Boozer wants to win, man — Sloan wants better (surprise!) D
This just in …. with 0.00000000001% of precincts now reporting, ESPN columnist Bill Simmons is now projecting Chris Paul to be the Greatest NBA Player Ever.
“And it’s not even close,” Simmons says. “Comparing him to Michael Jordan is just plain wacky. It’s like comparing Pavarotti to William Hung.”
Then again, maybe I’ve just been watching too many political pundits yapping tonight, so on with the real stuff ….
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Some good “Jungle Karma” is headed Carlos Boozer’s way. He got a vine and was interviewed on “The Jim Rome Show” today. In his interesting interview, Boozer talked about a slew of subjects — from defense (it’s a mindset, he says), to his possible free-agency (sorta), to his son’s battle with a childhood disease (touching), to how it took him a while to adjust to life in Salt Lake City (we’re now not as weird as he thought we were, or something like that).
One of my favorite quotes was about what he’s going to look at concerning his contract situation next summer when he can ditch his deal with Jazz and seek “greener” pastures.
“I want to win, man. At the end of the day, I want to be a champion. I’ve won in high school. I’ve won in college. I’ve won in the Olympics, and I want to win an NBA championship. That’s going to be weighing heavily on my mind this summer.”
To hear the interview in its entirety, click here, clones.
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The Utah Jazz lead the NBA in team defense, holding their first two opponents to an average of just 82 points in three games.
That must mean Sloan is singing their praise defensively, right?
C’mon, you know better than that.
“Obviously, we’re pleased with the wins, but I think there’s lot of things we’ve got to learn to do better — learn to play harder and be a better defensive team,” Sloan said. “The two teams we’ve played against are shorthanded, so I don’t think you can put a lot of credence in what’s happened in those games because you haven’t seen the full team.”
Sloan anticipates things to become “a little tougher” Wednesday night against Portland — never mind that the Trail Blazers also will be shorthanded with Greg Oden out injured (again).
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Sloan said he was “happy” for Paul Millsap, who went bonkers with a 24-point, nine-rebound performance against the Clippers on Monday. Millsap shouldn’t be surprised if his pregame meal today at EnergySolutions Arena looks similar to what he ate at the Staples Center. Sloan joked that he was going to find out what Millsap ate “so he can eat it again today and have the same results.”
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Deron Williams joked that he’s been like a “player-coach” on the bench while he’s been sidelined with an ankle injury during the first three games. Asked if that means more moolah for the point guard who got a $50 million raise this summer, Williams yelled over at Sloan, “Hey, coach, do I get a pay raise for helping y’all out the last couple of games?”
That’s probably not gonna happen, of course. Sloan can’t give Williams a monetary raise, but the point guard might get first dibs on a tractor at his coach’s Illinois farm if he keeps up the good work.
Williams would prefer if his own coaching career soon came to an end, but he’s been impressed with fill-ins Ronnie Price and Brevin Knight.
“I don’t like sitting on the bench, but it’s been fun — we’ve been winning, so I’m happy,” he said before practice today. “They’ve been doing a great job filling in for me.”