And the only things given up were a protected first round draft pick and Gordan Giricek, who of late had found himself in Jerry Sloan’s doghouse. Korver is likely worth more than either of those players, at least to the Utah Jazz, and everyone knows that yet another rookie would only make the Jazz even less experienced than they already are. They got something for essentially nothing.

Right?

The Utah Jazz have officially reached the Elite of the West now.

All kneel before them!

Um, well. Not quite.

Kyle Korver is indeed an excellent three point shooter who can spread opposing defenses.

The big problem that the Jazz have been having, of late, is not that they can’t score (for which Kyle Korver could make it even easier), but that they haven’t been playing very good defense, especially on the road.

Is Kyle Korver really a cure for this?

He might play better defense than Gordan Giricek, but Gordan was not even starting. He had lost the starting spot to second year man Ronnie Brewer. Gordan was a fairly good shooter in his own right, so Kyle Korver has a bit more range, but not necessarily more scoring potential.

Will he likely ever get the start over Ronnie Brewer?

Possibly depending on what the Jazz need on the court, matchup-wise, but it is likely that Korver will continue to be a great sixth man off the bench, just as he was in Philadelphia. He’s probably not the second coming of Jeff Hornacek, but even if he was, it isn’t really a “Jeff Hornacek” that the Jazz are currently lacking.

The pieces that really needs to be solved in order for the Utah Jazz to get to the next level is a way to play better defense all around and better leadership, perhaps by young stars Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams who need to fill the leadership void left by Derek Fisher.

In addition to Boozer and Williams stepping up better into their leadership roles, what the Utah Jazz really need is for Kyrylo Fesenko to suddenly gain 3 years of experience, but since that isn’t very likely, all the Jazz can really do is continue to develop their talent until they make it there.

They didn’t make too many off-season moves, but they didn’t really need to make too many either. They have a nice core of Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, and Mehmet Okur, and some other great players including veterans Matt Harpring and Andrei Kirilenko, and second round surprise Paul Millsap.

The big question that every Jazz fan is asking himself or herself this year is “Will the Jazz be better this year?”

Acquisitions verses Losses

Jason Hart and Ronnie Price are likely to be better than Deron Williams previous backups of Derek Fisher and Dee Brown, but not by too much. They could grow into excellent backups, but they are not likely to be much better than Fisher was backing up Williams (when he wasn’t starting at shooting guard). It’s not likely that their play off the bench will influence games that much anyway, except by giving Deron long enough breathers that he can be effective at the end of games.

Rookies Morris Almond and Kryrylo Fessenko are not likely to play at all, unless you happen to be attending the Development League games 50 miles to the south of Energy Solutions Arena.

Current Player Improvement

Deron Williams, Mehmet Okur, and Andrei Kirilenko played over the summer. Deron Williams probably gained the most from this, and that should be a real asset to the Point Guard Heavy offense of Jerry Sloan. Okur didn’t play well over the summer. Kirilenko was fantastic, but he didn’t really do anything that we didn’t already know he could do.

Gordan Giricek, likely to be the starting shooting guard, is said to be in great shape. Whether this translates into more consistency or not remains to be seen, but he has always been a good shooter, at least in spurts. A more consisten Giricek would be a very good thing. Add to that the fact that he is in his contract year, and we may be fine even though we missed out on picking up Morris Peterson.

Ronnie Brewer, the likely backup to Giricek, is said to have made the largest improvement in the offseason and all Jazz fans hope that to be the case. Whether coming off the bench or starting at shooting guard, Ronnie Brewer could potentially provide the atheletic scoring the the Jazz have long tried to acquire — but never successfuly.

Paul Millsap already played very well in the Rocky Mountain Review, garnering MVP honors. He is likely to be even better this year than he was last year, and that would be extremely helpful.

Answering the Question

Will the Jazz be better this year?

Yes. The Utah Jazz should be a much improved team over a stellar year last year, especially assuming that they can give Kirilenko some love.

Will that translate into a 60+ win season and an easy return to the Western Conference Finals?

Not necessarily.

The Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs are likely to still be better than the Utah Jazz.

The Phoenix Suns should still be extremely potent. The Jazz didn’t have much trouble with them last year and are likely not to have any more trouble this year — even though just about every other team in the league will not be quite so fortunate.

The Houston Rockets made some significant improvements as well, and they were pretty even with the Jazz last year. Whether they leap-frogged the Jazz in the standings remains to be seen, but they should make it difficult for the Jazz to even be in the top 4 (record-wise) in the West. Of course, everybody is still going to wonder if Tracy McGrady can win a playoff series.

