Jazz beat Sixers 102-99

Thoughts on the Jazz's 102-99 victory:

- Raja Bell is in the doghouse with the fans right now, and he wasn't great on offense (1-4 shooting), but he was good on defense. Sixer's starting Jodie Meeks was held to five points.

- I liked Tyrone Corbin's coaching last night. When Devin Harris was trading scores with Jrue Holiday, Corbin yanked Harris early for Earl Watson. It allowed for Harris to play the entire second quarter. Harris was much more aggressive on offense last night, and while he's not going to get D-Will numbers in assists, he can rack up the points from the free throw line with his ability to sprint to the basket and draw fouls.

- I'd said I wanted to wait to see how this team plays at home, and they did great. Philly was a playoff team last year and they haven't made any changes. Jazz did play as a team. The assist numbers might not look great, but I counted at least four more assists Hayward would have had if the Jazz players hadn't been fouled or just missed the shot.

- Lots more movement tonight. I think part of it was Al Jefferson not being on the floor, as guys tend to stand around when he gets the ball, but also the hyper-extra effort guys tend to give when one of their star players is out.

- The Sixers are an athletic team. Very impressed with Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday.

- After scoring 15 points against the Nuggets, Alec Burks was a CD-DNP tonight.

- Jeremy Evans was -12 in 5 minutes of play. Josh Howard was +16. I think the starting wings are going to be hayward and Howard eventually.

- One stats I always look at is blocks + steals compared to turnovers. The Jazz had 11 turnovers but 17 blocks and steals. The Sixers had 12 turnovers with 10 blocks and steals.

- Paul Millsap's shooting was off (4-16) but he made up for it elsewhere (14 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks).

- Derrick Favors had 20 points and 11 rebounds. He also had the most floor time at 39 minutes.

NBA Rookie Watch

Rookie Watch
The Per 36 Minutes stats.

