Bobcats 98, Jazz 92, Gira sent home
Jerry Sloan and I have something in common tonight. Both of us having screaming headaches. Mine is real, his is figurative.
In case you missed it, Sloan and Gordan Giricek had it out during a second-quarter timeout Wednesday. The arguing started almost as soon as Giricek came to the bench and Sloan could be seen pointing toward the exit soon after.
Giricek was sent to the locker room and then he was sent packing. The Jazz had him collect his bags from the bench, stay in Charlotte overnight and fly back to Salt Lake City today while the rest of the team headed on to Orlando, Fla.
Whatever you think, it's clear the Jazz can lose just as easily with Giricek playing as without right now. Their troubles go beyond just one player, although it doesn't help to have a distraction like this.
(Giricek also left the Jazz even more shorthanded on a night they were missing Mehmet Okur and Matt Harpring. Andrei Kirilenko played the entire second half and Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams played all but 1:48.)
It's a punitive move that you'd figure signals the beginning of the end for Giricek in Utah. We'll open the floor for trades but you have to remember that Giricek's greatest value is as an expiring contract and the Jazz are in a financial crunch.
They're not going to take back a bad contract for a player they don't want. They have to watch every dollar right now with Deron Williams in line for a max extension and Paul Millsap and Ronnie Brewer also making cases to earn big contracts in the future.
Giricek told Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor that it was time to move on earlier this month and he's right. Giricek's clearly on a shorter leash than every other player and the Jazz should have moved him this summer if they knew things with Sloan wouldn't improve.
I had a general manager say back in November that he heard Giricek wanted a buyout over the summer. If Larry Miller would ever agree to it, that seems like a decent solution to this problem. Giricek's NBA future is also on the line right now.
The Jazz wouldn't sacrifice long-term cap flexibility just for the sake of making a trade. Giricek's making $4 million this season and is owed about another $2.4 million for the rest of the season. He would have the ability to then sign with any team as a free agent.
If they do part ways with Giricek, the Jazz are expected to try to find a veteran shooting guard instead of handing over the job to C.J. Miles, Morris Almond or Ronnie Price. The Jazz have auditioned everybody but Almond for the job so far with little success.
It's a shame things with Giricek are so broken. As somebody told me, this should be the perfect situation for him, playing in a city he likes, with a needed role coming off the bench on a winning team. There's no guarantee that will be there someplace else.
One last thing: I'm not even sure Sloan and Giricek talked after the game. Trainer Gary Briggs was the one who told Giricek outside the locker room that he wouldn't be coming on the rest of the trip.
Earlier this month, Giricek said he and Sloan hadn't spoke about all the issues that cropped up when he was dropped from the rotation and didn't get off the bench in five games. Needless to say, what happened Wednesday wasn't unexpected.
* * *
Sloan had a good quote I couldn't squeeze in the paper on a very full day about the turnovers the Jazz committed down the stretch. The Jazz went 3-for-11 with four turnovers as they coughed up that 12-point lead and lost to the Bobcats.
"If it's not there, don't throw it," Sloan said. "Twenty-four second clock should run out. At least your defense has a chance to get back and get set so you can preserve the lead."
The Jazz are imploding against zone defenses and have been for a number of games. Atlanta erased a nine-point lead in the third quarter and Portland climbed back from 11 points down just in the last week by turning to a zone.
More than anything, the Jazz are forcing things on offense. They committed a couple of turnovers trying to get the ball to Carlos Boozer in the Hawks game and had a number of passes knocked or batted away Wednesday trying to get it to Ronnie Brewer.
* * *
Jason Hart played a season-high 27 minutes and had 10 points and three assists. The Bobcats played a lot of the game with Raymond Felton and Jeff McInnis on the floor, which made sense for the Jazz to counter with Hart and Deron Williams.
Hart looked like he'd come back to haunt the Bobcats in the fourth quarter when he hit a three-pointer and had a four-point play. Charlotte wiped out the Jazz's big lead, though, and Hart got beat a couple of times by Raymond Felton.
Before the game, Hart talked about playing on the expansion Bobcats in the 2004-05 season. He put up the best numbers of his career, averaging 9.5 points and 5.0 assists while playing alongside Brevin Knight, Gerald Wallace and Emeka Okafor.
