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A round-up of Utah Jazz offseason news.
The Jazz fell to the Wizards last night in their 4th game at Las Vegas Summer League. Last night was the first night of the tournament portion of the League. It looks like Bryce Cotton had yet another strong performance, while first round draft pick Trey Lyles again struggled shooting. From man on the ground Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune:
Lyles, the 12th overall pick in the draft, grabbed seven rebounds and scored seven points, but only hit three of his 11 attempts from the field in a 86-78 loss to the Washington Wizards. The 6-foot-10 forward is now 16-of-54 (29 percent) from the floor this summer.
According to Falk, the Jazz will have one more tournament game on Friday. If they lose this one, we all see our dreams of Summer League glory turn to ashes.
The praise of the Jazz's path to contention continues. Via our friend Jody Genessy, who found it on ESPN:
Several coaches and GMs pointed to the Utah Jazz as an apt model -- a young core that's growing up together under a development-oriented coach -- where culture is an equalizer for markets often seen as less desirable.
The quote comes from a roundup of some of the talk at Summer League. Specifically, this section describes the positivity from many of the small market teams that were able to sign free agents over their flashy large market rivals. The gist is that players now take more into account than a map of the local night clubs. Take the LaMarcus Aldridge saga, for example. Word was that he was underwhelmed by the Lakers presentation because he wanted to actually talk about the job and not the fringe benefits of the location.
Yesterday James Herbert of CBS Sports (formerly of SB Nation) posted an excellent Q&A with Rodney Hood. There's some really great stuff in Rodney's answers. This is my favorite part:
How do you reflect on what happened on draft night?
Hood: It was perfect. It was perfect. At the time, you're kind of frustrated. Everybody wants to go as high. But I think I landed in the perfect spot for me. Just working with the staff there, it's been perfect for me ‘cause they really enjoy my game and I enjoy being there. So it's a perfect fit.
One of the genuinely exciting things about this offseason has been the optimism and enthusiasm coming from all of the players. These guys know they are coming into their own, and they look forward to the new season as much as we all do.
I really hope when ESA meets its end that the Miller Family doesn't come begging to SLC taxpayers to foot the bill.
— Mylo (@My_Lo) July 15, 2015
Jazz think they can get another 20-30 years out of ESA. https://t.co/5hHvAYuBuB
— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) July 15, 2015
@DJJazzyJody @My_Lo I hope they start planning now. Few locations for next arena. Cut deal now. Flip with Parking Place NE of current arena
— David James (@DavidDJJames) July 16, 2015
With the new arena being built in Sacramento, and proposals for a new arena in Milwaukee, public funding of sports venues has come to the forefront of sports conversations. This is a really interesting thing to think about, from our own MyLo. What do you think about public funding for sports venues? Have you seen the segment from John Oliver?
The (then) Delta Center was privately financed by LHM, as he held strongly that taxpayers shouldn't bare the cost of such things. Something to think about as the ESA continues to age.
One last bit to contemplate. This is related to absolutely nothing, and maybe it's been discussed here before, but I was thinking the other day: In a different world, if AK was a couple of years older, and joined the Jazz in 97 or 98, do the Finals shakeup differently? Even as a young rookie, AK was an effective player for the Jazz. Do you think if he was on those Finals teams, he could have made enough of a difference to change the outcome?