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Boston logged a whopping 41 assists in their first pre-season game. New player Malcolm Brogdon logged 9 of them off the bench. If he can stay healthy, Brogdon will really help Boston. Reports are that new coach Joe Mazzulla is primarily running stuff that he and Coach Udoka ran last season, while adding a few tweaks here and there. The players seem to be buying in to his leadership.

Justin Zanik Signs Multi-Year Extension With Jazz
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/269075/Justin-Zanik-Signs-Multi-Year-Extension-With-Jazz

I don't mind it as long as Ainge is the one calling the shots. Zanik does deserve credit for the moves the Jazz made this offseason since he essentially handled the day-to-day operations and did all the legwork, but given his time with Lindsey, I feel more comfortable with Ainge having final say.

With many new players competing for minutes in the regular season rotations, the Jazz' pre-season practices have been more intense, competitive and longer than in previous seasons.

New head coach Will Hardy has said he wants there to be “stakes” to everything the team does as it prepares for the start of the regular season.

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/jazz/2022/10/19/every-part-every-utah-jazz/

Bogdanovic so far with 22 points and 6 threes..... That's why Ainge couldn't wait to get rid of him, lol.......

red4hf wrote:Bogdanovic so far with 22 points and 6 threes..... That's why Ainge couldn't wait to get rid of him, lol.......

Sometimes the best trade to make is a bad trade.

Inigo Montoya wrote:Justin Zanik Signs Multi-Year Extension With Jazz
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/269075/Justin-Zanik-Signs-Multi-Year-Extension-With-Jazz

I don't mind it as long as Ainge is the one calling the shots. Zanik does deserve credit for the moves the Jazz made this offseason since he essentially handled the day-to-day operations and did all the legwork, but given his time with Lindsey, I feel more comfortable with Ainge having final say.

Reportedly the Mitchell deal had a lot to do with Zanik and Altman's relationship and level of trust. Ainge burnt a lot of bridges in his time in Boston, probably better to not have him on the front lines trying to convince other GM's he isn't just trying to rip them off.

I do give Ainge full credit for managing to sell high on Gobert and Mitchell when other team's in that situation would have ended up with public trade demands and a fire sale; but he may also already be packing his bags to join the new Vegas group.

JonFromVA wrote:I do give Ainge full credit for managing to sell high on Gobert and Mitchell when other team's in that situation would have ended up with public trade demands and a fire sale; but he may also already be packing his bags to join the new Vegas group.

If he does move on, at least he already did the most important part of the rebuild and got a lot of assets for Mitchell and Gobert.

Way too early for these numbers to actually mean much, but was something I was curious about, so figured I'd share.

Former Jazz starters seasons at this point, during the Jazz's 3-0 start.

Donovan Mitchell (CLE 2-1); 38 mpg, 33.3 ppg, 49 FG%, 42% 3's, 5.5 rpg, 7.0 apg, 2.0 spg
Rudy Gobert (MIN 2-1); 32 mpg, 15.7 ppg, 62% FG, 18.0 rpg, 1.3 bpg
Bojan Bogdanovic (DET 1-2); 31 mpg, 19.3 ppg, 49% FG, 50% 3's, 4.0 rpg, 2.7 apg
Royce O'Neale (BKN 1-1); 37 mpg, 8.5ppg, 43 FG%, 43% 3's, 5.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.5 spg, 2 bpg

All 4 guys are succeeding thus far, which is great to see. 33 ppg on great shooting, plus playmaking for Mitchell. 18 rebounds per game for Rudy. Bogey scoring at a high level. Royce filling the stat sheet everywhere other than scoring (but still shooting 3's well).

zero24gravity wrote:Way too early for these numbers to actually mean much, but was something I was curious about, so figured I'd share.

Former Jazz starters seasons at this point, during the Jazz's 3-0 start.

Donovan Mitchell (CLE 2-1); 38 mpg, 33.3 ppg, 49 FG%, 42% 3's, 5.5 rpg, 7.0 apg, 2.0 spg
Rudy Gobert (MIN 2-1); 32 mpg, 15.7 ppg, 62% FG, 18.0 rpg, 1.3 bpg
Bojan Bogdanovic (DET 1-2); 31 mpg, 19.3 ppg, 49% FG, 50% 3's, 4.0 rpg, 2.7 apg
Royce O'Neale (BKN 1-1); 37 mpg, 8.5ppg, 43 FG%, 43% 3's, 5.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.5 spg, 2 bpg

All 4 guys are succeeding thus far, which is great to see. 33 ppg on great shooting, plus playmaking for Mitchell. 18 rebounds per game for Rudy. Bogey scoring at a high level. Royce filling the stat sheet everywhere other than scoring (but still shooting 3's well).

I think we should have a dedicated ex-Jazzman thread.......

zero24gravity wrote:Way too early for these numbers to actually mean much, but was something I was curious about, so figured I'd share.

Former Jazz starters seasons at this point, during the Jazz's 3-0 start.

