Today at shoot around Tyrone Corbin talked about the need to still see combinations he hasn’t seen in the pre-season. It is hard for coaches to get to all of the combinations they want when their main guys are only playing 20 minutes a night.

Therefore, as Coach Corbin increases minutes for his main players he will also be able to see some of the combinations he hasn’t seen in the pre-season. For the most part, players have only played one stint a half, but as we get closer to the regular season look for players to check out and check back in during the same half.

However, the competition from the other side, is vital for Corbin’s evaluation of the combinations.

Some of it is not just us I want to see it against certain competition so they are not playing the regular rotation so it is a little mute at times. We see it at practice but I want to get it against line-ups we will see during the course of the year.

Corbin did mention a few combinations he hasn’t seen that he would like to take a look at in the final 2 pre-season games. Thus, far he has played Kanter with Favors and Evans and has not played him much with Millsap and Favors has played very little with Jefferson. Those are not the match-ups that Corbin mentioned today.

I haven’t had the opportunity to get Mo and Randy combination on the floor as much as I want to see it … hopefully we can see that coming forward. I haven’t had Gordon at three as much as I would like to.

Keep an eye out tonight who is playing with whom.

Derrick Favors shared that when he was a kid his childhood room had a copy of Slam Magazine on his wall and on the cover were now teammates then high school seniors Al Jefferson and Marvin Williams

Last year, due to the Lockout season the Jazz played nearly exclusively with Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap as one combination and Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter as the other.

This year Coach Corbin has been able to take a look at new combinations. Here are his comments on how these players match with Al Jefferson.

DERRICK WITH AL
I like our size there. Derrick has gotten better at reading where to be when Al has the ball in the post. He is not afraid to step up in the middle to get the jump shot there. He can dive on the weak side looking for the pass to keep his other guy occupied so that the other big is not locked in on Al. I like the versatility with both guys.

ENES WITH AL
It was short, the way Enes has expanded his game, the way he can run it gives us a little more speed because he is running the floor better, he can rebound the ball well so it gives us an advantage there. I am little worried about perimeter shooting but it may be able to work for us at times.

If the first pre-season game gives us any indication of where things are headed the Jazz believe they have another option in the post. Newly acquired Marvin Williams brings unique size to the small forward position at 6’9 237 and a new option in the post.

In the first pre-season game, Corbin called Williams number in the post on two occasions in the first quarter. He missed a turnaround jumper and then drew a foul working to the middle the next time.

However, in the third quarter, Corbin saw Marvin matched on a smaller player and worked the3 match up hard. Klay Thompson of the Warriors, is good sized at 6’7 but against Marvin he was dwarfed. Marvin took Thompson into the left block and drew a foul. The next possession they returned and another foul on Thompson. The Warriors then switched veteran Richard Jefferson onto Marvin and he promptly drew another foul.

Most nights Marvin will have a size advantage in the post. Couple that with Marvin’s surprising ability to run the floor the Jazz feel he could cause opponents some serious match-up difficulties. Many of the teams leading scorers are wing players and for years the Jazz have been unable to make those players extend energy on the defensive end.

The Hawks didn’t use Williams in the post very often over the last three years nor was he particularly successful.

According to synergy sports, the Hawks only had 37 possessions last year that finished with Marvin in the post. Synergy doesn’t account for any possession where he passed out of the post. From the video I watched he is a strong passer out of the post on the rare occasions they went to him there.

When the possession ended with Marvin he was not highly successful. He scored on 40.5% of those possessions, shooting just 11 of 29 and got fouled 8.1% of the time. These were only 6% of the possessions Williams had last year.

The year previous, the Hawks used Williams in the post a bit more. Again his success rate was only on ok. He finished with 72 post ups and shot 22 of 57 from the field and drawing a foul 10% of the time. Marvin’s 2009-10 numbers mirror those of the two previous years.

Will Marvin be more successful in Utah then he was in Atlanta with more opportunities? Will the Jazz discover that despite the size and strength advantages that Marvin has in the post it is not the best way to use him?

This is what the regular season is for.

As the week of training camp wraps up I am going through all the interviews for comments that might have been left on the cutting room floor.

CORBIN ON FOYE
“He is a shooter, he is a great spot up shooter, we can the ball in his hands some to make plays, but if he has his feet spot spotting up in the corner or behind the three point line we feel very good him making shots.”

CORBIN ON MO WILLIAMS
“He is a leader he is an attacker, he is a great communicator with the guys on the floor in a good way, they seem to listen and follow what he is saying. His speed, the way he can generates and navigate guys on the floor, he sees things early, he advances the ball, and then makes a play off that and gives us more versatility then we have had.

CORBIN ON HOW MO WILLIAMS IS EVOLVED
His confidence his shooting is better, he is a pretty dead eye three point shooter, he is a better one on one attacker then he was then, he has a good feel when to go and when to pull back, when to get other guys involved and who to go to at the time.

CORBIN ON KANTER
He is 20 years old and he missed a whole year at Kentucky, he had a lockout year so he missed the summer and that summer went to December – he came in and guys are bigger faster stronger and he is trying to think his way through it. Now he knows what to expect, he had a time frame to be ready.

Kanter is a young guy trying to figure out his body and over the next few years he may go through stretches where he is a little heavier where is a little smaller.
He needs to learn if it is not a time to where he needs to create contact just catch and finish and not seek out contact when it is not necessary.

CORBIN ON MARVIN WILLIAMS
the shot looks good, he is confident shooter, he knows how to get his feet under him and get his base down so when he comes off the driblle or comes off the down screen he is facing, he has turned quick and get his balance and his release looks really good. He is a good spot up shooter and I think we can get him better off the dribble some too.

