Expectations were mixed early this season when it came to the Jazz, and for good reason. 20/10 man Boozer took his talents (and his propensity to get injured) elsewhere, budding rookie Wes Matthews got a handsome offer from Portland, and the Jazz said "no thanks" to the idea of bringing Korver and Brewer back. Mid summer, the only bright spot seemed to be the acquisition of Al Jefferson, who although being a 20/10 guy himself, still had question marks.
It's always a risk when you pick up a seemingly good player from a bad team. Not only can it be difficult to accurately gauge their talent, but players on losing teams tend to develop the mentality that losing is normal, maybe even that it's supposed to happen, and thus have roadblocks in taking their game to the next level. Could Jefferson overcome any loser mentality he may have? Could he handle only being a piece on a team and not the main focus? Could he learn to play defense under Sloan?
The first two games of the season, the answers looked to be "no". Jefferson wasn't the only piece that seemed to not fit. There couldn't have been a better time in sports history to use the term "discombobulated". Miscommunications abounded, players didn't know when to cut, when to set a pick, when to roll. It looked like a bunch of amateurs playing a bad pick-up game.
It's was about what I expected to see, though. I kept telling my friend that I didn't expect them to find their groove until 10-15 games into the season. When you add six new faces, there's going to be a big learning curve, especially when some of these faces are expected to fill big roles. Several games passed and the team still looked like they were on different pages. Surprisingly, however, they were managing to coming out with wins.
Now 20 games into the season, I can say they're really starting to hit their stride. Their average margin of victory since game 13 against the Spurs has gone from +0.2 to +5.1 thanks to a seven-game winning streak. The Jazz are playing as good of team basketball as I've seen in a while. They're comfortable with their roles and confident in each other. Even the questionable acquisitions of Earl Watson and Fransisco Elson are panning out. Over the last seven games, they've scored double what they did in the first 13. Granted, their minutes have increased tremendously, but Sloan doesn't give away playing time for free.
There are a couple abnormalities this season. The first of which is free throw shooting. Ever since the team rebuilt, the Jazz have been around 20th in the league in this category. This year, they're currently ranked 3rd with just over .800 shooting. That has helped them win at least a few ball games that they wouldn't have otherwise, because the second abnormality is lack of rebounding.
The Jazz have always been a very good rebounding team, typically ranking in the top three or four throughout the season. And this year? The rebounding woes have been so obvious that John Schuhmann had this to say in his power rankings: "Don't think they miss Carlos Boozer? They were outrebounded by 43 in four games last week and rank 28th in rebounding after ranking no worse than fifth in the four seasons he played at least 50 games."
This is an abnormality that I don't expect to stick around. They have two guys capable of a 20/10 on any given night starting, not to mention AK-47, Okur, Elson, and Fesenko. In the last two games, the Jazz have managed to out-rebound their opponents by 36. The Bucks and Pacers aren't necessarily slackers on the boards, either, ranking ninth and 12th respectively. It's a small sample, but it looks like everything is shaping up the way Jazz fans all hoped.
To answer your question, John, don't think we're missing who?
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