Jazz 116, Hornets 90 - - All about Paul
Kyle Korver scoffed at the idea of calling anybody the best story in the NBA, but that's what Paul Millsap is right now. Here's a former second-round draft pick, playing for the NBA's minimum wage, who's forced his way into the All-Star conversation.
I'm wondering if a player's ever been chosen to play in the All-Star Game who wasn't even on the All-Star ballot in the first place. You've got to love that Stephon Marbury's on the ballot and Millsap isn't.
Millsap's All-Star case gets stronger almost by the game. He had 27 points and 14 rebounds for his 19th consecutive double-double Wednesday against New Orleans.
That's the longest double-double streak by any NBA player since Kevin Garnett and the longest streak by a Jazz player since John Stockton.
Not only that, Millsap outplayed New Orleans' David West, an All-Star selection last season who was coming off a career-high 40-point game Tuesday against the Lakers. West had 13 points and six rebounds but went 4 of 14 with three turnovers.
For a stretch early in the second quarter, the Jazz's best offensive option seemed to be missing jumpers and watching Millsap go after the rebound and score. Millsap set the tone as the Jazz embarrassed New Orleans 55-26 on the glass.
You also might as well copy and paste this, because you'll never read Jerry Sloan gush about a player the way he did Millsap after Wednesday's game.
"I don't know what we're going to do with Millsap, he keeps getting better every game," Sloan said. "He's played very hard.
"It's really exciting to see a guy, the opportunity came to him, he took advantage of it, and really helped himself and used his determination to try and make himself a better player.
"I wish all young guys could take that route. If they did, I think we would all be a lot happier. He's worked, never said a word, worked hard every day and still does. It's nice to see him rewarded for it or eventually. But the one thing, he's doing things to help us win games."
Millsap is now averaging 18.5 points and 11.7 rebounds in the 20 games since he replaced Boozer in the starting lineup. He played in the All-Star rookie/sophomore game the last two years, but harbored no illusions of returning for the All-Star Game itself.
"It's tough to think like that when you're coming off the bench," Millsap said. "We never expected what happened to happen [with Boozer]. But it did happen and I'm starting right now and just trying to continue to build off that."
Millsap said everything depended on the Jazz's record. "For anybody to have any chance of doing anything, you've got to win," he said. I asked Deron Williams after Wednesday's game if he thought Millsap was an All-Star right now.
"It's tough," Williams said. "The first part of the season, he wasn't playing the type of minutes. If you take those away, he's probably averaging 20 and 10 since he's been the starter."
"He's doing all the right things," Williams added. "There's some big decisions this summer with him. We definitely want him back. He's playing so great for us right now at both ends of the floor. I like playing with him."
It's not going to be easy for Millsap, with a crowded field of West forwards that includes Carmelo Anthony, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire and West. Duncan and Stoudemire are in line to be voted starters right now.
* * *
Everybody's predicting a huge payday for Millsap this summer. I'm not so sure. Not because he doesn't deserve it, but because he's a restricted free agent with everything that entails.
The Jazz will have the right to match any offer Millsap receives. They could be proactive in trying to re-sign Millsap from the stroke of midnight July 1 or they could tell him to go out and try to find an offer from another team and they'll take things from there.
It would be a huge gamble, but Millsap could opt to sign the qualifying offer and hit the market as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2010. There undoubtedly will be more money to spend that summer than in 2009.
As an unrestricted free agent, Millsap could probably double or triple what he would stand to make this summer as a restricted one. At the same time, he'd be risking everything if he were to suffer a serious injury.
Obviously, there's a long way to go before any decisions are made. But we saw last summer with Josh Childress that restricted free agency can be such a difficult situation, some players even have to head to Europe to find the dollars they think they deserve.
* * *
The Jazz still are not back in the Western Conference's top eight, though they're only percentage points behind Phoenix. Williams was asked afterward how concerned he was about the Jazz's position.
"There's no way you can't be worried in the West because of how tough it is," Williams said. "We're sitting in ninth and the next team has like 15 wins. We have some catching up to do. But we're not too far out, we're not too bad. We still can win our division. We've just got to put together a string of wins. We're heading in the right direction."
* * *
Not surprisingly, the Hornets left everything in Los Angeles after beating the Lakers on Tuesday night. The Jazz now have taken the first two steps in starting a winning streak, but they couldn't take much away from beating a weary team Wednesday.
"I'm so proud of how we played today," Williams said. "We knew they were going to be tired from playing L.A. and we took advantage of that and Paul had a monster game. It's just a great all-around victory for us."
If you're keeping track, New Orleans was the seventh team to arrive in Utah this season to play the second game of a back-to-back set. The Jazz also will face Detroit and Indiana in the same situation to close out this four-game homestand.
* * *
Brevin Knight said he was going to use this homestand to learn the streets of Salt Lake City a little better. He was told it was hard to get lost in a city laid out in a grid in relation to the Temple. "They told me the grid," Knight said, "but I want to get around a little bit more."
* * *
I gave Deron Williams my copies of Pearl Jam's "Ten" and Stone Temple Pilots' "Purple," but he gave them back instead of furthering his musical education. He did ask if I bought "Purple" because I felt bad for him. I wish I'd told him I didn't know him in eighth grade.
--Ross Siler
I'm wondering if a player's ever been chosen to play in the All-Star Game who wasn't even on the All-Star ballot in the first place. You've got to love that Stephon Marbury's on the ballot and Millsap isn't.
Millsap's All-Star case gets stronger almost by the game. He had 27 points and 14 rebounds for his 19th consecutive double-double Wednesday against New Orleans.
