Gordon Hayward Superstar: The Downbeat #1486

Gordon Hayward is fast approaching Superstar status.  I mean, look at him taking shots like this:

Gordon Hayward behind the back, to fade away jumper ties game at 94 with 0:51 left in 4th #DENatUTA https://t.co/6L2d7FyHtG

— Tyler Gibbons (@tylerpgibbons) December 2, 2014

This was his November:

Basketball Society's Sleeper of the Month goes to Gordon Hayward who had a fantastic November for the @utahjazz. pic.twitter.com/RTm1cqHgII

— Basketball Society (@BBallSociety_) December 1, 2014

In addition, he's doing it with high efficiency.

Gordon Hayward has gone plaid!!!

For Mr. Trey Burke, November is a month to forget.  Last year he was injured for most of it.  This year he played like he was injured.

It was a November to forget.  However, if Trey continues the level of play he has shown for the last week then December could be a bounce back month for Trey.

Tourè Murry is returning from the Idaho Stampede.  He has a dominate force with the Stampede.

The Utah Jazz have recalled Toure’ Murry from the Idaho Stampede.

— Scott Rafferty (@crabdribbles) December 2, 2014

Welcome back to Utah, Tourè!

The Utah Jazz have a killer weakness that still haunts its face year after year.  Pick and roll defense.

DEN-Utah was loads of fun last night. Nice two-way game from Chandler. Putting Burke/Kanter combo in a pick-and-roll just kills Jazz.

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) December 2, 2014

It's almost as if the basketball gods have cursed us with bad pick and roll defense for the way Stockton and Malone tortured the league with it.  WE DESERVED THIS.  WE DESERVE THIS.  There's an awesome article at Salt City Hoops that talks about this terrible throw-up in your mouth type defense.

The Utah Jazz’s Continued Problems Versus the Pick-and-Roll | Salt City Hoops
The more general figures first: Utah was 26th in the league last year defending P&R ball-handlers and 27th against roll men, speaking in terms of per-possession efficiency allowed. They were also 29th versus spot-up attempts, allowing over 41 percent shooting – as mentioned above, a number of these tries4 come from plays that originated as pick-and-rolls. They’ve improved a tad on the former so far on this young season (22nd and 19th versus handlers and roll-men, respectively), but have cratered to an even larger degree against spot-ups, allowing a gross 44.4 percent on nearly 300 attempts already.

The Utah Jazz have come up with player ticket donation names.  For the 5th and final part of the downbeat I will break down how some of these could be a terrible idea.

Favorite player ticket donation name? “Trey’s Troops” “Alec’s All-Stars” “Favors’ Friends” “Hayward’s Heroes” “Kanter’s Korner”

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 2, 2014

Trey's Troops

Trey's troops were already deployed this summer.  Though this could be a section full of those who retweeted the troops.

Alec's All-Stars

Okay ... so this is actually an okay name.  No double entendre here.  Though it seems a bit odd that Alec who is not an all-star has the ability to pick all-stars.  As we learned from Ty Corbin, HAVE YOU COACHED BEFORE?  So to you, Alec, I say, HAVE YOU ALL-STAR'D BEFORE???

Favors' Friends

Equally G rated.  This passes.  It's bland enough to avoid hilarity.  Though Sexual Favors' Friends would be an interesting section.

Hayward's Heroes

This section would be solely reserved for those who have League of Legend'd with Hayward.  HEADSETS ARE REQUIRED. MICS ARE REQUIRED.  THERE WILL BE NOTHING BUT MOUNTAIN DEW AND PAIN BROUGHT IN THIS SECTION.

KANTER'S KORNER

LET THE PLAYBOY MANSION REFERENCES BEGIN!!!!