The Bobcats went 18-64 in their first season, but Hart said, "With that team, it was a great team because we all were still trying to prove ourself. We got along great, we shared the ball and everybody got a chance to play - - the whole team."
Hart averaged 25.5 minutes on that Bobcats team, cracking the rotation for the first time after three previous NBA stops. The Jazz cited Hart's assist-to-turnover ratio (3.6 to 1) during his lone season in Charlotte in signing him as a free agent last summer.
"It was just a chance to see what you got," Hart said. "A lot of guys sit at the end of the bench and never ever get a chance to really see what they got. You're basically on a game-to-game situation.
"If you play good, you may play next game. If you play bad, you won't play. It was a good situation for me. With everybody else in the NBA, if you get minutes, you're going to produce. That's just how it goes."
* * *
An interview Sloan did in Atlanta with former Georgetown coach John Thompson will air tonight on TNT's postgame show "Inside the NBA." According to the network, Sloan will discuss several topics, including his motivation to keep coaching after 20-plus years.
"The most important thing to me," Sloan told Thompson, "is when I have a problem with a player I see how he gets on the bus the next morning to see who he is deep down."
How ironic is that given what happened with Giricek on Wednesday? If I see him at the Charlotte airport Thursday morning, I'll pass along how he's doing.
* * *
The Jazz are now third in the Northwest Division, trailing both Denver and Portland. They've also fallen out of the Western Conference's top eight for the first time. They've lost seven straight road games and definitely can't count on things getting better after this trip.
Once they come back from Christmas, the Jazz have to play Dallas, the L.A. Lakers and Boston in a span of four days. Just something to think about. They absolutely can't afford to be giving away these games to the Knicks and Pacers and Bobcats and Hawks.
--Ross Siler
In case you missed it, Sloan and Gordan Giricek had it out during a second-quarter timeout Wednesday. The arguing started almost as soon as Giricek came to the bench and Sloan could be seen pointing toward the exit soon after.
Giricek was sent to the locker room and then he was sent packing. The Jazz had him collect his bags from the bench, stay in Charlotte overnight and fly back to Salt Lake City today while the rest of the team headed on to Orlando, Fla.
Whatever you think, it's clear the Jazz can lose just as easily with Giricek playing as without right now. Their troubles go beyond just one player, although it doesn't help to have a distraction like this.
(Giricek also left the Jazz even more shorthanded on a night they were missing Mehmet Okur and Matt Harpring. Andrei Kirilenko played the entire second half and Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams played all but 1:48.)
It's a punitive move that you'd figure signals the beginning of the end for Giricek in Utah. We'll open the floor for trades but you have to remember that Giricek's greatest value is as an expiring contract and the Jazz are in a financial crunch.
They're not going to take back a bad contract for a player they don't want. They have to watch every dollar right now with Deron Williams in line for a max extension and Paul Millsap and Ronnie Brewer also making cases to earn big contracts in the future.
Giricek told Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor that it was time to move on earlier this month and he's right. Giricek's clearly on a shorter leash than every other player and the Jazz should have moved him this summer if they knew things with Sloan wouldn't improve.
I had a general manager say back in November that he heard Giricek wanted a buyout over the summer. If Larry Miller would ever agree to it, that seems like a decent solution to this problem. Giricek's NBA future is also on the line right now.
The Jazz wouldn't sacrifice long-term cap flexibility just for the sake of making a trade. Giricek's making $4 million this season and is owed about another $2.4 million for the rest of the season. He would have the ability to then sign with any team as a free agent.
If they do part ways with Giricek, the Jazz are expected to try to find a veteran shooting guard instead of handing over the job to C.J. Miles, Morris Almond or Ronnie Price. The Jazz have auditioned everybody but Almond for the job so far with little success.
It's a shame things with Giricek are so broken. As somebody told me, this should be the perfect situation for him, playing in a city he likes, with a needed role coming off the bench on a winning team. There's no guarantee that will be there someplace else.
One last thing: I'm not even sure Sloan and Giricek talked after the game. Trainer Gary Briggs was the one who told Giricek outside the locker room that he wouldn't be coming on the rest of the trip.
Earlier this month, Giricek said he and Sloan hadn't spoke about all the issues that cropped up when he was dropped from the rotation and didn't get off the bench in five games. Needless to say, what happened Wednesday wasn't unexpected.
