The Downbeat #1983 - 47 more days till the season

How many days till the NBA season starts? Also: following Boris Diaw; the Jazz’s new branding; how good are the looks the team has been getting from deep; and some required reading that is long, but worth it!

Yep. Only 47 more days to go.

PS. Andrei Kirilenko is/was/will always be amazing. Also, this highlight video has a soundtrack to it that features hip and/or hop with NSFW language in it. Be aware.

But whatever you do, remember that his number is #47, unlike some people. (H/T to @oTterBP )

Looking for a long read on a crazy topic that frustrates all Utah Jazz fans? Lots of words? Lots of graphical visualizations? Need another reason to just be happy Dennis Lindsey and his staff aren’t idiots?

Read all of this.

It’s amazing.

Do the Utah Jazz generate good looks? I know the team passes among the most in the league, uses a lot of the clock, doesn’t have an Alpha go-to scorer, and nor do they score a lot . . . but did they get guys open with all of their work?

Nick constructs the frame of reference by also pointing out that the average 3PT% for a catch and shoot last year was 37.0%, and a wide open three was 36.7%. From the data it looks like the Jazz did a very smart job of getting a lot of their threes as wide open ones (82.0% of all 3PTA), but for whatever reason didn’t have as many players take catch and shoot threes (73.7% of all 3PTA). I guess this is where we miss players like Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver. Today’s roster of players are more likely to dribble their way to space to get in rhythm. (Boo!)

That said, the Jazz place in the top half of the league with how well they managed their three point attempts. A key element of getting good looks, either in the paint or outside of it, will always be dribble penetration.

Utah will have plenty of players attempting to drive this year (Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood, George Hill, Dante Exum, Alec Burks, and Shelvin Mack just for starters), but will they be proficient at it enough to be able to draw defenses to them?

We all hope so. Heck, even Andrei Kirilenko (in the video above) was talented enough to get into the paint off the bounce, and pass the ball off to a guy parked near the basket. I would expect more from our current group of ball handlers.

New addition Boris Diaw appears to be driving cross-country to get to the #801. He also appears to be some sort of Ernest Hemingway style Jack of all trades. He’s directing a movie, and I guess he’s also some sort of Viggo Mortensen style photographer as well.

I’m not going to hate on someone with so much talent, so more power to him. But I hope he can keep some of his attention on the court this year as well.

The Utah Jazz have done a lot this off-season, on the court with their roster moves, and also on the court with their brand identity. They’ve got new uniforms. A new home court. Heck, even a new practice court. I’m going to go all into this a little more deeply in a future post, but for now I’m just going to drop this 2K17 trailer.

With our luck they’ll just have the old ESA era info in there. (Nah, they are doing great work. And you can see a lot of the new Jazz stuff if you keep up-to-date with 2K’s videos and screen shots.)

If you are picking up the game, know that big stuff is dropping later on today and tomorrow for the game. Be an early adopter.