The Jazz (Part 1)

So we move on to the Jazz…If someone starts a conversation on the Jazz, you don’t really get real excited….But this isn’t a bad teams by any means. From the early days of Pistol Pete, to Adrian Dantley and his 2 scoring titles here, finally to Stockton and Malone (and Boozer and Williams…..but who cares about those guys when we can gawk at Malone and Stockton………..)….(One note…We do end up starting with a late 90s team…Sorry to all the late 90s Utah fans, but it was much better in the early 90s…Sure, 10 less wins or so, but in a more competitive league…And better versions of Stockton and Malone………). Without further ado, lets’ get on to the matchups!!

(1) 1997 Utah Jazz (64-18) 

….MVP Karl here. Although Mr. Mail Fraud’s passing is an assist or two better than the early 90s, his scoring was down 3-4 points, and his boards about 2. And he’s 33. 27-10-5 isn’t too bad, but it isn’t his peak (considering his loss of explosiveness….and hair, he definitely isn’t as good as before…). It’s no secret Stockton isn’t as good either. This is his first year in forever not leading the league in assists…..He had 14-3-11. Jeff Hornacek had 15-3-4, and Bryon Russell had 11-4…You know you aren’t making it when Greg Ostertag (7-7) is your starting center…

(2) 1998 Utah Jazz (62-20) vs. (37) 1975 New Orleans Jazz (23-59)

The Mailman didn’t win MVP this year, but he would next year…..Ol’ Karl had 27-10-4, as Stockton had 12-3-9 (obviously on his way down…..), and Jeff Hornacek had 14-3-4. Bryon Russell got 9-4…….and a moment of infamy as Jordan made his last (Bulls) shot over him….

Year one of the Jazz…They had Pistol Pete (22-5-6….he was traded here basically for Bob Kauffman ((who used to be very good on Buffalo…)), a first rounder that was spent on David Thompson ((who never went to Atlanta…he went to Denver…)), and the pick that was Alex English…..nice.)……and I can’t really find anyone else any good…Only 6 players played more than 50 games……This started an almost 10 year playoff drought.

(3) 1999 Utah Jazz (37-13) vs. (36) 1980 Utah Jazz (24-58)

Karl Malone won another MVP (24-9-4), as John Stockton slipped even more, down to 11-3-8. Bryon Russell had 12-5, and Hornacek had 12-3-4…Too much late 90s! We need some late 80s!

Ugh…Adrian Dantley had 28-8, as he was surrounded by….not much good. Pistol Pete (17-2-3) was waived (he had a knee injury….), and picked up by Boston….Druggie Terry Furlow came over before the year (55 games of 16-3-4)…Bernard King (another drug user) played 19 games….Ron Boone had 13-3-4, and Allan Bristow had 12-6-4.

(4) 1995 Utah Jazz (60-22) vs. (35) 1982 Utah Jazz (25-57)

I’d say that this team is better than the late 90s ones….Mostly just because of younger Stockton’s and Malone’s. The earlier 90s teams had a much better supporting cast than the later 90s ones…Karl had 27-11-4, Stockton had 15-3-12, and Jeff Hornacek had 17-3-4. Tom Chambers (who was in his last years…he bounced around after being waived by Phoenix…from Utah to Charlotte to Philly…) had 6-3…

Not great…Adrian Dantley had 30-6-4 (but wasn’t the scoring leader…that was last year), Darrell Griffith had 20-4, and Rickey Green had 15-3-8…Not as awful as their record implies…but nothing to write home about….

(5) 1990 Utah Jazz (55-27) vs. (34) 2005 Utah Jazz (26-56)

Much better. Karl had 31-11, and Stock had 17-3-15. Thurl Bailey had 14-5, Darrell Griffith had 9-2, as Mark Eaton had 5-7 and almost 3 blocks….Not a great year from him…but he IS 33….This is also Sloan’s first Utah year….

Great…We begin the 00s Jazz…Deron Williams came next year…In the meantime…Boozer (18-9) played only 51 games, AK47 (Andrei Kirilenko…you know I have no chance of spelling that…..) had 16-6….and 3.3 blocks…but only 41 games (he also led the league in blocks per game…I guess he got enough blocks to qualify… Kirilenko is the only thing I like about this era Jazz…), Matt Harpring had 14-6, and Mehmet Okur had 13-8, as Raja Bell added 12 points…

(6) 1992 Utah Jazz (55-27) vs. (33) 1979 New Orleans Jazz (26-56)

Karl Malone had 28-11, as he was joined by another Malone, Jeff. He had 20-3-2 (you may remember him for his famous game winning three… 

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That is essential viewing…very famous. As the first comment says ((and I think that was taken from somewhere…not sure where…)), the most famous three unless someone makes it with their dick…so true.). Stock had 16-3-14, as Blue Edwards had 13-4…..

OKish year…Truck Robinson (24-13) was traded, and (in a separate deal), Spencer Haywood (24-10) was brought in. Pistol Pete (23-3-5) managed only 49 games, as Jim McElroy had 17-3-6, Gail Goodrich had 13-3-5, and Rich Kelley had 16-13….Lots of big names, but none of the huge ones played too much….

(7) 1996 Utah Jazz (55-27) vs. (32) 1981 Utah Jazz (28-54)

OK team…Malone had 26-10-4, and Stockton had 15-3-11 (his last year leading the league in assists since 1987…the year before he became a great passer ((though they did count assists for just about anything, he was a great passer….maybe not as good as Magic or Robertson etc., but a great passer…))). Hornacek had 15-3-4.

Scoring leader Adrian Dantley had 31-6-4, on a basically 2 man team…Rookie Darrell Griffith was the other man, averaging 21-4-2….Ben Poquette was good also, I guess, with his 10-8.

(8) 2000 Utah Jazz (55-27) vs. (31) 1983 Utah Jazz (30-52)

A bit old (understatement…), but not too bad…Stock had 12-3-9, and Karl had 26-10-4. Bryon Russell had 14-5, and Hornacek had 12-2-3.

Dantley (31-6-5), and Larry Drew (21-5…another druggie) both played less than 45 games (22 for Adrian), so Darrell Griffith had 22-4-4, as Rickey Green had 14-3-9, Danny Schayes had 12-9, and Jeff Wilkins had 12-7….

(9) 1991 Utah Jazz (54-28) vs. (30) 1977 New Orleans Jazz (35-47)

Pretty good, I guess…Karl had 29-12-3, as Stockton had 17-3-14, and Jeff Malone had 19-3-2. Thurl Bailey had 12-5, as Mark Eaton added 5-8, and 2 blocks…

Pete Maravich had a great year this year, averaging 31-5-5, which was the best PPG average in the NBA…They didn’t have anything else though, as Gail Goodrich (13-2-3) was supposed to be the number two option….but he played only 27 games.

(10) 2008 Utah Jazz (54-28) vs. (29) 1976 New Orleans Jazz (38-44)

I guess this is the best of the Boozer-Williams teams….It’s like Stockton and Malone…..only 50 times worse! I guess that isn’t that bad, considering both Malone and Stockton are top 5 in their respective positions…This year, Boozer had 21-10, as Deron Williams had 19-3-11, Okur had 15-8, and Kirilenko had 11-5-4….

Nothing much…Pistol had 26-5-5, and Nate Williams had 13-4, as Louie Nelson had 13-3-3…