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In a recent post, ESPN’s staff put together a top-50 ranking of all coaches in major U.S. professional sports. So NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL essentially. Quin Snyder came in a 20 right behind Mike D’Antoni and just before Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints.
The NBA coaches that came in above Snyder were Brad Stevens (No. 2), Steve Kerr (4), Gregg Popovich (5), Rick Carlisle (16) and D’Antoni (19). All of those coaches deserve recognition so for Snyder to be among them is special.
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One interesting tidbit from Wednesday’s opener, Rudy Gobert’s 19/15 put him in solid company with Karl Malone and Carlos Boozer.
With 19 points & 15 rebounds during our win last night in Sacramento, @rudygobert27 joins Carlos Boozer (2x) and Karl Malone (1x) as the only Jazz players to post 15p/15r in a season opener since 1983. (according to @statmuse)#tbt | @AFCU pic.twitter.com/N8pYvMvENf
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) October 18, 2018
Gobert’s three blocks tied for his most in a season opener. In 2015, he had three blocks against the Detroit Pistons. Though the Stifle Tower scored just six points in that game to go with 12 rebounds.
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Another rare occasion for the Jazz came Wednesday. I say rare but in reality it’s something that has never happened in franchise history according to NBA Hoops Online
If the @utahjazz start R. Gobert, D. Favors, J. Ingles, D. Mitchell, and R. Rubio tonight, it will be the first time in franchise history that their opening night starting five is the same starting five from the opening night of the previous season.#NBA #teamiseverything
— NBA Hoops Online (@NBABoards) October 17, 2018
It’s perhaps only fitting that after an offseason that was defined by continuity and internal improvement that Utah have an identical starting lineup for opening night.
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We’ve just barely started the 2018-19 season but since this year is almost essentially chalked up as a Golden State Warriors three-peat, any championship talk has to be put in future tense, as in two or three years future tense. There will be plenty of enjoyable Utah Jazz basketball this season, however, a title is the end goal.
With two stars in Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz have two-thirds of a big three and speculation has been going since late last season about who Utah might target. All sorts of names have been thrown out in this debate.
Adrian Wojnarowski, in his most recent podcast, spent some time talking about what the Jazz have done and their potential selling pitch for free agents. He begins talking about Utah around the 18:30 mark.
Basically, his assertion is that the Jazz won’t be getting a Durant-level player (surprising, I know), but Woj said there should be a complimentary player that will buy into what Utah has to sell in terms of organization and winning potential.
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On a final fun note, The Ringer put together a list of “TV Title Sequences” for each of the 30 NBA teams. Utah’s comes up at about 6:36. The Jazz are predictably given “Spida Man” as the theme song.