I watched a few Rocky Mountain Revue games and some of the first exhibition game last night, and the Jazz' young players and new acquisitions have looked good.
I see their depth chart as follows:
Carlos Arroyo, Undrafted free agent, Raul Lopez
Gordan Giricek, Harpring, Snyder
AK47, Harpring, Snyder
Carlos Boozer, Kris Humphries, Jarron Collins
Mehmet Okur, Jarron Collins, Curtis Borchardt
I'll go through, player by player.
Carlos Arroyo looked great in the Olympics, and Jazz assistant Gordie Chiesa says Arroyo has come back with a new level of confidence. He knows he can play with the best in the world, and has been aggressive in practice. I think he'll improve over last year.
Raul Lopez is injured right now. He came into camp with a sore knee, probably residual from the Olympics. The Jazz are looking at a couple of no-name free agents to fill the temporary hole. Here is where they will miss Mo Williams. Lopez looks to miss 5 to 10 games. But Arroyo will probably play 40+ minutes while Lopez is gone, so they should be okay.
Gordan Giricek needs to learn to defend the way Jerry Sloan wants him to. If he does, he'll have a nice career here. Jerry loves pure shooters and knows how to use them well; but he has to get some defense out of them. Word is Giricek came to camp in great shape and has looked good so far.
Matt Harpring probably won't start. He'll be a great sixth man though. He had 18/6/4 yesterday. He'll get time at both SG and SF, probably more at SF. Harpring will struggle to defend quicker twos, but he's a strong inside scorer, so he could exploit a small SG here and there. His defense on comparable players is good enough for Sloan.
Andrei Kirilenko: Is in good shape and looks ready for another season. Some worry that he may be distracted from the breakdown in contract extension talks. His agent Marc Fleischer says AK and the Jazz are about 10 million dollars apart. AK's agent wants max money, the Jazz want some concession for being willing to offer AK long-term financial security now, rather than after next season when a new CBA could limit his earning power. I'm not too concerned about the Jazz signing him before the October 31 deadline. Fleischer wants AK to make as much as Pau Gasol makes. Seems fair to me. But if the Jazz can lock him up long-term for less, I say they go for it. he's a RFA at the end of the season, so the Jazz can match any offer, but a heavily front-loaded deal would hurt a little more.
Kirk Snyder is awesome. I love the way this guy plays. He is a total slasher; he takes the ball hard to the hoop any time he can, and he's got a pretty good jumper. He's a tough defender, too. I really like this guy's possibilities.
Carlos Boozer should do well in Utah. He doesn't have the abilities of a Karl Malone, but Jerry Sloan knows how to use a PF with range on his jumper. Boozer will build on his numbers from last year, and he'll have plenty of boards in the middle.
Kris Humphries went nuts in his first summer league game. He started out 9 for 9 or something. He's buff for a college sophomore, is very athletic and has nice touch. He'll develop into a decent player. Maybe a Gugliotta type (before the injury).
Jarron Collins is the type of player Sloan likes to have. No surprises. You know what you're going to get. Has good touch and plays hard againts the bigs.
Mehmet Okur will be good if he listens to Sloan. Mehmet is the most offensively skilled center the Jazz have ever had. If he plays tough D and hits the boards, he'll do fine. The shots will be there, mainly because the Jazz have been coveting a center who can hit a jumper for years. He'll get 8 to 10 open J's per game, and everything else will come according to his effort, IMO.
Curtis Borchardt may actually be quite of a surprise to some people around the league. He is finally healthy, and has looked good so far. He has a real knack for shot blocking and he bangs for the boards. He is accurate to about 18 feet and has pretty good hands for a seven footer. He could possibly get more minutes than Collins.
It'll be interesting to see where the numbers go on this team. After last year, AK seemed ready to be a 20/8/5/5/5/5/5/5/5
type of guy. But Boozer is going to his, and Arroyo is developing into a skilled scoring PG. Who knows? This Jazz team might be pretty exciting to watch. They're young, fast, athletic and full of guys who can put it in the hoop. I'm thinking they'll at least be in the top ten in points scored. Defense will tell how well they do, IMO.
