice. Then take a guard who can hit 3-pointers and penetrate, like the Clippers' Eric Gordon. These are the pieces the Jazz need.

Then, and this is important, let the kids start and play a lot during the 2010-2011 season. Who cares if they make mistakes? Let them learn from them. After Andrei's contract comes off the books in the summer of 2011, the Jazz will have a lot of cap space to work with (hopefully this can be used to lure a good free agent or two to Utah), a good, young nucleus of players and a veteran point guard in Deron Williams. I like that scenario.

Even if one of the picks from the 2010 draft is a major bust, hopefully the other will pan out, and that cap space in 2011 can be used to compensate for the player that didn't work out.

But knowing Utah, they'll let Deron run ragged on an injured back for the season, barely squeak into the playoffs and get rolled by LA in the first round. Then they'll sign Okur to a ridiculous contract extension and give Korver way more money than he's worth. This would be bad.

We'll see.

The Matrix: a silent film

Also it is Russian.

Blake Griffin and the Curse of the Clippers

Awesome, awesome dunk. Blake Griffin is a lock for Rookie of the Year, right?

Oh, but wait. See how he landed a tiny bit awkwardly on that play?

Busted kneecap.

The Clippers are cursed.

Mediocrity

While I saw this weekend's beat down of BYU at the hands of the Horned Frogs coming, I didn't anticipate it would be quite so bad. Just a few thoughts:

1. I've been saying it for a long time now: Max Hall is a good quarterback. I'm glad he's our quarterback. I think he's better than Riley Nelson. But Max is not a great quarterback. A lot of people look at his mediocre performance Saturday and blame his offensive line for not giving him enough time to throw. However, I look back at the 2006 TCU game and John Beck was taking three-step drops and firing. He went through his reads very, very quickly and delivered the ball exactly where it needed to go, again and again and again. Max cannot do this. Cover his first option and he panics. Are our receivers this year or last year worse than they were in 2006? I doubt it.

2. Our defense is horrible. Not much to say here. Defensive line can't get a push on anyone, linebackers are slow, secondary gets lost.

3. I do not enjoy this trend of getting blown out in losses.

Moving on to other mediocre pastures: the 2009-2010 Utah Jazz!

Yahoo's Ball Don't Lie blog did a preview for every NBA team, and I found their assessment of the Jazz to be spot on.

I don't think I'm reading too much into things when I point out that injuries to Boozer and a nagging ankle issue that dogged Deron Williams sort of allowed for this mindset to sustain. Wait until 2009-10 comes, when everything will be all right.

Except, Carlos Boozer's still here. Whoops.

Boozer didn't opt out of his contract, and the last memory most of us have of the Jazz is the picture of a team that barely looked the part of a playoff participant late last season. Utah absolutely packed it in. The Jazz weren't dispassionate, they just didn't execute and continually lost track of their opponents while on defense. This was a bad team just waiting for the season to end.

And now, a few months later, and the team is back? Same team? Why am I getting excited about this?

Bingo.

Eric Maynor has looked pretty good in preseason games, and it's nice to not worry about the backup point guard slot, but the glaring, obvious weakness of this team is and has been interior defense. Until Utah gets someone who is interested and capable of routinely blocking and altering shots at the rim, the Jazz will not go anywhere.

You gotta love it, baby!

I'll enjoying watching Deron and Millsap play. Will Koufos develop into a good player? Will Jerry Sloan ever win Coach of the Year? Actually, I found some interesting information on that last point from Basketbawful:

Let's look at some recent CoY recipients:

1. Mike Brown (2008-09): Subsequently outcoached in the Eastern Conference Finals, marking one of the only times in league history a team had both the MVP and the Coach of the Year yet failed to reach the NBA Finals.

2. Sam Mitchell (2006-07): Subsequently fired by the Raptors only 17 games into the 2008-09 season after a 39-point loss to the Denver Nuggets.

3. Avery Johnson (2005-06): Subsequently fired following the 2007-08 season because the Mavs needed a fresh start. I'm sure those three consecutive humiliating playoff losses had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

4. Mike D'Antoni (2004-05): Subsequently "allowed to pursue employment opportunities elsewhere" by the Suns following the 2008-09 season and yet another painful playoff loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

4. Hubie Brown (2003-04): Subsequently retired 12 games into the 2004-05 season because, dear lord, the man is an ancient mummy creature! And why spend your twilight years coaching the Grizzlies, you know?

5. Rick Carlisle (2001-02): Subsequently fired after the 2002-03 season so the Pistons could hire Larry Brown...and win the 2004 NBA title.

6. Doc Rivers (1999-00): Subsequently fired during the 2003-04 season after his Magic squad started the year 1-10. Note that he continued to suck in Boston until Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen arrived to save him.

7. Mike Dunleavy (1998-99): And we come full circle! Subsequently fired after the 2000-01 season. From the actual press release: "Mike Dunleavy was dismissed as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers tonight, taking the fall for an underachieving team that failed to win a playoff game despite an NBA-record $89.7 million payroll."

Did I mention that Jerry Sloan still hasn't won a Coach of the Year award despite a 1137-751 (.602) record and 12 50-win seasons? Oh, and in 21 years of coaching in Utah, the Jazz have have a losing record exactly...once.

So, to sum up, the state of the NBA Coach of the Year award is an absolute joke.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

In better news, all of the Jazz's games will be on FSN, ESPN or TNT this year... no games on KJZZ, which means I can watch them all.

Trying to decide if that's really a bonus.

To sum up, both the BYU football team and the Jazz are good teams who can win (10 games and 50 games, respectively), but are seemingly incapable of breaking into the next level (BCS game, NBA Finals).

I hear the BYU basketball team should win an NCAA tourney game this season, so that's good.

It's all about progression.

TCU at BYU

October 2008. BYU flying high. Six straight wins. 59-0 over UCLA. 44-0 over Wyoming. A less-than-impressive win over New Mexico, but that wasn't anything to worry about.

Here's what I blogged before the TCU game:

But on to what's important: big-time game tonight. Win at TCU, and it's another step towards the Cougars getting a BCS berth at the end of the year. Lose, and BYU will find themselves playing a mid-level PAC-10 team in the Vegas Bowl again. Ugh.

I think the Horned Frogs are going to stack the box and force Max Hall to beat them. I'm not sold on Hall's arm (especially his long ball), but he can make good decisions. If he takes what the defense gives him and doesn't force anything, BYU has a great shot to win.

I went to a friend's house to watch the TCU game. Unfortunately it was one of those games where it was over almost as soon as it began. Not even close. It's one thing to lose a close game to a good team, but BYU was outclassed on every front that night. Max Hall fell completely apart, accounting for two interceptions and three fumbles. He was also sacked six times and threw zero touchdown passes. BYU lost 32-7. It was BYU's lowest point total since September 2005.

It was ugly, and I've never felt confident about BYU in big games since.

And you know what? Not much has changed. I still think the key to this game is Max Hall. Our defense isn't good enough to hold TCU to under 20 points. That means the offense needs to move the ball and get into the endzone consistently, and the responsibility for that depends on Max most of all. BYU's receivers and tight ends can catch. If Hall can find them early, that will take pressure off the running game, and Harvey won't be facing a stacked box all night like he was last year, when he averaged three yards per carry.

I'll be there, and I'll be cheering my guts out. But I don't see the Cougars getting a win at this point.

Of course the last time I was convinced BYU would lose, they beat Oklahoma. So take my prediction for what it's worth.

BYU 24, TCU 31.