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So the annual tradition of Jazz fans griping about our players getting slighted by their NBA 2K ratings is upon us. We got a sneak-peek at the ratings of all the current starting lineups in the NBA from Twitter and apparently the folks at 2K forgot that Ricky Rubio isn’t some random scrub.
Rubio is no world-beater, that’s for darn sure. So he shouldn’t be threatening 90, or even 85, to be honest. But 77? C’mon man! To break it down, here’s an informal list of guys at, above, or near 77 that we know of.
Kris Dunn (78) , Wendell Carter Jr. (77), Colin Sexton (76), Tristan Thompson (76), Marcin Gortat (77), Patrick Beverley (78), Jaren Jackson Jr. (78), Trae Young (77), Kent Bazemore (77), De’Aaron Fox (78), Buddy Hield (79), Tim Hardaway Jr. (78), Rajon Rondo (79), JaVale McGee (77), Dennis Smith Jr. (78), Carmelo Anthony (79), Dejounte Murray (78).
As fans, we tend to overrate our players. But there’s no way that some of these guys are in the same ballpark as Rubio. Apparently the 2k rating guys look at Rubio’s stats and though “Well his assists went way down and his points only went up by two per game so obviously he’s not as good as he was.”
Mitchell got a great rating, Gobert probably got undersold a bit, and you can argue Ingles and Favors should be higher. But plain and simple, Rubio got shafted by 2k this year.
I play GTA all day anyway ♂️ https://t.co/xMnUS6kizX
— Derrick Favors (@dfavors14) August 30, 2018
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Thursday Donovan Mitchell once again inserted himself into the heart of Utah culture by showing up at the University of Utah’s opening football game against Weber State.
Donovan Mitchell is a man of the people... @spidadmitchell #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/LPTFliP1Vz
— Porter Larsen (@Larsen_ESPN) August 31, 2018
While at the game, Mitchell met up with a friend, the former Ute and current LA Laker Kyle Kuzma.
@kylekuzma & @spidadmitchell! pic.twitter.com/OJwjFCU0qC
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) August 31, 2018
The relationship between Kuzma and Mitchell could end up being quite interesting as these two get further in their respective careers and free agency gets closer. Kuzma has ties to Utah and to Mitchell, and the ROY runner-up has already shown recruiting is something he’s eager to do, so maybe we’ll hear more about Kuz in the future.
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A couple more notes on Mitchell. First, Bleacher Report did some photoshop things and put Mitchell in one of my personal favorite throwback jerseys (just ignore the whiny baby in the initial photo).
Spida in the '96-'04 Jazz jersey. pic.twitter.com/jClYNILjqh
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 30, 2018
I feel like I’m in the minority, but I loved that era of jerseys. Not that I don’t love the Stockton/Malone era purple jerseys as well. I just happen to like this design a lot as well. Would love to see the Jazz break them out again.
One of the things Spida has been doing in reality is train at the D-Wade Invitational where two other NBA guards also happened to be playing.
CP3, McCollum, Spida
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 30, 2018
Everybody was putting in work at @DwyaneWade’s Invitational pic.twitter.com/1j1k3SRrYw
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Something that isn’t Jazz related but certainly relevant. The Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns agreed to a trade late Thursday night which sent Ryan Anderson and De’Anthony Melton to the Grand Canyon State in return for Marquese Chriss and Brandon Knight.
Houston has traded Ryan Anderson and De'Anthony Melton to Phoenix for Marquese Chriss and Brandon Knight, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 31, 2018
The Rockets are obviously the team for Utah to pay attention to in this case. This deal won’t be the deciding factor in anything, it will, however, shore up Houston’s rotation with the loss of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute. It won’t make them better on defense, but I think we all know the Rockets gave up on playing defense when they let Ariza and Mbah a Moute go, signed the aging Chris Paul to a huge deal and brought in Carmelo Anthony.
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As a final note and going back to NBA 2k, Derrick Favors showed about how much he cared for video game ratings.
I play GTA all day anyway ♂️ https://t.co/xMnUS6kizX
— Derrick Favors (@dfavors14) August 30, 2018
Savage as always.