by Ron Richards
November 24, 2006
That is what Jazz fans are asking, wondering, praying, dreaming about, and
tenderly testing with a hesitant big toe sticking through a woolen sock.....
We’ve fallen in before. Twice in the last two years the ice has seemed stable
enough to drive a car on, once two years ago we started hot and then fell
through the ice, never to stop shivering until the warm sun of June put a stop
to our feverish shivering and advanced hypothermia.
I almost died. Lost faith. Stopped listening to Jazz and started searching for
other channels on the radio, tried country western, flirted with elevator music,
sampled Seventies, Eighties, Hard Rock, Punk Whatever, anything to get me
through, to make it until another season started and hope was reborn anew.
Now I hear the strands of pure Jazz once again, and the sweet golden sounds of a
sultry steaming horn soars once again in the Delta....err.....ESA Center. Ouch.
The Jazz have been in the City by the Brine for a long, long time. Careers have
come and gone, players have grown old before our eyes and numbers have been
lifted to the rafters, along with Conference and Division Titles aplenty.
Only one is lacking.
Never have the Jazz had a hotter start or fielded a younger, more athletic team.
No, not even the John Stockton and Karl Malone led mega teams that steamed their
way through the year until being derailed by MJ and The Bulls in the finals.
Just how thick is that ice? Is it thick enough to walk on? Dance on? Drive a car
on? Win a title upon with the Jazz Express steaming vapor trails behind it as it
storms through San Antonio, Dallas, Phoenix? Steamrollers through whatever so-so
team escapes the East?
Let me fill you in on a couple of things.
First, I hate ice fishing. It’s cold. Most of the time, the ice is wet and the
wind is blowing. It was sunny and warm the day before, and my friends always say
I can’t believe the fish aren’t biting today, because they were going crazy the
day before. My hands get cold. My feet get cold. My nose gets cold. My......we
won’t go there. Yes, even that.
But.......That was last year. Two years ago. This is now, the sun is shining,
it’s warm, and the deity damned ice is thick enough to warrant a oil-rig drill
to even get deep enough to freeze your tender tootsies off while waiting for a
fishy.
Yes, my friends, this might just be the year.
The year for what, you might say? Another year of dashed hopes, of almost was,
of dreams discarded once again by the wayside?
No, my gentle Jazz friends.
The Year.
The Year of the Title.
Sit back down, disbelievers. Swallow that tongue back down where it belongs, ye
of little faith. Holster that Glock and put the brass knuckles back in your
overall’s pockets. There is no need for violence, mockery or faithlessness, for
this indeed might be that year we’ve waited for since the Jazz literally snuck
into to Salt Lake in the dark of night.
This team is for real. It has everything except the rapidly growing respect of
everyone else in the NBA Community, and that’s changing by the minute. The Jazz
are #1 in all of the power polls. The Jazz are deemed the most athletic team in
the league by more than one pundit. Carlos Boozer is arguably the most viable
candidate for MVP in the early churnings of the NBA grist mill. Deron Williams
is the hottest and currently best young point in the game, surpassing Chris Paul
in a whirlwind of double doubles and game winning shots unequaled since....Shhhhh....John
Stockton. Andre Kirilenko, while missing a few games to a sprained ankle, is the
most disruptive and deadly defensive player in the game, and a true superstar.
Memo Okur has developed into the most effective offensive center in the NBA, and
his defense has improved steadily over his first tentative games in the Delta
Center. Matt Harpring has regained not only his health and strong knees, he’s
once again a solid sixth man off the bench who must be considered as one of the
best in his position, if not the best. Ronnie Brewer is a young
rookie....Thanks, Hots...Who is currently starting and realizing he can be a
force in this league, and everyone else is being forced to recognize the same
fact. The Kid can flat out play, funny jump shot or not. And Paul Millsap?
That topic and Paul ‘Kirby’ Millsap deserves another paragraph or two of his
own.
Like just about everyone else except the Jazz front office, I thought Paul might
be a marginal NBA player, a rebounding specialist, a role player who could help
a team as depth off the bench. Boy.......Was I wrong. From almost the first time
I saw Paul play in the Jazz’s summer league, I found myself watching a special
talent, a rebounding maniac with a soft touch, spring cables for legs,
suction-cupped claws for hands, and an incredible sixth sense of being in the
right place at the perfect time. Paul is unassuming, sleepy looking, mild
mannered until he takes off his warm-up, and the large red S becomes apparent on
his Super Jersey. Yes, he’s that good. How good?
