February 28, 2008

Throughout the 2007-08 regular season, Hornets.com will be chatting with writers from other NBA websites to obtain unique insights on the Hornets’ opposition, prior to home games at the New Orleans Arena. With the Hornets hosting Utah at 7 p.m. Friday, we interviewed Jazz blogger Kris Loertscher of the Utah fan site BasketballJohn.com.

Andrei Kirilenko’s improved play compared to 2006-07 has been one of the pleasant surprises this season for Utah.

Hornets.com: What’s been the most pleasant surprise of 2007-08 so far for the Jazz?
Loertscher: The return of Kirilenko to his previous form. Really, nobody knew how things were going to shake out after his trade demand last year. He was coming off the worst year in his career. He had broken down into tears before a playoff game in Houston. He was a sure as gone. But the owner, Larry Miller, said they turned down the trade for Shawn Marion because they prefer to have players under contract. And it’s a good thing because AK has really been one of the most consistent players for the team. He’s been working with Jeff Hornacek on his shot and now he’s shooting 50 percent and 37 percent from three. We don’t cringe anymore when he takes jump shots. I don’t even want to think where we’d be without his D. Ronnie Brewer’s play has been great as well.

Hornets.com: What’s been the biggest disappointment?
Loertscher: I can’t say there’s been too much disappointment. The awful stretch in December has hampered our position in the Western Conference. Even a decent month would have put us in first place by now. I would say the biggest disappointing player has been Jason Hart. I don’t know if any fans really had high hopes to begin with. But with how poorly he’s played, and with fan favorite Dee Brown not re-signed, Hart’s become enemy No. 1 with fans. Although, Ronnie Price has finally won the backup role. But really, we can’t complain too much.

Hornets.com: Who’s been the Jazz’s MVP in the first half of the season?
Loertscher: Without a doubt it’s Deron Williams. Boozer has the stats and gets the MVP notice from around the league. But any Jazz fan worth his/her weight knows that Deron makes the team go. And although Price has been playing well, if we were to lose Williams for a period of time, we would be in bad shape.

Hornets.com: Who’s been the biggest “unsung hero?”
Loertscher: This has to go to Kirilenko again. He’s still capable of putting up a 5X5. He makes up for a lot of our defensive deficiencies. You don’t hear much about him unless it’s rumors about shipping him out of Utah. But really he hustles all the time, he can defend most any type of player, and we haven’t heard anything more out of him. Matt Harpring and Ronnie Price do a lot for the team as well.

Hornets.com: What is your team’s primary objective in the second half of the season?
Loertscher: We have to get homecourt for the playoffs. We’re flaky at best on the road. If the team wants to go far in the playoffs, they’re going to have to have most of their games at the EnergySolutions Arena. I guess that is most teams’ goal. We won in Houston last year in Game 7, but you saw how we played when we hosted the Warriors. And besides staying healthy, we need to win games that we’re suppose to win. We’ve recently lost to the Clippers and Tuesday to the Timberwolves. And they barely hung on at home vs. the Hawks. Those are games that are going to come back to haunt the Jazz should they finish 1-2 games out of first or home court advantage.

Hornets.com: Lastly, I think we know how you might answer this, but who’s better: Deron Williams or Chris Paul?
Loertscher: In all honesty, I don’t think the Jazz could have gone wrong with either one. And Hornets fans must have been absolutely giddy when Atlanta passed on both. The Jazz were expected to have the leftovers of the two. And then they suddenly found themselves with having to make a choice. They really couldn’t go wrong with either one. Could they have picked Paul and been fine? Absolutely. But I think both teams ended up getting the player that fit best into their respective systems. And I really had nothing against Paul.

But what I didn’t like is when Paul started getting MVP talk and yet there was nothing for Deron. Both have very similar numbers. And Deron’s not the first option. Maybe Paul isn’t either; I don’t know much about the Hornets’ offense. The reason is, or so they say, is that Boozer gets the MVP talk for the Jazz. Which I think is ridiculous. It’s not that he’s not deserving, but just because you have one MVP candidate, you can’t have another? Paul’s more than deserving of the talk, but so is Williams. That’s why I’ve started my small 8>3 campaign. Anywhere there’s a Williams v. Paul article, I’ll be there to defend Williams. So to answer your question, I’ll refer you to their head-to-head matchups.