Other teams in the West also made improvements, but none are likely to be significant enough to have overtaken the Jazz.

Conclusion

The Jazz should be much better this year.

Their bench, if nothing else, should be much improved with the development of Brewer and Millsap, the additions of Hart and Price, and the continued hard work of Matt Harpring and Jaron Collins anchoring it.

Whether that translates into a more successful season than last year’s miracle run remains to be seen.

Here is what the Jazz had at that position last year…

Derek Fisher started for much of the year, but he was really more of a point guard trying his best to play shooting guard. He performed very well as a good locker room presence. His play at “shooting guard” was better than some other starting shooting guards in the league, but not as good as a high caliber team SHOULD have.

Gordan Giricek, who also started much of the season, was inconsistent as well (as he has been throughout his career), but much of it this past season seemed more easy to blame on injuries (which have also plagued him throughout his career) than from a lack of effort or conditioning. Jazz fans have constant been down on Giro, but I can’t say that there was much reason for that last year.

There was much hope for young C.J. Miles this past year. A great season finale and a stellar Rocky Mountain Review seemed to have him poised at the heir apparent at shooting guard. Unfortunately, Sloan never saw it that way. Was Sloan wrong? It’s hard to say. Needless to say, C.J. didn’t do much last year and doesn’t even have a strong showing at the Rocky Mountain Review this year to make a case for him to get picked up by the Jazz (which he still might be).

Ronnie Brewer was just a rookie. Rookies rarely get good time out of Coach Jerry Sloan. If I were a mathematician, I would tell you that that equates to Ronnie Brewer rarely getting good time out of Coach Jerry Sloan. And I would be right, in this case. It’s hard to argue, though, that Ronnie Brewer’s coming out year is this year because Paul Millsap did just fine as a rookie (against all odds). Ronnie is a nice slasher, but for Jerry Sloan’s offense, it’s hard to know if he will really be utilitized this year any more than he was last year (except that Sloan might have little choice BUT to give him a chance.)

The Jazz knew their weakness.

Their fans told them over and over that they had a weakness at shooting guard.

The sportswriters at the local papers told them over and over that they had a weakness at shooting guard.

So to correct that over the summer, they went about to pick up a spectacular shooting guard — the second coming of Jeff Hornacek — to take us to the PROMISED LAND.

Um…

Well…

Ok. Maybe they didn’t.

Who did they pick up to play shooting guard again?

Who is likely to start at shooting guard?

In addition to Gordan Giricek, Ronnie Brewer, and possibly C.J. Miles, the Jazz have added Jason Hart, Ronnie Price, and Morris Almond.

(The Utah Jazz missed out on Morris Peterson mainly because they were looking to the huge Deron Williams contract looming on the horizon. As fans, we don’t like it much. But we certainly would rather have Deron Williams than Morris Peterson, if that is our choice in two years.)

Jason Hart and Ronnie Price are both hard-nosed defenders, which very well may have been more important to pick up than a pure shooter (a la Ray Allen) would have been to a group where Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur can shoot very well and Carlos Boozer isn’t too bad either. It just doesn’t excite any of us too much.

Morris Almond, on the other hand, could be a very good shooter. But he’s a rookie. And just ask Ronnie Brewer how much time rookies get with Jerry Sloan.

So who are our likely candidates to start at shooting guard for the Utah Jazz?

The best candidate seems to be Gordan Giricek, who I think excites no one inside of the state of Utah. If he comes back in shape, he is likely the best shooting guard of the bunch. In spite of his inconsistency, he certainly has to be the best shooter of the bunch — Morris Almond is excluded because he is a rookie and doesn’t count while Jerry Sloan is the head coach. (Giricek’s contact ends after this year, so he might well be traded before then for some team seeking luxury tax relief.)

Look for Giricek, though, to be replaced as often as necessary with defense from Ronnie Price or Jason Hart, especially if Memo, Deron, and Boozer are shooting well to start off the season, and Giro is not. (And if Kirilenko is traded for a scoring small forward, look for Giro to be replaced in the starting lineup by the aforementioned Price or Hart.)

If I had to guess the depth chart for Shooting Guard this season, I would guess that it would be

1) Gordan Giricek
2) Jason Hart
3) Ronnie Price
4) Ronnie Brewer, and that Ronnie Brewer will get some of his time at small forward (and maybe a few minutes at point guard in a pinch), as well.

The funny thing about that depth chart is that the depth chart for Point Guard will look something like…

1) Deron Williams
2) Jason Hart
3) Ronnie Price
4) Ronnie Brewer

Inspire confidence in you?

Yeah, me neither.