2014-2015 regular season!

[QUOTE]This night was different. Favors, although still bothered by his sprained right ankle, returned from his two-game absence.[/QUOTE]

Yeah and they won despite him being back.

[QUOTE]Small forward Gordon Hayward had one of his best games of a season of best games.

Power forward Enes Kanter continued his surge of strong performances.

Most important, the Jazz jumped all over a struggling Heat team, which is missing big men Chris Bosh (calf) and Josh McRoberts (impending knee surgery), and continued to play well for a full four quarters.

Sure, there were spurts when Dwyane Wade almost single-handedly pushed the Heat back into this one during his season-high 42-point night.

But the Jazz remained composed, got key buckets from Hayward (29 points) and Kanter (18 points), among others, and played one of their better defensive games from tip to buzzer.

They did some things in previous losses to satisfy their process-oriented coach, but this time they got a result that lightened the postgame mood in the locker room, too.

[QUOTE]According to Basketball-Reference.com, Burke was on track to become just the eighth player in NBA history to shoot under 37 percent overall and worse than 31 percent from three while attempting at least 11 shots per game. [/QUOTE]

But he's a shooter! :wtf:

[QUOTE]Hayward had another marvelous, all-around performance. He was the model of efficiency, scoring a team-high 29 points on just 13 field goal attempts. He connected on 4-of-5 3-pointers and all seven of his free throws. Add in seven assists and six rebounds and you

[QUOTE]The incident

[QUOTE]Suddenly, an 83-72 lead swelled to 91-74. When Burks

[QUOTE]a guy who does appear to be evolving before our eyes is Enes Kanter.[/QUOTE]

He's been evolving since he came into the league. He got off to a slow start last season because of his injury to end the previous season but other than that he's always shown improvement unlike the much hyped Favors who until this year hadn't shown much and I'm still not sure how much he's improved. They're certainly using him better.

[QUOTE]Some of his well-chronicled defensive shortcoming are still there[/QUOTE]

And considering how bad almost everyone else on the team is we're tired of hearing about. He's certainly shown improvement there as well this year.

[QUOTE], but the last nine games or so might be the best stretch of his pro career to date.

Starting with the Denver game, Kanter is averaging 18 & 9 on 53% shooting, and even knocking down 43% from three. [/QUOTE]

That makes 3 all-stars than? Why aren't they winning?

[QUOTE]His intensity and effort have been noticeably better. There were even moments while Favors was out that it was clear Kanter was the emotional leader, trying to capitalize on the momentum of a big play by riling up teammates, or pulling guys together on a dead ball.[/QUOTE]

There's been times since his rookie year that he should have been playing over Favors but it's yet to happen just because I guess.

[QUOTE]I

[QUOTE]recognition helps make you a star player. The Jazz have been without one for a while now, and need one. Gordon Hayward could be one, but coming into the draft the Jazz felt like they had to get a player who had that potential.[/QUOTE]
Tank!

[QUOTE]Andrew Wiggins and Nerlens Noel look to be the front runner for the ROY award this season after Jabari Parker was recently shelved with a season ending injury. That sucks, but it was running away with the award. Beyond the ROY race there are the 10 spots for All-Rookie 1st and 2nd team to worry about. [/QUOTE]

Who cares? I'd rather he was the MVP of the Dleague than getting limited minutes and inconsistent play in the NBA.

[QUOTE]Exum has a chance to crack it, but he's going to have to be a more effective player on the court in terms of his box score production.

Of course, there are other players looking to crack to Rookie Top 10, like the not listed players: James Ennis, Kyle Anderson, Doug McDermott, and Joe Harris. They are getting some time, and playing well for a playoff team can help make you look better than you actually are.

I don't remember if last season's Rookie teams were just players on lotto teams, but that's not a knock on a player for the ROY award. Michael Carter-Williams won last season, fending off Victor Oladipo and Trey Burke. All three players have a younger teammate in the running this season as well.[/QUOTE]

There's no doubt Trey wasn't that great last year. He got to play and it was a weak class.

[QUOTE]But back to Dante . . . I like to think he's one of the best PGs in this class, however, in terms of getting on the floor he's behind Zach LaVine, Elfrid Payton, and Shabazz Napier. If Rajon Rondo is traded I would expect Marcus Smart to get more playing time too. It's important for me that guys like Dante are one of the best players at their position. The draft is something the Jazz can't mess up with. But right now we're playing the long game, while some of these other teams are playing for today.

