[At this rate, Danielle will have a pic of every Jazz player by then end of the playoffs.]

So, last night for Jac’s B-day we went to the CPK at the Gateway. And then we went to the movie theatre there and saw 21. It was pretty good, except for the lady that let her little kid run around the movie theatre with the light up shoes. Seriously people, don’t take your baby to a movie and certainly don’t let them walk around.

And then we were going down the escalator, it’s around 10 pm and there’s hardly anyone around. I see these 2 really tall guys walking out of CPK and headed in our direction. I takes me all of 3 seconds to realize that it’s Morris Almond, who recently just called up to the Jazz from the D-league. So I tell Jac, Madison and Camille and they’re like you should ask him to take a picture. I was like no, I don’t want to bug him. But, they were like you’ll regret it if you don’t. So, I was like “Hi, I don’t want to bug you or anything, but is it ok if I get a picture?” He was like, “We’re nobody special, but yeah I’ll take a picture.” To which I responded “Yeah right, I saw you knock down that 3 the other night!” He was so humble and sweet and really down to earth. He was so nice and took a pic with me. He just kept saying he wasn’t anyone special and I said thanks, and that he was great.

So, he definitely was really nice. I hope that the Jazz keep him around for awhile, because I think he is going to develop into a fantastic player. (If Jerry would let him off the bench more often.) So, thanks a lot Morris or Mo? Idk what to call him. You totally made my night.

He was soooo tall. And please disregard the fact that it was late and I had just come out of a movie theatre and look like a bum.

So I have to take back a little bit about what I’ve stated about the All-Star game.  I still think the Deron got snubbed, do doubt about it.  But really, the All-Star weekend turned out as well as you could expect for a Jazz fan.

First of all, we were pretty well represented.  Fesenko and Almond were in the D-League All-Star game.  Brewer and Millsap were on the Soph team that beat the Rookies.  Millsap didn’t have a great game, but he did have the block of the game.  Brewer played well and had a ferocious windmill dunk.  But the biggest non-story that made headlines was him wearing a headband.  Steve Luhm went off about how him wearing a headband disrespected Sloan as Sloan doesn’t allow them.  Why is he trying to make this into something that it isn’t?  Even Sloan didn’t seem to care,

I don’t have any control over that, if he wants to wear a headband when he’s there, I guess he can go ahead and do it. Nobody telling him he couldn’t

Why is he trying to create news?  Like one commenter said, if the headband had said “Sloan Sucks,” then you have an issue.  There are a lot of things players wear that don’t make a difference in their shot, but they wear them for fashion or whatever.  I thought it was funny though that Millsap wouldn’t wear one because he was scared of Sloan.  And Brewer though that he was going to get fined.

We didn’t have anyone in the slam-dunk contest or the three-point shootout.  I though KK could have been in the 3P contest, but they were showing stats and guys were shooting 46% from 3 but were only 7th in the league.  K3 is below that so it’s hard to make a case for him.  Brewer could have been in the dunk contest, but when they only have a field of four, it makes it tough.  I love how Malone was one of the judges though.  He absolutely didn’t want to be there.  He never wanted to be at any of the All-Star games when he was a player.  And they thought he would want to be there for this?  The best part is when he went after Barkley for making fun of his draft-day suit.

And of course Deron was in the PS3 skills challenge.  He squeaked into the the finals when defending champ Wade put on an embarrassing show by losing a dribble out of bounds, missing shots, and then showing that he really didn’t care by missing 2 lay-ups at the end.  He even went as far as just chucking up the last two balls from the jump-shooting portion just so he could go on to the next station.  He didn’t want to be there at all.  And Kidd couldn’t hit a jump-shot to save his life.

That left Williams v. Paul for the final.  And once again we learn that 8>3.  And not only did Deron win it, he posted the event-record, 25.5 seconds.  It was great to hear the media spin on this.  The announcers basically stated that Paul was amazing and it took a record time to beat him.  Not that Deron won, but that Paul only lost because Williams pulled a miracle out of his butt.  Unbelievable.  I also like the following quotes,

Not moving at full speed, Williams clocked 31.2 seconds in the first round

And then for Paul,

Paul, the All-Star point guard of the host New Orleans Hornets, posted a strong final-round time of 31.2.

Paul’s 31.2 was clearly superior.

And finally, Boozer got to play in the All-Star game after missing last year’s with injury.  He posted 14 points & 10 boards in only 18 minutes.  He was part of the West’s comeback, but was taken out after they had tied it up.

