If you haven’t read Daily Basketball’s preview of the Utah Jazz, scroll down to the next post or click the link below. Here are the Northwest Division Previews:
Utah Jazz
Daily Basketball
Taking it to the Rack
Basketball John
Seattle Supersonics
Sonics Central
Portland Trail Blazers
TrueHoop
The Inferno
Timberwolves
TWolves Blog
Denver Nuggets
Nugg Doctor
Blog Previews Archives
CelticsBlog NBA Section
Last year’s record: 51-31 (0.617)
Players added: Jason Hart, Ronnie Price, Morris Almond, Kyrylo Fesenko
Players dropped from roster: Derek Fisher, Rafael Araujo, Dee Brown
1. What significant moves were made during the off-season?
Aside from the loss of starting shooting guard Derek Fisher, the biggest offseason news was the lack of any big shake-ups on the roster. Fisher didn’t have a great season with the Jazz last year, but his leadership brought the team together in the playoffs. Voiding his contract was a short-term loss, but an long-term gain. Considering Utah has a respectable hospital and Fisher almost immediately signed with the Lakers, it’s hard to believe the situation was all a result of his daughter’s surgery, but there’s no need for Jazz fans to worry about it.
Rafael Araujo and Dee Brown were both project players, and while both were fan favorites for their hard work and respective ties to the team (BYU, and Deron Williams), neither of the two players showed potential to be anything more than a serviceable reserve.
The two glaring needs this offseason were to get a quality starting shooting guard and a shotblocking center. The Jazz seem to be going with their chances that one of their guards (Hart, Price, C.J. Miles, Morris Almond, Ronnie Brewer or Gordan Giricek) can step in at shooting guard and produce for the team. Right now, that player is Ronnie Brewer. Most fans expected the Jazz to trade for a veteran addition to play a large chunk of minutes at shooting guard, but the team has focused on versatility and may play either a second point guard or a small forward instead of the typical three-pointer jacker.
Ronnie Price and Jason Hart look to compete more for minutes at the backup point guard positions, as both are undersized. Both have struggled to pick the Jazz offense, an obvious problem. Hart seems to have the initial edge over Price, yet somehow he has dished zero assists in four of six preseason games so far.
Andrei Kirilenko earned himself a lot of attention this offseason, first in a positive light. His play in the EuroBasket competition impressed everybody, and raised his trade value, before promptly demanding a trade. While a large share of Jazz fans would have loved to acquire Shawn Marion, Andrei Kirilenko has played unselfishly in preseason play, keeping his lips sealed and filling up the stat sheet — although it still makes me cringe to see him shoot a jump shot.
Chicago Bulls
Cobra Brigade
Bull Riding
Cleveland Cavaliers
YAYSports!
The POJO Dojo
Cavalier Attitude
Truth in a Bullet Fedora
Detroit Pistons
PistonsNationBlog
Empty The Bench
Need4Sheed
Motoring
Indiana Pacers
Indy Cornrows
Pacers Pulse
Milwaukee Bucks
Bango’s Bunch
Archives
CelticsBlog NBA Page
Also see: Southwest Previews | Atlantic Previews
Another set of NBA Preview links…this time for the Pacific Division.
San Antonio Spurs
Spur of the Moment
Pounding the Rock
New Orleans
Hornets 24/7
The New Orleans Hornets Fan
Memphis
Shades of Blue
Houston
HoopsBlogging
Dallas
Showboating
Archives
CelticsBlog NBA Page
In case you somehow missed the highlights last spring, a Division II team grabbed lots of attention for its amazing comeback victory over Winona State in the DII Championship Game.
Barton came back from a seven point deficit with less than a minute left to end Winona State’s huge 57-game winning streak coming in to the game. Winona State doesn’t even begin to look worried until 25 seconds are left in the game.
In an article for USA Today, Barton’s athletic director recognized how amazing their feat was. “It’s almost a bad Disney movie. You couldn’t write a script where one guy scores 10 points in 38 seconds to win a national championship. The thought was that if you write that, people wouldn’t believe it. But we saw it.”
Jeff Clark has spent a lot of time getting NBA bloggers to collaborate and put together the best collection of previews ever created. Throughout the month of October, all 30 teams will be previewed, typically by several different blogs.
Here are the links to the Atlantic Division previews:
CelticsÂ
Celtics Blog
LOY’s Place
Celtics 17
Red’s Army
Celtics 24/7
Nets
Hooplah Nation
Knicks
Straight Bangin’
Posting and Toasting
Sixers
Passion and Pride
Raptors
HoopsAddict
Archives
CelticsBlog NBA Page
