The Downbeat: Hammer the Over

There appears to be a divide among NBA analysts, fans and Vegas about how the Utah Jazz will do this season. Jazz fans (and Utah media) insist Utah will do fine. Advanced “metrics” and the influential Las Vegas books say the Jazz will struggle a lot. And NBA analysts are somewhat split on the subject.

Bleacher Report’s Adam Fromal went team by team predicting whether each NBA team would finish over or under the Vegas line under the guise of giving you advice on how to bet. His advice for the Jazz: Hammer the over. Here’s a snippet from what he said.

“The Utah Jazz went 51-31 last season. So how in the world are they expected to win just seven fewer games after losing their best player?

“Well, the answer is simple: They didn't actually lose their best player.

“Gordon Hayward's departure to the Boston Celtics stings, and the Jazz will have a tough time replacing his versatile production. Even a dynamite rookie season from Donovan Mitchell can't possibly fill the void, and the small-forward depth chart looks a bit more uninspiring with Joe Ingles and Joe Johnson leading the charge.

“But Rudy Gobert is still patrolling Salt Lake City, ready to prove to the world he's indisputably one of the NBA's 20 best players.

“Whereas Hayward finished Nos. 29 and 24, respectively, in ESPN.com’s RPM and NBA Math’s TPA, Gobert sat at Nos. 8 and 12 last season. He's arguably the league's best defensive player, and his incredible finishing ability around the rim makes him immensely valuable on the offensive end.”

The Jazz lost a valuable member of the community yesterday. Jody Genessy, long-time (or at least as long as I can remember) Jazz beat writer for the Deseret News has been reassigned.

Growing up, I read the two sections of the Deseret News: the comics and the sports section. Naturally, I’ve read a lot of Jody’s content. He may not be a Pulitzer waiting to happen, but all Jazz fans living in Utah know about Jody.

Like Larry H. Miller, he didn’t just do his job, he was one of us. He was is a Utah Jazz fan. He’ll still be around, but Jazz coverage won’t quite be the same without good old Jody.

Rudy Gobert appears to be into the latest version of NBA 2k

The look on his face suggests extreme concentration or utter boredom. Either way, this picture deserves a caption.

The Jazz’s shiny new point guard Ricky Rubio has lead his national team well. Spain is 5-0 in EuroBasket play thus far.

Rubio has been lighting it up so far, which should give Jazz fans some comfort about how Rubio will be able to make things work in an offense that has a notable lack of three-point shooters.

The Utah Jazz twitter account threw some shade on some (unintentional) shade-throwers.

(Sorry if the tweet didn’t embed perfectly as it will dramatically alter your perception of the tweet)

Rudy Gobert will continue to be overlooked in favor of inferior players. Even if he became the unquestionable best center in the league, national talking heads would still be saying “but Anthony Davis!”