Season of the tank!-2013-14 regular season

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Tyrone Corbin has said it a thousand times: "We have to develop the young guys to move forward."

And yet Marvin continues to play huge minutes over Enes.

That’s happening faster than almost anyone expected.

On the nights the Jazz win, those young guys study the good things they did to achieve it and repeat it. On the nights they lose, they review what they did wrong and how to avoid it.

Diante Garrett says the losing sucks, but that his teammates look at defeats like minor explosions in a classroom lab. They live and learn — and they laugh: "Everyone’s spirits are up, the confidence is up. And we laugh a lot. Sometimes we act childish, everybody cracking jokes on each other. But we work hard, too. Everyone’s getting better every day."

Yeah, the kids are all right.

Trey Burke, who scored 18 points with eight assists Monday night, personifies that progress, despite a bad finger that kept him out during the season’s first month. Not only has he grown into his role as the Jazz’s future and present at point guard, the rookie is flourishing as the team’s leader on the floor. His shooting percentages undulate from game to game, but his overall presence is unmistakably positive.

So is his outlook.

"I’ve continued to learn each and every day," he said. "I’m trying to stay aggressive and get better at both ends of the court. And the team is responding well. Every game, win or lose, we understand it’s a long season. We get it. We’re just trying to learn from our mistakes. The toughest thing is bouncing back from losses, but we’re learning to be mentally prepared to move past that. It’s just one of the lessons.

"Our chemistry has continued to come along. We’ve had a couple injuries, guys getting sick, but as a team we’re jelling. Everybody is coming together. Everything is working out."

Halfway through, the Jazz are partway there.

Derrick Favors is grooming his game at both ends, with his offense, which mostly lagged behind his defense, coming around. He averages nearly 14 points and nine boards. For much of the season, he’s been the team’s best player.

Not sure his offense is behing his D actually. He hasn't been as good defensively as hyped. How far can they go if he's their best player?

Gordon Hayward needs more consistency — and good health. He hasn’t shot the ball efficiently — 41 percent — but his dexterous game is multifaceted, and if he can level the ride, the Jazz might see more of what he provided in their thrill-a-minute win over Oklahoma City, in which Hayward scored 37 points on 13-for-16 shooting, had 11 rebounds and seven assists.

He needs help. He's not suited for the role he's been put in.

Enes Kanter needs and deserves more minutes, averaging just 25, but he’s boosted the Jazz in recent games, hitting double figures in each of the last five. He’s averaging 11 points and six boards, and despite looking bulky and awkward, at times, the big man has skills.

But can he play with Favors? That's the only question that matters now. If he can't he will have to be dealt.

So, the Junior Jazz are all growing up and coming on and such. Since losing four straight early in December, the team has won nine of 16. Not that the Jazz hierarchy wants to pump their fledgling heads full of praise. When Dennis Lindsey was recently asked who was his team’s best player, he pretty much blew off the improving play of his young ones and answered with this bit of misdirection: Marvin Williams.

When that was brought to Williams’ attention, the vet laughed. He also assured Lindsey that he shouldn’t worry about the kids getting fatheaded.

"The thing about this team is it’s full of good guys with good attitudes who are working to get better," he said. "After a loss, they look at themselves individually and hold themselves accountable. You’re happy to be around guys like that. The losses hurt, but you show up to practice the next day ready to work. In pro sports, it’s not always like that. Here, on this team, it is."

Marvin as your best player is a brilliant tanking strategy if nothing else!

Two games from the halfway mark, the Jazz now are 13-26.

But as Garrett pointed out, the players are in the right place, even if it is last place.

"We don’t focus on losing," he said. "We focus on improving."

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM/1280 and 960 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.

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[QUOTE]Burks

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[QUOTE]"He had a great night," Jazz forward Marvin Williams said after the 118-103 victory. "Without him we wouldn

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[QUOTE]Trey Burke came up limping after the Nuggets' first trip down the floor Monday. But the Jazz rookie toughed it out, and after getting his right ankle re-taped, put on a pretty good show.
Burke finished with 18 points and eight assists.

"I slid," he said afterward. "I think it was a little wet spot out there and it wasn't my ankle, it was kind of near my Achilles. It's fine. It's just a little sore. I don't know what I did. It doesn't seem serious at all so I'm going to get treatment on it, ice it and see how it feels tomorrow."

