Kragthorpe: Jazz lose, but possible trade in the works
By Kurt Kragthorpe
The longest All-Star break in Jazz history clearly gave this team too much time off.
Either that, or not enough.
The Jazz went a whole week without losing, a streak that would be much more impressive if they had actually played a game.
Wednesday's return to action was hardly encouraging, resulting in a 101-83 loss to Dallas at the Delta Center.
Like the golfer who's convinced everything will turn around on the back nine, the Jazz were eager to play again after the break - the trouble being that they have the same swing and the same clubs, including some damaged ones.
The most frightening thing about Wednesday's performance and what it means for the rest of the season is the lack of effort is seemingly not the biggest problem. It's lack of . . . something.
I wish I knew.
In the search for signs of life from this team, I kept running into 1980. Nobody's doing 25-year anniversary stories about the first (and worst) season of the Utah Jazz, but maybe we should be. The '80 flashbacks were everywhere you looked, with former coach Tom Nissalke and guards Ron Boone and Brad Davis - two of the 20 players the Jazz went through that season - all working as broadcasters.
Even the Jazz Dancers wore their retro jersey-style costumes in the first half, adding to the bad scene of the Jazz's falling behind 19-4.
As they maddeningly do all the time, the Jazz battled back, taking a brief lead late in the third quarter, only to crumble in the final period. "We can't seem to finish," said coach Jerry Sloan, who also suggested the Jazz need to learn to play more intelligently and consistently now, because things will be tougher once they reach the playoffs.
Playoffs? And which season will that be, exactly?
Nothing about their showing ultimately suggested much hope for the last two months of this lost season, more like a quest just to avoid the worst record in the franchise's Utah era, if you're into that sort of thing. At 17-36, the Jazz are only one game ahead of their '80 pace, when they finished 24-58.
The organization seems to have a plan now, but it's not producing a lot of results at the moment.
Would a trade in advance of this afternoon's deadline help? Maybe, if it brings back Arroyo. Carlos Boozer? There is speculation that he is one of the principles of a trade that could go down this afternoon. Would Sloan trade him to a conference rival? There is talk that either San Antonio or Dallas could be interested in a deal today.
I suggested to someone that the injuries to Keith McLeod and Raul Lopez were evidence of bad karma affecting the point guard position since the trade of Arroyo to Detroit. The guy wanted to know who Karma was and where he played in college.
So much for that theory.
In any case, McLeod certainly looked like someone who had not played in a month, and Howard Eisley was only slightly better. The two guards went 4-for-19 from the field with five assists and five turnovers. Of course, assists are scarce when a team shoots 30 percent.
It could be an ugly couple of months at the Delta Center. Jazz owner Larry H. Miller should be glad he was absent Wednesday, when he would not have had Boozer to criticize, but just about anyone else he chose would have merited ripping, except maybe Curtis Borchardt.
It has been 22 years since Jazz fans faced a February with no chance for the playoffs. How long will they stay with this hopeless operation? Wednesday's attendance was 18,521 - which left a lot of empty green chairs, but also doubled the crowds of the early days at the Salt Palace.
Boy, how long ago does that 26-point win over the Lakers on Opening Night seem? And can April 20 get here fast enough? The lottery and the draft are even further in the future, for anyone looking ahead to better days.
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