How did Paul Millsap become Paul Millsap?

Quote :

LOS ANGELES — Even though their names surfaced in discussions about deals — and nothing happened — Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap both claimed to have been completely calm Thursday.

...

Millsap coolly passed the time leading up to the 1 p.m. player movement cutoff by perspiring in a gym instead of sweating over his name being mentioned all over the place in rumors and reports.

"I didn't hear anything," he said, "so I was good."

Thursday was a rare day off for the Jazz, and days off for NBA players are just like they are for the rest of us, the last thing anybody wants to do is work. Furthermore, these guys aren't expected to work, but rather to rest their bodies. But Millsap was in the Gym, working. Hopefully some of that rubs off on the young guys....

TheMagnus wrote:

Quote :

LOS ANGELES — Even though their names surfaced in discussions about deals — and nothing happened — Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap both claimed to have been completely calm Thursday.

...

Millsap coolly passed the time leading up to the 1 p.m. player movement cutoff by perspiring in a gym instead of sweating over his name being mentioned all over the place in rumors and reports.

"I didn't hear anything," he said, "so I was good."

Thursday was a rare day off for the Jazz, and days off for NBA players are just like they are for the rest of us, the last thing anybody wants to do is work. Furthermore, these guys aren't expected to work, but rather to rest their bodies. But Millsap was in the Gym, working. Hopefully some of that rubs off on the young guys....

No doubt, Sap is a prime example of what hard work can do for a guy in this league, and a leader by example. He is in fact widely respected in the league because of it and his game. He has arguably improved every season heading towards his peak years, (though I believe he is off a bit this year in stats???). the Jazz will likely try and sign him, my guess, simply because Al will command more on the open market and they have to make a tough call and it will be about money in the end. And on that note, it will be damn hard to replace Al's post-game and scoring unless somehow its balanced out among the other guys getting more productive, Sap included. Favors isn't suddenly going to become a scorer, I see him as a perennial 12-9ish guy. Not to hijack the thread, but I think Kanter has a higher ceiling with respect to pts and rbs...if he works as hard as Sap!

MTJazz wrote:

TheMagnus wrote:

Quote :

LOS ANGELES — Even though their names surfaced in discussions about deals — and nothing happened — Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap both claimed to have been completely calm Thursday.

...

Millsap coolly passed the time leading up to the 1 p.m. player movement cutoff by perspiring in a gym instead of sweating over his name being mentioned all over the place in rumors and reports.

"I didn't hear anything," he said, "so I was good."

Thursday was a rare day off for the Jazz, and days off for NBA players are just like they are for the rest of us, the last thing anybody wants to do is work. Furthermore, these guys aren't expected to work, but rather to rest their bodies. But Millsap was in the Gym, working. Hopefully some of that rubs off on the young guys....

No doubt, Sap is a prime example of what hard work can do for a guy in this league, and a leader by example. He is in fact widely respected in the league because of it and his game. He has arguably improved every season heading towards his peak years, (though I believe he is off a bit this year in stats???). the Jazz will likely try and sign him, my guess, simply because Al will command more on the open market and they have to make a tough call and it will be about money in the end. And on that note, it will be damn hard to replace Al's post-game and scoring unless somehow its balanced out among the other guys getting more productive, Sap included. Favors isn't suddenly going to become a scorer, I see him as a perennial 12-9ish guy. Not to hijack the thread, but I think Kanter has a higher ceiling with respect to pts and rbs...if he works as hard as Sap!

Milsap has made a living on hard work and improving his game every season. Thats the kind of guy you need on your team.

As far as Al goes, You can't really replace his post scoring, as he is probably the best post scorer in the league. However, I think the other guys would pick up the slack if he were gone. They tend to stand around and watch when Al gets the ball in the post. As far as Favors and Kanter go, Favors has more natural ability, but it seems like Kanter has a better feel for the game and is usually more aggressive. Favors just seems too laid back on the court.