So as I was saying, we got to see 5 Jazz players participate in the All-Star festivities.  No one got hurt.  Williams didn’t feel totally left out.  And although he’s stated that he’s over the snub, you know he’s going to use it as fuel for the rest of the season.  And that’s a good thing.

So let’s get ready for the second half of the season with GS tonight.

Other AS notes

• Kobe playing only two minutes so as to not get penalized for not playing is ridiculous.  Does the NBA not have anyone in charge of common sense?  It’s like suspending the Suns players last year for leaving the bench and going back.  How does him playing make sense?
• Does anyone at Getty check for errors with captions? - This isn’t the first time.  Do they have editors that know sports?
• Brewer and Millsap pics from the R/S game
• What’s Malone eating?  The boy next to him looks like he could use a bite.
• Why was Michael Bivins a big part of the AS festivities?  Turn back the clock night to 1993?  I grew up on BBD.  It was just weird to see him again.
• Yahoo Jazz images

GS game blogs

• Biased Fan
• My Utah Jazz
• Golden State of Mind

Morris Almond lost out to Lance Allred of the  Idaho Stampede in the return of HORSE to the NBA’s D-League.  Morris won the first round with a HO.  But in the finals, Almond got beat down by a HO when Allred nailed the patented Harpring jump shot from the left elbow.  He did call out Harpring Sucks though when he shot it.  Mo wasn’t able to match that.

And apparently if you’re white, you have an advantage in HORSE.  That coming from both Almond and Allred.  Did we ever see either Bird or Jordan win? And is the reason why the league capped the games at 5 minutes because they didn’t want players yelling out HOR! when the other guy missed?  Isn’t that the best part of playing HORSE?  You progress from HO, to HOR, and then to HORS (with a z sound).  I guess they’re trying to attract as few groupies as possible.

Millsap and Brewer played in the Soph/Rookie game tonight as well.  Brewer made the most of his 17 minutes going 6-6 from the field and finished with 13 points.  Millsap didn’t do as well.  He only got up four shots in 22 minutes.  He only had two boards as well.  Daniel Gibson won MVP going 11-20 from the three-point line.  And those were the only shots he took.  I don’t think he even crossed the arc.

So tomorrow night we’ll get to see Williams embarrass Paul, Wade, and Kidd in the skills challenge.  No word yet on whether Kobe is going to still play in the All-Star game.  We know Kidd likely won’t be traded now before then due to George and Stackhouse.  So if Mamba can’t go, there’s a good shot Deron could get the call.

I was spent after live-blogging the Bulls game.  I couldn’t come up with anything interesting to say about the game.  They let the Bulls hang around too long, but nothing the Bulls did made me think that they had something to pull it out.  Boozer was back to form, Deron was Deron, and we won.  Have there been any more uninteresting games?  We lost to the Kings, we played the Bulls without any of their big three, and we play the Sonics after a three-day break.  For some reason none of them have mattered to me because things don’t get serious it seems until after the All-star break now.  This Sonics game coming up to me is like my last period of high school before summer break.  You just want to get it out of the way.

The only thing that interested me in the Bulls game was the play of Ronnie Price.  He struggled early this season, but he never really got a chance to run the offense in a game.  According to Sloan, he hustles and plays well in practice.  But Jerry had gone with Hart a while ago.  So now that Price has had the opportunity to show what he can do, he’s grabbed the #2 job right out of Hart’s hands.  Even Hart said he hasn’t played well and at Price deserves it.  Let’s hope to see Price on the floor in Seattle.

Anyway, I had to get something up and not take my own mid-season vacation like the NBA does.  Did the rest of the Jazz players though ask Deron and Boozer if it was okay to make vacation plans this early?

Why do reporters make stuff up?  There’s no way in Hades that the Jazz trade AK for Wallace.  Big Ben and his contract are a millstone around the neck of the Bulls.  He’s seven years older than AK.  He is having a career-low in blocks.  He would be one of the worst players to play for Sloan.  How long before he would be in the doghouse?  Then we’d have all that money sitting on the bench.  Besides the fact that AK can actually, you know, play offense.  The list goes on and on.  The Jazz would only have one thing to gain and that’s one less year on his contract.  I don’t think even Isiah would do this one if he were Jazz GM.  I can’t believe people get paid for writing this type of thing.  And remember, I don’t get paid ;).  Luhmy has a pretty good response to this.  But would we even have a spot for Hinrich?  It drives me crazy to see stuff like this.  Was this guy paid by the Bulls to float this? 

