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Utah Jazz guard Raul Neto, currently out with a right hamstring injury, was reevaluated on Tuesday by Jazz medical staff. The team says he is showing progress, and will be reevaluated in two weeks.
Entering his fourth season with Utah, Neto played in 41 games last season, and averaged 4.5 points, 1.8 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per outing.
Yeah, preseason win-loss records don’t mean anything, but it’s still cool being 4-0. There’s no negative to winning. Feel free to go win things today. Win some things that matter, then win some things that don’t, and you’ll still probably just enjoy the winning.
Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune on the Jazz:
After a lackluster defensive effort in the first half, the Jazz’s bench unit ratcheted up the intensity on both ends in the fourth quarter against the Trail Blazers on Sunday, rallying for a 123-112 victory at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., to bolster their preseason record to 4-0.
Donovan Mitchell scored a team-high 21 points for Utah, which outscored Portland 39-20 over the final 12 minutes of action.
Joe Ingles and Alec Burks added 12 each for the Jazz.
The end result was a bit deceiving, considering that fourth quarter featured a Jazz lineup of Ekpe Udoh, Royce O’Neale, Grayson Allen, Georges Niang and Burks feasting on the likes of Caleb Swanigan, Meyers Leonard, Nik Stauskas, Anfernee Simons and Wade Baldwin IV.
The Jazz are worth watching this season. If you aren’t a Jazz fan, take this into account and turn your TV on when they play, and turn to that channel. See how we guided you through the process? You’re welcome.
The Jazz led the Perth Wildcats 44-13 after one quarter and 75-34 at the half. This thing wasn’t close. Jazz player stats for this game are on the inflated side. Still, a win is a win, and it was a very impressive career NBA preseason debut by Jazz rookie Grayson Allen, who made it rain from three-point range in impressive fashion.
Here’s the Deseret News reporting:
Allen sank the first five shots he took, including four straight 3-pointers, and by the midpoint of the second quarter, already had 14 points. He cooled off a bit in the second half but still ended up leading all Jazz scorers with 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting and 5 of 9 from long range.
The rookie from Duke said he wasn’t expecting to lead all scorers, but all in all was pleased with his first performance in a Jazz uniform, even if it wasn’t against a real NBA team.
“I was a lot more comfortable after the first three went down,” he said. “It felt good. These guys are really easy to play with. It’s really seamless when you’re jumping in there with a lot of smart basketball players. It makes my job a lot easier.” …
Besides finishing with 19 points, Allen also had three rebounds and an assist. His only real negative was a team-high four turnovers on the night, which Allen mentioned after the game as something to improve on.
A few extra turnovers comes with the territory. It was a nice debut by Allen.
Preseason for the league began Friday.
The Utah Jazz are a talent-filled serious Western conference team that won 48 games last season and should only keep getting better. Their backcourt is on the crowded side, however. Which can make it tough on a coach to fully maximize the talent. Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune reporting:
While coach Quin Snyder called it “a good problem to have,” the depth the Jazz have at the guard positions still is a problem.
Just look at the Jazz’s roster and you’ll see seven players with a “G” next to their name: Ricky Rubio, Donovan Mitchell, Dante Exum, Royce O’Neale, Alec Burks, Grayson Allen, and Raul Neto all will make the roster, and all have pretty good cases to earn playing time at their preferred position.
Rubio and Mitchell will take up the lions’ share of the minutes, though. Mitchell, after his meteoric rise, is the Jazz’s best scorer and face of the franchise, it seems reasonable to pencil him in for 35 minutes a night. Rubio has become part of the Jazz’s identity too, and it’d be a shock to see him play significantly less than 30 minutes a night.
Rudy Gobert’s defensive ability is widely known, but here’s the Salt Lake Tribune with some insight on his offensive development:
Opponents could really reduce Gobert’s effectiveness in seasons past by preventing him from facing and rolling the rim, but he’s trying to develop counters to that: a quick hook shot if he happens to have his back to the basket, and a not-exactly-deft but still effective floater if he’s stopped short. And yes, if the situation requires, a mid-range jumper to hold up his end of the offensive bargain.
