Assessing the Utah Jazz Road Trip: The Downbeat #1477

The Jazz aren't getting a lot of coverage on the national level, because the Kings have been surprisingly good, and every player in the league is injured. Seriously.

Of the top 10 picks in this year's draft, 40% are currently out with varying severity of injuries. If you shrink that down to the top 7, there's only 3 guys still playing: Wiggins, Parker, Exum.

It's been a crazy year for injuries.

How did the Jazz's performance on this road swing match up to your expectations? They managed to finish 2-3, with wins at Detroit and NY. They could have realistically gone 3-2, and were in all 5 games. Don't think that's impressive? How would you have felt if one of the DWill/Boozer/AK/Memo teams went 2-3 on this first eastern trip?

The Jazz seem to get this type of road trip in November every year. Let's see how this year stacks up:

2007: Two road trips in November, three games each; finish 3-3

2008: A 5 game road trip. They go 1-4

2009: Four games in this trip; final record 2-2

2010: The "Miracle in Miami" year. They win all 4 of this trip

2011: *Lockout year*

2012: Another 4 game trip; 2-2 record

2013: The closest comparison to this current squad -- they go 0-4

Let's play a game. I call it "Did I really just think that?"

For this round, we go back to the Toronto game, where I thought: "The Jazz are really missing Hood." The Jazz are missing their rookie backup wing? Is this a crazy thought?

It's early in the season, but Hood actually has posted one of the best DRtg on the team, in his limited minutes.

Our friend, Aaron Falk of the SL Trib, has this on Hood: Rodney Hood's road to recovery slow, unsteady

"Every step you feel like you’re walking on rocks or glass is poking you in your foot or something like that," the Jazz rookie said Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre, as he watched his teammates take on the Toronto Raptors.

I'm sure that our resident medical expert, the good [fake] doctor Amar can shed some more light on the subject, but Plantar Fascitis usually takes a couple of months to heal completely. We wish Rodney a speedy recovery.

Things aren't getting easier for the Jazz. They have a brutal stretch to close out the month:

11/18: OKC

11/21: @GSW

11/22: NOP

11/24: CHI

11/26: @OKC

11/29: LAC

Oh, Lizzie