2012 Utah Jazz Scrimmage Recap

The Utah Jazz held their annual intra-team scrimmage Saturday. The atmosphere at the scrimmage is always fun and light-hearted. Its honestly my favorite Jazz event of the year The crowd didn't seem to be as large in years past but the people there, were loud and proud.

The Jazz estimated that there were around 6200 people at the event:

The scrimmage always starts with David Locke doing a question and answer. I raised my hand to ask a question. Locke knowing who I am said hi, and then told everyone to follow me and shared my twitter handle. I got a little round of applause. It made me blush.

The team came out a few minutes later, to a very excited crowd. David Locke introduces the player and asks them a few questions. The players that received the biggest cheers were Paul, Al, Favors and of course Kanter. Kanter was introduced last despite not being at the end of the row.

Enes talked to the crowd:

It is fair to say that Enes stole the show. Everything seemed to be about Enes. The last to talk, star of the dance off and the attention of the one and only Jazz Bear.

After the dance off the players did stretches and shooting drills. They did two and three man weaves. Those used to be my favorite thing about the scrimmage but for whatever reason they weren't as cool as in year past. On the three man weaves they used to go both directions of the court this year they went one way then did a lazy pass to the one guy out of the three that ran down the court. Just not as cool.

The scrimmage was divided into two, twelve minute halves. The two teams were pretty much the young kids against the vets.

Al Jefferson and Mo Williams did not play (if Mo did it was very little but I don't remember it) Paul Millsap played a little in the first-half but not at all in the second-half.

Some quick observations:

• the white team was so much more fun to watch than the blue team
• Enes played a great game. Enes passed the ball A LOT out of the post. Enes hit long range jumpers. Enes set himself up for nice passes and actually tried to play set plays unlike most of the players
• the offense was ugly for the most part: hardly any screens were set, there were very few plays that involved setting up of teammates, extra passes etc.
• Hayward was clearly the best wing, he was able to create for himself, he made some threes and pretty much got into the lane with ease
• Favors had some nice And-One's. Favors played some good defense. Favors didn't shine like I thought he would
• Burks took a little while to warm up. Burks hit some jumpers, the most impressive thing about Burks is ... BURKS PLAYED POINT GUARD THE ENTIRE TIME HE WAS IN THE 2ND HALF. DID YOU HEAR ME YUCCA, BURKS PLAYED POINT GUARD! Burks did a great job, he set up his teammates nicely. (one of the few players who did)
• Marvin Williams looked pretty good. Marvin got some steals, got into the lane a little and looked like he belonged.
• Murphy was a nice surprise. Murphy hit five three-pointers. That's all I remember but that is pretty cool.