COLUMN: New school Jazz schools
Andrei Kirilenko is gone.
With his departure at the start of this season, the last player on the Jazz that had connections with the Stockton to Malone era is also gone.
For the first time since the 1983-84 season, the season before John Stockton was drafted and two before Karl Malone was drafted, there’s not a player on the Jazz roster who played with, or a head coach who coached, the All-time assists leader and the Mailman.
With a completely new start, the 2011-12 Utah Jazz will look to regain the consistency that was so prevalent from the mid-80s until just after the turn of the century.
For 19 seasons the Jazz were the epitome of consistency. They had 19 consecutive playoff appearances. They had one owner and one head coach. They had one dynamic duo that missed as many games in their careers as Carlos Boozer played in a Jazz uniform — OK, he might have played more than the 33 games, but just barely. And they had a Delta Center that gave opposing teams all they could handle.
Since the duo’s absence, there has been no consistency. The last eight seasons have been filled with four playoff appearances and four playoff absences. Heck, they even made it to the conference finals just a year after not even making the playoffs. Carlos Arroyo was the starting point guard for a time, only to be replaced by Deron Williams — he’s got to love playing for the 2-9 Nets now.
Boozer came along and it looked like Stockton to Malone 2.0 would occur. Then Boozer had finger, neck, knee, back, elbow and toenail issues. Williams took matters into his own hands, coaches Sloan and Johnson stepped down and even the Delta Center lost out to Energy Solutions Arena.
Sometimes complete change isn’t the worst thing. For the Jazz it looks like it’ll be for the best.
As hard as it is to say goodbye to the good ol’ days of Jazz basketball, it’s exciting and promising to see what they’ve got in store.
They’ve filled the lineup mostly with new, young and energetic players looking to prove they belong in the NBA. Along with the young and new faces, the Jazz also don’t have any perennial All-stars — only Devin Harris and Josh Howard have played in the mid-season extravaganza — and only once for each of them. They’ve all got something to prove — even coach Corbin.
The Jazz were written off at the start of the season as a team that wouldn’t survive in the star-heavy West. After Utah got demolished by the Bynum-less Lakers and Nuggets and then got hammered by the Spurs for the 96th-straight time, it looked like Utah deserved to be written off.
Let’s not forget, though, this is a team with an almost brand-new coach, young players and a new system that had to try and get everyone on the same page in an extremely short training camp/pre-season. You can’t expect to integrate rookies and new signees with a new defense and not have any hiccups. The first four games of the season showed that.
What happens, though, when those things are worked out?
Well, eight wins in nine games come along, with an overtime loss against the Lakers being the only slip-up.
The Jazz still have plenty of games to go, but with their recent performances, Jazz fans should be excited not just about their potential for this year, but for many years to come.
– Spencer is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. He supports Manchester United and hopes to live long enough to watch the Cubs win a World Series. Send any comments to s.eliason3@gmail.com.