COLUMN:Jazz need to inject energy and passion
You know it’s a bad sign when you write a column about the future being bright for a team and then you come back two months later and talk about how drastic change is needed for that same team.
Three things make me feel a little better about it, though.
1. I still think the future is bright for the Jazz; it just might take a little longer than expected.
2. I wasn’t the one who said the Cleveland Cavaliers would win the NBA Finals before LeBron.
3. Writers always get things wrong. It must mean I’m on the right path.
Yes, the Jazz need to shake things up. As one friend put it, they need a “youth movement,” and although it might sound like some hip phrase from the `70s, it really is what they need.
Too many times this season, the Jazz have looked out of sync and lethargic.
At the start of the season, people shrugged it off as just an after-effect of the lockout – myself included. That certainly seemed to be the case, too, after the Jazz shrugged off their early season defeats and threw together a nice string of wins and had one commentator calling them “the hottest team in the NBA.”
Now, at 18-19, they’re as cold as ice. That lethargy is back and more evident than ever.
Something has to change.
It’s time to let the young players inject some energy and passion into this squad.
Do you ever look at the facial expression of Al Jefferson and Devin Harris and wonder “how on earth can we win with guys who look so disinterested?” They play the whole game with the same demeanor and look on their face. Nothing ever changes. I never feel like they are going to come through in the clutch, because by the way they act and look it seems they don’t think they will, either. How can Utah develop a championship-caliber team when its so-called best players play like that? They can’t.
First, the Jazz need to find a new starting point guard. Harris hasn’t done the job. Since leaving Dallas, he hasn’t done anything except play for losing teams. Earl Watson is a great backup point guard but not a starter.
Every championship team for as long as I can remember has had a great guard – point or shooting – and the Jazz have neither.
So, besides finding a suitable point guard, it’s also time to sit Raja Bell down and let Alec Burks take over the starting roll. Burks has had some really good moments this season, and he can’t do much worse than Raja has since coming back to Utah. Just let him play. With that being said, C.J. Miles also needs to go. What does he give the Jazz? Yeah, I don’t know either.
Al Jefferson has played on one winning team his entire career and that was his rookie season. In short, he’s a perennial loser. His offense is good but replaceable. His defense is bad and also replaceable.
He needs be traded.
Let Millsap and Favors take care of things down low. Millsap has been the best Jazz player the last two seasons, and Favors can be better than Jefferson on offense and defense. That’s not to mention that their combined salary is less than Jefferson’s, and a lower salary is something every NBA team wants.
Next, let Gordon Hayward play more and give him the ball more. He just needs confidence; he’ll be a quality forward in the NBA.
Finally, stop drafting and acquiring white, un-athletic big men. The NBA is dominated by athletic black guys that can dunk and shoot. If you’re white and you want to succeed in the NBA, you have to be athletic or be able to shoot. The big men the Jazz get can’t do either. We don’t need any more Ostertags, Fesenkos, Koufouses or Kanters.
Please, Utah, for my sanity, as well as every other Jazz fan’s, change things up.
– 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 comments to eliason.wright3@aggiemail.usu.edu.