That's the longest double-double streak by any NBA player since Kevin Garnett and the longest streak by a Jazz player since John Stockton.
Not only that, Millsap outplayed New Orleans' David West, an All-Star selection last season who was coming off a career-high 40-point game Tuesday against the Lakers. West had 13 points and six rebounds but went 4 of 14 with three turnovers.
For a stretch early in the second quarter, the Jazz's best offensive option seemed to be missing jumpers and watching Millsap go after the rebound and score. Millsap set the tone as the Jazz embarrassed New Orleans 55-26 on the glass.
You also might as well copy and paste this, because you'll never read Jerry Sloan gush about a player the way he did Millsap after Wednesday's game.
"I don't know what we're going to do with Millsap, he keeps getting better every game," Sloan said. "He's played very hard.
"It's really exciting to see a guy, the opportunity came to him, he took advantage of it, and really helped himself and used his determination to try and make himself a better player.
"I wish all young guys could take that route. If they did, I think we would all be a lot happier. He's worked, never said a word, worked hard every day and still does. It's nice to see him rewarded for it or eventually. But the one thing, he's doing things to help us win games."
Millsap is now averaging 18.5 points and 11.7 rebounds in the 20 games since he replaced Boozer in the starting lineup. He played in the All-Star rookie/sophomore game the last two years, but harbored no illusions of returning for the All-Star Game itself.
"It's tough to think like that when you're coming off the bench," Millsap said. "We never expected what happened to happen [with Boozer]. But it did happen and I'm starting right now and just trying to continue to build off that."
Millsap said everything depended on the Jazz's record. "For anybody to have any chance of doing anything, you've got to win," he said. I asked Deron Williams after Wednesday's game if he thought Millsap was an All-Star right now.
"It's tough," Williams said. "The first part of the season, he wasn't playing the type of minutes. If you take those away, he's probably averaging 20 and 10 since he's been the starter."
"He's doing all the right things," Williams added. "There's some big decisions this summer with him. We definitely want him back. He's playing so great for us right now at both ends of the floor. I like playing with him."
It's not going to be easy for Millsap, with a crowded field of West forwards that includes Carmelo Anthony, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire and West. Duncan and Stoudemire are in line to be voted starters right now.
* * *
Everybody's predicting a huge payday for Millsap this summer. I'm not so sure. Not because he doesn't deserve it, but because he's a restricted free agent with everything that entails.
The Jazz will have the right to match any offer Millsap receives. They could be proactive in trying to re-sign Millsap from the stroke of midnight July 1 or they could tell him to go out and try to find an offer from another team and they'll take things from there.
It would be a huge gamble, but Millsap could opt to sign the qualifying offer and hit the market as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2010. There undoubtedly will be more money to spend that summer than in 2009.
As an unrestricted free agent, Millsap could probably double or triple what he would stand to make this summer as a restricted one. At the same time, he'd be risking everything if he were to suffer a serious injury.
Obviously, there's a long way to go before any decisions are made. But we saw last summer with Josh Childress that restricted free agency can be such a difficult situation, some players even have to head to Europe to find the dollars they think they deserve.
* * *
The Jazz still are not back in the Western Conference's top eight, though they're only percentage points behind Phoenix. Williams was asked afterward how concerned he was about the Jazz's position.
"There's no way you can't be worried in the West because of how tough it is," Williams said. "We're sitting in ninth and the next team has like 15 wins. We have some catching up to do. But we're not too far out, we're not too bad. We still can win our division. We've just got to put together a string of wins. We're heading in the right direction."
* * *
Not surprisingly, the Hornets left everything in Los Angeles after beating the Lakers on Tuesday night. The Jazz now have taken the first two steps in starting a winning streak, but they couldn't take much away from beating a weary team Wednesday.
"I'm so proud of how we played today," Williams said. "We knew they were going to be tired from playing L.A. and we took advantage of that and Paul had a monster game. It's just a great all-around victory for us."
If you're keeping track, New Orleans was the seventh team to arrive in Utah this season to play the second game of a back-to-back set. The Jazz also will face Detroit and Indiana in the same situation to close out this four-game homestand.
* * *
Brevin Knight said he was going to use this homestand to learn the streets of Salt Lake City a little better. He was told it was hard to get lost in a city laid out in a grid in relation to the Temple. "They told me the grid," Knight said, "but I want to get around a little bit more."
* * *
I gave Deron Williams my copies of Pearl Jam's "Ten" and Stone Temple Pilots' "Purple," but he gave them back instead of furthering his musical education. He did ask if I bought "Purple" because I felt bad for him. I wish I'd told him I didn't know him in eighth grade.
--Ross Siler
1:22 AM
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3 Comments:
Do you know why the Jazz got a freethrow after Miles went down? I didn't hear a whistle, and the Hornets went on offense and it took a foul to stop the game, which appeared to have given the Hornets three freethrows.
It's frustrating to get no explanation from the tv announcers.
I hope Millsap and the Jazz can work something out this Summer. He has an incredible motor out there on the court that you don't see in most NBA players. His work ethic and determination have impressed me since he was a rookie. It's fun to watch Millsap coming into his own and watching his development, hopefully that trend will continue with a lucrative extension.
Great album recommendations. Pearl Jam's "Ten" and Stone Temple Pilots' "Purple," are definitely in my top 5 albums from the 90s. Those two albums alone changed my perspective on music for the better. Too bad Williams passed them off, he's missing out on some great music.
Jeremy,
James Posey got a technical.
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