In case you missed the news, Rookie of the Month (Again) Trey Burke will not only be playing in the Rising Stars Game at All-Star Weekend, he will be taking part in the Skills Challenge.
Not only that, Karl Malone will team up with Kevin Durant and Skylar Diggins to compete in the Shooting Stars Event.
This is probably the most representation the Jazz have had at All-Star Weekend since 2008, when Carlos Boozer (All-Star) chartered a private plane to New Orleans and didn't have room one his plane for Kyrylo Fesenko and Morris
Almond (D-League All-Stars) because Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap were playing in the Rookie/Sophomore Game and Deron Williams was competing in the Skills Challenge.
So there you have it, reasons to watch All-Star Saturday!
For the Rising Stars Game, Burke was drafted to Chris Webber's team as Webber's fourth pick (eighth overall). Keeping the Michigan theme going, Webber also selected Burke's college teammate, Tim Hardaway Jr. Also on the team is Burke's BFF Jared Sullinger.
For the Skills Challenge, which has a new 2-man format, Burke will be teaming up with Damian Lillard.
Also praying @TheDeliverer_32 wears the note throwback jersey and not the mountains.
Which jersey would you like to see Karl wearing: J-note, purple mountain, green throwback or the black alternate?
So many announcements today. The Jazz are looking for halftime talent. I mean, ANYTHING to replace those horrible little dancing girls in clown-whore makeup, which should not be a thing or acceptable anywhere. Details can be found here. If you're unlucky enough to not live in Utah, you are out of luck. You can send in your audition video online or through US Mail (whatever that is) or go to a live audition. There's cash involved.
For those of you unfamiliar with the tweets of @JimboRudding of our very own Utah Jazz podcast, he frequently tweets ideas to Greg Miller for halftime acts starring himself.
Here's the latest one:
.@GregInUtah Any openings for halftime acts? I show pics of interiors of cars and the crowd has to guess if the person is divorced or not.
For those of your still unfamiliar with the tweets of @JimboRudding, he also frequently tweets complete randomness to Jimmer Fredette asking for a retweet. Hence, this idea from BBJ:
The Jazz also announced a T-shirt design contest. Details can be found here. Prizes include meeting Jeremy Evans.
If you were to ask Tyrone Corbin the cause of the Jazz's offensive struggles of late (and someone in the media did), his answer would be/is:
Legs. Legs. I mean, we've been shooting a lot of shots short. So it's part of where we are in this time of the year. But we gotta find a way to get some easy baskets, see 'em go in the hole, and attack the rim a little bit more.
We're settling for a lot more jump shots. You see a lot more 3-pointers because of the flow of the offense. You getting shots out short in the clock, and the 3-pointer look more attractive because it's easier shot to take.
(Thanks to Diana for this one!)
The Jazz are playing the Mavericks tomorrow.
"It's a bad city." -- Dirk Nowitzki on Utah in 2001
Nowitzki backhands Matt Harpring in 2008:
Nowitzki flagrant foul on Andrei Kirilenko in 2008:
He even committed a flagrant foul against Richard Jefferson in 2010:
And then of course there was that 2012 incident when Nowitzki slapped the ball out of Derrick Favors' hands and Earl Watson came charging over.
All this aside, or maybe given all this, it's somewhat surprising the Mavericks don't really come to mind when you think of teams the Jazz have rivalries with.
4:20 p.m. You know what that means. 40 minutes until you can go home.