Utah Jazz Getting Some National Love: Downbeat 1444

Wingspan and a Prayer: Trying to Decipher the Massive Promise of Utah’s Rudy Gobert " It's so much better to write about the Utah Jazz when stuff is happening.  Zach Lowe's tweet (which The Shums referred to yesterday)

Rudy Gobert's NBA future becomes more interesting to me every time I watch him. A guy I'd like to have in my organization.

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) August 30, 2014

on August 30th should have given us a clue that he may be putting together something on Rudy Gobert. Either way, it was posted on Grantland yesterday. Zach does a superb job of breaking down Rudy's game, and what the possibilities could be. It's very well written. Lowe has reached the point in his career, where you should pretty much read everything he writes. You may not always agree with it, but you need to read it. This piece is no different.

In related news, there is a monstrously large NBA human shooting 67 percent from the floor in significant minutes for a good team at the FIBA Basketball World Cup, just a month after dunking everything in sight at summer league in Las Vegas.

It seems so long ago, but Rudy dominated (as he should have) the paint on both ends of the floor at Summer League. There seems to have been a visible, and mental shift in his attitude towards the game. The hope for all of us, is that this his recent success will not regress.

Lowe also advises Jazz fans to put on the brakes for moment as well.

This is where you apply the brakes. We’re talking about a guy who didn’t even crack 500 minutes as a rookie. The list of seven-footers since 1980 who saw fewer than 500 minutes in their rookie season —

Another issue that Lowe brings ups is the ability of having Favors/ Gobert or Kanter/Gobert on the floor at the same time and what does to our spacing. Obviously, Snyder will do what he needs to do to create the best possible match ups and floor combinations, but Gobert who was previously out of the conversation, has played his way into the conversation over the past three months.

The whispers about Exum. I am holding judgement until I have more information. Having said this, I still have to point out that there are National media members whispering.

Bill Simmons, Joe House, and the above mentioned Zach Lowe released a podcast yesterday, and Simons talked about why Utah fans may be "worried" . It's right around the 2:30 mark. I love Bill Simmons, but this one hurt, it hurt a lot.

From Resident Magazine H/T  Matt Moore via CBS Sports Here is D-Will on Utah the state, not the team.

In Utah, you just send your kids to the first public school in the area because they’re all great. Truth is, we enjoy getting away from the hustle and bustle and going back to Utah every summer. It’s a relief to take that timeout. No traffic. No crowds. My daughters still have their friends there. There’s a big backyard. They go to the pool; the playground and they jump on the trampoline.

I love this. First of all, because I teach in the Utah public education system, and I feel that as a whole, teachers in Utah do more with less. Second, he loves living here. He  kept his house and returns to Utah on a yearly basis. Third, this is probably a higher end magazine, and this was probably not the answer they were looking/hoping for. Utah? Really?

Patience on Exum...

Australian coach Andrej Lemanis opted with the more experienced Adam Gibson off the bench, as the Lithuanians staged their comeback in the second half, not prepared to impetuously throw Exum into the deep end.

"He’s still only 19 and having to deal with that physicality is tough for anybody," he said post-match.

With the limited minutes, Lemanis concedes it’s a process.

"Dante works hard every day, comes in and does what’s asked of him. We will try to find a way to get him more and more integrated."

"Obviously with time and experience he’ll grow to be an awesome player."

As stated above, let's give him some time .

Doug Birrell, the Utah Jazz massage therapist, may have lost a bet with the team, here is the result H/T @GdHayward and Jody Genessy