Donovan Mitchell (CLE 2-1); 38 mpg, 33.3 ppg, 49 FG%, 42% 3's, 5.5 rpg, 7.0 apg, 2.0 spg
Rudy Gobert (MIN 2-1); 32 mpg, 15.7 ppg, 62% FG, 18.0 rpg, 1.3 bpg
Bojan Bogdanovic (DET 1-2); 31 mpg, 19.3 ppg, 49% FG, 50% 3's, 4.0 rpg, 2.7 apg
Royce O'Neale (BKN 1-1); 37 mpg, 8.5ppg, 43 FG%, 43% 3's, 5.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.5 spg, 2 bpg

All 4 guys are succeeding thus far, which is great to see. 33 ppg on great shooting, plus playmaking for Mitchell. 18 rebounds per game for Rudy. Bogey scoring at a high level. Royce filling the stat sheet everywhere other than scoring (but still shooting 3's well).

I would add that 3 "offshots" - Cleveland, Mini, Utah itself are 7-2 combined. Taht is exactly like 9 first games of Jazz in 2021-2022.
Same treadmill, evidently.

And first loss was game 5 at Bulls.

The Orlando Magic are tanking the right way. Good for them.

EDIT: Come to think of it, so are the Lakers...

There are a lot of superstars this season on what look to be mediocre or losing teams early on: Lebron, AD, Westbrook, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Joel Embiid, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34899169/great-duo-donovan-mitchell-caris-levert-goes-cavs-wild-comeback-win

Michell scores 41.....he is awesome. It will be sweet when he leaves the Cavs in 3 years and we get their picks

Mitchell is doing well, but Garland is not playing and it "helps" to inflate his numbers. Still he is not finishing games well in clutch times like he did in Jazz times.
Of course he is a all-star and he is damn good, but let's gonna forget him, because he really did not wanted to be here.
Gobert is doing his thing, but it's not translating to wins. 2 losses vs Spurs and other vs Jazz (teams which are supposed to be in the dead end of western conference standings) does not sound well. And they had a really easy beggining.. The have won OKC twice, 1 SAS and other one to LAL... so they still have not played a "strong" team.
And Bojan is a great scorer, but as I said in another thread, we need more what Olynyk provides to this team than what provides Bojan.
I don't care what O'Neale is doing. His team is sucking, with KD and Irving scoring at will, but they cannot defend.

We got a haul for them, and Vanderbilt, Kessler, Beasley, THT (after he was traded for Beverley), Lauri, Sexton, Agbaji, Olynyk are doing more than those 3 could do for us. We got 8 serviciable players (plus Bolmaro and a few picks) for them.

Judging by the stats, former University of Utah center Jakob Poeltl played superstar Rudy Gobert pretty evenly in the Spurs two wins over the Wolves.
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=poeltja01&p1yrfrom=2023&player_id2=goberru01&p2yrfrom=2023

Although rookie Coach Popovich led his Spurs team to a bottom three finish and draft of Tim Duncan in 1997, in 2023, Pop is probably too experienced, too talented and too prideful to let a Spurs team fall to a bottom three finish.

FJS beat me to it but yeah, you have to give it to Mitchell. He's absolutely tearing it up over there in Cleveland so far.

Crunch 99 wrote:Judging by the stats, former University of Utah center Jakob Poeltl played superstar Rudy Gobert pretty evenly in the Spurs two wins over the Wolves.
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=poeltja01&p1yrfrom=2023&player_id2=goberru01&p2yrfrom=2023

Although rookie Coach Popovich led his Spurs team to a bottom three finish and draft of Tim Duncan in 1997, in 2023, Pop is probably too experienced, too talented and too prideful to let a Spurs team fall to a bottom three finish.

Really interesting comparison that I wouldn't have thought about, thanks for sharing.

Inigo Montoya wrote:

Crunch 99 wrote:Judging by the stats, former University of Utah center Jakob Poeltl played superstar Rudy Gobert pretty evenly in the Spurs two wins over the Wolves.
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=poeltja01&p1yrfrom=2023&player_id2=goberru01&p2yrfrom=2023

Although rookie Coach Popovich led his Spurs team to a bottom three finish and draft of Tim Duncan in 1997, in 2023, Pop is probably too experienced, too talented and too prideful to let a Spurs team fall to a bottom three finish.

Really interesting comparison that I wouldn't have thought about, thanks for sharing.

I meant to give a link to their recent head to head matchups, but instead linked to their season stats. In their recent head to head matchups, Poeltl averaged 13 pts on 10 fga, with 12 rebs, 6.5 orebs, 4 ast, 0 blk, 0.5 stl, 2 tovs and a 15.1 Game Score, while Gobert averaged 10.5 pts on 5 fga with 8 rebs, 0.5 orebs, 1 ast, 2 blk, 0.5 stl, 2 tovs and a 10 Game Score. Poeltl's greater rebs, offensive boards and assists stood out to me.

They are luvin Bogey in Detroit so far. Thru seven games he is averaging 22.7 ppg on just 13.6 fga. He got a 2 year extension today.

Bojan Bogdanovic Agrees To Two-Year, $39.1M Extension With Pistons Through 2024-25 Season
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/269207/Bojan-Bogdanovic-Agrees-To-Two-Year-$39.1M-Extension-With-Pistons-Through-2024-25-Season

Steve Nash is no longer Brooklyn's head coach.