Most improved player this year!

Favor! All star votes will be bad just because he's jazz player. And the west has almost all the centers.

Richardale wrote:

Favor! All star votes will be bad just because he's jazz player. And the west has almost all the centers.

Good thing he'll probably be the starting power forward.

Mutangclan wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Favor! All star votes will be bad just because he's jazz player. And the west has almost all the centers.

Good thing he'll probably be the starting power forward.

If he aint i'll be surprised.

What if it is Raja?

Can anyone list the newly acquired players this year? I didn't keep up on the changes.

Richardale wrote:

Mutangclan wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Favor! All star votes will be bad just because he's jazz player. And the west has almost all the centers.

Good thing he'll probably be the starting power forward.

If he aint i'll be surprised.

That's weird, him actually starting for more than a handful of games would surprise me as much as almost anything.

shelley_utahjazzfan wrote:

What if it is Raja?

Can anyone list the newly acquired players this year? I didn't keep up on the changes.

Mo williams
Marvin williams
Randy foye
kevin murphy (draft)

Funny, it feels like there should be more...

TheMagnus wrote:

Mo williams
Marvin williams
Randy foye
kevin murphy (draft)

Funny, it feels like there should be more...

That's true man!
Probably the effect of Miles, Howard, Harris being out of town now. The first wasted all his credits to be in a Jazz uni, the second is a third of the player he once was, and the third barely can run a team better than Watson (whom I still wish to be out of town along with Shelley's post Harpring favorite Mr Bell when camp starts ).

Burks, Murphy and Marvin can be huge surprises IMHO, but this is Favors' year to rise.

Burks all the way

TheMagnus wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Mutangclan wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Favor! All star votes will be bad just because he's jazz player. And the west has almost all the centers.

Good thing he'll probably be the starting power forward.

If he aint i'll be surprised.

That's weird, him actually starting for more than a handful of games would surprise me as much as almost anything.

You think they go with Al/Paul/Marv/GH/Mo? I'm guessing whats most likely is Al/Fav/Marv/GH/Mo. I dont think the big 3 lineup starts out.

And I think it'll be a good contest, but Favors will improve more than Burks.

Kanter, if we are keeping it to Jazz players improvement. Favors was already playing at a high level at the end of the season, Burks was decent and I expect he will be more decent, (good). But I really think Kanter has to-date the most upside, he didn't get enough minutes last year but when he did he was one of the best rebounders in the league. Dennis Rodman made a good living at that. I think his D is also going nowhere but up.

Mutangclan wrote:

TheMagnus wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Mutangclan wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Favor! All star votes will be bad just because he's jazz player. And the west has almost all the centers.

Good thing he'll probably be the starting power forward.

If he aint i'll be surprised.

That's weird, him actually starting for more than a handful of games would surprise me as much as almost anything.

You think they go with Al/Paul/Marv/GH/Mo? I'm guessing whats most likely is Al/Fav/Marv/GH/Mo. I dont think the big 3 lineup starts out.

And I think it'll be a good contest, but Favors will improve more than Burks.

I think Millsap and Jefferson are the starters. Corbin may pay lip service to the idea that it doesn't matter who starts, but until Jefferson and/or Millsap are injured or traded they will be the Jazz starting frontcourt. The two of them work well together, they are returning multi-year starters, and Favors coming off the bench makes as much sense as Millsap, especially with veterans like Williams and/or Foye coming off the bench as well. I just don't see any good reason to make a change there, and I doubt Corbin will either.

I think Hayward will start, along with Mo, but I honestly have no idea who the other spot will go to. I think it is a 3 way battle between Foye, Burks, and Williams, and I think any way you go you can't really lose.

If I had to bet, I'd say right now the starting lineup would be Mo/Foye/Hayward/Millsap/Jefferson. Marvin makes the most sense to me in the "sixth man" role (even though you could also say Favors is the "sixth man"), because he and Hayward are similar players, as are Burks and Foye, so it just seems like a better fit to start one of the natural SG with Hayward rather than moving him to SG to start with Williams and then bringing two SG off the bench.

I think both Burks and Favors will really start to come into their own this year, especially Favors, but I think the guy that might really be set to turn some heads is Hayward. I think he's going to be playing heavy minutes and I think averaging 15/5/4/1/.5 on 45/40/85 shooting is well within reach, I also think he could get some votes for NBA all-defensive team. That's elite wing territory. Here's the complete list of players that had stat lines of 12/4/4/1 or better per game in the NBA last season:


1 LeBron James
2 Russell Westbrook
3 Dwyane Wade
4 Andre Iguodala
5 Paul Pierce
6 MJ wannabe Bryant
7 Kyle Lowry
8 John Wall
9 Tyreke Evans

...and you know how many of them shot 45/35/80 (which is what Hayward shot last year)? None. The only two even close were Paul Pierce and Lebron James.

