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I always question these pro athletes. I am curious when Rudy Gay was hurting and when he knew he had to have surgery and when he actually got surgery. Some of these guys know it before free agency and wait until August or Sept to actually have the surgery then they miss the first 20 games (but still wanna get paid). I am not saying this is the case for Rudy Gay but you know it happens a lot.

D Rog wrote:I always question these pro athletes. I am curious when Rudy Gay was hurting and when he knew he had to have surgery and when he actually got surgery. Some of these guys know it before free agency and wait until August or Sept to actually have the surgery then they miss the first 20 games (but still wanna get paid). I am not saying this is the case for Rudy Gay but you know it happens a lot.

Well, they clearly do it because they want to secure a contract BEFORE they have a procedure that will clearly impact their value in free agency...... Nothing really wrong with that.......

Where's Oni haven't seen him this game yet

Hughes could be a good wing backup capable of scoring but he needs to work on his defense so he can be a viable option to compensate for his height

And Forrest could be in trouble with the way Butler is showing up

Take-aways from pre-season game #1:

** Whiteside is a pretty reliable defensive rebounder. He has a good nose for the ball. His length is disruptive defensively in the paint. He's got good hands catching the ball, but he's a meh finisher. He doesn't set screens anywhere near as well as Gobert. It's to the point where the Jazz can't play screen/roll with him yet.

** Paschall has a good handle and good mobility for his size. He can drive and kick, and he hit a corner 3. He rebounds okay, nothing too special. I didn't get a good look at his defense. I think he can be rotational.

** Trent Forrest is our best on-ball defender. His floater game isn't bad. I think he should be on the 15-man roster.

** Elijah Hughes fits in pretty well. He can do a bit of everything. Still streaky on catch-and-shoot.

** Butler is interesting. He's just getting his feet wet after missing summer league.

** I think Gobert, Gay and Bogdanovic should probably be our starting front court.

red4hf wrote:

D Rog wrote:I always question these pro athletes. I am curious when Rudy Gay was hurting and when he knew he had to have surgery and when he actually got surgery. Some of these guys know it before free agency and wait until August or Sept to actually have the surgery then they miss the first 20 games (but still wanna get paid). I am not saying this is the case for Rudy Gay but you know it happens a lot.

Well, they clearly do it because they want to secure a contract BEFORE they have a procedure that will clearly impact their value in free agency...... Nothing really wrong with that.......

Pretty sure physicals are a standard part of the free agency process, too. Unless it was a recent injury, I'd assume that the Jazz knew about it before they even signed him. EDIT: In fact, he has a history of bursitis in that heel, and it sounds like that may have been from his achiles injury, so they would have known about this issue. I wonder if this is preventative?

I ended up listening to Locke on radio for part of Jazz-Spurs game. Locke's current theme is that there are a whole lot of levels of basketball play between college and NBA level play: Summer League, G league, Euroleague, NBA, and within NBA play, there is pre-season play, regular season play and playoff level play. He made a big deal out of the fact that Doke and Forrest were fairly dominant in summer league, but couldn't do much in the pre-season game --- especially Doke, who seemed kind of lost. He also claimed Butler was getting schooled early in the game, but then when San Antonio brought in 18 year old rookie Primo to match up against Butler, Butler produced offense. The bad news is that Primo produced offense too.

Another one of his themes is that our second year guys didn't have legitimate rookie seasons last season because of covid --- no real summer and training camps and limited G league games, so this is like a rookie year for Doke, Hughes and Oni.

Locke said he's been hearing good things about Hughes in practice and that Hughes apparently has moved ahead of Oni in rotation. I remember really liking Hughes shot, especially his smooth-looking three point shot, the first couple of times I saw him play last season, and then he pretty much disappeared for the season, only getting a team low 3.6 mpg. Locke said Hughes didn't play much one on one D in college, and is having to learn to play D in our system. Maybe Hughes will be a surprise step-up player from the young guys this season?

So right after I post that Hughes has likely moved ahead of Oni in the rotation, I see rotowire has Oni listed as the expected starter tonight against the Mavs. Lol.

Tonight's game is on NBA TV.

https://www.rotowire.com/basketball/nba-lineups.php

babyjax13 wrote:

red4hf wrote:

D Rog wrote:I always question these pro athletes. I am curious when Rudy Gay was hurting and when he knew he had to have surgery and when he actually got surgery. Some of these guys know it before free agency and wait until August or Sept to actually have the surgery then they miss the first 20 games (but still wanna get paid). I am not saying this is the case for Rudy Gay but you know it happens a lot.

Well, they clearly do it because they want to secure a contract BEFORE they have a procedure that will clearly impact their value in free agency...... Nothing really wrong with that.......

Pretty sure physicals are a standard part of the free agency process, too. Unless it was a recent injury, I'd assume that the Jazz knew about it before they even signed him. EDIT: In fact, he has a history of bursitis in that heel, and it sounds like that may have been from his achiles injury, so they would have known about this issue. I wonder if this is preventative?

That's a good point, physicals are required before signing...... So, this injury probably isn't really serious......

Rotowire has already updated expected lineups once. All of our top nine rotation players have been ruled out except for O'Neale and Clarkson. This game is for the young players.

https://www.rotowire.com/basketball/nba-lineups.php

I better stop posting pre-season lineups. Looks like Forrest, Clarkson, Oni, O'Neale and Paschall started. And it doesn't really mean jack who starts anyway. Lol. Go Jazz!

I just learned as a Dish customer I can no longer watch Jazz games. As I live in Utah, it means NBA tv is blocked out. Cool. Cool, cool, cool.

Butler is looking pretty darn comfortable out there for just his second NBA game. Hughes is looking like he is gaining confidence too. They've got 22 points on 14 attempts between the two of them in the first half.

Paschall is struggling to knock down a three.

Pretty odd to start with that ultimate small ball line up. Rendered Moses Brown useless though so there's that

And re Locke on Hughes, yeah wasn't paying too much attention on Syracuse, didn't know they played a lot of zone. Makes sense why Hughes was so lost most of the time. It'll be a good battle with him and Oni. Competition should be good

Don't wanna jinx anything about Butler yet but I just want to say for #40, scouting team should really pat themselves on the back

Welp, Hughes > Oni right now

And Forrest looking better this game. More comfortable. Not as comfortable as Butler though holyshi

Yah, Butler looks like a low-end starting caliber guard now, pretty amazing. I think we might see a lot of three guard lineups with how good he is.

tugs wrote:Don't wanna jinx anything about Butler yet but I just want to say for #40, scouting team should really pat themselves on the back

babyjax13 wrote:Yah, Butler looks like a low-end starting caliber guard now, pretty amazing. I think we might see a lot of three guard lineups with how good he is.

Last night was the first time I saw Butler play. I only watched the first half, but count me in as excited about Butler's potential. And the fact that he has Conley here to mentor him is a bonus that will help spur his development.

I think we are looking at Fitts for the other two-way.

Who is Mister Fits?!