Utah Jazz Season Preview 2008-2009

Here at Sparty and Friends, we have reached NBA preview time. There will be one team per work day leading up to the season opener (Celts vs. Cavs, October 28that 8pm on TNT). The teams are ordered by record starting with last place and going up through the non-playoff teams, followed by the playoff teams in order of elimination (or lack there of in the Celtics’ case). You can find the full list of our previews here.  We knocked off the Heat, got hate mail about the Thunder, had a guest writer for the ExpressGrizz, praised the T-Wolves marketing team, got lazy and had a Clip show, went to the circus that is the Knicks roster, took the Buck by the hornsantlers, met a cat named “Bob”, ran with the Bulls and a “(pat)phish”, we put it in the Net, kept Pace, put the King in check, Blazed the Trail, Warrior’d up, Nugg’d it, rapped withthe Raptors, cowboy’d up with the Mavs, might as well have been walkin’ on the Suns, couldn’t figure out a good pun for 76ers, were the Wiz and nobody beats us, we Rock’d it, delivered a “Trey” o’ Magic, searched for Atlantais, and now we try to Jazz it up a little…

So we have reached our first division winner from last year. I can just feel the NBA season coming at this point. It’s starting to get cold outside. This actually tells you nothing if you live in Utah though. I hear that it’s pretty cold there a lot of the time. I also hear that they love the Jazz out there. I want to clarify that though. They love the Jazz. They don’t love jazz. In fact, it may have been banned out there. Sometimes I like to picture Utah as one giant town from Footloose. Besides being a funny image, you get to imagine Kevin Bacon showing up and deciding that they weren’t doing things the right way and changing things until it all comes to a dance-scene climax. Actually, I always secretly hoped that the Jazz would become a complete failure so that one of two things could happen. Either (a) some guy shows up with radical ideas and turns it around and they win a championship and then they make a movie about it starring Kevin Bacon, or (b) the same thing happens but with two differences. (a) They don’t end up making a movie about it, and (b) the guy who shows up and leads them to the championship is Kevin Bacon. So, yeah, I have a great vision for this team’s future. (But my serious one is after the jump though.)

Our next step towards a dance-scene climax is the usual…

Last Year’s Record: 54-28 (1st in Northwest Division, 6th in Western Conference, 8th in the NBA)

Coach: Jerry Sloan

Expected Starting Lineup: Deron Williams, Ronnie Brewer, Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur

Expected Bench Contributors: Ronnie Price, Kyle Korver, Paul Milsap, Matt Harpring

If you were wondering, I do intend on holding you in suspense on whether or not this preview ends in a dance-scene. Just making sure you knew. And no peaking! Now on to the the actual preview.

These guys. Plus AK47. I'm not the photographer, OK!

The starting five here is solid. A top three point guard (Williams), a rising star of a wing player (Brewer), an all around player at small forward (AK47), a rebounder with decent scoring skills (Guy who abuses alcoholic beverages Boozer), and a pretty good center who is capable of hitting the jumper (Okur)? Sounds good to me. Not to mention the fact that these guys have now been together for a few years and are capable of creating a chemistry that will really help this team gel and move through the playoffs if they are lucky.

The bench is also very interesting for this team. Not very many people know who Ronnie Price is. If you do know who he is the chances are that it is because of one of six things. You are a big NBA fan, you are a big Jazz fan, you follow Utah Valley State sports (by the way, apparently Utah Valley State College is now Utah Valley University as of July 1st), you are related to Ronnie price by blood, you saw this from two years ago… … or this from last year… That’s right. Two extra YouTube clips today because of Ronnie Price. You can thank him later. Or whenever you can find him actually. He’s an NBA player. It’s probably hard to get his attention. Needless to say (since you saw those clips), he has talent. He also is the backup for Deron Williams. We may have a Michael Turner scenario here.

Ol' deep eyes.

Ashton Kutcher Kyle Korver is really the sixth man for this team. He of the %47 field-goal percentage and the crazy eyes. Since coming over from Philly last year (for Gordan Giricek and a top 10 protected first-rounder) in midseason, he has solidified a bench that used to be a substantial weakness. Paul Milsap is also helping with that effort as he continues to prove to people that he is a legitimate NBA player and not a guy who had a few big games after coming out of Louisiana Tech two years ago. Although I do think that some of the Karl Malone comparisons are a little bit out of hand, you have to admit that the similarities are a little strange. They did both go to Louisiana Tech, play for the Jazz, play the same position, and the difference in size in one inch and two pounds. They even grew up only 40 miles away from each other in Louisiana. I guess the Jazz can hope that he turns into the next Karl Malone (hopefully play-wise and not ring-wise for them) but it is obviously unlikely. Matt Harpring is a Jazz bench staple that is still useful to them as well.

What does all this get them? They are obviously going to be near the top of the West again, but what will they do in the playoffs? Last year they had some trouble. Maybe this year they will have the experience to get over the hump.

Your Youtube clip for today is the dance clip from the end of Footloose. No, seriously, it is. What are you whining about anyway? You got the two Ronnie Price clips!

Prediction: 53-58 wins, 3-7 in the Western Conference