And my last rambling of the day is about the traitors Pace Mannion and Thurl Bailey.  Before the Bulls game, the pre-game had an interview with Byron Russell on Jordan’s shot in the 1998 Finals.  First of all, great way to bring back pain to the Jazz fans 10 years later.  My wife told me to turn it off until they stopped showing Jordan’s shot.  The interviewer asked Russ if he thought it should have been called a push-off on Jordan.  He didn’t mix any words and basically said, “Hell yes!” 

So they kick it back to the KJZZ booth where DJ asks Pace and Thurl if a call should have been made.  And both of them said no.  “It’s not popular to say” said Thurl, but it was right.  But they make no other statements as to why there shouldn’t have been a call except that they should just let them play when the game is on the line.  BS.  He got the call because his name is MJ.  And former ref Mike Mathis agrees,

Remember when Jordan hit that winning shot? I’m going to give you exactly what the commentators said: ‘What a great move by Michael.’ Was that a great move or was that an offensive foul? There was no question it was a push-off. No buts about it. The only buts you can have is, ‘Well, it was Michael Jordan.’ That was a defining moment.

Here’s something else that I’ve never thought about the foul.  A lot of people will say that Russell’s momentum carried him and he would have been out of position anyway.  That may be true (it’s arguable).  But I think the biggest advantage for Jordan was that he was able to stop himself and his own momentum by pushing off on Russ.  It put him in a rhythm that he otherwise may not have had.  Either way you look at it, Russ and the Jazz got hosed.  And saying contrary (unless you’re a Bulls fan of course) is traitorous.

And finally, some links to tide you over until tomorrow’s game.

• Getting his hopes up
• The best PF of all-time? - Duncan gets the nod of course.  What were his numbers against the Mailman though?  It seems like when he went up against the best, he didn’t have his best games.  Of course, Malone usually played Robinson.
• The coccyx is still out - I don’t think we see Ronnie play in Seattle either.  No reason to irritate it when we’ve had CJ and Price playing well.
• The KK effect
• KK on your mind
• Carlos moving up a bit in the MVP blogger vote - I would have Deron above Carlos right now.
• Pistol gives is HORSE - Best shot for HORSE?  The left-handed layup.  Nobody can do it.
• Jazz players tradeability - I agree with most of these.  Pretty good write-up.
• I’m all in
• “I’ve loved my Salt Lake experience” - Music to Jazz fan’s ears.
• The media love-fest continues - Paul goes 1-10 from the floor and still gets a write-up in the Daily Dime.

Three games before the All-Star game coming up against the Kings, Bulls, and SuperSonics.  There’s a let-down game in there somewhere.  The reason I think that is because none of those teams have really ticked off Deron.  Maybe I can fabricate something about Bibby saying that Deron should have been left off the All-Star team?  Let’s hope we see some more of this against the Bulls.  And let’s not forget the last game against the SSS.

Your Jazz link fix:

• A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  - There’s been talk about this for the NBA game.  It needs to happen.
• The Collins are awesome
• No marquee star? - Maybe this is why Deron got hosed.  No recognition.
• CelticsBlog eats crow
• More KK love
• Late mid-season grades. - I never got around to doing the obligatory halfway grades things for the Jazz.  Maybe I’ll get up something during the break.
• Korver > Shaq & Gasol
• These lucky souls got some free tickets to the Hornets game.  And they got some good pics as well.
• A new Jazz blog give us his thoughts on trades

First of all, congrats to Boozer for making the All-star team as a reserve.  There’s no doubt that he earned it this year.  I also liked this comment from Booz from this Siler column:

I wiped my tears off that night [draft night] and I vowed to prove them wrong

You can tell Boozer is still has a lot of hunger and is very grateful to be an AS.