We don’t have the faintest clue yet. He’s undersized for a power forward, and
that hurt him in the draft and cost him millions of dollars. Don’t feel badly
for him, because the next contract will take care of that.
Paul possesses something that very few players in the NBA have ever had. It’s
not easily described, and hard to explain. A very good way to try is just watch
the ball, then look for Kirby Millsap. They’re usually in the same proximity, so
much so that if you were following the ball with a camera, Paul might be in the
picture more than any other player. Watch the ball, see Paul. See Paul rebound.
See Paul deflect the pass. See Paul smother-block a shot like very few have ever
done. See Paul play effective and smothering defense on anyone.....Literally
anyone he’s assigned to guard....Big or small, fast or strong, any position, any
place and all the time. I predict that he will be a mainstay on the
All-Defensive team for years to come, joining his own team-mate from Russia,
forming the nucleus of a defensive juggernaught of mighty proportions.
Oh........And see Paul score. He can do all of that, and have enough offensive
game to make an impact scoring, aside from all the other things he can do
supremely well. I was taken to task suggesting that the Jazz could weather a
Boozer absence for a while without losing a beat. That’s true, just as I
suggested that the Jazz could weather losing Kirilenko and Giricek for a short
time. Seems I was right. It’s not a knock on Carlos, because right now he’s the
best big in the league. It’s more of a warning, an announcement of just how good
this big kid from Louisiana is going to be. Mighty good. Damn good. Just how
good depends entirely on how bad he wants it and works at it. It will be fun to
watch.
There are other players on the team, and three very important ones at that.
Derek Fisher is a veteran, a ring wearer, and the glue that holds this team
together, keeps it honest and humble, and provides toughness, grit, and the
courage to take any shot, any time, with everything on the line and the heart to
look defeat in the eye and spit at it without a nerve in his body. So far his
game has been a little off, but his heart and guts are apparent for anyone with
an eye in their head.
Gordan Giricek is a habitual dog house inhabitant in Jerry’s house. Bless me,
but I think he’s figured it out. I certainly hope so, because he is very
talented, a good defensive player who could be the final piece of the puzzle
that lifts the Jazz to Elite status, for he is the best long range shooter the
Jazz have, and sorely needed. Sometimes it just takes the right circumstances,
the right team-mates, and everything just clicks. I hear it clicking,
clicking........
CJ Miles is currently struggling, and losing confidence like I spend money. I
have to keep reminding myself that he’s only nineteen, and has shown flashes of
brilliance that will eventually become commonplace. Luckily for him this team
has enough depth and strength at his position to cover his learning stumbles,
for eventually he too will be a mainstay on this supremely talented team.
Dee Brown, Collins and Haffa are role players on this team, limited to sparse
minutes but each capable of playing if need be, Collins especially. That he has
been relegated to such few minutes is not a reflection on his lack of worth, but
that this team is that good.
When I started out writing this article, I toyed with the idea of comparing the
Jazz with each team that has a chance of going to the finals, but decided
against it. The reason? Simple.
The only team that can beat this team is the Jazz itself. They have not reached
anywhere near the playing perfection that this team is capable of, and yet
they’re 11-1. San Antonio, Dallas, Phoenix, the Clippers, the Rockets, all of
the teams in the west except the Lakers are as good as they’re ever going to be,
right now, and the Lakers aren’t as deep as the Jazz, or possess the heart that
this team has in aplenty.
I’m not guaranteeing a championship, that would be stupid, for San Antonio is a
scary team that has been there and wants it again. Dallas is the next most
talented team in the NBA and had the Championship stolen from them last year.
They’ll want to correct that. Phoenix is very, very good with the best playmaker
in the game until Deron takes that title away from him very soon.
What I do believe, and very strongly, is that the Jazz are the most talented,
yet least experienced Elite team in the league. If they can overcome that
inexperience, rise to the potential that exists on this team, a Championship
will be the result. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but the
pieces of the puzzle are in place. It’s been said that a team has to have two
superstars to win a championship, and sufficient role players to lift them up.
The Jazz have three Superstars........ Carlos, Deron, and Andre. All in the top
two or three of their position, all potential all-league and all-star. Memo is
flirting with their Elite status, but there simply isn’t enough touches for him
to score at their level, and he’s man enough and team oriented enough to realize
that. Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap will both be on the all rookie team, and
Paul might take the rookie of the year award away from Adam Morrison, right now
his only real competition. Paul is handicapped by being on such a talented team,
and relegated to limited minutes compared to Morrison.
The superstars are there. The role players are there.
Only time will tell if this is the year.
What do I think if backed into a corner?
Antarctica should be jealous.
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