I have faith in the Utah Jazz scouting process, and their drafting process. And I have faith in Dante Exum. And watching him play more and more minutes makes me comfortable with the idea that he's going to end this season as a Top 10 rookie.[/QUOTE]

:rolleyes:

[QUOTE]Mark Eaton, a two time defensive player of the year was picked in the fourth round of the draft in 1982, and since that time late round talent has been a Jazz hallmark: Isaac Austin, Bryon Russell, Shandon Anderson, Jarron Collins, Mo Williams, C.J. Miles, Paul Millsap, and Jeremy Evans have followed. [/QUOTE]

Bobby Hansen?

[QUOTE]Utah started looking outside the USA with Jose Ortiz, and over time added more and more staff to help them find good players, like former All-Star Andrei Kirilenko. The criticism here could be that they did get good players, but things did not always work out. The poster child for that is Raul Lopez; however, today the Jazz feel like international players will see the value of this organization and help build Utah into a winner again. At least, that's what Dante Exum, Enes Kanter, Rudy Gobert, and Joe Ingles are attempting to do.

Two players are both second round picks who are international players -- and both aren't with the team yet. Ante Tomic is a Croatian playing in Spain this year, and the bigman is versatile on offense and defense, and one of the best in his league.[/QUOTE]

One of the best in the world outside the NBA. One of the best passing big man anywhere.

[QUOTE]The other is Raul Neto, a Brazlilian kid grew up wanting to play the game like John Stockton, is also playing in Spain. He's not dominating the ACB, but he's doing enough to make you see his value.

How do these two players compare with the current point guards and bigmen on the team? While there is no apples to apples way to figure out European per game averages against NBA per game averages . . . we can try to take a look.

Point Guards:

G MPG PPG FGA FG% 3PT% FT% PPS RPG APG A:TO SPG BPG PER USG% AST% REB% BARPS /min
Trey Burke 26 32.1 11.3 11.7 36.8% 32.0% 80.0% 0.97 2.3 5.3 2.63 0.9 0.3 11.6 20.7% 26.6% 4.3% 20.12 0.626
Dante Exum 26 17.8 4.9 4.3 41.4% 35.0% 60.9% 1.14 1.4 2.0 1.89 0.4 0.2 8.8 14.9% 17.6% 4.7% 8.92 0.501
Toure' Murry 0 0.0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Raul Neto 11 21.8 9.1 7.5 45.1% 31.8% 67.9% 1.22 1.5 4.1 1.41 1.0 0.3 14.6 25.5% 36.1% 4.8% 16.00 0.733

Neto could be coming to the Jazz as early as next season, and I think we would welcome that. [/QUOTE]

It's a joke he hasn't been with them the past two years as their staring pg.

[QUOTE]He's shooting better from the floor, a product of his shot selection, but isn't nearly as effective from deep -- and in Europe their three point line isn't as far, IIRC. He's also the most risky with his passes, but that could be a simple product of his teammates missing the easy shots and denying him of system assists. Down in Murcia, Spain he is a bigger part of their team than any of our point guards, finishing over a quarter of the plays when he is on the court with a shot, and over 1/3rd with an assist.

The 22 year old Brazilian seems to be responsible for a little more when he's in the game than either Burke or Exum, and is in more of a "John Stocktons gotta shoot it this time" mode right now. I wish his FT% was better, but I think he compares in performance with our current point guards.[/QUOTE]

And he showed D in the World Cup!

[QUOTE]Trey Burke is correcting his poor shooting during the early part of the season, but he's still not shooting as well as he would like. [/QUOTE]

But he's just in a slump! :roll:

[QUOTE]His assist to turn over ratio (over 3 for most of the season) still hasn't recovered from the John Wall / Wizards game. Dante Exum is playing much better now and playing more minutes. I will enjoy watching the rest of his season and how he progresses. Toure' Murry has yet to play in an NBA game this season.[/QUOTE]

But remains on the roster instead of in Idaho. :wtf:

[QUOTE]Speaking for myself, it looks like Neto would be a healthy addition to this group and is more likely to be a part of this group moving forward.[/QUOTE]

Ya think? :rolleyes:

Try watching a game instead of compiling stats. He was better than Trey in Summer League and he certainly looked better than Exum and Trey in the World Cup.

