Official 2021-2022 Utah Jazz Season Discussion Thread

Crunch 99 · Post #161 » by **Crunch 99** » Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:49 pm

I am pretty confident that we got a net upgrade for the team with Whiteside for Favors, but in the early going, Rudy Gay and Paschall are not an overall upgrade over Niang yet imo, though Paschall is already better on D and Gay hasn't played yet. Hopefully Paschall keeps growing in his role and Gay has something left in the tank.

Ingles only played 20 mins last night against Miami. I think cutting Ingles minutes some makes some sense. Ingles wasn't a very fast player to begin with, and keeping up at age 34 isn't getting easier. I listened to part of a recent game on the radio and Locke said Ingles was repeatedly getting beat on backdoor cuts.

babyjax13 · Post #162 » by **babyjax13** » Mon Nov 15, 2021 2:55 am

I think we are seeing a transition that a lot of teams are going to have to make with the new rules, from defenses that focus on denial of space (closing down passing lanes, reducing vertical spacing with a strong rim-defender) to denial of position (physical defenders impeding offensive players from making direct drives, etc.). In the former approach, funneling everyone to Rudy makes a ton of sense, there is no way to be more effective as a defense. In the latter approach, Rudy's still just as valuable, but your defense is going to benefit much more than it would have before from physical perimeter defenders. It is also going to affect offenses, shooters can't get the space they had before, drives are more difficult, etc. Really I think this just requires some adjustments as the season goes on and we will be fine, but I wouldn't be surprised if we try to grab someone like Danuel House or Kenrich Williams to sure up the rotation (probably Doke + 2nd(s) for one of them).

Crunch 99 · Post #163 » by **Crunch 99** » Mon Nov 15, 2021 12:39 pm

Read on Twitter

“You’ll see him (Butler) being assigned back and forth,” Jazz general manager Justin Zanik said. “Any opportunity that we can continue to get development reps for him, whether that’s with the Jazz or with the Stars, we’re going to be mindful of that. And that goes for Udoka (Azubuike), it goes for Elijah Hughes, it goes for any of the guys that aren’t playing regular minutes.”

Post #164 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Mon Nov 15, 2021 2:35 pm

Weird. Will Rudy Gay actually be assigned to a d-league team? I get that it might be just to help him get into game shape after the injury, but there is a certain status for players like him, and he's 35 years old. I'm having a hard time seeing him being happy about it, if this is true. Or maybe he's cool with it and it's no big deal, who knows.

babyjax13 · Post #165 » by **babyjax13** » Mon Nov 15, 2021 5:25 pm

Inigo Montoya wrote:Weird. Will Rudy Gay actually be assigned to a d-league team? I get that it might be just to help him get into game shape after the injury, but there is a certain status for players like him, and he's 35 years old. I'm having a hard time seeing him being happy about it, if this is true. Or maybe he's cool with it and it's no big deal, who knows.

It has become a really common practice for players coming back from injury. Raptors did it w/Siakam. After your first two years in the league the player also has to say they are okay with it, you can't just assign them.

red4hf · Post #166 » by **red4hf** » Mon Nov 15, 2021 8:31 pm

babyjax13 wrote:
Inigo Montoya wrote:Weird. Will Rudy Gay actually be assigned to a d-league team? I get that it might be just to help him get into game shape after the injury, but there is a certain status for players like him, and he's 35 years old. I'm having a hard time seeing him being happy about it, if this is true. Or maybe he's cool with it and it's no big deal, who knows.

It has become a really common practice for players coming back from injury. Raptors did it w/Siakam. After your first two years in the league the player also has to say they are okay with it, you can't just assign them.

Sometimes, it also seems, teams assign players to their G-League teams just so they could get a couple of practices in...... The players never actually participate in any games......

Crunch 99 · Post #167 » by **Crunch 99** » Wed Nov 17, 2021 2:10 pm

The Stars have a home game tonight against the Santa Cruz Warriors. I hope Butler plays and does well. Teague is also playing for the Stars, so there could be a Baylor backcourt reunion.

Crunch 99 · Post #168 » by **Crunch 99** » Thu Nov 18, 2021 4:22 am

Jared Butler scored 30 points on 23 fga in the Stars' game tonight. He was only 1-5 on threes though. Hughes went 5-8 on threes. Boxscore is below:
https://statsdmz.nba.com/pdfs/20211117/20211117_SCWSLC_book.pdf

Post #169 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Thu Nov 18, 2021 8:07 am

Crunch 99 wrote:Jared Butler scored 30 points on 23 fga in the Stars' game tonight. He was only 1-5 on threes though. Hughes went 5-8 on threes. Boxscore is below:
https://statsdmz.nba.com/pdfs/20211117/20211117_SCWSLC_book.pdf

I hope we can find some highlights, would love to see that.

