Utah Jazz Podcast: Chris Johnson stepping up, Derrick Favors' back, and is Gordon Hayward an All-Star?

While the Utah Jazz are making a lot of noise on the court (no, those aren't boos you hear . . . it's sarcastic cheers), we here at SLC Dunk haven't been bringing much multimedia of late. Thankfully some good people out there occasionally take pity upon us, and ask us to be on their shows. I recorded a segment BEFORE the Sacramento Kings @ Utah Jazz game last night with Phil Naessens on his show talking about our Utah Jazz. We had to touch on the season so far, all of the injuries, and the resulting opportunities that has created for a bunch of our players. When you have to start two rookies it's not going to be easy on the W/L record, but this team has good pieces still and when they get healthy watch out!

Additionally, I got to record another segment with him on his Friday's show to go over the NBA Power Rankings. Some teams are hot right now, some teams have been hot all season. And frankly, some teams have me concerned for their future. We break down the Top 10 and trash a few of the teams you love to hate along the way. Check out the podcast here, or just click the thingie below.

Segment 1: Utah Jazz talk [0:00 - 11:18]

• Crazy season so far
• Lamenting about losing to the Portland Trail Blazers twice before the All-Star Break
• Lots of "no name" players having to show up in a Jazz uniform due to injuries
• Since John Stockton and Karl Malone retired the Jazz have had some tough times
• Dante Exum injury was bad, but missing so many players at once is "decimation"
• Quin Snyder needs guys like Joe Ingles and Jeff Withey to keep contributing
• Roster talent imbalance and injury imbalance can usually sink a team
• Amar's crazy theory about talent primacy and how the Jazz big three add up to make Utah great when healthy
• Derrick Favors and his bad back
• Being healthy when you have games you can win is better than being healthy when you are likely to lose anyway
• 'Chris Johnson is essentially Rocky, but without becoming a champion'
• "...and he's not sucking..." #UDQM
• Is Gordon Hayward an All-Star?
• Maybe it doesn't matter if he doesn't make it if the team is healthy and playing well.

Segment 2: NBA Power Rankings [48:26 - 59:59]

• Snack talk
• Breaking down our collective, argumentative Top 10 in the NBA right now
• Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are ahead of everyone else
• The Spurs have a lot of similar players
• Boban Marjanovic: "...are you kidding, you have [Boban] on your fantasy team?"
• Are the Chicago Bulls really a Top 5 team? Are they really going to mope their way
• Derrick Rose = WYSIWYG
• Amar spreads rumors of the Bulls eventual demise, perhaps a bit too prematurely
• Amar avoids recent data, and says bad things about the Eastern Conference
  
• Toronto Raptors vs. Atlanta Hawks -- can you say one team is better than the other?
• Paul Millsap and Al Horford do their jobs, but Kyle Lowry has a lot more help around him
• The Los Angeles Clippers are much more likable without Blake Griffin
• Cole Aldrich, waaaaaaat?
• The Miami Heat need to figure out what's happening between Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic
• How the heck are the Indiana Pacers so good?
• The spooky thing is their close game finishing ability
• Math is hard for Amar
• Shout out to Kristaps Porzingis and the New York Knicks

Thanks again to Phil for having me on as a guest. Jazzfans follow him on twitter here @FlashTennis31, and you can subscribe to his show here. It's all sports talk, all year round.