Take a look at New Orleans / Utah Jazz history today with us. But also check out some Utah Jazz point guard selections that, for whatever reason, didn't pan out the way we wanted. Raul Lopez had a ton of injuries, and never got his NBA career going. Trey Burke started his career off with an injury to his shooting hand, and hasn't yet been as effective as he was in the NCAAs. Both will surely finish their careers not in a Jazz jersey. Gordon Hayward is running a lot this year, and missing Alec Burks could be why he doesn't have the legs to finish games this season. And grooming tips from Quin Snyder!
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Happy Jazz day everyone! What a wild ride it has been since then.
On this day in 1974, the New Orleans Jazz are born! Begin play that fall as newest #NBA team https://t.co/gYqe2KgyGq pic.twitter.com/PMas9iDEHl
— Chris Creamer (@sportslogosnet) March 7, 2016
Do something good tonight, on this Utah Jazz off-day, watch Pistol Pete Maravich drop 68 points against the New York Knicks.
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So, Trey Burke racked up two DNP-CDs during the four-game road trip. He's clearly not in the short term or long term plans for the Utah Jazz. Dante Exum, Shelvin Mack, and Raul Neto seem to have leap-frogged the three time Western Conference Rookie of the Month. It makes me feel bad, man. (Me no gusta.) That said, I think we can identify some aspects of Trey's game that need improvement. If we're just looking at his shot taking and making, I'd love for him to be better on catch-and-shoot situations. But it seems like his ability to pull up and shoot from downtown isn't nearly as accurate as we'd want either!
This diagram shows some sad info.
-looks at bottom left corner-
— Adithya (@brownasthenight) March 4, 2016
-cries-pic.twitter.com/dfHmpEpiP7
There isn't much to say here, Trey hasn't been nearly as effective as he used to be in college. I will support him to my death, though. And I feel like his ability to a) get hot, and his b) clutch DNA are good building blocks for him to work with. There's a lot of work that still needs to get done if he's going to be a starting point guard on a non-lotto team, though.
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The NBA Season is a marathon. According to NBA.com our very own Gordon Hayward has run 6 marathons so far this season.
#FridayLeaderboard
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) March 4, 2016
CJ has accumulated the most mileage in @NBA!
Distance Run Leaders >> https://t.co/NSSuE7DnOZ pic.twitter.com/3Rnke1O1P9
Math: 157.60 / 26.22 = 6.01
As of right now that's 3rd most in the NBA, behind C.J. McCollum of the Portland Trail Blazers and Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks. If you are a super nerd, and figure out how many miles per minute these guys run, Hayward is at 0.070 mpm. (Middleton at 0.068, McCollum at 0.074)
Who is next on the Jazz? Rodney Hood at 130.10 total miles of court distance this year, which is good for 46th in the NBA. After him there's Derrick Favors at 98.60 miles, that's 145th most in the NBA this year.
This is pretty trivial, but Hayward does move a lot. And he plays a lot of minutes. No wonder he has trouble finishing strong in a lot of games -- and thus -- the Jazz do too. I'm a crazy person, but if Alec Burks returns healthy, I'd love to see him play some PG / SG and some SF next season. It could help manage the minutes of Hayward a bit and allow him to be ready to run the other team out of the building in the 4th quarter. Just a thought . . .
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How long does it take head coach Quin Snyder to get ready before games? Well, according to Trevor Booker his hair along takes . . .
At least an hour https://t.co/5HhXAvkZLv
— Trevor Booker (@35_Fitz) March 6, 2016
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Former Utah Jazz 1st round draft pick Raul Lopez is calling it a career. You may remember him from his 113 games in a Jazz uni (2135 minutes), playing during the post-Stockton and Malone era. He averaged 6.5 ppg, 3.8 apg, and 0.7 spg in 18.9 mpg. He did shoot 44.4% from downtown in his soph season, but injuries really kept him out of the NBA. The 35 year old Spaniard has a silver medal from the 2008 Olympics, and a gold and bronze from FIBA EuroBasket tourneys. And the long-time ACB player has always been a pass-first distributor and I'm surprised that he even played for so long after his successive, acute knee injuries in the NBA.
Raül López anuncia su retirada - https://t.co/2mRdjGYvIF pic.twitter.com/JjNn5A5Z0g
— SOMOSBASKET.COM (@SomosBasketweb) March 3, 2016
It will be sad to see you go, but congrats on a long career.
Of course, the nagging feeling is that Tony Parker, selected four spots after Raul, is the starting point guard on a team that could win 60+ games and could win another title this year. That's just frustrating. But you can't second guess every draft and expect to make the best pick each time. After all, the Jazz also whiffed on Kawhi Leonard, also to the Spurs. And I am certain that if I look hard enough I'll find more reasons to be upset.
I stand by Lopez. With the available data it wasn't so one-sided. Decades later, yeah, it seems like a dumb move. But no matter what, I think the all-time worst Draft was by the Dallas Mavericks in 1985 -- they could have had Karl Malone, Joe Dumars, and Terry Porter. Instead they ended up with Detlef Schrempf, Bill Wennington, and Uwe Blab.
So, at least there's that.
Raul was supposed to be the possible PGOTF. Same with Trey. Whatever happens in their respective futures I wish them all the best and will always support them. They are not just Jazzmen. But Jazz draft picks. Our front office scouted them and wanted them. And no matter what, they will remain Jazzmen.