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Any of you gonna make a game thread? Preseason game 1

That's only partly true some of the time. NBA defenses are good, and there's a 24-second shot clock. NBA players have to be able to hit open shots. Players serving as offensive hubs have to be able to create offense for themselves when the offense breaks down and/or there's a short shot clock.

That's kind of why I'm saying though. Last year Hayward had a terrible shot selection/was put in some bad shot scenarios. Hopefully Quin can address shot selection with his offense and get better and higher percentage shots for everyone.
 
Hopefully Quin can address shot selection with his offense and get better and higher percentage shots for everyone.
That's shot availability, not shot selection. Hayward missed a lot of shots he was being counted on to hit last season.
 
One of the most exciting things that I saw was that there was a definite rhyme and reason for the way the team was constructed. All of the pieces made sense in comparison with the other pieces when considering the way we played offense and defense. Obviously we could use some talent upgrades at many of the player positions, but we are young enough that some of that could come naturally via development. For instance when all of your starters are in double figures, it means that your offense is just Smokin' and people are understanding their roles. Generally young teams that are expected to have a rough year get most of their scoring from one or two guys. You can see that we have some redundancy built in to account for injuries and when players just aren't feeling it. Makes me very confident that management and coaching are on the same page.
Also Gobert had 2 assists.
 
Observations from last night.

-Batted/deflected passes are back!!! This was a hallmark of Jazz Defense that completely evaporated over the last few years. Right off the bat it was readily obvious that The Jazz were more active in the passing lanes.

-I'm liking the additions of Trevor Booker, Dahntay Jones and Steve Novak - these are vets who are going to complement the core - not take away from them. Although the comparisons of Booker to Millsap and the overall expectations of him are a joke. Booker is a Tony Massenburg clone, which is a not a bad thing, just realistic. Jones is one of those guys you can't stand unless he is on your team.

-Exum's little look right, drive left move is not going to work at this level. You can have the fastest first step in the league, if you're telegraphing your moves to the rim you're going to get your **** stuffed every time.

-Hayward looks very comfortable out there. I initially thought the new contract might mess with his head; but maybe it will do the exact opposite. We can only hope.

-Favors looks solid all around (except the FT shooting) and Burks' defense looks improved - or at least more active. Burks on offense is going to be a wild ride though.

-Trey Burke is becoming the very, very predictable. When he crosses half court you can tell by his body language/positioning whether he intends to shoot or pass. Good PG's are the exact opposite. He's going to have to work on it.

-Naturally I'm elated The Jazz looked good last night but Portland was just going through the motions. After the starters came out in the second half it was basically pick up basketball for the rest of the game. But it bears mentioning that The Jazz were still solid even when The Portland starters were in - so at least we can take away that.
 
He was terrific. If he can hit that free throw line jumper off pick-and rolls more fairly consistently, and his back and feet don't fail him, he could have a really solid season (even if it doesn't show up in the boxscore).

I just finished watching the game. My thoughts before looking at the boxscore:

1. Not to be a total killjoy, but the Blazers starters (with the exception of Wes Matthews) were treating this as a casual walk through. It'll be interesting to see how well the good stuff the Jazz showed in this game translates to games where the opponent gives a ****.

2. I thought the defense looked pretty precise for most of the game. Players seemed to know where and when to rotate, and there was good communication on switches.

3. The starters ran the offense very well, especially in the 1st quarter.

4. Per the above, I thought Trey did a fantastic job getting the ball up the court, directing traffic/getting the team into the offense, and executing. One of the keys for this team is Trey's ability to hit pull-up jumpers off the pick and roll. I don't think he'll ever be effective going to the rim, so he needs the pull-up to bend the defense when he's working around screens. If he can figure it out, the Jazz are going to get a lot of open looks.

5. It should be interesting to see what the Jazz do with those open looks when they get them. The Blazers did a pretty good job of shutting down the paint, and defending the 3. Along with Trey (and Gordo) hitting pull-ups, Kanter's ability to hit spot-up jumpers from 15+ will determine how many open 3s and shots at the basket the Jazz get this season.

