Utah Jazz Preseason Game #1 Sydney Kings at Utah Jazz Mon Oct 2, 7:00 pm

[Stoked]

I noticed Mitchell defensive breakdowns way more more than Rodney.

Like when he came to far into the paint to help Favors and left his man wide open at the three point line. And on cue the kick out was made and despite Mitchells strong effort to close out they got a 3.

Mitchell is killer and then you see these things. It doesn't sour me on him at all. It amazes me. He's already this good and he has things he will clearly improve on with time. Like these rookie defensive lapses. Mitchell is a star and he will quickly make a name for himself.

 

[fishonjazz]

Good work, jazzfan1071. If you don't mind, I'll use some of your assessments and add or change according to my impressions.

Rubio: As good a passer as advertised. Just not sure if he can thrive without some personnel changes. Need shooters at the 3 & 4 along with Hood at the 2 to allow Rubio to be a distributor.

Hood: Deadly tonight. And as others have mentioned, his body positioning is better on his 3's; he's getting his feet set. I see him averaging 18 pts/per. Concerned with his defense, though.

Ingles: Led the team in assists against the Kings, IINM. He's still a reluctant shooter. Don't see him averaging > 10 pts/per, even if he starts. Still believe Utah needs a better starting SF, with Ingles backing up everywhere as needed.

Favors: I like Favs. He's been a loyal soldier. But I just don't see how he can co-exist with Gobert, especially with another non-shooter in Rubio. Opponents can run Hood off the 3Pt line and just pack the paint. I could see Quin playing him 25/per. Sub him out early and then bring him back in at the backup 5.

Gobert: Going to compete with Hood for leader in pts. Is 18/14/3 too much to expect? I'd like to see Quin cut his minutes a bit this season to keep him fresher. Even a couple of DNP's to help him deal with nagging injuries and fatigue (yeah, I know, not going to happen).

Exum: Definite improvement. He looks aggressive and confident. Could make Rubio expendable in 2 years. I predict Jazz will match any offer for him.

Mitchell: Donovan should start, but won't. Exum/Mitchell might be the future at the 1/2, which would make Hood a trading chip to acquire a big SF or replacement for Favors?

Sefolosha: Better offensively than what I thought. He and Ingles are going to have some tough matchups this year. Thabo is going to play a lot.

Burks: How do Hood, Mitchell and Burks all get minutes? Someone is going to be traded.

What does IINM mean?

I agree about ingles. Everyone loves him (how could you not) and there is value in that alone, plus he is a very good defender and can hit the three ball and distribute. But imo he is much better on a team with a star scorer. On this team I think he is less valuable than he could be. He definitely needs to pull the trigger more on open threes.

I also agree about favors and also think we should try to keep rudy fresh.

Might be that favors is best used at the 5...... when gobert is off the floor. Maybe best to keep favors minutes quite low (keep him fresh and injury free) and Jay give him all the backup 5 minutes and a few minutes at the 4. In a contract year that would piss him off though probably (rightly so)
Quin gonna have a tough time figuring out how to use favs I think.

Burks looked good but sadly I don't think it matters much how good or bad he plays. I think he won't get minutes on this team sans injurues. Seems like Quin has moved on from burks.

 

[fishonjazz]

Not sure if Hood can give us the complete game Hayward could, but I'm confident he can give us the offense. He looked poised, and confident.
I think Hoods biggest worry is his health. We have so many solid defenders and passers around him I dont think he needs to give us everything Hay did.

He just needs to score, stay healthy, and consistent.

Good post

 

[fishonjazz]

A good young player that would complement this current group would be Dario Saric. Not saying we can get him, but he's the versatile, skilled forward the team is currently lacking. Saric is starting to really shoot the ball well.

Good call. And he can play the 4, right?

 

[NAOS]

What does IINM mean?

I agree about ingles. Everyone loves him (how could you not) and there is value in that alone, plus he is a very good defender and can hit the three ball and distribute. But imo he is much better on a team with a star scorer. On this team I think he is less valuable than he could be. He definitely needs to pull the trigger more on open threes.

I also agree about favors and also think we should try to keep rudy fresh.