* * *
Sloan had a good quote I couldn't squeeze in the paper on a very full day about the turnovers the Jazz committed down the stretch. The Jazz went 3-for-11 with four turnovers as they coughed up that 12-point lead and lost to the Bobcats.
"If it's not there, don't throw it," Sloan said. "Twenty-four second clock should run out. At least your defense has a chance to get back and get set so you can preserve the lead."
The Jazz are imploding against zone defenses and have been for a number of games. Atlanta erased a nine-point lead in the third quarter and Portland climbed back from 11 points down just in the last week by turning to a zone.
More than anything, the Jazz are forcing things on offense. They committed a couple of turnovers trying to get the ball to Carlos Boozer in the Hawks game and had a number of passes knocked or batted away Wednesday trying to get it to Ronnie Brewer.
* * *
Jason Hart played a season-high 27 minutes and had 10 points and three assists. The Bobcats played a lot of the game with Raymond Felton and Jeff McInnis on the floor, which made sense for the Jazz to counter with Hart and Deron Williams.
Hart looked like he'd come back to haunt the Bobcats in the fourth quarter when he hit a three-pointer and had a four-point play. Charlotte wiped out the Jazz's big lead, though, and Hart got beat a couple of times by Raymond Felton.
Before the game, Hart talked about playing on the expansion Bobcats in the 2004-05 season. He put up the best numbers of his career, averaging 9.5 points and 5.0 assists while playing alongside Brevin Knight, Gerald Wallace and Emeka Okafor.
The Bobcats went 18-64 in their first season, but Hart said, "With that team, it was a great team because we all were still trying to prove ourself. We got along great, we shared the ball and everybody got a chance to play - - the whole team."
Hart averaged 25.5 minutes on that Bobcats team, cracking the rotation for the first time after three previous NBA stops. The Jazz cited Hart's assist-to-turnover ratio (3.6 to 1) during his lone season in Charlotte in signing him as a free agent last summer.
"It was just a chance to see what you got," Hart said. "A lot of guys sit at the end of the bench and never ever get a chance to really see what they got. You're basically on a game-to-game situation.
"If you play good, you may play next game. If you play bad, you won't play. It was a good situation for me. With everybody else in the NBA, if you get minutes, you're going to produce. That's just how it goes."
* * *
An interview Sloan did in Atlanta with former Georgetown coach John Thompson will air tonight on TNT's postgame show "Inside the NBA." According to the network, Sloan will discuss several topics, including his motivation to keep coaching after 20-plus years.
"The most important thing to me," Sloan told Thompson, "is when I have a problem with a player I see how he gets on the bus the next morning to see who he is deep down."
How ironic is that given what happened with Giricek on Wednesday? If I see him at the Charlotte airport Thursday morning, I'll pass along how he's doing.
* * *
The Jazz are now third in the Northwest Division, trailing both Denver and Portland. They've also fallen out of the Western Conference's top eight for the first time. They've lost seven straight road games and definitely can't count on things getting better after this trip.
Once they come back from Christmas, the Jazz have to play Dallas, the L.A. Lakers and Boston in a span of four days. Just something to think about. They absolutely can't afford to be giving away these games to the Knicks and Pacers and Bobcats and Hawks.
--Ross Siler
12:36 AM
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4 Comments:
Clearly people are freaking out (myself included). But when is the right time to start demanding action? A team with this much talent should NEVER lose 8 of 9, EVER. It seems like a coaching problem if we can't even break a zone defense. It also seems like a front office problem if they aren't getting the right people in a Jazz uniform. And it ALSO seems like a player problem when nobody can execute or hold on to a lead in the 4th Q. After 1 win in 9 tries (and likely 4 more losses coming up) I think it's safe to say that this team was not set up to win.
I'm a huge Jazz fan but there is definitely something fascinating about watching this train wreck unfold. Just as their trip to the WC finals last year felt unreal, so does this debacle.
"Jason Hart played a season-high 27 minutes and had 10 points and three assists. The Bobcats played a lot of the game with Raymond Felton and Jeff McInnis on the floor, which made sense for the Jazz to counter with Hart and Deron Williams."
There goes your credibility, Ross. There is never a situation where it makes sense to play Hart and Deron together. In reality, it doesn't make much sense to play Hart at all.
It seems like guys aren't very committed to play for 48 full minutes. The 4th quarter seems like we break at the first sign of elevated play from the opposing team. What happened to our killer instinct?
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