Thoughts on Williams, the Millers, and why a lock-out is needed.

Jerry is now on his farm. He will be missed by the NBA and can never be replaced.

Ty is going to be a great coach not only because he has vision and patience, but more so because he has the Millers as his owners. The millers trust to the point of blood as long as a reason isn't given to them to distrust. Ty has been loyal, and will be loyal. The Millers will do the same, and over time we will see a transition from the Sloan era to the Ty era... they will have resemblances, but will also have clear differences.

Williams is in New Jersey. He gave a lot, and was given a lot while in Utah. The Millers and Kevin O'C. made a decision to separate Williams from themselves before they were forced to. Williams has an idea of what he wants. He wants to win, and expects an owner to buy what he needs to help him get that win. The Millers want to win too. They expect to do it a little differently. The Millers will spend money (maybe not as much as Williams wanted them to), but only on pieces and players that meet three criteria: 1) Do they want to be here? 2) Do they fit the coaches system (was Sloan's, now Ty's... this is why Utah really is a great place to coach; they give the head coach a lot of say on who comes in)? 3) Are they over achievers who work hard as close to 100% of the time as possible?

Williams fit that criteria while he was in Utah because he was under contract to do so. I can respect that. He committed to do what was asked as long as he was being paid to. The problem was this: Williams would no longer meet that criteria after the 2011-2012 season. He would be out from his contract, and would not then feel obligated to live by those same terms he was brought in on. Again, I can respect that. He is a man of his word that respects the hand that feeds him. Unfortunately he was not going to be taking food from the Millers after 2012, so he might of bite (perhaps unintentionally) the Millers and the Jazz by holding hostage his talents for a much larger payroll with much bigger stars to surround him. The Millers might have the means to commit the kind of money Williams wanted to see spent on the Jazz. In fact I would say they do have that money. But that is not the way they do things. That does not fall into those three criteria. That is not 'the Jazz".

That might be frustrating at times. The Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Heat, Mavericks and others have shown that success in the NBA can be bought. You can have a parade in L.A. when the Lakers win championships, but don't applaud Kobe. Don't look up to Gasol as the guy that brought L.A. the title again. The addition of Mr. Kardashian and Bynum didn't put the Lake-Show in the driver's seat. It wasn't guts and glory, sweat and blood, or just plain old hard work either. It was a 77 year old fan with a checkbook. It was Jerry Buss. Or Jerry Buss's money.

That seems to be the way things are done right now in the NBA, bye the title for a few years, then let someone else pay for it while you save a few bucks for a few seasons.

Is this what Utahans wants to see happen to the Jazz? Pay the money, get the title? I hope not. I hope they will take the frustration of losing to L.A. 9 years out of 10 in the playoffs so that when that one season happens, the ones like the 97' & 98', Jazz fans can hold their heads high knowing they are fans of a team that does it the way it was meant to be done. When that basket was first hung by Naismith well over a hundred years ago, was a winner intended to be decided by old men with deep pockets, or by young athletes leaving everything they have on the court?

So to the Millers, as a fan, I want to thank you. Not just for bringing the Jazz to a community that had no business hosting a professional franchise at the time, but for playing by the rules in a time when it seems the norm is to pay for top talent without any regard to fair play or respect for the game. Thank you for not bastardizing a team game with a super-star first mentality, and for not fully manipulating true competition with an inflated "super team".

I would rather never see a championship com to Utah in my lifetime, than to see a sweaty wad of money leading the parade down John Stockton Avenue.