So, ya, Gordon Hayward gets my vote for the same reason that Ryan Anderson won the NBA award this year, not necessarily because his improvement as a player was the most drastic, just that he will have the opportunity and it will change his status from young player with potential to widely heralded borderline all-star.

shelley_utahjazzfan wrote:

What if it is Raja?

Can anyone list the newly acquired players this year? I didn't keep up on the changes.

If its bell it'll be with a other team!!

TheMagnus wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Mutangclan wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Favor! All star votes will be bad just because he's jazz player. And the west has almost all the centers.

Good thing he'll probably be the starting power forward.

If he aint i'll be surprised.

That's weird, him actually starting for more than a handful of games would surprise me as much as almost anything.

I think he comes off the bench he'll be asking for a trade before you know it! Stupid not to have this kid playing big time with a starting roll!

Richardale wrote:

TheMagnus wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Mutangclan wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Favor! All star votes will be bad just because he's jazz player. And the west has almost all the centers.

Good thing he'll probably be the starting power forward.

If he aint i'll be surprised.

That's weird, him actually starting for more than a handful of games would surprise me as much as almost anything.

I think he comes off the bench he'll be asking for a trade before you know it! Stupid not to have this kid playing big time with a starting roll!

What's stupid is to start him because you are afraid he will complain if he doesn't.

Wasn't it you that said if Millsap pulled anything like that, or wasn't happy with his "role", he should just be railroaded out of town? Interesting double standard, especially when you consider who is actually the better player, don't you think?

TheMagnus wrote:

Richardale wrote:

TheMagnus wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Mutangclan wrote:

Richardale wrote:

Favor! All star votes will be bad just because he's jazz player. And the west has almost all the centers.

Good thing he'll probably be the starting power forward.

If he aint i'll be surprised.

That's weird, him actually starting for more than a handful of games would surprise me as much as almost anything.

I think he comes off the bench he'll be asking for a trade before you know it! Stupid not to have this kid playing big time with a starting roll!

What's stupid is to start him because you are afraid he will complain if he doesn't.

Wasn't it you that said if Millsap pulled anything like that, or wasn't happy with his "role", he should just be railroaded out of town? Interesting double standard, especially when you consider who is actually the better player, don't you think?

I want to start him because i think this year he'll be the best player on the team!
The bottom line is i want to win and he'll give us the best shot at winning more games on the floor than the bench!

TheMagnus wrote:

averaging 15/5/4/1/.5 on 45/40/85 shooting

Hahahaha....ahhh......just had to laugh. You know...

I do agree, thats a likely scenario.
And CC, stop reading this board and login, you know you want to!!

TheMagnus wrote:

I think Millsap and Jefferson are the starters. Corbin may pay lip service to the idea that it doesn't matter who starts, but until Jefferson and/or Millsap are injured or traded they will be the Jazz starting frontcourt. The two of them work well together, they are returning multi-year starters, and Favors coming off the bench makes as much sense as Millsap, especially with veterans like Williams and/or Foye coming off the bench as well. I just don't see any good reason to make a change there, and I doubt Corbin will either.

I think Hayward will start, along with Mo, but I honestly have no idea who the other spot will go to. I think it is a 3 way battle between Foye, Burks, and Williams, and I think any way you go you can't really lose.

If I had to bet, I'd say right now the starting lineup would be Mo/Foye/Hayward/Millsap/Jefferson. Marvin makes the most sense to me in the "sixth man" role (even though you could also say Favors is the "sixth man"), because he and Hayward are similar players, as are Burks and Foye, so it just seems like a better fit to start one of the natural SG with Hayward rather than moving him to SG to start with Williams and then bringing two SG off the bench.

I think both Burks and Favors will really start to come into their own this year, especially Favors, but I think the guy that might really be set to turn some heads is Hayward.

Paul and Al do work well together, cant lose really with them starting. But I think Favors is going to be looked at a defensive big to go along with Al's offense, and I think he starts. You need offense coming off the bench and I think Paul is better offensively. Both Al and Paul bring alot of offense, so I'd prefer to split those up, since I do believe defense wins. Also we're going to have a lot of scoring ability in the first 5, and need more defense. One thing that bothered me alot about this team the past two years, was the slow starts. And I think thats a direct correlation to the defensive abilities of those who started. This is a key to the starting 5 IMO. You never hear about the defensive second units. You need your best defenders on the court to defend against the opposing teams stars. So thats why I look at Marv/GH/Fav starting out vs guys like Burks/Foye. Paul is tough because he gets so many steals but.....
I think that very soon Ty Corbin is going to start sounding like a broken record, talking about "Its not who starts, it's who finishes", whether thats true or not. Just to take the weight off starting, and keeping guys in the mindset that its 48minutes, not just who starts out. May work too....

