The Dowbeat #1181 -- The "We're almost there" Edition

The Utah Jazz play their last preseason game of the 2013-14 season today, in Anaheim, against the dastardly Lakers. So far the Jazz are 1-6, losing all 4 games on the road. The good news is that the preseason doesn't count for anything. The bad news is that it's not like we were holding guys back in preseason, or resting stars. These are the same dudes who are going to be leading us in the regular season. My initial premise stands: we're going to be more fun to watch, we may play better in certain stretches of the season or in an individual game, but ultimately the team is not going to challenge for a playoff spot mainly dude to depth problems.

This is EXACTLY the same problem that Sidney Lowe's Vancouver Grizzlies had back when he was their head coach, and their Big Three were lotto picks. To be fair, the Vancouver team had a lot of OTHER problems to deal with (like their Top draft pick one year forced a trade to get out of it), but one of the main problems was poor depth.

Until Marvin Williams and Brandon Rush get back to 100%, our bench is going to always lack firepower. And let's not forget that Trey Burke, our guy, is injured too right now. We're starting this season walking wounded. But we have a chance to win tonight.

So are you guys excited to see what we do in our last preseason game, or just ready for the season already?

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You need to read Jody Genessy's amazing writeup of his trip to Los Angeles covering the Utah Jazz. It's . . . it's got everything you want, a Handsy former player, schedule snaffus, random food, and always, the ever present hint of a threat of a possible crime. Also Lakers girls. Please do check it out here.

On Tuesday night, I was in the Jazz locker room when a reporter from Turkey gave compatriot Enes Kanter, a young Utah center, a box of Turkish Delights candy before conducting an interview. I wasn’t about to buy Craig Bolerjack and Matt Harpring something with my own money and I didn’t have any American Delights candy, so I did the next best thing during my interview the next night when the Jazz played the Clippers. As a token of my admiration for them, I brought them free apples I found in the pressroom dining area as a thank you gift. (Photo h/t @monilogue and ROOT Sports)

Jody (@DJJazzyJody) is just the best and you should all be reading his blog on the regular by now.

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Do you know if Gordon Hayward is getting an extension in the next 5 days? That needs to get taken care of. There are a lot of guys who aren't getting extensions though. Take a look:

Yes, values are in millions.

The only "big names" to track would be Hayward, Bledsoe, Monroe, and maybe Vasquez. Who do you think gets extended?

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Somehow Karl Malone is still in better shape than all of us put together.

Also, he's our only hope against The Predator. Of course, everyone at the NBA Hangtime blog round table forgot about him when they listed their "toughest" players ever. At least John Stockton and Jerry Sloan are mentioned . . . but this is kind of an oversight. Right? Somehow Derrick Coleman made a dude's list.

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If you wanted to know how Alec Burks pronounces the word "kids" you need to watch this.