He can handle the ball, you can put the ball in his hand, you can put him in pick and roll occasionally, you can put the ball in his hand early and be able to create and get to the basket some, he should be able to get to the free throw line some by posting guys up especially smaller 3

CORBIN ON MILLSAP AS A THREE
“There may be times when we can use him as three man he is a 4 man and he likes playing 4 at times we have an advantage to go big and put him at the three spot we will use that times to play him at three but we don’t want to put him at a disadvantage at the three spot and get him in foul trouble.”

CORBIN ON DIFFERENT STYLE TEAM
What fans will notice different about the team – our size – we can be big with Gordon playing the 2, the way we can move with this size is going to be a nice change.

The uniqueness of an NBA training camp is a team of players, are simultaneously battling for playing time while trying to build a unit that can win together. In the midst of those positional battles lessons are taught from veterans to youngsters.

This year at Jazz camp one of the toughest battles is for shooting guard minutes between Randy Foye and Alec Burks. At the same time, Burks is improving every day because he has to battle with a 6 year veteran like Randy Foye.

Paul Millsap and Earl Watson remember playing against established all-star veterans when they were 1st and 2nd year players and both know it improved their games.

For Watson it was a daily grind with future Hall of Famer Gary Payton ““I learned every trick of the trade, how to come off a pick and roll defensively, I think it was why I guard well because I learned from him, a coach can’t teach you what you have to learn from that position, to learn under him, a hall of famer, it made it easy for me to get knowledge immediately.”

At other times in his career Watson played alongside another developing player and it was not as fruitful, “I learned more going against a vet, playing against guys my age or younger we were both trying to figure it out it was like two kids in a candy store running wild trying to figure it out. When I was with Payton, I asked him to stay on top of me. He gave me the skills and knowledge to stay in the league as long as I have.”

Alec Burks has already had one of those experiences with Randy Foye this year in camp. Foye explained, “One thing he is picking up from me is work ethic, the other day we were going against each other and he was a little tired and I continued to put the pressure on him and he said in the locker room hey man I was tired you kept pressuring me and I told him there are time in the game where you can tell someone is tired and you have to just attack them all out and force your will on them.”

It was a learning moment for Alec Burks. One Paul Millsap had when he broke into the game playing against Carlos Boozer “In order for you to get better you have to compete every day against the best competition especially against someone who might be ahead of you or has more years than you. You learn the only way to get better is to work hard and to compete.”

The Jazz could have cleared the deck and left Alec Burks without competition this year. Instead, they brought in an established player with toughness like Randy Foye. This is making every day of camp far more difficult for Burks than the alternative.

Burks is loaded with skills. He is adjusting his game from being the primary scorer and primary possession user at Colorado to a part of a team in the NBA. At the same time he is learning even more valuable lessons from Foye.

Coach Corbin sees this as the next step for Burks. “It is good for Burks because he had a great summer. Last year, he learned the lessons of how to be under control and the summer league was very good for him we put the ball in his hands a lot and now the competition changed you come in against Randy Foye and Gordon Hayward he is learning now that every night is top competition.”

Randy Foye understands his role in Burks development, “It is important for him to see the work ethic; you build your values when you are young.”

Every day another piece of the Alec Burks foundation is being built. In camp it is being done by competition.

Enes Kanter has arrived in camp with a different body, a new found confidence and from early reports a different game.

In the first night of scrimmaging Kanter hit some outside jump shots, showed a move other than the up and under and impressed numerous of his teammates. One player pointed out he even passed the ball out of the post on a few occasions.

Much of Kanter’s game last year was limited to what he did with the other young players in pre-game workouts 2 to 3 hours before games. He lacked the confidence and belief to bring it out into the forefront in the bright lights.

For the Turkish 20 year old it may all be coming together. His improved grasp of the English language is allowing his personality to come to the forefront. This in turn is letting him play the game with more self-assurance and his natural progression is beginning to take place.

Kanter’s rode to the NBA is the most unusual. He didn’t play basketball until he was 14 years old and by 19 was the 3rd pick in the NBA. After less than a year of basketball he was averaging 12 pts and 10 rebounds in European U16 championships, the next year he averaged 23 points and 17 rebounds. His performance in the U18 European Championships, averaging 19 points and 16 rebounds including a 35 point and 19 rebound performance against Lithuania and Jonas Valanciunas put him in the spotlight and then his domination of the Nike Hoop Summit rocketed him to the top of draft boards.

However, he didn’t play at all in 2010 and his size has always allowed him to dominate lesser opponents. When he arrived in the NBA he was no longer the biggest or strongest player on the floor and his lack of basketball knowledge was a impediment to his progress.

Last year, Kanter didn’t instinctively play the game correctly. Corbin explained “reading the pick and roll situations, if he is in the pick and roll how to set and dive and how to set and pop. Read his partner the other big man and react correctly off what he does. If the other big dives then to rotate up. If he pops then Kanter has to step into the lane, To play inside the game and to understand the game.”

It is understandable considering the lost year at Kentucky, followed by no summer league and a lockout that moved into December preventing any contact with the then rookie and the Utah Jazz.

Now Kanter enters a season knowing what to expect. He is still strong enough that Corbin says “people are still falling off of him.” However, the natural basketball knowledge is still trailing , “he is felling his way through it. He is still thinking but it is getting better,” said Corbin.

It is all part of the progression, an eye opening first year followed by a physical understanding of how to play and how what you need to be successfully. However, all the new found confidence on this newly developed body won’t be successful until the coaches believe that he knows the plays and the defensive assignment without thinking.

The skills are emerging. The body in improving. The confidence is beaming. Now the trust has to be developed.