SLC Dunk is coming together like Voltron

Dear loyal SLC Dunk readers, contributors, lurkers, and active participants,

This off-season seemed to drag on forever, didn't it? Well, I think a part of that was a product of our front office getting all of their off-season moves done in like a 2 week span in the end of June and beginning of July. It kind of left us the rest of the summer to argue the same 5 or 6 story lines over and right now I think we're all ready for the new season to start. I guess if the Utah Jazz dragged things out all summer long things wouldn't have seemed so barren these last few months. Here at SLC Dunk we've taken the opposite approach. Since Basketball John passed the torch to us we've been making our changes slowly, but with a measured progress.

The roster expanded from one to many. In addition to the veterans like The Shums, we added new blood into the blog with the additions of Prodigal Punk, Andy Larsen, and Alec Lam. Diana Allen and Yucca brought their rants. Moni made us laugh at her amazing insights and great posts. Clark held it down with the downbeats and so many other areas, while UtesFan and Tazz pitched in when they could. That all happened during the course of last season. Then we slowly tried to improve the variety of posts. And a few days ago had a complete site redesigned (which is supposed to help you find the things you want, but right now it's confusing for all of us. We're also used to the way things used to be!).

That was a pretty big deal, kind of like the Utah Jazz making a trade, or something. But still, unlike the Jazz we are spreading things out here. There are a number of things still on the back burner, or not quite ready to come out of the oven . . . but we ARE ready to make a huge announcement, one that I'm sure everyone is going to be pretty happy about.

As the manager / editor / director of your frustrations / main writer / and assistant sousaphone understudy here it gives me great pleasure to announce that we have formally and officially expanded once again. SLC Dunk is now working directly with The Utah Jazz Blog. Call it a merger or marriage or Voltron or whatever . . . whatever you call it, I will call it the next step in our unending, 24/7, 365 desire to bring all Utah Jazz fans together for a unified place where many multiple opinions can be heard, expressed, and appreciated. You know their high quality of work, and know that they are Jazz fans just like all of us here. And at SLC Dunk we don't profess to be experts, we're all equals here. If I haven't made that clear let me make that clear now. If I say something wrong, and I effectively run this blog, and you are a lurker -- you have the footing to correct me. We're all fans here, and we're all trying to produce the best content for fans. Period.

Also, shut up.

I'm very happy, and the months of back and forth have brought us to this great day in SLC Dunk history. I'm now going to give over the, uh, keyboard, to Spencer Campbell to type a few words and talk about his team a bit.

Thanks Amar, Almost six year ago, Kris and I started our separate versions of what we thought a Jazz site would/could/should be. We each had great sites individually, and both of those sites had strengths and weaknesses. Slowly they grew and became great websites/blogs. The entire time, we did what we could, with what we had, to give the best possible stuff to Jazz fans. Eventually, both sites received network invites and began to grow into the Jazz Ecosystem.

Even before Amar took the helm, we joked about a Voltron Jazz site which would take the best of what everyone had, and put it all together into one site. Today is that day. There are few people who know and understand the amount of work that goes into keeping a site running for a substantial amount of time. Our biggest desire is to give Jazz fans the best experience possible with more choices in a centralized location.

Jimmy and I are heading into our fifth season of The Utah Jazz Podcast. It is a weird thing to think about. There have been over 150,000 downloads, a lot of guests, and a ton of bad jokes. The new marriage allows us to reach more people, have more guests, and less bad jokes. This is good for fans. The Podcast will stay in the regular Monday slot and stay on Itunes. The Utah Jazz Podcast will be coming to Stitcher Radio soon.

Kyle Kirkham will be continuing the Player of The Week article, which will drop on Sundays. These are fantastic snapshots of the season one week at at time. Kyle does a good job of mixing stats, opinion, and performance for these selections. We are stoked for these to continue, and are even more excited for the first Sunday of the season.

Mychal Loman is not a model, he just looks like one on the internet. Mychal has been around the Jazz site block. He probably has some sort of Utah Jazz STD. He just keeps hanging around. There is a perfectly good reason for this...he is good at what he does---sarcasm and cynicism mixed with a little touch of reality. Mychal loves the Utah Jazz, and has been a life long fan. I have to tell you this, so when he goes off on a 25 point loss, or a horrible performance from a player; you have this information in the back of your mind. I love you Mychal.

Peter Novak brings unparalleled knowledge of the CBA, Player Contracts, Salary Cap information and the other inner workings of the NBA. You have heard him on The Utah Jazz Podcast, The Slcdunk Podcast, and Spencer Ryan Hall's Saturday show a few times. We are excited to have him make the move with us. He has been a great addition to the Utah Jazz Blog, and will be a great fit with Slcdunk.

Jedi Zaugg has been one of the most consistent writers on the site. He is always willing to talk/write about the Jazz. You can see the passion that he has for this team through his writing and fanhood. Jedi brings the ability to write about any subject anytime.

[Amar interjecting: Also Matt Oliver does not have B.O., but he will be joining us as well!]

We are excited for this new chapter in our Jazz lives and hope you enjoy the ride and thank you for listening/reading.

I think that change is hard at times, but adaptation is always necessary. Blogs are moving from static webpages where all the content is on the front page. We've made that change. And we've made the change from one voice to many. And we're now in the process of also giving you way more options for content. It's not just funny photoshops or long stats posts. With all of our team mates here at SLC Dunk we're going to further adapt and continue to give you fans the best Utah Jazz content on the web. Period.

If Enes was here this is where he'd do a mic drop, but he's busy posting pictures of himself hanging out with ladies of disputable virtue.

There's a lot more to come in the future of SLC Dunk. But with the season coming up, our re-loaded roster, and with the new plays in our playbook -- our improvement will mirror that of the team we love.

Jazz basketball, baby! First preseason game in 8 days!

Go Jazz Go!

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And you knew I couldn't pass up this opportunity to use a great quote out of context.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was SLC Dunk. And we're still building! More news to come : )

(I wonder who plays the part of J. Noah in that video, with respect to Utah Jazz Fan's twitter / internet / blogs?)