The Downbeat #1987 - Boris Diaw, Joe Ingles, and Conspiracies

Joe Ingles is going to be ready for the season, but will Boris Diaw? How much would you spend just to troll fans of a fanbase you hate? And oh, and help us uncover a Utah Jazz conspiracy.

It’s that time of year again, where we get upset over lists.

Only the first 50 players have been released so far, and it’s going to be interesting to see where our Jazzmen fall. For the record, Joe Johnson is listed as a snub (honorable mention), Rodney Hood clocks in at #85, and George Hill at #56. Last season Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, and Rudy Gobert were all in the Top 40. I presume that will be the case again this year. That would mean five players in the Top 100, with one honorable mention (in a 30 team league, that’s not bad). And with players like that there should be some expectations this season.

As for former Jazzmen, SI gave the following ranks: Wesley Matthews (DAL) #92, Enes Kanter (OKC) #88, DeMarre Carroll (TOR) #73, Kyle Korver (ATL) #70, Marvin Williams (CHA) #65, with Paul Millsap (ATL) and Al Jefferson (CHA) TBD still. Those last two were also in the Top 50 last season.

Because I’m clearly an insane person, I’ve been charting these results for a few seasons now, and you can graph the rise and fall of perceptions. Four seasons ago Andrei Kirilenko was #49. Now he’s a retired bureaucrat. Four seasons ago D-Favs was #98 with a lot of potential. Now he’s a bigman in his prime.

So Joe Ingles is leaving his pre-industrial era penal colony (Australia) and finally going to re-join the Utah Jazz after a very busy summer.

It’s very difficult to be away from family, but at least in this era (with the wireless web and free over internet video chat) it’s not as bad as it used to be. At least with the Jazz he only has one infant to look after (Dante Exum), and not two.

I don’t know about Joe in the long-term though. I feel, no, I KNOW that he is an NBA level player with this talent, experience, and ability. Especially with the evolution of this game to be more wing-player oriented his point-forward eligibility goes a long way. Furthermore, as we’ve seen in each of the last two seasons, he gets put on guys like Carmelo Anthony on defense when ‘Melo -types are playing power forward. That versatility should go a long was as more and more ‘Melo types exist (Tobias Harris, Paul George, etc)

What I do not know about is where he fits in the rotation as Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood, Joe Johnson, Alec Burks, and maybe even Shelvin Mack and Dante Exum seem to be higher priorities for SG/SF minutes.

I love what he does for this team on and off the court. I don’t know if he’s going to be happy with playing just 10 mpg though. I don’t know if I would be happy with Ingles playing that little, either.

Okay, yes. SB Nation’s Conrad Kaczmarek (former lead guy over at FearTheSword) lives in California. And he just bought this plate for his car:

This is, of course, in relation to the Golden State Warriors (of California) blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals to the eventual champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Because Basketball Twitter is a small place, this story got a lot of traction early. Zach Harper, of CBS Sports, conducted a quick interview -- and it’s really something you should read.

Here’s an excerpt:

Q: Is this the best purchase you've ever made?

Conrad: Hmm good question. I'd go with second best. I once bought this set of collectible DeSagana Diop, Eric Williams, Dajuan Wagner nesting dolls

Man, I live in Illinois right now, and if the Utah Jazz were to beat the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals I would totally pull a similar move.

Boris Diaw’s movie premiered.

According to Boris’ IMDB.com page it’s pretty clear that he spends more time off the set than in front off / behind the camera.

IMDB.com

But as for N.O.L.A. Circus, it absolutely looks like the type of movie you need to talk to your Bishop about — even if you are like me and don’t even have a Bishop. For reals — N.S.F.W. “comedy” trailer:

I really do hope that when the season starts the multi-talented Diaw can fit into place with what GM Dennis Lindsey and head coach Quin Snyder are trying to build here.

This Rudy Gobert tweet . . . is quite a puzzle.

What’s your best “double rainbow all the way” / “jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” explanation for the Jazz logo next to Tony Parker ‘s name?