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The Sultans Of Swing |
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The Utah Jazz are known for their �old school� type of play. They don�t give the ball to one man who drives to the basket and finishes it with a soaring dunk and they don�t do four fakes to, after 22 seconds, finally go to the basket for a contested lay up. The Jazz still set up plays, still look for the open man and still do that pick and roll. The veterans try to teach the youngsters that type of play and the youngsters will try to do what the old guys have been doing with great success for over the years. |
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But the Jazz don�t want to duplicate Stockton and Malone, well they want to but they can�t, but they also try to develop some other skills the youngsters have. Athleticism is the key word in this league and Stockton isn�t known for his athleticism. Two other Jazz players are. Two of the Jazz players rock the rim, make quick steps and can�t be followed. They rock, they roll and they swing on the court. Stockton and Malone may be known as the �Masters of the Pick & Roll�, Russian rookie Andrei Kirilenko and DeShawn Stevenson are �The Sultans Of Swing�.
DeShawn Stevenson was selected by the Jazz with the 23rd pick in the 2000 NBA draft and didn�t get much playing time in his rookie season as he only got 7.3 minutes per game from head coach Jerry Sloan. But he made sure the fans got to know him as he participated in the Slam Dunk Contest and made some great dunks. The problem in his rookie season was that he didn�t have a long-range jump shot. He didn�t have much of a jump shot at all. But he worked on that in the off-season and now he has a little jumper. He also tries to play the point guard position a bit, something that isn�t working out very well but what can you expect from someone who has never played that position before. He is playing on a reasonable level and even earned some starts at the shooting guard position. |
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Andrei Kirilenko was drafted in 1999 (selected with the 24th pick) but didn�t arrive in the U.S.A. before this season. Kirilenko stayed in Russia for several seasons and played great in Europe. He came to the Jazz and most fans didn�t know what to expect from him. He was tall but it looked like he could be blown away by the wind at any time. But instead of him being blown away, he blows opponents away with some mean dunks. Kirilenko does have a good jump shot and shoots the three-pointer more frequently than Stevenson but his great strength is his leaping ability. At the moment he is 11th in the NBA in blocks, 14th in steals per turnover and 15th in free throws made and attempted per 48 minutes. And he got most of those foul calls by driving to the hoop and attempting to lay it in, often a reverse lay up. He gets a lot of slams by stealing the ball of the opponent as he has quick hands as well.
Together they are the future of the Jazz and they often drive to the hoop for the nice lay up or the mean dunk. Both would be a nice fit in the Slam Dunk Contest, Stevenson has already tried it, and both are quick enough to compete with the likes of Carter and Bryant in terms of speed, quickness and athleticism. As the end nears for Malone and Stockton athleticism could be the new face of Utah, as they have two athletic |
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| players already, not even counting Russell who is athletic as well. Kirilenko and Stevenson have a quick first step and they can both jump very high while they, with their speed and athleticism, often send the opponent in the wrong direction. During fast breaks both are at the opponents basket in a few seconds resulting in some nice finishes, if Malone lets them be at the hoop first of course. Some find it hard to do a contested lay up but what do you think of a: Contested reverse lay up, going up with the right hand but, after faking a normal lay up, going to the left hand to lay it in. And both can do that, and both are efficient. |
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| Andrei Kirilenko and DeShawn Stevenson are the future of the Jazz, a future that could well be totally different as the present. No Pick and Roll, no UCLA Cut, no picks that slip, nothing like that at all. Instead of that we could |
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| see people driving a crowded lane and that sort of �popular� basketball. But with Stockton and Malone as the teachers the question is if they are actually going to do that. Or will it be Stevenson who gets the ball and Kirilenko who fakes setting the screen but goes to the basket instead? Will it be Stevenson with a quick fake, two quick steps and a dish to Kirilenko, who fakes going to the left and gives it to Stevenson, who went to the basket immediately after he passed the ball, and he slam dunks it. Hey, wait a minute, that sounds familiar. Exactly, the �Give and Go�. But now it�s still Stockton to Malone back to Stockton for the lay up. See how simple it is now and how spectacular it will be in the future. Nobody can work those plays as |
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The UCLA Cut |
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| Malone and Stockton could. It will never look as easy as now. But Kirilenko and Stevenson could get those things going, but it will acquire some more fakes and athleticism, the only thing those two have more than Malone and Stockton. The Jazz style doesn�t have to retire with Stock and Malone but could be continued with some more athleticism by Kirilenko and Stevenson. It will still work and the crowd will hardly notice the difference. As a matter of fact, there is almost no difference except the executors will not be the �Masters of the Pick and Roll� but they�ll be the �Sultans of Swing� instead. |
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