Utah Jazz Weekly: Solid Preseason Start Crashes Quickly

Utah Jazz basketball is back, kind of. The preseason has begun and the Jazz are back in action. While they aren’t the games that count, the preseason games provide us with a chance to get a general idea of what we might expect going forward.

Utah had three preseason games this week. Jazz fans enjoyed a brief few days of hope after their team showed a whole lot of promise in a 101-78 handling of the Golden State Warriors. However, reality started to sink back in as the Jazz struggled to create an offensive flow in the next preseason game against the Portland Trail Blazers, losing 96-86. On Saturday, the good vibes from the first preseason game were completely washed away as the Jazz were demolished 106-74, by the Los Angeles Clippers, losing heralded rookie Trey Burke in the process with a broken finger.

Utah won’t know how long Burke will be out of commission until it is determined whether he needs surgery or not. If the injury keeps Burke out for a long time, it will be a huge blow to the Jazz, who aren’t expected to win a lot of games this year, but were hoping to let their young core develop valuable experience together.

Who’s Jazzed?

In this next section of the Weekly J-note, we will examine a few players who are seeing their stock rise and conversely players who are under-performing.

Alec Burks: Coming into the preseason, Jazz fans hoped Burks would be able to score at a reasonable pace as his minutes would undoubtedly increase this season. After the first week of the preseason, it seems that Burks might actually need to become Utah’s primary scoring threat. Burks was only 1-for-5 from the field in the second preseason game, but was very efficient as a whole for the week. Burke scored 14, seven and 12 in the preseason games. Burks has continued getting to the line, a major strength of his, and attempted an average of four free throws per game, but will need improve upon his 75 percent average.

John Lucas III: Lucas’ inclusion here may be more of a case of low expectations than superb performance, but JL3 has looked good. Lucas has been able to knock down open shots and has been fairly efficient as he is 5-for-7 from 3. After Burke’s injury, Lucas will likely get a lot more time on the court to learn the offense and his new teammates.

Singin’ the Blues

Trey Burke: Trey came into camp needing to prove himself after a rough summer league performance. Trey didn’t need to blow anyone out of the water, but he did need to show that he was a capable NBA point guard. Though Trey has accomplished that task, he still hasn’t been efficient. Burke was 5-for-14, 3-for-10, and 1-for-6 (before leaving due to injury) from the field in each of the preseason games. The numbers look worse than they might be, as Trey had some very nice plays, but that type of inefficiency won’t cut it. Trey has to be devastated about his broken finger, but the break my come at a good time for him to take a step back and analyze his game from the outside looking in.

Derrick Favors: Though Favors had a great game against the Warriors and his defense has been up to par (seven blocks in three games), Favors has also struggled with efficiency. Favors has been very vocal about his intent on stepping up as a leader for this young Jazz team, and has seemingly been trying (possibly too hard) to become a focal point–or the focal point–of the Jazz offense. What may be hard for some Jazz fans to swallow is the fact that Favors just may not have the skills to be a good scorer in the NBA. Favors went 4-for-11, 2-for-8, 2-for-8 from the field in the three games. As was said with Trey, the numbers may look worse than reality. Favors has looked absolutely beastly at times and if he can knock down a 15-foot jumper with consistency, he should be just fine. A lot depends upon coach Tyrone Corbin to put his superstars into positions to succeed.

Coming up

Utah will have time to work on things this week, as they only have one preseason game against Portland on Oct. 16.

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