The first half of the Utah Jazz schedule was released today and it looks like the Jazz will received 9 national games. Although 4 of those will be on ESPN and TNT.

To announce the new schedule, the Jazz released this incredible pixel animation for it. Well done, Jazz!!

To look at the Jazz schedule you can see it here.

Here are some quick observations.

Games to mark down

The Jazz have 9 national tv games. 5 of those are on NBA TV, 2 on TNT and 2 on ESPN. 4 legit national tv games may seem small but considering this is a shortened season and this is only the first half of the schedule, that seems pretty good.

The Jazz will begin the season on December 23rd against the Trail Blazers.

The Jazz will face the new look Nets on January 5th.

The defending champion Lakers will come to SLC on February 24th.

Utah will visit Denver for a playoff rematch on January 17th and January 31st

Utah also faces the Clipper 3 times to start the season and may not see them after that till the playoffs.

Depth is a BIG DEAL this season

There are only 5 breaks of longer than 1 night between games. The Jazz will be looking at a lot of back to backs and 4 games in 5 nights. Having the depth they added this offseason is going to be a big deal.

Perhaps the Jazz thought of this when drafting Udoka Azubuike who will be relied on to give Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert rest.

Players like Juwan Morgan, Jarrell Brantley and Nigel Williams-Goss will probably be relied on more than before because of the break neck schedule. Depth is a big deal this season!