Might be that favors is best used at the 5...... when gobert is off the floor. Maybe best to keep favors minutes quite low (keep him fresh and injury free) and Jay give him all the backup 5 minutes and a few minutes at the 4. In a contract year that would piss him off though probably (rightly so)
Quin gonna have a tough time figuring out how to use favs I think.

Burks looked good but sadly I don't think it matters much how good or bad he plays. I think he won't get minutes on this team sans injurues. Seems like Quin has moved on from burks.

Favors was moving fine. He can play the 4.

lol at your Burks pouting.

 

[fishonjazz]

I think it is crazy and preposterous to even attempt to draw conclusions from one game, particularly a preseason game and one that is not even against NBA talent.

Debbie Downer

 

[mellow]

One game down and there are still more questions than answers. Maybe the only thing we learned for certain last night is Life on Plate can dance.

My only concern is that he might have peaked before the playoffs.

 

[stitches]

Mitchell was not good defensively yesterday. He was straying way too much from his man in attempts to steal the ball. At one point Gobert screamed at him after he left his man to double Gobert's man in the post(why would you do that? Just leave Gobert to it) and the Kings got a wide open 3 because of it. Rookies are stupid defensively and don't know what they are doing... I bet Quin will have a field day on Mitchell at film session and that's good... he will learn with time, but he's far from a great defender at NBA level right now.

 

[JazzForLifee]

They most certainly do. From the same tree, actually. The tree resides in Denver. . .

it still amazes me how they trade him for trey lyles. lyles is not even playing preseason. lol


Sent from my iPhone using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[MDAV28]

Mitchell was not good defensively yesterday. He was straying way too much from his man in attempts to steal the ball. At one point Gobert screamed at him after he left his man to double Gobert's man in the post(why would you do that? Just leave Gobert to it) and the Kings got a wide open 3 because of it. Rookies are stupid defensively and don't know what they are doing... I bet Quin will have a field day on Mitchell at film session and that's good... he will learn with time, but he's far from a great defender at NBA level right now.

That's one play. I thought he did a great job switching and communicating switches for a "stupid rookie" that doesn't know what he's doing. I definitely wouldn't say he was not good defensively because of the one play. He isn't used to not having to help in the post.

 

[Dali]

I don't agree that Rodney had a bad defensive outing. I counted that he only truly lost his man once for a bucket for the dude he was guarding. Having said that, he wasn't tested a lot at all , he shadowed his man pretty well, as he should.

Donovan gambled much more on defense and was caught out of position 2 or 3 times but even then I like how the rest of the team reacted to cover and protect. There was one sequence where Donovan let his man go past him and gambled for the steal, the ball went right over his head to that player, but the help defense was great. Dante immediately read the play and collapsed into the key for the help defense and contested the lay up really well by jumping straight up and the dude missed. It was great lookin' out.

One thing I've also noticed is the switching, it seemed very seamless and smooth more often than not, and looked like it was natural for the Jazz when defending. I know that Dante got absolutely murdered early last season for being absolutely lost on team defense and the switches, and rightly so. But last night, he and Donovan switched many times and even sometimes switched right back when possible in a space of barely a second. It seemed so well organised and smooth as silk. Great to see.

 

[Stoked]

[MENTION=405]LifeOnaPlate[/MENTION] is all on my twitter this morning Even the Jazz and NBA are getting in on the love.

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Mitchell is going to give teams headaches on defense - either at the 1 or the 2. It's not the height it's the length.

Think Delonte West on lithium.

It will be fun to see him and Rubio on the court together stealing every other possession from the other team. Maybe they can take turns

Like when he came to far into the paint to help Favors and left his man wide open at the three point line. And on cue the kick out was made and despite Mitchells strong effort to close out they got a 3.

Mitchell is killer and then you see these things. It doesn't sour me on him at all. It amazes me. He's already this good and he has things he will clearly improve on with time. Like these rookie defensive lapses. Mitchell is a star and he will quickly make a name for himself.

I chalk it up to him being a rookie. He'll figure it out I'm sure.

Good call. And he can play the 4, right?

Well, JJ can give us some of that for at least this year anyways.

One game down and there are still more questions than answers. Maybe the only thing we learned for certain last night is Life on Plate can dance.

