HOW BADLY DOES THE LOSS OF ANTAWN JAMISON AND CARLOS BOOZER AFFECT THEIR RESPECTIVE TEAMS?
Atma Brother #1: Both of these injuries are going to hurt, Jamison's more so than Boozer's. The Jazz have to hope that Andrei Kirilenko can step up to fill in some of Booze's production, but who is capable of stepping up for the Wizards? Gilbert Arenas is already giving the team plenty of Hibachi and Caron Butler is having an All-Star season. You can't expect that much more from them. They've earned their paychecks. It has to be someone else, but the Wizards have to be seriously worried that they don't have anyone else.
Dave: Boozer's absence really hurts on paper, but the Jazz have scoring that they're not taking full advantage of from Deron Williams, Mehmet Okur, and maybe Andrei Kirilenko. They also have a coach who gets the most out of whatever he has and who will not let them give up. If I were the Jazz I'd rather have Boozer healthy, but I doubt they'll spiral completely out of control.
The Wizards, on the other hand, are already pretty much maxing out the scoring from the main guys (Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler) plus they're running a rebounding deficit already and Jamison is one of their glass guys. Antawn is not as significant of a loss individually as Boozer is, but his absence may hurt his team more.
Mike: The Jazz are going to miss Boozer a lot more than the Wizards will miss Jamison. Jamison is a very good offensive player, and his ability to play on the perimeter opens up a ton of lanes for Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. But Arenas and Butler are clearly options 1 and 2 right now, and they have the ability to score more. Defensively, the Wizards lose very little, as Jamison was a pretty bad defender. So I think the Wizards will tread water fine, considering they have 6 of their next 7 at home. The Boozer loss is going to hurt the Jazz more, because he's scoring and rebounding at a much higher rate than Jamison. But like Jamison, the Jazz won't lose much defensively. They're going to fall off a bit, but I don't see them relinquishing that division.
Ryan: I think the loss of Jamison is more costly because the Wizards don't have anyone to replace their power forward. The Jazz can give more minutes to rookie Paul Milsap at power forward or they can shift AK47 to the 4 and give Matt Harpring some more minutes at the 3. The Wizards on the other hand aren't able to play Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood on the floor at the same time, which means extra minutes for Calvin Booth and Andray Blatche. Plus, Utah showed last season that they could hold it together when Boozer missed most of the season due to injury problems.
I hate to kick a player when he's down, but, does anyone else see this as some cosmic karma for Boozer after what happened involving his departure from Cleveland?
Ron: No doubt that Washington is going to miss Antawn more than the Utah will miss Boozer. Utah is deep enough to overcome the loss of Boozer for a few weeks. Washington is not deep enough to offset the lost of Antawn.
WILL ANDREI KIRILENKO EVER GET IT TOGETHER?
Atma Brother #1: This has to be the most bizarre fall from grace in recent hoops memory. It's as big as Penny Hardaway turning into Lil' Penny in the short span of a few years. For his standards Kirilenko has fallen off the map in every statistical category. From a year ago his points are down from 15.3 to 9.2, his rebounds are down from 8.0 to 5.3, and his blocks are down from 3.2 to 2.0. It's almost as if someone has taken an AK47 and destroyed his game. Pity the fantasy hoopster who took Kirilenko in the first two rounds of their draft.
Will Kirilenko get it together? Probably. But will he get it together as a member of the Utah Jazz? February 22nd... February 22nd... February 22nd...
Dave: Depends. Will he find renewed motivation at some point? I think so. He was too driven and active a couple years ago to not come back. In fact Boozer's absence may spur him a little in the short term. But will he make a full recovery? It'll probably require the dual realization that $15 million a year isn't everything he needs to be satisfied and that his role is always going to be more energy, scrap, and defense than offense. If that happens it may take a few years and may be with another team.
Mike: The Jazz are the wrong team for AK47. They ask him to do things that don't suit his strengths. He's guarding smaller players that can drive by him, and he's not good enough offensively to be a focal point. A lot of this is on him though. He hasn't improved much over the past couple years, and I'm starting to think he was only good in the past because Utah had nobody else. Now, he's a role player, nothing more.
Ron: No. What a #$#%#$ bust. I have him in two of my fantasy leagues and he stinks. Maybe next year, however, I won't draft him.