The Downbeat #1143: The Pretty Major Trade Edition

Yesterday the Jazz announced the 2013- 2014 broadcast schedule.

Some highlights:

• Craig Bolerjack, Matt Harpring and Steve Brown will continue to do the TV broadcasts
• David Locke and Ron Boone will still be on the radio broadcasts.
• All 82 regular season games will be on ROOT Sports and 1280 the Zone
• States that will receive Jazz games on TV: Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and parts of Nevada
• 4 Preseason games will be on ROOT Sports they include: October 12 vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder, October 16 vs. the L.A. Lakers in Anaheim, Calif., October 17 at the L.A. Clippers and October 22 at the Portland Trail Blazers.

"We are pleased to once again bring all 82 regular season Jazz games plus preseason contests to ROOT SPORTS viewers throughout our Rocky Mountain and Northwest regions," said ROOT SPORTS Rocky Mountain General Manager David Woodman. "For each and every game, Jazz fans can count on high-quality game productions and a talented broadcast team that provides an insider’s perspective on Jazz basketball."

Randy Rigby said some interesting things in his weekly interview with 1280 the Zone. Randy has some high praises for Richard Jefferson (via Moni)

The question was about how this year's preseason is exciting because of the unknown and how based on the makeup of the roster COACH Corbin will have to start playing the kids

We made that pretty major trade, and we picked up three ex-, now, Golden State players, with Richard Jefferson, who by the way, have been coming into our open gym, and looks very, in very good shape. I have not seen Richard Jefferson in the shape that he's in right now for a long time, and I've been very impressed with that. [Andris] Biedrins has come in as well, and he's working out very hard. So I'm really excited to see some of these new faces that we're gonna have with the team.

I don't know about you but when I think of KIDS on the Jazz I think of Richard Jefferson and Andris Biedrins. They are the two that automatically come to mind! It worries me that Randy was asked a question about the kids and he talks about two old vets, only because of who our COACH is. It goes against everything Dennis Lindsey has talked about this summer.

This quote from Randy is a little better about what we want to hear about the kids and of course the endless praise for COACH.

Will there be any bias for or against young players on this team this year?
I, it would, based on kind of our strategy, I would think that there would be a strategic advantage of being young, and Ty[rone Corbin] has, I'll tell you, really embraced it. I think Ty did, by the way, a remarkable job balancing people's careers, there, also, our strategy and his goal, that he is given. And our coaches' goal has always given to win games. And he did, I think, a very good job last year of balancing that, and helping us compete. This year, as well, we want to, that role has not changed. It is to win games, but he is going to have a lot more, in the directive of, with what we're doing, of using those young players and really helping see the development of those players. And it's gonna be a lot of fun. I can't tell you how excited I am to see what's going to happen this coming year, and the development that is gonna go on, and seeing these young players, and their athleticism, showing up on this floor.

So I think its fantastic that Corbin has had a change of heart. That he went from calling the youth "Young, Hot Shots" to really embracing them.

I also can only hope that development is more important to Ty than winning games. I think this team can win games (i'm one of the few) but the way Ty thinks is that vets is the way to win no matter the talent level of the players. I hope we win the Dennis Lindsey way.

I really want us to win but the right way. I did promise Mylo that I would hold off on my winning wants until AFTER the Jazz get a top 5 draft pick this season.

NBA.com took it upon themselves to give every team an offseason grade. They gave the Jazz an overall grade of a D+!

Frontcourt- C+

Backcourt- D-

Defense- C-

Bench- F

Coaching- C

Mylo did not agree with them:

So what do you think of the grades? Do you agree with Mylo or with nba.com? Or are your grades somewhere in between the two?

Yesterday we remembered 9/11. Here is a video from basketball1 of what the Jazz did their first game following 9/11/01

Now we take our weekly visit to John Stockton's book Assisted*. This week lets look at what John thought of Jeff.

Jeff's mind never rested. As an artist with a pencil, he would draw plays on his hand while calculating in his head the shooting percentage of any player in the lineup. Jeff knew how everyone on the floor was performing. This helped greatly during games. He offered accurate statistical tidbits, such as, "Let that guy shoot; he is one for nine right now," or, "Find Antoine; he’s six for six."

Jeff was just incredible. I was sad for the Jazz when he signed with the Suns (happy for him though). Reading things like this makes it even harder to give him up!

*Quotes taken from the Unedited proof of Assisted. Information is tentative and subject to change at anytime without notice.

Now lets look at what Jeff thinks of John. Seriously take the time to watch it, its so good.

Awww such good times!