Friday report
You could show me any team that has won 30 games and I would make the argument about why management should keep the group together. I just feel continuity is undervalued in the NBA when teams turn over half the roster each summer. It's not realistic, of course, it's just how I feel.
But Andrei Kirilenko validated some of my thinking Friday when he talked about how much playing together all these years has benefited the Jazz. Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur, Carlos Boozer, Matt Harpring, Jarron Collins and Gordan Giricek all were part of the 26-56 team in 2004-05.
"We had like very poor season, like 26 wins, we didn't make the playoffs but we've grown up and keep our roster together for like three, four years," Kirilenko said. "I'm telling you that's really luxury in this league to keep the same lineup.
"I think that's how we grown up together. That's how we start believing in each other, start playing with each other, same group of guys. I think the main five, six guys the same. We know what each of us can do on the floor and we can communicate the same way. It's worth a lot."
Now the Jazz have three All-Stars in Kirilenko, Boozer and Okur and one on the way in Deron Williams. They have established role players in Giricek, Harpring and Collins from that group. Their playoff run has been a testament to that continuity as well as the roster's depth.
* * *
We asked Kirilenko to explain his favorite "cheese on plate" analogy after he repeated it again Friday in talking about the conference finals.
"That's how we say it in Russia," Kirilenko said. "I'm trying to translate sometimes. It's not going to be like cheese on a plate, like somebody bring you and you take it. I don't think we got it so easily. We really work for it. We really earn it."
Piece of cake? Plate of cheese? Some things just get lost in translation. As Kirilenko said, "You learn something."
* * *
Carlos Boozer had some interesting things to say, especially about potentially playing Cleveland in the NBA Finals. (The Cavs are up 41-20 on New Jersey as I'm typing this). Boozer's message, if I can sum it up, was bring it on. It's in Saturday's Jazz notebook in the paper.
I asked Boozer the question I posed here Thursday, about how he was a second-round draft pick. HIs answer? "Talk to some of the GMs around the league. Ask them that question."
"For me, I still use it (as motivation) to this day," added Boozer, who's averaging 24.4 points and 12.3 rebounds in the playoffs. "I still step out there with a chip on my shoulder with something to prove every game, to prove to people that I belong."
Boozer also was asked about whether he saw any similarities between his game and Tim Duncan's. Boozer and Duncan would be the featured matchup should the Spurs and Jazz play. But Boozer doesn't think he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath.
"I think he's the best post-up player we have in the game. Probably the best post-up player we have in the world," Boozer said. "He has every move. He's very poised. He never gets rattled.
"We can send a double-team at him, he's 7-feet, he can pass out of a double-team. If you have single coverage, he can face you up and shoot off the glass like it's a layup. He can spin move baseline, he can hook shot, right, left. He can do whatever he wants down there."
"Bottom line is we try to be dominant inside presences for our team," Boozer added.
* * *
Is Jazz coach Jerry Sloan watching each game of the Spurs/Suns series? "I'm more intimidated by it than anything else when I watch other teams play," Sloan answered. "I don't like to be intimidated till the games start."
* * *
Derek Fisher was sent home early from practice Friday after coming down with a tough case of allergies. That deprived us reporters of talking to Fisher for a second consecutive day, which with four days between games is like stealing bread from the starving.
--Ross Siler
But Andrei Kirilenko validated some of my thinking Friday when he talked about how much playing together all these years has benefited the Jazz. Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur, Carlos Boozer, Matt Harpring, Jarron Collins and Gordan Giricek all were part of the 26-56 team in 2004-05.
"We had like very poor season, like 26 wins, we didn't make the playoffs but we've grown up and keep our roster together for like three, four years," Kirilenko said. "I'm telling you that's really luxury in this league to keep the same lineup.
"I think that's how we grown up together. That's how we start believing in each other, start playing with each other, same group of guys. I think the main five, six guys the same. We know what each of us can do on the floor and we can communicate the same way. It's worth a lot."
Now the Jazz have three All-Stars in Kirilenko, Boozer and Okur and one on the way in Deron Williams. They have established role players in Giricek, Harpring and Collins from that group. Their playoff run has been a testament to that continuity as well as the roster's depth.
* * *
We asked Kirilenko to explain his favorite "cheese on plate" analogy after he repeated it again Friday in talking about the conference finals.
"That's how we say it in Russia," Kirilenko said. "I'm trying to translate sometimes. It's not going to be like cheese on a plate, like somebody bring you and you take it. I don't think we got it so easily. We really work for it. We really earn it."
Piece of cake? Plate of cheese? Some things just get lost in translation. As Kirilenko said, "You learn something."
* * *
Carlos Boozer had some interesting things to say, especially about potentially playing Cleveland in the NBA Finals. (The Cavs are up 41-20 on New Jersey as I'm typing this). Boozer's message, if I can sum it up, was bring it on. It's in Saturday's Jazz notebook in the paper.
I asked Boozer the question I posed here Thursday, about how he was a second-round draft pick. HIs answer? "Talk to some of the GMs around the league. Ask them that question."
"For me, I still use it (as motivation) to this day," added Boozer, who's averaging 24.4 points and 12.3 rebounds in the playoffs. "I still step out there with a chip on my shoulder with something to prove every game, to prove to people that I belong."
Boozer also was asked about whether he saw any similarities between his game and Tim Duncan's. Boozer and Duncan would be the featured matchup should the Spurs and Jazz play. But Boozer doesn't think he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath.
"I think he's the best post-up player we have in the game. Probably the best post-up player we have in the world," Boozer said. "He has every move. He's very poised. He never gets rattled.
"We can send a double-team at him, he's 7-feet, he can pass out of a double-team. If you have single coverage, he can face you up and shoot off the glass like it's a layup. He can spin move baseline, he can hook shot, right, left. He can do whatever he wants down there."
"Bottom line is we try to be dominant inside presences for our team," Boozer added.
* * *
Is Jazz coach Jerry Sloan watching each game of the Spurs/Suns series? "I'm more intimidated by it than anything else when I watch other teams play," Sloan answered. "I don't like to be intimidated till the games start."
* * *
Derek Fisher was sent home early from practice Friday after coming down with a tough case of allergies. That deprived us reporters of talking to Fisher for a second consecutive day, which with four days between games is like stealing bread from the starving.
--Ross Siler
6:15 PM
| 
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home