Why the offense...and defense...didn't work

You all saw it: Utah's offense on Monday night, as jumbled and chaotic as it was.

It resembled nothing of the Jazz effeciency that the franchise has been known for over the years. In fact, it resembled something of a pick-up game, where guys were playing with each other for the first time, trying to mesh their individual games all the way.

Here are a few reasons why

1) The Jazz are still learning - With the tweaks and changes that Ty Corbin made to the offense, coupled with the abbreviated camp, Monday's game was destined to be a little ugly. And it was.

"We were thinking out there way too much," C.J. Miles said. "For an offense to work right, it has to be instinctive, and it wasn't like that. We're going to get better, but we have to be a lot smoother out there."

2) Guys weren't making shots, no spacing - It sounds simple. But it's actually complex. Al Jefferson had no room to work. Miles and Raja Bell weren't getting open looks. Devin Harris wasn't getting to the basket off the dribble. It was the perfect storm in that fashion.

"Their pressure bothered us a little bit," Ty Corbin said. "We got into the offense too late into the shotclock more often than not. We have to get into it a little earlier."

3) No Millsap - With Paul Millsap, Utah's best offensive player, on the sidelines, there was no face-up game from 15-feet and in, no mid-range game and certainly no offensive rebounding. One guy doesn't make all the difference, but Millsap's prescence was definitely missed.

Defensively?

"We didn't get the rotations down," Corbin said. "We had problems with Portland going small. That was my biggest disappointment, that we didn't take advantage of them going small on either end of the floor. They had Gerald Wallace playing center at times, and he's more of a small forward."

Tony Jones