Would you take the Deron Williams trade back if you could? That’s what the crew at ESPN 700 sports radio asked DeseretNews.com Jazz beat writer Jody Genessy earlier this week. Here’s what he had to say (full interview audio can be found here): Just over two years have passed since the Jazz traded Deron Williams to the then-New Jersey Nets, getting Derrick Favors, Devin Harris and two first-round … Continue reading
If/when Jeff Hornacek lands an NBA head coaching job (potentially with Philadelphia), a lot of Jazz fans will have a similar reaction. “Great for him, bummer for us.” It would be a bummer for Utah. Hornacek and the Jazz have a relationship the likes of which only a handful of former players and teams have — and even those can have an expiration date. There’s a reason Hornacek is … Continue reading
The status quo can be good, comforting even. Jazz fans used to count on Stockton and Malone every year. Now, after three years that featured two lottery seasons and one first-round sweep, one fan has had enough, at least according to the e-mail I received shortly after the end of the season. “I know the drill,” part of it said. “Typically the season ends, a nice spinning story is … Continue reading
Al Jefferson’s career is a mixed bag of great numbers for himself and subpar results for his teams. The Jazz big man is a double-double machine, able to score in the post and crash the boards with an efficiency few can match. When the Jazz acquired him from Minnesota in 2010, many saw it as an upgrade over the older, departed Carlos Boozer. Jefferson, however, has also been … Continue reading
On Tuesday night Shaquille O’Neal saw his jersey join those of other former Laker centers. Wilt Chamberlain. Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. George Mikan. That’s right, four of the top seven or eight centers of all time have donned Laker gold for significant portions of their respective careers. That’s not counting Dwight Howard, who may or may not return to his once dominant Orlando form. Hardly seems fair, does it? That’s … Continue reading
Between injuries and voluntary experimentation, Jazz fans have expressed frustration over head coach Tyrone Corbin’s roster/rotation moves. Corbin’s seeming lack of consistency (see Favors’ benching against Milwaukee) has left reporters questioning his decision-making…and Corbin quick to respond. Truth is, however, Utah’s lineup hasn’t been any more inconsistent than in years past. The Jazz opened Wednesday’s loss to Cleveland with, according to Basketball-Reference.com, their 13th starting lineup of the … Continue reading
You can’t blame the Jazz for standing pat while everyone else was wheeling and dealing. That certainly wasn’t the case leading up to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, when the headline names to change addresses were J.J. Redick, Sebastian Telfair and Jordan Crawford. The criticism, from media pundits and fans alike, is that the Jazz didn’t make a move despite being one of the few teams that seemingly needed … Continue reading
As the Utah Jazz beat writer, my job duties entail traveling wherever the team goes. In any given week, I could be in California’s state capital playing about as many minutes as The Jimmer, writing stories with the Laverne & Shirley theme rattling through my head in Wisconsin or soaking in the scenery and sun of South Beach (uh, I mean laboring diligently in grueling Miami conditions). Three … Continue reading
Remember that funny story about Big Al’s big bed? Yeah, of course you do. My wife does, too. The biggest thing she got out of that silliness about Jefferson’s 10-foot-by-12-foot kingdom-sized bed was that our queen-sized mattress set is about two sizes too small. I couldn’t resist poking fun at Jefferson by making a veiled reference to the bed at the end of our interview at Tuesday’s practice. He’d … Continue reading
If you’re a Utah Jazz fan, by now you’ve probably heard about the P3 facility in Santa Barbara, Calif. It’s a high-tech performance lab that has a relationship with the Jazz. This past offseason, for instance, 12 Jazz players spent time at the workout center fine-tuning their bodies and getting into tip-top shape. By now, you’ve probably also heard of Derrick Favors. One of YouTube’s original sports network, … Continue reading