Romoholic wrote:

As far as Al goes, You can't really replace his post scoring, as he is probably the best post scorer in the league. However, I think the other guys would pick up the slack if he were gone. They tend to stand around and watch when Al gets the ball in the post. As far as Favors and Kanter go, Favors has more natural ability, but it seems like Kanter has a better feel for the game and is usually more aggressive. Favors just seems too laid back on the court.

Thats my fear, that our go-to, low post dominator and team leading scorer goes, and then we're left with what exactly? And more importantly, do you all believe that Ty Corbin is a good enough coach to install and offense without Al anchored down there, and something that would put all these guys in a position to be successful??? I certainly am worried.

Mutangclan wrote:

Romoholic wrote:

As far as Al goes, You can't really replace his post scoring, as he is probably the best post scorer in the league. However, I think the other guys would pick up the slack if he were gone. They tend to stand around and watch when Al gets the ball in the post. As far as Favors and Kanter go, Favors has more natural ability, but it seems like Kanter has a better feel for the game and is usually more aggressive. Favors just seems too laid back on the court.

Thats my fear, that our go-to, low post dominator and team leading scorer goes, and then we're left with what exactly? And more importantly, do you all believe that Ty Corbin is a good enough coach to install and offense without Al anchored down there, and something that would put all these guys in a position to be successful??? I certainly am worried.

I think he tried to this season, but it made Al so much less effective it wasn't worth it. Remember in the pre-season when the Jazz were trying to play more up-tempo secondary break? Ya, that didn't last long. Al was terrible in that style and Millsap was struggling too.

In particular I notice that as soon as Al comes out the movement off the ball gets better, not that it makes the offense more efficient, but the tempo and style of the offense changes when he's not in there.

I also think that the young guys are coming on strong, Burks and Hawyard are efficient scorers, and an offense with more movement is only going to help them. These are all reasons why I think the Jazz should move on without Jefferson after the season.

But until then I have to say that I think Jefferson is playing the best basketball of his career, and losing him could definitely end up being a step back. He's defending better, he's passing better, and he's scoring more efficiently than he usually does. He and Paul really are one of the best starting front courts in the NBA.

TheMagnus wrote:

Quote :

LOS ANGELES — Even though their names surfaced in discussions about deals — and nothing happened — Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap both claimed to have been completely calm Thursday.

...

Millsap coolly passed the time leading up to the 1 p.m. player movement cutoff by perspiring in a gym instead of sweating over his name being mentioned all over the place in rumors and reports.

"I didn't hear anything," he said, "so I was good."

Thursday was a rare day off for the Jazz, and days off for NBA players are just like they are for the rest of us, the last thing anybody wants to do is work. Furthermore, these guys aren't expected to work, but rather to rest their bodies. But Millsap was in the Gym, working. Hopefully some of that rubs off on the young guys....

Hopefully Millsap makes a difference in the playoffs. Last yr he was nonexistent.. I like the guy but he hasn't made an impact in the playoffs that I can recall.

aliveandkickin wrote:

TheMagnus wrote:

Quote :

LOS ANGELES — Even though their names surfaced in discussions about deals — and nothing happened — Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap both claimed to have been completely calm Thursday.

...

Millsap coolly passed the time leading up to the 1 p.m. player movement cutoff by perspiring in a gym instead of sweating over his name being mentioned all over the place in rumors and reports.

"I didn't hear anything," he said, "so I was good."

Thursday was a rare day off for the Jazz, and days off for NBA players are just like they are for the rest of us, the last thing anybody wants to do is work. Furthermore, these guys aren't expected to work, but rather to rest their bodies. But Millsap was in the Gym, working. Hopefully some of that rubs off on the young guys....

Hopefully Millsap makes a difference in the playoffs. Last yr he was nonexistent.. I like the guy but he hasn't made an impact in the playoffs that I can recall.

Let me refresh your memory...

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/2010.html

Arguably the Jazz best player in those playoffs (D-Will was pretty good too), dominated Denver and hung 19 pts and 8 rebounds a game on LA while shooting over 55%.