[QUOTE]Bigmen:

G MPG PPG FGA FG% 3PT% FT% PPS RPG APG A:TO SPG BPG PER USG% AST% REB% BARPS /min
Derrick Favors 23 30.4 15.4 11.7 55.6% -- 67.1% 1.32 8.1 1.4 1.03 0.6 1.5 22.3 22.3% 8.8% 16.1% 27.09 0.891
Enes Kanter 26 27.2 14.7 11.7 52.8% 33.3% 79.4% 1.25 7.2 0.7 0.37 0.4 0.5 19.0 25.1% 5.1% 15.9% 23.42 0.863
Trevor Booker 26 20.0 7.2 5.7 50.3% 29.2% 57.4% 1.26 4.4 0.9 0.61 0.6 0.3 13.5 18.5% 7.3% 13.3% 13.50 0.676
Rudy Gobert 26 17.8 5.6 3.4 61.4% 0.0% 67.9% 1.66 5.8 0.7 0.79 0.7 1.7 21.1 13.6% 6.5% 19.4% 14.58 0.817
Ante Tomic 20 20.6 11.4 7.2 60.8% -- 68.8% 1.59 6.7 1.4 1.23 0.7 0.5 26.5 23.7% 12.0% 20.4% 20.45 0.993
Yeah, this is interesting. Why do I say this? Well, first of all, Tomic was drafted in 2008, and still hasn't come to the team. Back in 2008 it was a no-brainer that Tomic was a better player than the then teen-aged Favors and Kanter. (And possibly sub 6'4 Gobert as a child) Today? Today it could be argued that Tomic is worse than Favors or Kanter. We're never going to find out, though.[/QUOTE]
He's a better passer than any of them. He's at least comparable to Kanter in the low post.

[QUOTE]Tomic, it appears, is never going to come to the NBA. But I think it's clear he has NBA talent. He doesn't take bad shots, and he has a good court vision for a bigman. Right now as a big fish in a small pond he is dominating the paint. He doesn't block a lot of shots, and he doesn't have three point range. So he exists in some quasi- Rik Smits world, but even that guy blocked a few shots here or there.

Favors, Kanter, and Booker can all get bully shots up in the paint because of their strength. Gobert uses his length and athleticism to just transcend defenses. Tomic plays like a below-the-rim guy most of the time, but does still do damage on tip-ins and used to throw down alley-oops. But I don't think that he has the hustle left at 28 to compete with these guys who are all (save for Booker) on the younger side.

I can live without Tomic as this point, but he would have really looked good off the bench with a Deron Williams Jazz team that didn't have the length to go far in the Western Conference playoffs.[/QUOTE]

Was too skinny 4 years ago. He should have been over here the past 2 or 3 years anyway. Who knows what the roster would look like now? Tomic and Millsap starting up front?

[QUOTE]It's not Apples to Apples:

It's not. The guys in Europe, even the starters, rarely play huge minutes -- so their apparent value is nerfed. We're also apt to nerf their production anyway because of the strength of the opponents and the style of play. The Euroleague is better than the NBA-DL, but behind the NBA in terms of the athletic ability of the general player on a roster. Raul Neto tested as one of the quickest players in Jazz history (at the combine), but I don't think he's Ty Lawson fast, or would have faced John Wall / Rajon Rondo types that frequently.

Tomic is still better than some NBA bigs right now, but he's not likely to be a Top 3 Jazz big in a year or two.[/QUOTE]

Hard to say. As an elite passing big man he could be the ultimate Jazz big from an offensive POV. And he can score in the post with both hands and a variety of moves. Also a vet.

[QUOTE]This was a fun little post to do (the Holidays means more family time, and less internet time for me -- so don't expect a lot), but I think the Jazz brass are more interested in how our current youth progress.[/QUOTE]

More to do with tanking and not making Trey look so bad I'd say.

[QUOTE]I'd love to see both guys in a Jazz jersey. We may only see one. And it's not going to be for many moons until we do.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE] I asked him about what was probably his most iconic moment of the tournament, a crunch-time block of Spain

[QUOTE]last January, and Gobert, then a rookie first-round draft pick, was going on what he considered a rather undignified assignment in the D-League, a few games in Reno, a few nights in a bed that reeked of cigarettes.

"I was pissed," he says.[/QUOTE]

He played like it down there!. Maybe they ought to piss off a few more of their young players?

[QUOTE]Gobert can look back now and find some positives in that situation. He got a chance to play when he wasn

[QUOTE]Much has been made about Hayward

[QUOTE]Before the game Quin Snyder talked about in Sacramento when he say something that told him the team was turning the corner. He talked about the club making 3 or 4 plays in row correctly rather than 1 every now and again. Since then the Jazz have been much better. Tonight they did it defensively. Sequences of the game tonight the Jazz was exactly what they talked about doing in shootaround.[/QUOTE]

We'll see how they do once they're back home. Certainly playing better on the road for some reason. Until Rudy is getting major minutes it's hard to get too excited. He's numbers weren't great in this one but he was a major factor when he was in there as always.

