The STOP TALKING ABOUT THE CORE FOUR Edition - The Downbeat - #878

For those that missed it, here are the Jazz home opener player intros:

I think a lot of us were high on the Dennis Lindsey hire because it was an injection of new blood, and he didn't get his job because he was there or because he'd been there the longest or due to nepotism/connections or other non-qualification-related reasons. Part of our excitement is our expectation that he will bring a more modern approach to our front office, from analytics to other smart Spurs-y things and maybe even shaking things up a little.

From Lindsey's podcast with David Locke earlier this week:

Lindsey: The first thing we talked about is, I wanted everybody to give me a list of “Hey Dennis, don’t mess with this. We’re doing this well.”…There are a lot of those things, David, where I just didn’t want to come in with my own preconceived ideas about a particular practice, you know, I wanted to gain an understanding…Again, the big goal is to complement what we currently have, not change the culture. And then cultivate a couple new areas that the Miller family really believes in and wants to jump into with both feet.

Locke: Are you comfortable sharing the things that the organization feels it does really well, that are not touchable?

Lindsey: Let me see. There are so many, David. There’s so many. We do some neat things, for example, with the media. It’s very unique that media, for example, gets to talk to players pre-practice. I never thought about that before, but as described to me, it made a lot of sense on why you would want to have pre-practice availability.

The other things Lindsey mentioned were the coaching staff's warmup and conditioning drills.

Also keeping in mind that he was hired:

--after all the draft workouts

--after the draft

--after all the free agent signings

(i.e. after all of the major decisions of the off-season had been made), would you be disappointed if Lindsey kind of faded into the front office and nothing really changed from a management perspective?

From David Locke's Nov. 1 tip-off:

[Coach Tyrone Corbin] is well aware, "I've got to keep Alec Burks engaged", but frankly Randy Foye might be a better player right now. And I know the fan base is obsessed with the Core Four. BLOW IT UP. STOP TALKING ABOUT THE CORE FOUR, because you're the only people doing it. I love the concept, but let me tell you something: Nobody in the organization is living around the Core Four. So you can live this fantasy life about the Core Four, but can I give you another thought?

Randy Foye might be bettter than Alec Burks today, and might be forever. Think about it. Right? There is a chance that Randy Foye is just better than Alec Burks, and will be for the next five years.

Regarding Burks' lack of minutes in the Jazz opener, Locke said:

I'll tell you this about Burks: He better play with a better attitude than he did last night. I get that it sucks to be taken out of the rotation, but those free throws were "I don't give a crap" free throws. And that is not going to get you time. 'Cause Ty cares about his guys and Ty is going to try to keep him engaged, but if he gives him that attitude...

[refers to this tweet]

...it wasn't clear that they communicated correctly. So let's hope he stays engaged.

There's that "Corbin communication" issue possibly popping up again.

Thoughts on that, or that regardless of α1Σc ßµΓk5 working hard enough to deserve minutes, there just may not be any to be had? (Please address Locke's comments only. Let's not have this devolve into like-Locke vs. hate-Locke.)

Random thought, to go back to what Diana talked about in her DB yesterday: If Derrick Favors was not in ideal shape coming into camp because he bulked up too much over the summer, can KOC put the blame on him since he was working out at a Jazz-sanctioned training facility and with Jazz trainers present?

Be sure to check out our very own media personality and Jazz expert Diana Allen's interview on KWCR 88.1 Weber FM!