EDIT - found some:

Watch on YouTube

Crunch 99 · Post #170 » by **Crunch 99** » Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:56 pm

Inigo Montoya wrote:I hope we can find some highlights, would love to see that.

EDIT - found some:

Watch on YouTube

Wow. Thanks. Besides scoring 30 points with 6 rebs, 4 asst and 2 steals, Butler hit the game winner with the game clock running out!

Crunch 99 · Post #171 » by **Crunch 99** » Thu Nov 18, 2021 1:44 pm

The Warriors and Stars play again tomorrow night at Vivint Arena. It will be interesting to see whether Butler dominates the game again with the Warriors game planning to stop him. Go Jared!

zero24gravity · Post #172 » by **zero24gravity** » Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:48 pm

Joe Ingles on Rudy Gay: “I think he stole some of my shooting powers. It pisses me off a little. … 26 years in, he’s pretty good. And hopefully now that everyone knows he can shoot, he can give me some of my powers back.”

..... how can you not love Joe!? Basketball aside, I just want to hang with the guy.

Crunch 99 · Post #173 » by **Crunch 99** » Sat Nov 20, 2021 5:15 am

Butler and Malik Fitts had big games tonight in a loss to the SC Warriors. Dok had a big night on rebs.
Boxscore: https://gleague.nba.com/games/20211119/SCWSLC/

Crunch 99 · Post #174 » by **Crunch 99** » Sat Nov 20, 2021 12:55 pm

Malik Fitts looks pretty tough and gritty. Besides his points, his four steals and zero turnovers were impressive. He moves his body around the court reasonably quickly for a big guy.

Malik Fitts' highlights from last night's game against the SC Warriors.

Watch on YouTube

Crunch 99 · Post #175 » by **Crunch 99** » Sat Nov 20, 2021 1:23 pm

Rudy Gay's first game in a Jazz uniform was so outstanding that I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being his best game in a Jazz uniform, but his performance is fun to relive!

Read on Twitter

Crunch 99 · Post #176 » by **Crunch 99** » Mon Nov 22, 2021 12:40 am

Free article about Joe below.

Read on Twitter

Catchall · Post #177 » by **Catchall** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:15 pm

In Rudy Gay's first 4 games, he's had a positive +/- in each game and averages +8.7 in 17 mins.
His rebound rate is 9.9 rebs per 36 mins, which is double Royce's and Bojan's.
His PER is over 20.
He's been knocking down his 3s at a ridiculous 56% clip so far (I know, limited sample size)

Jazz might want to consider increasing his minutes. I could also see him in the starting lineup depending on the playoff matchup. His size, rebounding and defensive versatility make him a good complement for Mitchell, Conley, Gobert and Bojan.

Conley/Mitchell/Bojan/Gay/Gobert might be our best lineup.

Catchall · Post #178 » by **Catchall** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:56 pm

I think Malik Fitts is already better than Eric Paschall. He certainly shoots better. Paschall isn't that efficient offensively, he doesn't rebound as well as he should, and he's not good enough defensively to pull off the undersized 5 thing. Fitts at least has a natural position at the 3.

Crunch 99 · Post #179 » by **Crunch 99** » Fri Nov 26, 2021 4:10 pm

The Stars had a game against the Stockton Kings last Tuesday, and for this game Hughes went off, shooting 15-20 overall and 8-11 on 3pa for 39 points on just 20 fga. He also had 8 rebs and 3 ast. Butler only went 6-20, but had 10 ast. Fitts didn't play. Stars play the Kings again today.

Boxscore: https://gleague.nba.com/games/20211123/STOSLC/

Watch on YouTube

Catchall · Post #180 » by **Catchall** » Fri Nov 26, 2021 7:08 pm

Crunch 99 wrote:The Stars had a game against the Stockton Kings last Tuesday, and for this game Hughes went off, shooting 15-20 overall and 8-11 on 3pa for 39 points on just 20 fga. He also had 8 rebs and 3 ast. Butler only went 6-20, but had 10 ast. Fitts didn't play. Stars play the Kings again today.

Boxscore: https://gleague.nba.com/games/20211123/STOSLC/

Watch on YouTube

Fitts and Forrest were traveling with the Jazz to the OKC game. Hughes is reminding me of a less consistent Reggie Bullock, or maybe CJ Miles.