Improving his strength was also a big focus of Gobert’s offseason: bumps impacted Gobert’s lanky frame more than most players, so his effective finishes in practice can become ineffective in game traffic. With more lower body and core strength, he’s hoping to be more sturdy, to be able to handle more contact.
For what it’s worth, he also says that the lower body work he’s done has made him a quicker player on the perimeter, for when the league’s elite role players force the Jazz into a switch.
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The Utah Jazz hire Barnett Frank as the Director of Performance Science to its performance healthcare staff.
Frank joins the Jazz most recently from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned a PhD in human movement science and worked as a post-doctoral research fellow. During his time in Chapel Hill, Frank worked closely with University of North Carolina athletics, researching and implementing cutting edge technology and techniques to help support their athletes’ performance, recovery and health, coordinated through the school’s Department of Exercise and Sports Science.
Prior to his tenure at North Carolina, the Bethel, Conn. native attended Indiana University, Bloomington where he graduated with a degree in kinesiology, specializing in athletic training.
In his new role as Director of Sports Science with the Jazz, Frank and the team’s performance healthcare staff will work on applying world-class performance science in order to enhance player readiness, recovery and rehabilitation.
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Utah Jazz guard Raul Neto has suffered a right hamstring injury. He will be reevaluated in two weeks.
Entering his fourth season with the Jazz, the 6-foot-1, 179-pound guard appeared in 41 games last year, owning averages of 4.5 points, 1.8 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per contest, also seeing action in eight postseason games.
According to the Deseret News, “this injury is the latest setback for the Brazilian, who missed half of the 2017-2018 regular season because of a variety of unrelated injuries. He re-signed with Utah over the summer on a two-year, $4.4 million contract.”
Nobody is thinking about 2019 All-Star weekend yet. But when the guy who won the 2018 dunk title is in front of you, it makes sense to ask if he’s thinking of trying to defend it. Here’s the Deseret News reporting on young Jazz star Donovan Mitchell:
Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell is certainly focused on reaching new heights in his sophomore campaign, but the rising star hasn’t decided on whether or not he’ll be defending his slam dunk title.
“I don’t know … that’s a good question,” Mitchell said during Monday’s Utah Jazz Media Day. “I don’t know, we’ll see. I’ll leave it there.”
All-Star Weekend 2019 will be played in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Feb. 15-17.
As a rookie, Mitchell reached a new level of popularity after winning the slam dunk crown at Los Angeles’ Staples Center as a late addition.
The Sixers still need a new general manager. The search has gone on for quite a while now, but the search has reportedly been narrowed down to a select handful of candidates. Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune with more:
Utah Jazz assistant general manager Justin Zanik is getting another shot at one of the NBA’s 30 top jobs.
Zanik has been named one of three candidates in the Philadelphia 76ers’ general manager search, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Besides Zanik, the Sixers are also interviewing Houston’s Gersson Rojas and Golden State’s Larry Harris.
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The Utah Jazz signed guard Trey Lewis today.
Lewis (6-2, 185, Louisville) competed for the Jazz entry squads at the 2018 Utah Jazz Summer League and 2018 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, Lewis appeared in four games (one start), averaging 9.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 18.6 minutes per contest.
During the 2017-18 season, he played for JL Bourg-en-Bresse of the LNB Pro A in France and Ratiopharm Ulm of the Basketball Bundesliga in Germany. With JL Bourg-en-Bresse, he saw action in 14 games (all starts), owning averages of 17.2 points, 3.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds in 30.6 minutes. As a member of Ratiopharm Ulm, he played in 19 regular season games (six starts) with averages of 11.6 points, 2.1 assists and 1.8 rebounds, also appearing in 10 EuroCup contests and two German Cup games.
The Garfield Heights, Ohio native began his collegiate career at Penn State, before transferring to Cleveland State for two seasons and finishing at Louisville during 2015-16. As a senior, Lewis posted averages of 11.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game, helping the Cardinals to a 23-8 record.