With CJ Miles and Kyle Korver apparently coming back sometime in the next week or two, the Jazz should finally be healthy by the time they hit the road for their annual mid-December east-coast trip. I have been anxious to see CJ play this year because I know how hard he worked in the summer, but with the way Wes Matthews has played so far this season, does CJ deserve to have his starting job back?

We all know the precedent that Jerry Sloan has set for this type of situation: a player never loses his job due to injury. But this particular situation might be the exception. For one, Jerry recently commented that he might backpedal on that philosophy, and make CJ re-earn his starting job, and why wouldn’t he? Matthews has been fantastic so far this year, all things considered (he had really low expectations coming in), and he is stepping up on the defensive end more than any other player on the team. His defensive ratings on the season are higher than any of his teammates, and he is leading the team in overall defensive performance almost every night (check out this article).

Don’t get me wrong, I like CJ miles. The guy has a great attitude, a high basketball IQ, and great chemistry with his teammates. But he has been in the league now for a few years, and it’s put up or shut up time. We can’t afford to have our starting shooting guard out on the wing jacking up threes at a 33% clip, while staying passive on both ends of the floor. He needs to be aggressively involved, slashing to the hoop, up in his guy’s face, and playing within the game to help his teammates get involved. Basically, he needs to play like Wesley Matthews. I emailed his mother, Lanis Miles, back and forth several times in the off-season, and she said that he worked really hard to improve his game and strength last summer, and that he was really disappointed when he got injured. In this regard, I really feel for him. I know that he was really excited to start the season, and he played great against Denver in the only preseason game he played in, so I have high hopes for him. I just hope he has kept himself in shape so that he can come in and make a real difference. Nothing would make me happier than to see CJ have a huge break-out type season. But, when he comes back, does he deserve to start over Matthews? Is it his job to lose? Will he mess with the team’s chemistry? It will be interesting to see what J-Slow decides to do. CJ needs to get gritty, down right nasty out there on the floor, or I think Wes will have him beat.

I guess only time will tell…

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