1. JOHN WALL
PER 15.2 / pts 15.3 / rbs 4.2 / ast 8.2 / stl 1.5 / blk 0.4 / fg% .405 / 3p% .290

2. EVAN TURNER
PER 10.2 / pts 11.0 / rbs 6.2 / ast 2.0 / stl 0.6 / blk 0.2 / fg% .419 / 3p% .275

3. DERRICK FAVORS
PER 13.4 / pts 12.3 / rbs 9.6 / ast 0.8 / stl 0.6 / blk 1.5 / fg% .515 / 3p% ---

4. WESLEY JOHNSON
PER 10.0 / pts 12.4 / rbs 4.1 / ast 2.6 / stl 0.9 / blk 0.9 / fg% .401 / 3p% .356

5. DEMARCUS COUSINS
PER 14.3 / pts 17.9 / rbs 10.9 / ast 3.1 / stl 1.3 / blk 1.1 / fg% .428 / 3p% .176

6. EKPE UDOH
PER 9.7 / pts 8.6 / rbs 6.3 / ast 1.4 / stl 0.7 / blk 2.9 / fg% .446 / 3p% ---

7. GREG MONROE
PER 17.5 / pts 12.0 / rbs 9.6 / ast 1.5 / stl 1.5 / blk 0.7 / fg% .548 / 3p% ---

8. AL-FAROUQ AMINU
PER 9.9 / pts 11.6 / rbs 6.6 / ast 1.5 / stl 1.5 / blk 0.7 / fg% .391 / 3p% .321

9. GORDON HAYWARD
PER 9.2 / pts 10.2 / rbs 4.4 / ast 2.3 / stl 0.9 / blk 0.7 / fg% .452 / 3p% .434

10. PAUL GEORGE
PER 13.4 / pts 13.7 / rbs 6.6 / ast 1.9 / stl 1.9 / blk 0.8 / fg% .450 / 3p% .270

11. COLE ALDRICH
PER 7.1 / pts 4.6 / rbs 8.9 / ast 1.0 / stl 1.3 / blk 1.8 / fg% .533 / 3p% ---

12. XAVIER HENRY
PER 7.0 / pts 11.3 / rbs 2.5 / ast 1.2 / stl 0.8 / blk 0.2 / fg% .406 / 3p% .118

13. ED DAVIS
PER 15.7 / pts 10.8 / rbs 10.6 / ast 0.8 / stl 0.9 / blk 1.6 / fg% .576 / 3p% ---

14. PATRICK PATTERSON
PER 17.0 / pts 13.5 / rbs 8.7 / ast 1.8 / stl 0.8 / blk 1.6 / fg% .557 / 3p% ---

15. LARRY SANDERS
PER 10.9 / pts 10.8 / rbs 7.3 / ast 0.7 / stl 0.9 / blk 2.9 / fg% .427 / 3p% ---

16. LUKE BABBITT
PER -0.6 / pts 8.3 / rbs 6.5 / ast 0.7 / stl 0.7 / blk 0.4 / fg% .286 / 3p% .091

17. KEVIN SERAPHIN
PER 9.0 / pts 9.3 / rbs 8.7 / ast 0.6 / stl 0.9 / blk 1.7 / fg% .452 / 3p% ---

55. JEREMY EVANS
PER 19.6 / pts 15.2 / rbs 7.7 / ast 1.6 / stl 1.3 / blk 1.4 / fg% .673 / 3p% ---

Now I threw in Evans because I'm Jazz-centric but also to give some perspective to the Per-36 stats. Evans' numbers look great, but they don't take into account he's averaged only 8.7 minutes a game this season. When Evans does enter, he's a burst of energy and scores quickly via alley-oop dunks or mid-range jumpers, but he's often quickly yanked because he's the lightest power forward in the league. I think the most minutes he's ever played in a game was 22.

But it still brings out revealing things when comparing to each other. I remember on draft night, just about every fan in our 1320kfan.com chatroom was upset over the Jazz taking Hayward at #9. There was hope against hope that Jazz brass might be able to swing a trade up, or that Greg Monroe or Al-Farouq Aminu might slip to #9. Most on the blog wanted a big man, as Boozer was leaving, Okur was injured, and no one had any idea of an Al Jefferson trade.

To evalutate the draft, it's best to look at the guys that were drafted after him. I remember more than one guy was clamoring for Luke Babbitt, and had that been the pick, Kevin O'Connor would likely be fired this summer. But I was in the Ed Davis or Cole Aldrich camp. Davis is doing about as well as I thought he would, whereas Aldrich has had a disappointing year. One of the knocks on Patterson was that he's an undersized power forward, and after watching Pau Gasol dwarf Boozer and Millsap in the playoffs, the Jazz did not need any more undersized players.

So plusses for Hayward, he's the best shooter of the 1-2-3's. He's certainly doing better than Henry and Babbitt, whose draft stock at the time were about even with Hayward. And as the Jazz have been getting more and more injuries, Hayward's been getting more time, and his per-game numbers are improving. I think he'll have a solid sophomore year, to the point he'd have a shot making the sophomore squad during the All-Star break.

Jazz trade away Deron Williams

In the end, Greg Miller felt like Deron Williams was going to bolt for a bigger market in 2012, so he pulled the trigger, sending away the best player the Jazz have ever had since Stockton and Malone.

The Jazz get in return Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, and two 1st round picks from the Nets.

The numbers:

D. Williams 37.9 mpg 21. ppg 9.7 apg 3.9 rpg 1.2 spg .23 bpg .458 / .345 / .853

D. Harris 31.9 mpg 15. ppg 7.6 apg 2.4 rpg 1.0 spg .11 bpg .425 / .300 / .840
D. Favors 19.5 mpg 6.3 ppg 0.4 apg 5.3 rpg .32 spg .71 bpg .511 / .000 / .612

In the long run it might pay off. In the short run it sucks.