The NBA Offseason: Atlanta

2012 Picks: (23) John Jenkins
2011 Picks: (48) Keith Benson

Current Depth Chart:

PG - Devin Harris, Jeff Teague, Jordan Farmar
SG - DeShawn Stevenson, John Jenkins
SF - Anthony Morrow
PF - Josh Smith, Jordan Williams
C - Al Horford, Zaza Pachulia, Johan Petro

The Hawks could've taken anyone in the draft, but here they've focused on outside shooting. The irony with the Hawks is that they still don't have much room to do anything in free agency, so they'll be shopping Josh Smith's expiring contract, and if anyone's foolish enough to take on the 4 years and $89 million left on Joe Johnson's deal........

UPDATE: Wow, new GM Danny Ferry is a genius.  They got rid of Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams, and now it's Josh Smith, Al Horford, Devin Harris, Jeff Teague, Zaza Pachulia, and all the pieces from the Brooklyn trade.  They may or may not make the playoffs this year, but next year they're ready to make a huge splash in free agency.

Jazz suffocate D-Will's Nets

D-Will shot only 3-15
from the field.

- Really hated that Deron Williams got more boos than cheers at his intro. Mehmet Okur got a big cheer so at least there was some class on display.

- The Nets' offense is indecipherable. Lots of iso's, 1-on-1's. The strategy seems to be Deron Williams breaks down the defense. If he can't make something happen, he passes out for someone else to shoot a long 2, if they miss then Kris Humphries tries to grab their rebound.

- Raja Bell is getting better with every game. This was the type of output Kevin O'Connor was hoping for when he signed him.

CJ Miles shoots over his former teammate Mehmet
Okur.  Miles finished with 17 points off the bench.

- Deron Williams' shooting has been off ever since he got traded. Is it his wrist injury? Is it the offensive scheme? Is it the fact that defenses can focus on him because he does have talented teammates to pass to?

- Was hoping Devin Harris would have a bigger game, but here's a key stat: Harris finished with 6 assists, D-Will had 5.

- Nice to see Gordon Hayward rediscover his range. He was 2-2 from 3-pt land. It was also interesting how much D-Will and Hayward guarded each other. It was as thought Coach Corbin was teaching Hayward to overcome his fears.

- Two years ago today, Sundiata Gaines hit the game-winning 3 to beat LeBron's Cavaliers. Sunny D hit two three's in tonight's game, but they didn't have near the impact.

- Derrick Favors needs more time, but it's hard to take it away from Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson. The Jazz are 7-4 because of them.

- Rookie Enes Kanter had 8 rebound in under 19 minutes of play.

In other sports:

- The 49ers-Saints playoff game has to go down as one of the all-time great playoff games in history. I was very happy for Alex Smith and Vernon Davis.

- The Patriots-Broncos game was exactly the blowout I expected.  Tom Brady can try to get to his fifth Super Bowl, and Tim Tebow can go home and wonder if John Elway will use this as an excuse to find a different quarterback.

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.

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.