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[QUOTE]Burks hit 13 of 19 shots from the field, many of them dazzling drives to the basket with finishes that defied the laws of physics, and he was 8 of 8 from the foul line. He also had five assists in his 37 minutes on the EnergySolutions Arena floor.

"He's just understanding who he is, what makes him good in this league," Utah coach Tyrone Corbin said of Burks, who hadn't started a game since Nov. 18 before taking the injured Hayward's spot in the starting lineup for the last two games. "He's a young guy that's still learning how to play in this league, and he's understanding what makes him good night in and night out

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[QUOTE]After starting the NBA regular season with a dismal 1-14 record, the lottery-bound Utah Jazz have actually played .500 basketball

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Wednesday's game at San Antonio marks Utah's first appearance on national television (ESPN) this season.

And Burke is looking forward to it.

"Absolutely. That's what you play for," he said. "I think it's our first game on national TV, if I'm correct, but I think we'll be ready. It's an ESPN game and we've all played on ESPN, so it's nothing we're not used to. But it should be fun. We're all looking forward to it."

Corbin cautioned that his young players needed to be wary about not letting the national spotlight blur their focus.

"It's always fun to be on national TV," Corbin said. "But the San Antonio Spurs is a big enough opponent in itself to think about playing against those guys. So we can't make it any bigger than what it is because the opponent is going to be tough enough for us.

"We've got to make sure we understand how we have to play to be effective against the Spurs, and everything else will take care of itself."

It will be ugly I imagine. Need G back for this one at least.

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RUSH TO JUDGMENT: Shooting guard Brandon Rush was a non-factor for the first few weeks of the season. But he has gradually begun to find his rhythm in recent games, and he scored seven points in Monday's win over the Nuggets.

"He's getting better. He's getting more and more confident," Corbin said. "He's just trying and playing the game as we get going a little bit deeper in the season here, and that's going to be huge for us.

"We need everybody that we have on this roster to be ready to go and to play their best every night they're out there on the floor for us to have a chance to win. So he's a guy that we're looking forward to continuing to get better."

Rush admitted that his confidence level has begun to grow in recent games.

"I felt a little more confident and a little more comfortable than what I've been showing the last few weeks, and I think it just comes from practice," he said. "All the practices that we've been having these last two or three weeks, and it's just paying off and just trying to switch it over to the games.

"It's definitely fun and it's definitely fun getting the win with the guys."

Anxious to see what he can do when he really gets it going.

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HAYWARD'S STATUS: Hayward, Utah's leading scorer at 17.1 points per game, has missed the last two games with an injured left hip. He'll travel with the team to Texas, but whether he plays Wednesday night remains to be seen.

"He's gonna go (on the trip)," Corbin said. "I don't know if he's gonna be ready to play (Wednesday) night or not. We'll see how he's doing. We want to make sure we do the right thing so when he's back he's back for a while and not take a chance on getting hurt any further."

Rush said that the Jazz offense continues to make progress and, when Hayward does return, he expects even more improvement.

"I think we're coming along great," he said. "We're still missing G (Hayward); we can't wait to get G back, but once he gets back, I think it's going to just take off because everybody's starting to find their roles on the team and everybody's been trying to make plays and we're playing within ourselves."

EMAIL: rhollis@desnews.com

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Hayward, who is dealing with a hip flexor injury, is officially listed as doubtful to play tonight against the San Antonio Spurs.

"We

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Forward Danny Green (finger) and center Tiago Splitter (shoulder) are both injured.

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At 27.4 minutes a night, he trails only Hayward, Burke, Derrick Favors and Richard Jefferson in minutes per game.

He and Rush need to start getting more of Jefferson's minutes.

[QUOTE]"He still plays starter minutes so it doesn

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[QUOTE]During his first few seasons, Alec Burks experienced the requisite ups and downs common to young players in the NBA. His rookie season showed great flashes of promise

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[QUOTE]Over the past seven games, Enes Kanter has been in double figures in six of them (and five straight). More importantly, Enes has gone back to his roots as an offensive player.

Time for a brief interruption

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Hayward took part in pregame activities, but was still bothered by a left hip flexor that sidelined him the previous two games. Averaging 17.1 points, Hayward also leads the team in steals at 1.3 per game and is second in assists at 4.9.