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The Downbeat #1k99: "Nobody" Edition

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USA Summer Team Updates!

By Mychal Lowman
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A bond is renewed.
A bond is renewed.
Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Team USA scrimmages are underway. Deseret News' Jody Genessy and Salt Lake Tribune's Bill Oram were both there. As evidenced by this tweet sequence:

Aren't these guys great? Fans of the Utah Jazz are really being treated well by these two amazing beat writers. They do great work, have a great working relationship, and have a great relationship with the team. If you ever get a chance shoot these guys a nice e-mail or tweet and thank them for their work. They are good people. And if that wasn't good enough they are also hilarious. They really need a buddy cop movie.

Demarcus Cousins shared this wonderful gem during interviews after today's Team USA Basketball scrimmage.

Apparently, "Nobody" is spelled F-A-V-O-R-S.

Cool story, Cousins. Turns out this "Nobody" has been working pretty hard this summer.

Ask you can tell #2 is very Favors' centric. Derrick Favors appears to have taken the responsibility of being a leader on the floor this offseason. He has worked hard with Karl Malone. He is working hard in USA scrimmages. He recognizes that his basketball IQ must improve in order to take his game to the next level. He is already an athletic freak at the 4 position. Once his experience and basketball IQ catches up to his athleticism he will be a sight to behold. All in all, very excited news to hear about Derrick Favors.

Speaking of another "nobody", Gordon Hayward evidently impressed. ESPN Marc Stein found this out first hand in Las Vegas.

Besides not seeing All-Universe Big Man Demarcus Cousins on this list, Gordon Hayward makes the list. Gordon Hayward impressed last year and it seems like he is taking little time to show last year's scrimmages were not a fluke. Gordon Hayward has been working on his game. Specifically the "going into the paint absent of a plan" game.

Likewise, Gordon Hayward is feeling the mantle of leadership. If Gordon can finish through contact and turn those fouls in the paint from two FTs to *Boozer voice* "AND ONE!"s then Gordon Hayward could be ready to take the next step in his game.

This might make Jeremy Evans jealous.

If Derrick Favors starts livestreaming his Starcraft games with Gordon Hayward this could get awkward. Can Gordon Hayward juggle two different athletic Power Forwards? Only time will tell.

But seriously, the bond between these young players on the Utah Jazz is strong. It's exciting.

Last week Michael Jordan and Tyrone Corbin were seen at a dance club in SLC. Funny enough one of my friends, Derek, was at that club that night. I was just scrolling down my Facebook timeline and saw his status saying he hung out with Michael Jordan. I thought it was a joke, but no. He actually hung out with Michael Jordan. Here is his account:

Haha. Well a coworker invited me to a dance club last night and so when I showed up it was crazy busy and people in line said that it was because some of the jazz players were there which was cool by itself. So I'm in there and notice Tyrone Corbin is there so I go up to him and he's sitting with Michael Jordan. Dude I freaked out! I had to take a second glance cuz I wasn't sure but yeah it was him and they had some bodyguards at the table but Tyrone (we on a first name basis now) invited me to sit down with them. They wouldn't take pictures but I talked with them for a good 15 minutes. Pretty much made a fool of myself and told Michael Jordan how much I idolized him growing up and it was awesome. They were so nice. It was one of the best highs ever haha

Mylo: Did you recognize any Jazz players there? Did Ty say to get better?

Of course he did! Ha. I'm not sure what other players were there. Some of them left before i got there.

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