After that, for one I really think GH excels as a 2 guard; he's a great passer, makes great decisions, but also can score, and that affords all of that at the 2. And with he and Marvin, they are both well above average wing defenders. So I'm thinking they start together, and having two good wing defenders is huge. They also can both stretch the floor, and score from slashing, back door, and mid range. The other thing is I just can't see Foye as a starter. I think he's a good player, but doesn't offer a wide range of skills. He and Burks are similar, but as a second unit together could be lethal coming off the bench bombarding teams.
I am so excited to see the lineups, but I think Corbin has a serious, SERIOUS job ahead of him figuring this out. And I think it's stupid to even address a player who complains about starting. I dont care who it is. Whats best for the team to get victories, is who should start.

Of course I agree with you Mag on Hayward, I think he really comes into his own this year and people like Calgary are going to be forced to see he's a very good player. Statistically I dont think he gets a huge bump, but he'll establish himself as a very good player and starter type this year.
I think Burks blows up this year, people will say what a great find he was by KOC, and he is going to be counted on for immediate bench scoring, and like CJ was sometimes, he'll finish games when he's going off.
But Favors, I see him has being the biggest baddest improvement. I think teams are going to have to start to game plan with him, and worry about him. I think he goes up to about 15/11/2 regularly, and most of the time will be dominant if he gets the ball anywhere within 5 feet. His athleticism and explosiveness is going to be way tough to handle.

I can't wait to watch this current team.

I agree with the Jazz having to have a defensive presents to start game's when they get off to slow starts and fall behind those kind of games are hard to come back from no matter where they are played but even harder on the road and the Jazz did have a problem with this kind of thing happening last season on most nights.

To me there is no doubt that Favors at the end of last season made the Jazz a better team when he was on the floor and I think the Jazz has to start looking at him as their future and need to take the next step with him and make him a starter this coming season. He disservice it I think he earned that right with his play at the end of the season and into the playoffs, at time's he was the Jazz best big on the court at both end's of the floor.

I am not saying to just give it to him without him earning the starting job I think he is going to come in and show that he is a starter on this team with his play and just take the starting job, if not and Jefferson and Milsap win the job out right then so be it but I don't think that happens.

I also think that people are selling Burks shot as a real threat to take the starting job. this kid has big time talent and from what I seen in the summer league games he has taken big step's towards being the kind of player that everyone thinks he can be. If anyone is going to take the starting job from him they are going to have a real fight on their hands and if they win it they are going to have to play their best ball ever and that can only be considered a good thing for the Jazz.

I also have to say that I am not sold on Marv Williams as a starter he has shown nothing yet and looking at his play last season and his stats I think Hayward is better suited to start at the SF position, I feel that a team needs to put their best players on the floor to start the game and right now I see Hayward and Burks as those players until I see what the other's bring to the floor.

I'll go with Kanter as the most improved. Semantics. Kanter only has that up-and-under-then-get-blocked move that he relies on on offense. He DOES have a nice stroke from 15-20 feet but is always down low getting blocked (irritate any Kanter lovers yet). He'll prolly show a face-the-basket move, showing the ball, then do some reverse layups (since he can't , yes I said "can't" dunk). He may get some hookers down as well since, well, he's a Euro afterall.
As far as numbers go with most improved: It seems Favors will increase in every catagory with increased minutes. If Favors gets over 32 mpg then I'll agree with Tang he'll average 11 rbs a game--- but that's a stretch since he'll most likely be outside a little more than Jefferson (assuming he starts with Big Al).....at least on defense the opposition should draw Favors out a little more when he's with Big Al....... (still with me? Good! cuz this is all conjecture and bs, plus if you're reading this on a Saturday night that means you're not getting into trouble).
Burks, imo, could make great strides but will probably only get around 12-15 minutes a game......that's if Hayward gets the majority of the sg time.
Hayward, (great stat post Magnus) is just an all-around good baller. I agree with the ppl that have said he plays better defense as a sg than sf...... so hopefully he plays sg most of the time. I agree with Magnus that the numbers he projected are attainable!!!
Let Sap and Marvin share the sf duties with Sap getting spotted pf duty.

The reason Sap should start at sf is obvious with their production when he played there last yr. Bet Locke has a breakdown when Sap was playing sf, and I'm sure the numbers are positive in almost every catagory. If I have time tonight I'll look it up.

So long story short, imo, Kanter will improve the most with his skills and Favors will improve the most with his numbers.

My bet is DFavors gets the award. A lot of times, I feel like the player did not improve all that much, but he just got a legit shot at playing time.

I love Millsap. Favorite player in the post malone-stockton era. However, I just think Favors will be the best player on the Jazz, and therefore pass Millsap as the starter. Favors goes 14/10.5/1.8-2 blocks. His FG% will be 50%. These numbers are not all that much different per minute then they were last year, but many will be shocked about his "breakout." Although, we all knoww his breakout started in late march.

And to think people thought i was crazy trading for him last year, and wanted to veto the trade, in my keeper league.