Never Satisfied

[RonnieBrewer (Ronnie Brewer)]

Jazz: Never Satisfied
By  Travis Heath
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Oct 26, 2006, 21:10 

"No, it doesn't mean a thing.  Nobody will ever know it happened.  This team
is good.  This team is very good (in Denver)."

Above are the words of Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan after your friendly
neighborhood columnist asked him if Utah's win over Denver on Tuesday could
potentially give his team some momentum in the Northwest Division when the
regular season begins.

Would you expect anything less from the old ball coach?

"They didn't play a lot of their players, and I've got to play as many guys
as I can to see what we're going to do,"  Sloan continued inferring that
neither team was playing like they will when the regular season kicks off.
"It looked like they pretty much did the same thing.  We've got a lot of
young guys and they've got to try learn how to do what we want them to do.
To some extent I think (we) did a pretty good job."

Well, at least Sloan admitted that the Jazz did a "pretty good job."

While a preseason win might not mean anything, every NBA club prefers winning
to the alternative -- especially when that win comes against a division rival.

Despite the win, Sloan is concerned about his team's ability to defend.  The
fact that J.R. Smith nailed eight shots from beyond the arc on Tuesday didn't
help.

"Well, (Denver) made them and we've got to guard them.  I told our guys on
a couple of possessions to face-guard them and just get up on them and make
somebody else shoot . . . and we still didn't get to them.  It's a hard
lesson, and a terrible teacher," Sloan said with a smile.

"I think that we're not concentrating and trying to get the game over," the
head coach continued.  "That's where it's so frustrating, because when you're
out there to play you've got to try to learn each day how you can be a better
player instead of just trying to be cool.  And there's too much of trying to
be cool, you know.  We're not good enough to do that."

Sloan's postgame message hasn't been lost on the players, either.

"I wouldn't say we are in great shape right now," said forward Andrei
Kirilenko.  "But we understand each other a little better and we understand
what coach wants."

One player who really seems to understand what Sloan wants is Paul Millsap,
and the coach believes the team doesn't lose anything when he puts the rookie
on the floor.

"I think Millsap's played awfully well in the minutes I've played with him.
He steps out on the floor and we're still competing.  He does what he's
supposed to do.  He knows where he's supposed to go.  He's a very intelligent
player, and he seems to understand what his role and position is on the
floor."

Sloan continued by addressing the play of second-year swingman C.J. Miles.

"I think C.J., you can see when he gets around the basket his strength is
not there.  He'll shoot the ball out on the floor, but he's got to be able
to defend.  He's much, much, much farther along than he was last year, but
he's still got a lot to learn."

While Miles needs to get stronger going to the bucket, rookie Ronnie Brewer
has to improve his outside shooting to be a viable NBA threat.

"Ronnie, I think he can be okay (going to the basket)" Sloan explained.
"His shooting is going to be a question mark for him I think at times when
he has to step out on the floor, but he can get on top of the basket.  We
don't always have that opportunity the way we play, but hopefully we can do
some things to get him the opportunity."

In the grand scheme of things, Utah's win over Denver on Tuesday means
nothing according to Sloan.  However, it's clear that he believes some of
the younger players on the Utah roster have a chance to be solid players --
perhaps even as soon as this season.

And while the outcome of Tuesday's game might not mean much, the process of
playing younger players and understanding the defensive philosophies Sloan
wants to implement could pay-off in a major way once the regular season kicks
off next week.


http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_19125.shtml

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推 sam369:
→ sam369:史龍評價: 米哥>朗尼>CJ.MILES 沒提到GG
→ sam369:只看命中率跟年資 感覺CJ例行賽會打很少 主要是SG第三人
→ sam369:第一人跟第二人分別是GG跟朗尼 當然很有可能因為防守強度
→ sam369:朗尼季中很有可能就取代GG先發了
推 cjMILES:辛巴 過不了多久就會變成獅子王的!
推 nobody:防守差蠻多的 樓上的熱身賽被過爽爽...
→ sam369:
推 JerrySloan:爽