6. I thought the players did a good job of playing within themselves, and focusing on making the right play. Players weren't forcing things. Favors, Gordo, Trey and Alec were pretty steady/disciplined, and did a good job leading the way. The only player I'm worried about turning into Josh Howard is Trevor Booker, but that's based entirely on his contract. Dude is a very willing passer, and seems to have a pretty good feel for the game in general.

7. Contrary to some of the sentiment in this thread, I thought Kanter's D still looked pretty poor. He has to do a better job keeping opposing bigs from getting such deep position. It puts a lot of pressure on the D.

8. Burks is a terrific safety valve and opportunistic scorer. He started showing an ability to move the ball/make the right play and hit spot-up jumpers last season, and if he continues to progress in his off-ball halfcourt ability he'll have a fantastic season as well.

9. Gobert is all arms...it's terrifying in so many ways (good and bad).

10. Final thought: Really liked how the starters played together tonight.
Agree with most everything. In my opinion though, Portland didn't do a good job shutting down the paint. The jazz lived at the ft line, and would've won by close to 30 points had the jazz shot better then 59% from the line, and the jazz got tons open looks from 3. They hit 7-14 from three.
That's kind of why I'm saying though. Last year Hayward had a terrible shot selection/was put in some bad shot scenarios. Hopefully Quin can address shot selection with his offense and get better and higher percentage shots for everyone.
I think a lot of it was he didn't know how to handle being the primary target for the other teams defense. Don't think he took many bad attempts, more then those shots looked rushed, and he hardly got a chance to shoot to shoot an open spot up jumper, which hurt his confidence when he did get an open look.
his shot has higher arc? i notice that
Could be a result of him being stronger
I mean with his mechanics.

I didn't see a difference in shot mechanics.
 
Agree with most everything. In my opinion though, Portland didn't do a good job shutting down the paint. The jazz lived at the ft line, and would've won by close to 30 points had the jazz shot better then 59% from the line, and the jazz got tons open looks from 3. They hit 7-14 from three.
Fair enough. Still, it looked like Portland was happy to give the Jazz wide open mid-range spot-up and pull-up jumpers. The Jazz are going to have to hit those to keep decent defenses honest.
 
Fair enough. Still, it looked like Portland was happy to give the Jazz wide open mid-range spot-up and pull-up jumpers. The Jazz are going to have to hit those to keep decent defenses honest.

Even so, the jazz got plenty of inside looks using pick and roll and Burks, got inside pretty much whenever he wanted to. Both Burks and Favors got to the foul line a ton in limited minutes.


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Even so, the jazz got plenty of inside looks using pick and roll and Burks, got inside pretty much whenever he wanted to. Both Burks and Favors got to the foul line a ton in limited minutes.


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From conversations i have had with gvc in the past, i dont think that he believes that getting to the line is all that great so you probably have not swayed him. (I know he hates the pps statistic because taking and making free throws makes the stat look good for guys that get to the line alot)
 
The jazz outscored the Portland starters though in 19 minutes of play. I can't remember by how much though.
 
So after the game was over. I was surfing the web and wasn't really paying attention to the player interviews etc. However, when Quin came in for his post game interview, someone asked him about Kanter's defense. He said he tried hard, moved well, and contested shots. He said there is a 7% difference in contested shot vs non-contested shots. WOW, did you think Ty even knew that stat? Quin is an analytical witch and I am soo excited that he is coaching this year. We are going to be sooo much more fun to watch and that's all I ask.
 
The jazz outscored the Portland starters though in 19 minutes of play. I can't remember by how much though.

I think the jazz starters outscored the portland starters by 14
 
Hayward was keeping his head online during his shot. He has a tendency to jerk his head back when he shoots. I remember that from coach nicks videos.














sent from a phone ya bish
 
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