2011-2012 Finish: 26-40

Season Highlight
Utah went 11-3 in a stretch in March and was in the thick of the playoff race. They beat Dal, NO, Tor, Pho, and Sac, ALL PLAYOFF TEAMS! They were looking like they were going to be a lock to make the playoffs!


Season Lowlight
The remainder of the season occurred. Kevin Martin went down for remainder of season with an injury. GM Jaz tried to right the ship via trades, but seriously hampered the team in the process. Instead of having a serious nucleus to build around, Utah got older. .


Best Trade
NONE, all the trades Utah made set them back, hurt their cap or GM points, or just had the rest of the league scratching their heads. GS got all the press for having a horrible time with trades, but somehow Utah was never really called out on the myriad of mistakes he made in the trade market. Unless he was trying to dismantle his team, in which case I must tip my cap to him because “by jove, I think he’s done it!”


Worst Trade
EVERY TRADE made last season. If we had to pick one that stood out from all the rest, we go with Rudy Gay for Wilson Chandler, Aaron Brooks, and Josh McRoberts. Rudy Gay was the glue that held Utah together. He was the 2nd best scorer and combined with Kev Martin to make an unstoppable scoring tandem.


Other Notable Trades
-Sending Jarrett Jack to Miami for a 2nd rounder and 5 GM pts. This just in, Jack is pretty good. The only thing that makes this only semi bad is that Jack was hurt and missed most of the season last year. However, this just in, UTAH DOESN’T HAVE A GOOD PG!!!
-Buying Austin Daye from Philly for 22 GM pts. Daye is a prospect at best. His potential is good, but he does not perform well on the NLL court. Grossly overpaid for a player than should never be better than the 8th player in the rotation.
-Trading Kevin Garnett, a 2nd rounder and 3 GM pts to LAL for Mike Bibby, John Salmons and DeAndre Jordan. Once again, Utah gets caught trading proven players for potential. KG only averaged 17.6, 8.1 and 1.5 blocks.Bibby was a bum at PG, Salmons was later moved in another fiasco of a trade for Utah and Jordan was mediocre at best.
-Utah sends John Salmons, Iman Shumpert and a 1st rounder to Charlotte for Nene. Nene is a good player, don’t get me wrong, but you traded away Salmons( who went to Cha and averaged almost 17 per game. He was only averaging 8 for Utah. John must not like Mormons) and your best PG prospect in Shumpert( another nice jump, went from 10 per in Utah to almost 15 in CHA) along with a 1st rounder for Nene? Imagine how good Utah would have looked with Shumpert, Martin, Gay, Warrick and KG? I’m thinking Utah wishes there was a season reset button right about now!
-Utah trades away Chris Andersen for Rasual Butler and 4 GM pts. Andersen can rebound and play D, great guy off the bench. Why are you helping other teams get better without getting better yourself? Butler is a filler player at best.
- Utah sends Thabo Sefolosha to Miami for Linas Kleiza. Giving up a guy that scored 5.3 for you last season and can play solid D for a guy that averaged 3.2 for Miami and doesn’t even know how to spell D.
Best FA Signing
Jeremy Pargo – Played better than the other PG on the team, so was thrust into the starting role. He didn’t lose many games for the Jazz, but he didn’t help win too many for them either.


Worst FA Signing
Jeremy Pargo – Seriously? Pargo became your starter??? WTF!!! Someone really needs some PG help.


Star
Kevin Martin. When he played, he WAS the man. Unguardable, he averaged 28.6 per game and shot 41% from 3. Big problem was Kev was injury prone and only suited up for 24 of the 66 games last season.


Surprise
Hakim Warrick. Who would have thought someone that hasn’t averaged over 9.6 PPG in the NBA since ’08 would put up 15 a game in the NLL last season.


Goat
Any player that suited up for the Jazz and called themselves a PG. The closest thing Utah had to a serviceable PG was Pargo, who shot an abysmal 14% from 3. Bibby was atrocious and AJ Price was better suited to being a team ball boy than the 3rd PG on the team. Maybe Dooling was decent at the PG, but for some reason was in the doghouse all season, despite averaging over 10 a game as a sub off the bench. Why Pargo would start over Dooling is beyond me.


Draft Report Card
Utah had only 1 pick and it was a 2nd rounder. They used it to get Festus Ezeli, a 6’11 260 pound C/PF in the Roy Hibbard/Ronnie Turiaf mold. Ezeli has potential, but is going to the Warriors in the NBA, which is where big men with potential rot and die. Also, why in the hell would you draft a big man when you already have Nene and DeAndre Jordan? You already have bigs, and are DESPERATELY in need of a good PG. Tyshawn Taylor was still available!!! If it wasn’t for Festus’ potential, this grade would be way lower due to not filling needs. GRADE: C+

Looking to the Future
With the age of their team, the Jazz should be looking to NOW not the future. Their young players are mostly role players that may never become NBA starters. DeAndre Jordan, Austin Daye and Wilson Chandler are their youthful guys, but lets be honest, only 1 of them have the potential to be a good player at that. Daye has never gotten time in the NBA and Jordan is strictly a defensive stopper and rebounder. Their draft pick has potential but how much? Aaron Brooks is another relatively young player looking to rebound back in Utah and will easily take over the PG duties, with no competition. However, will Brooks still have that spark. The lineup looks manageable on paper. Brooks, Martin, Chandler, Nene, Jordan is a solid starting 5, but they have no depth and no up and comers to look forward to.

Upcoming Free Agents
Mike Bibby – Aging PG that can be replaced, but was starter for team last season, so may need to be resigned, unless Utah can find a better PG in FA. That should NOT be a hard thing to do
AJ Price – Up until now, his only claim to fame was being the lowest rated PG in the history of NBA 2K. Add talking trash to Deron Williams with no ability to back it up to that list.