The Downbeat - 1 October 2009 - #69 - The Christmas Morning Edition

The drought is over.  Our first NBA action of the season starts tonight and we still have some unanswered questions that hopefully we'll see resolved tonight.

First up, what's the rotation going to be like?  We know Deron, Memo, and Ronnie B are going to start.  Who will start at PF?  Probably Boozer for now.  Who starts at the three?  Does CJ maintain that spot or will AK get the nod?

Now that Knight and Collins are gone and Harpring not able to go, who gets that 8-10 rotation spots?  I imagine Ronnie P get most of the backup minutes behind Williams.  Maynor could get some significant PT too though to see how he does.

CJ and Korver will likely get a bump in minutes with Harp out.

And will we finally see some more minutes from the KOOF and Fess?

  This could get ugly.  The last thing anyone wants is a ref that's out to make a name for himself.  One of the only things I hated about the Revue was that in some games, the teams couldn't make a trip up and down the floor without calling a foul.  I was at a Jazz game the first season that Violet Palmer came into the league.  She was terrible, still is, because she seemed like her job performance was based on the number of whistles she blew.  That was the only thing I remember about that game.  Sad.

Replacement refs have all the feeling of a substitute teacher.  Everyone knows what I'm talking about.  It will be interesting to see how the players and refs interact.  This is the first game of the season, so maybe we cut them a little slack.  Well, probably not.

If you're still on on twitter, sign up and follow @utah_jazz.  Or at least follow his RSS feed or visit http://twitter.com/utah_jazz today.  The Jazz are giving away a bunch of tickets for tonight's game.  Sadly, they're not giving away plane tickets for out of towners.

We know what kind of reception Boozer is going to get tonight.  Not that it's not undeserved, but I hope it doesn't distract from the real task at hand and that's beating the Nuggets.  Will someone go as far as making an anti-Boozer sign?  Would we even see it on TV if that happens?