But as a result of Boozer being picked, it caused Deron, who could arguably be more deserving, to be left out.  Instead, his spot went to Brandon Roy.  The only reasonable explanation for this is because the coaches feel like they have to have a representative from each of the teams with good records.  Roy (does anyone else read that to themselves as Wa?  As in Patrick Roy who played hockey for the Avalanche?  No?  Okay.) is no doubt putting up AS numbers this year, but Williams has him beat in assists, FG%, and steals.  And he’s virtually tied in points:

	Deron Williams Utah Jazz Position:  G Height:  6-3 Weight: 205 College: Illinois Player file | Team stats
2007-08 Statistics
PPG	19.1
RPG	3.0
APG	9.5
SPG	1.1
BPG	0.3
FG%	0.515
FT%	0.785
3P%	0.394
MPG	36.9
	Brandon Roy Portland Trail Blazers Position:  G Height:  6-6 Weight: 229 College: Washington Player file | Team stats
2007-08 Statistics
PPG	19.3
RPG	4.5
APG	5.6
SPG	0.9
BPG	0.2
FG%	0.460
FT%	0.785
3P%	0.338
MPG	37.3

I guess you call it the Mehmet Okur effect.  Even with the great start the Jazz had last year, all they could muster for AS appearance was Boozer.  When Carlos and other All-stars bowed out due to injury, Memo got in.  And not to say he wasn’t deserving, but he got the nod mainly because they felt that Utah had to have a rep.

Had the vote happened a month ago, I would have had no problem with Roy being picked of Deron.  But in my biased opinion, because of the above stats and the Jazz having a better record, Deron deserves the nod now.

So Williams got Wa’d, again.  And now we get to see how Deron responds.  The Jazz have games against the Wiz and the Griz coming up.  But the game I’m dying to see is the Hornets game come next week when we hopefully get to see Williams take it out on CP3.  It’s not really a revenge because Paul deserves to be there.  Let’s call it collateral damage.  Is a 40+ game plus a few three nailed in Paul’s mug too much too hope for?

We get to see Deron’s first game after the snub tonight though against the Wiz. They’ll be without Arenas still, but they still have All-stars Jamison and Butler.  Last year’s loss came as Arenas nailed the three at the buzzer.  The Wiz are a solid team, but seem to be all or nothing.  They got buried in their last game after a great win the game before.  So it’s hard to say which team will show up.  But with the Jazz being on the road (I’m still not a 100% believer yet), this one will probably be close in the end.  But if the Jazz play as well in the fourth as they have been, they should be able to pull this one out.

Wiz Blogs

• Bullets Forever
• Wizards Locker
• Hoops News
• Washington Wizards Blog

The usual suspects

• My Utah Jazz
• Biased Fan
• JazzFanz

More Jazz Links

• What to do with Almond? - I have more coming on this, but after another 50+ outburst, I don’t know how he can be kept in Orem.  Is CJ gone this month?
• The Jazz want some interior D - But this would be the worst trade they could make.
• Let’s give it another 15 years - And let’s see if they’re still together.
• Even the Jazz Hater said Deron got robbed
• A look at the second half for the WC
• Berri goes over Williams/Paul again
• The all-time assist leader

Is there a more disappointing team for the 07-08 NBA season than the Jazz? The only other teams that be compared are the Rockets and the Bulls. As it stands now, Utah is 2 games out of the playoffs and 3 1/2 behind Portland and Denver.

This was a team that was suppose to push itself into the “elite” talk of the Western Conference with San Antonio, Phoenix, and Dallas. But instead, Bill Simmon’s prediction of a 41-41 season looks like it could come to fruition.

And just when you start having hope with a couple of wins, they go and rip your heart out again with another bad loss. And the biggest heartbreakers haven’t been the losses per se, but the way in which they lose them. I don’t have the time nor patience to look up stats, but many of the losses have come with a lead in the fourth and they blow it. Either they can’t hit free throws, make a stop, or hang onto the ball. It seems like the fundamentals that Sloan pushes so much for aren’t there.

The Jazz also have the worst road record in the league amongst teams with winning records. I don’t recall the Jazz ever having stellar records on the road, but 6-14 for this team is unacceptable.

But there is hope for the Jazz and their fans. They’re home 8 of the 11 games remaining in the month. They’ve played five more road games (20 to 15) than both Portland and Denver. So those home wins should start evening things out a bit.

And we’ve seen last year that teams can go on late-season runs such as GS & Houston did. And it’s not out of the question for the Jazz. But I have yet to see the spark in the Jazz players that those other teams had. Winning begets winning, but those first two or three usually take some grinding out and someone to step up and say, “We’re not losing this game.”

But this is the time to get back on track tonight as February they hit the road again.

