S
Sarah Todd
Guest
Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley (10) smiles as he and teammate Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic (44) talks during a timeout as the Utah Jazz and the Memphis Grizzlies play in game 5 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
This article was first published as the Jazz Insiders newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Friday.
The Utah Jazz have a lot of really good shooters on the roster. There’s Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, Royce O’Neale, Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Ingles, Jordan Clarkson, Rudy Gay and even the younger players like Elijah Hughes and Jared Butler.
But who is the best?
If we’re talking percentages among the Jazz’s regular rotation players, Ingles has the best overall career 3-point numbers, averaging 41.1% on his NBA career. This season, Conley leads the way, hitting at a career-best 42.9%.
But if you ask Conley, the Jazz players are enamored with Bogdanovic’s shooting.
“I think we all like just love watching him shoot anytime,” Conley said. “But we’ve got so many shooters, I think any day of the week somebody come out being the champion of that day. But my favorite is Bojan, the way he shoots the ball.”
The funny thing about Bogdanovic is that reporters almost never see him practicing his shot.
After a practice or shootaround at Zions Bank Basketball Campus, the Jazz’s practice facility, reporters are allowed into the gym at the end of a session, usually when players are going through individual work with assistant coaches or getting up practice shots.
It’s normal to see Ingles and Gay shooting together at one basket, Conley and O’Neale getting work done at another basket, Mitchell at another, and the young players working together at a separate hoop. But Bogdanovic is never there.
So for a while the running theory with reporters (as a joke) was that Bogdanovic was just such a pure shooter that he never had to practice. When that theory was put to Conley, it made for a good laugh before he pulled back the veil.
“He never shoots, never works on his game, he’s that good,” Conley said with a smile. “No, he comes in early. He’s normally in when I’m in, before we shootaround. He’ll work out on one goal, I’ll work at another on one and J.C. will be in there working out as well.”
Mystery solved.
New with the Jazz
Stat of the week
Royce O’Neale grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds in the Jazz’s loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. His previous career-best mark was 14 rebounds, set on April 10, 2021, in a win against the Sacramento Kings.
This week on ‘Unsalvageable’
Check out “Unsalvageable: A Utah Jazz Podcast,” hosted by Deseret News Utah Jazz beat reporter Sarah Todd and lifelong Jazz fan Greg Foster (no, not that Greg Foster). This week the crew discusses some of the Jazz’s recent losses and hands out grades for every player on the roster.
New episodes come out every week. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast and anywhere else you stream podcasts.
From the archives
This week in Jazz history
On Jan. 20, 2000, the Jazz’s Karl Malone reached the 43,000-minute plateau in Utah’s 94-89 victory over Vancouver to become the eighth player in NBA history to pass that mark. Malone finished his career having played a total of 54,852 minutes, good for second on the all-time minutes played list behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (57,446).
Extra points
- Donovan Mitchell sidelined with concussion symptoms (Deseret News)
- Jazz profess stoicism after latest meltdown to Rockets (Salt Lake Tribune)
- Joe Ingles shares his experience with COVID-19 (Salt Lake Tribune)
- Eric Paschall is making a case for more playing time (KSL.com)
Around the league
Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball out 6-8 weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery.
Lakers coach coach Frank Vogel’s job is in jeopardy.
DeMarcus Cousins is set to join the Denver Nuggets on a 10-day deal.
Up next
Jan. 23 | 6:30 p.m. | Utah Jazz @ Golden State Warriors | NBA TV
Jan. 24 | 7 p.m. | Utah Jazz @ Phoenix Suns | NBA TV
Jan. 26 | 8 p.m. | Utah Jazz vs. Phoenix Suns | ESPN
Jan. 28 | 6 p.m. | Utah Jazz @ Memphis Grizzlies | AT&T SportsNet
Full Story from the Deseret News...