[QUOTE]Some of the best defensive execution plays were Kanter digging in on Vucevic and then getting back out on Frye. [/QUOTE]

So when is Favors going to show he can do this?

[QUOTE] Hayward had a play where he got into the legs of the cutting Vucevic and then got back out on Harris forcing him to give up the look and the Jazz made the next rotation to the next shooter. This happened on numerous occasions tonight where the Jazz were sharp defensively.

I didn

[QUOTE]For the first time since February 24 and 26, and consequently this season, the Jazz managed to put together back-to-back wins after outlasting Orlando 101-94. This statistic is both a relief and a reminder of just how rough this team has been in this calendar year. [/QUOTE]

But they're better than last season! :rolleyes:

[QUOTE]For all the numerical and analytic wizardry that our resident guru Ben Dowsett can do in any given post, one thing that

[QUOTE]The two biggest names, the two biggest contracts, the biggest scorers

[QUOTE]"We're taking some steps to improve and it's resulting in wins," Utah Coach Quinn Snyder said. "We've got to understand why that is happening so we can keep doing it. When we share the ball. That is when we're at our best."[/QUOTE]
No you're at your best when you can make some stops. They've been sharing the ball all year but they don't have the shooters or finishers to make it work. He generally talks about the offense. I thought it was all about D with this guy?

[QUOTE]The Jazz shot 53.4 percent for the game, their third straight game of hitting 50 percent or more from the field. Most of the scoring came in the paint where Utah was 24 of 34 for the game against a timid Magic defense. The Jazz also went to the free throw line 24 times to just 12 for Orlando.

"We owed this team (Magic) one," Hayward said. "They kind of roughed us up in Utah (earlier this season), but we played with a lot more force tonight. We were a lot sharper and were able to get a lot of good shots."

Tobias Harris led Orlando with 24 points and Evan Fournier 21. Harris and Fournier combined for 7 of 11 shooting from 3-point territory and Nik Vucevic added 16 points and nine rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent their fifth loss in six games.

Rookie Elfrid Payton came off the bench to score 11 points and get 11 assists. It was his first double-double of the season. He also helped hold Burke to 5-of-15 shooting for the night.

"I give him a lot of credit," said Orland coach Jacque Vaughn. "He comes in the game trying to change the pace and he's going to make mistakes, but his ability to listen and respond and keep playing is a good sign. He's putting himself in positions where he is finding success."

Utah shot 70 percent in the first period and didn't drop below 55 percent shooting until the nine minute mark of the fourth quarter. The Jazz led 85-74 at that point, but the Magic went on a 10-4 run punctuated by a 3-point play from Harris to cut the deficit to 89-83 with 5:28 left in the game.

Orlando had several chances to draw closer to Utah in the final five minutes, but couldn't take advantage of the few defensive stops they got. Hayward and Favors kept Utah out of trouble, scoring seven of the Jazz's last nine points to preserve the win.

The Jazz were up 49-43 at halftime and used a 15-5 run in the middle of the third quarter to push the lead up to 77-60. Hayward scored 12 of Utah's last 16 points in the period, seven from the free throw line as the Jazz drove relentlessly to the basket.

Utah had 24 free throw attempts in the game to just 12 for the Magic and outscored Orlando 19-8 at the line.

TIP-INS

Utah: The Jazz had lost 12 of 14 games coming to Orlando. . Rookie Dante Exum followed his two best games of the season, 12 points against New Orleans, 10 against Miami, with just two points and three turnovers against Orlando. .[/QUOTE]

Idaho!

[QUOTE]Orlando: C Kyle O'Quinn was assessed a flagrant one foul for a shot to the head on Jazz F Gordon Hayward. O'Quinn has two Flagrant 1 fouls and one Flagrant 2 this season. . F Tobias Harris, who was 1-for-13 on 3-pointers in his last four games, hit three of five against the Jazz. [/QUOTE]

now there's a surprise! :rolleyes:

[QUOTE]. Magic Coach Jacque Vaughn was a first-round pick by the Jazz in 1997 and played there four seasons. . Orlando is 0-8 THIS SEASON when opponents shoot better than 50 percent.

UP NEXT

The Jazz are in Charlotte tonight.

The Magic host Philadelphia Sunday.

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