Pacers @ Jazz links:

• Indy Cornrows
• No AK tonight - And with no Price either, Almond gets the call back up.
• HoopsWorld

Links:

• A Jazz trade I haven’t heard yet - Would you want him?
• Your monthly Dee Brown fix
• Sloan interview with DesNews - I’m a Sloan supporter, but I’m sick of him stating that simply getting paid millions should be enough motivation for players. And I’d like once to hear him take blame for losses. It’s always the players’ fault. And it is for the most part, but I don’t recall many times where he’s stepped up to take blame for times when he’s made a bad rotation, etc.
• Who should be shooting for the Jazz?
• Wait, Boozer does play defense?
• Mid-season review
• For all your AK stalking needs
• Trade needs

I’ll be swapping posts with the guys from 3 Shades of Blue for the upcoming game on Saturday.  Should be up sometime tomorrow morning.  In the meantime, linkage:

• Jazz/Cavs thoughts
• He hasn’t heard of Paul Millsap - More Jazz/Cavs reactions
• The Jazz are on someone’s must-watch list.
• Great Article on Morris Almond
• There go my plans to start my own Jazz radio network
• Williams, Boozer, Brewer, Millsap, sweet music - No offense to Memo & AK
• The question that won’t die.  Who’s better, Williams or CP3?
• Deron Williams message board - If you haven’t visited Deron’s website lately, he has a forum where he replies to most of the questions he gets.  Great stuff.  It’s now a link on the right.

The SLTrib broke away from their black and white print and came roaring into 21st century with a moving picture camera-captured event today at media day.  Featuring Steve Luhm as “Luhmy,” Ross Siler as the “Newlywed,” and Gordon “Did I mention I was sitting next to AK when he started crying” Monson. 

AK was pretty mum about everything.  I’m sure he’s tired of talking about the whole situation, but at the same time he can’t expect everyone to drop it.  I’m starting to think now that if he is traded, it won’t be until well into the season.  If he’s playing well and happy, why trade him?  There’s not really anything to be gained on either side if that’s the case. 

Monson seems to think that Sloan was told in no uncertain terms to lighten up on him and to make some changes in his coaching style.  Yeah, I don’t see that happening.  Maybe Sloan is a little softer in his old age, but I think he’d still rather give you the bird than to do things other than his way.

Let’s please put this to rest until something happens and stop the speculation.  I realize that those that are professional journalists have to “monitor it,” but I think the Jazz collective will be better off by not dwelling on it.

Other notes and observations from the article:

• CJ Miles is back with the Jazz - Some things I’ve read state it was a four-year deal while others are saying that he just signed the QO.
• Looks like the Fess is #44.  And doesn’t AK look as tall as Kyrylo in the video?
• Deron wasn’t dressed due to having his wisdom teeth pulled.  I don’t know how he carried on a conversation.  When I had mine out, I was out of it for most of the day.  Doesn’t he know he’s not suppose to have anything done like that before picture day?
• Get ready for the Almond/Fess blogs.
• Giricek was pleased when a reporter noted Gordan’s weight loss, physique, and new haircut.  Man, what a girl.

 Just a couple quick links to get you through today.

• UPDATE:  Apparently Fess is now officially a Jazzman.  So long Araujo?
• Morris Almond is the FreeDarko Embedded Rookie - (Thanks to PCA for the tip) He gives some insight to his photo shoot with the rest of the rookies.  I guess it explains this pose.
• Another opinion on keeping Brown - I think Miller’s quote here is an offense to Deron.  Is he saying Deron can’t make decisions for himself?

Now Deron’s married and Dee’s not,” Miller said, “and so if Dee is going out, who’s he going to go with, and is that good for Deron?

• Ronnie Price over Carlos Boozer - I love how all of the local media outlets keep showing the Price dunk over and over.  I know Boozer doesn’t keep a home here, but if he were sitting on the couch watching the news, wouldn’t he get a little ticked?  I know it’s the only highlight Price has had, but still…  Also, who’s going to have the camera rolling when Boozer and Price first meet up?
• Kevin Garnett is a Celtic officially - I only include this because while the Timberwolves haven’t done anything the last three years, getting KG out of the Northwest Division certainly doesn’t hurt Utah’s chances to win the division again.
• Matt Harping Photos - Is that a silk shirt? 
• Price is busy moving back into his UVSC dorms - So his press conference isn’t until 8/1
• Price’s Lab, Ronnie’s Hammy, Ford & Dodge - I would like to know what lab work is done for a player?  I thought it was just a physical mainly.
  
  Technorati tags: utah jazz, ronnie price, morris almond, dee brown, deron williams, kevin garnett, matt harpring