My only concern is that he might have peaked before the playoffs.

Not sure how many answers you will get against a none NBA team

 

[framer]

This.

Since the pre-season schedule came out, I've felt disappointed by it. There is no real tough competition and anyone to push us like I would've liked to have seen at least once. Obviously one of these teams could beat us but you get the idea.

Think of it as prep for the Eastern conference portion of our schedule. . .

 

[fishonjazz]

Bought this for my little one after the game. Only 10 bucks!

 

[Jack Strop]

Bought this for my little one after the game. Only 10 bucks!

Didn't realize they had unveiled the 4th uni's already.

 

[Team Hood]

Rubio - Love! His court vision and decision making is tremendous. Something we've lacked the past few years at the point guard spot. His shot will come around as he gets comfortable with the new offense. Definitely a game changer.

Hood - Our best scorer by far. I think 20 a game is realistic running along side Rubio. He can also get his own shot pretty much whenever he wants. Scary for a 4th year guy. His defense is also underrated. Best wing defender on last year's Team which was considered ELITE.

Ingles - Joe will be Joe. Smart and heady role guy who seems to always be at the right place at the right time. He's disruptive on defense and gives us grit. We need him to score more this season.

Favors - I think he's our X factor. Favors can score. I think he's still trying to regain his rhythm and settle into the offense. He's reliable and dependable on defense. If he can get going, we can be really good.

Gobert - Monster. It's going to be fun watching Rudy create posters all year long. Rubio, Ingles and Hood make great reads coming off of ballscreens. They'll find him if the bigs help up, or score it if they don't. Not a back to the basket guy and he doesn't have to be.

Mitchell - Love this kid already. He plays hard and makes solid decisions. I really like his aggressiveness on offense and tenacity on defense. Rookie mistakes are inevidible but I like where he is. His I.Q. will surely grow. Bright future.

Exum - Easy to see the growth in Dante. He's gotten physically stronger and he's using his speed in the open court to get to the rim more. Still love his length and agility on defense. I see Exum making a big jump this year.

Johnson - Love him at the 4. The position is changing league wide and it's great to know that we're flexible enough to play him there. Looking forward to seeing the mismatches that we can create down the stretch of games.

Sefalosha - Fortifies us on defense. Absolutely loved the move to reel him in. He gives us a level of toughness on the wings that we will need to compete in the West. He'll settle in offensively and help us there a little as well.

Burks - Seems to be on the outside looking in Quin's rotation...That being said, he will force his way onto the floor. Alec is as explosive as we've seen him and we'll surely need his offense this season if the goal is to win and make the playoffs.

Neto - Fun to watch. I love how he gets in the opposing point guards grill on defense and he's gotten better at running a team since he's been here. I'm definitely a fan.

Jerebko - I like the kid. He looked nervous and a bit timid last night but I think he shakes that as the season goes along. I like the fact that he'll be able to stretch the floor from the 4 spot. There aren't a bunch of minutes out there for him but I see him getting better here.

Udoh - I think he can be a rotation guy. His arms are extremely long and he bothers shots. Couldn't get into a rhythm last night but I think he helps us defensively.

Bradley - his best basketball is ahead of him. He's huge and I can see potential. I like how he carves out space as shots go up. Will be interesting to see his development as he adjust to the speed of the NBA game.

O'Neale - looks to be a rich man's Chris Johnson. I don't think he was aggressive enough in the time that he got last night. Forced some passes when he should have looked to score. Will learn from it.

 

[fishonjazz]

Is griffin not on the jazz currently?

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Is griffin not on the jazz currently?

He is on a two way deal. I'm guessing Bolomboy gets as many cleanup minutes as possible before they decide to either keep or cut him.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Mitchell was not good defensively yesterday. He was straying way too much from his man in attempts to steal the ball. At one point Gobert screamed at him after he left his man to double Gobert's man in the post(why would you do that? Just leave Gobert to it) and the Kings got a wide open 3 because of it. Rookies are stupid defensively and don't know what they are doing... I bet Quin will have a field day on Mitchell at film session and that's good... he will learn with time, but he's far from a great defender at NBA level right now.

There were a few notable lapses... the one you are referring to was the worst. Rudy was right to give him the bizness.