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For those old enough, you will remember the Burt Reynolds movie ‘Smokey and the Bandit'. His co-star was Jerry Reed, who also sang the theme song to the movie, ‘East Bound And Down'.
Part of the lyrics to that song read, "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there!" That's what Utah Jazz head coach Ty Corbin was living last year when the NBA lockout was lifted in December and a condensed version of Jazz training camp began.
Corbin, beginning his first full season after taking over for Jerry Sloan, had to implement his own philosophy, his own style, his own schemes in a matter of days, not weeks like a normal training camp.
The big change Corbin implemented last season was on defense. For years, the Jerry Sloan scheme was to force the ball into the paint. Corbin reversed that theory and tried to teach his players to force the player and ball to the baseline.
The players had to concentrate on learning a new philosophy and it took time to adjust. Time they didn't have with the locked out shortened training camp.
Fast forward 10 months. The Jazz began a full training camp on Tuesday. No philosophy changes. Corbin and the players can now concentrate on executing, rather than learning.
"It will be a lot easier this time around," Jazz forward Paul Millsap said. "We have a training camp to really work on it now and we can stop practice and go over it if we need to."
Ty Corbin also though it would make the improving process easier by saying "We can build on those things now instead of putting in a whole new system."
The Jazz still have a long way to go, but now, a little longer to get there.
