2023-24 NBA Season

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try again

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Tony Jones: In a move that was expected, The Utah Jazz have informed point guard Kris Dunn they are guaranteeing his contract for the upcoming season, League Sources tell The Athletic. Dunn has played well since coming to the Jazz last season. The former lotto pick finds a home

– via Twitter Tjonesonthenba

no brainer. See if they are smart enough to start him now

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The Utah Jazz have signed and subsequently waived guard Isaiah Miller.

– via Gabby Hundman @ NBA.com

a pg for the Stars

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George/Miller
Christopher/Langford/Devoe/Kinsey
Sensabaugh/Juzang/Justice
Hendricks/Hauser(not sure if he can still play with the Stars or nor?)
Potter/Ongenda

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https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/21/the...k-in-exchange/

And Horton-Tucker should be traded. As we wrote before, the only reason for him to start in the preseason was to try and entice teams to acquire him in a deal. He’s not better than Jordan Clarkson or Collin Sexton scoring the ball, and Kris Dunn, someone he’s in direct competition with is better defensively and has become a more reliable scorer than Horton-Tucker.

Ideally he'd be playing instead of The Bum until George is ready. If there's a trade make it. Don't want Lavine

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https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/21/uta...team-anything/

Sadly, the answer was no. Collin Sexton, Kris Dunn, and Keyonte George didn’t do enough to take the job outright, though Dunn was the most consistent of the trio. Talen-Horton Tucker, on the other hand, showed enough passing skill and defense to take the job, for the time being. Collin Sexton will likely be the first guard off the bench most nights.

Dunn certainly looks like he should start with Agbaji to me

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https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/22/the...this-season/3/

He may not be better than former Jazz, current T-Wolves’ center Rudy Gobert currently, but many believe he isn’t far behind (if he’s behind at all). And that’s just off of one year, where he wasn’t even the starter for a lot of the season. Now, he has to prove that his rookie year wasn’t some fluke.

yet to show he can guard in space

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The Utah Jazz have exercised team options for 24-25 on the rookie scale contracts of guard Ochai Agbaji and center Walker Kessler.
– via RealGM

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Tony Jones: The Jazz informed forward Luka Samanic that he will be on the opening night roster, which increase his contract guarantee to $600k……a nice story for Samanic, who came to the Jazz late last season. Today was his cut/guarantee date. He has another in January

– via Twitter Tjonesonthenba

still waiting on Yurtseven I guess? Can't imagine they would cut him but they do have plenty of bigs

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https://kslsports.com/506498/utah-ja...-opener-nears/

Talen Horton-Tucker started all five preseason games for the Jazz, and was the team’s second-leading minute-getter, perhaps a clear indicator that he should be the favorite to start on opening night.

might just have wanted more of a look at him or to showcase him for others? To me he's behind Dunn, Agbaji, Sexton. I'd have him ahead of The Bum but they won't

Conversely, Kris Dunn never started but was by far the Jazz’s most efficient guard, he looked comfortable initiating the offense and is the team’s best perimeter defender.

Best finisher and best leader. Anyone but him starting is a joke!

At this point, the only major surprise would be if George earned a starting spot on opening night. Otherwise, there’s evidence to support Horton-Tucker, Sexton, Clarkson, and Dunn all earning those spots.

You forgot Agbaji who should start with Dunn

Every NBA team wants to space the floor, but can Kessler do it well enough to help the Jazz this season? More success early in the year would go a long way toward confirming its effectiveness in his arsenal.

I'd guess you will see it to open up Collins at the rim at times

Dunn, Horton-Tucker, and George appear to be the frontrunners in a ten-man rotation based on preseason play.

George hasn't earned it

That would leave newcomer Omer Yurtseven out of the frontcourt rotation and would exclude Luka Samanic and Simone Fontecchio, both of whom finished last season showing improvement in their games.

I'd imagine Omer at times against certain matchups.

How long until The Bum is traded is the biggest question?

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https://saltcityhoops.com/prediction...hardware-more/

Why then would year two of that squad, under year two of coach Will Hardy, with year two of Lauri Markkanen as an All-Star and year two of Walker Kessler lead the Jazz to dip below that mark, let alone 34 wins?

No Conley though I think Dunn can replace some of that if he plays and The Bum not miss as many games

Keyonte George wants Rookie of the Year, but I’m not sure if he’s ever met Victor Wembanyama. There’s some buzz for John Collins to give the Jazz back-to-back Most Improved Player hardware, but I’m not ready to hop on that bet yet. What I want to do is claim this as the year Markkanen gets on an All-NBA team. Last year the big man was just outside of the top 15 by two spots. If the Jazz are to take a leap, it will be because the Finnisher continues his ascent into stardom, something that is reasonable to expect if he stays healthy and remains confident.

and they aren't tanking after the trade deadline again which very well could be the case

Clarkson scored 45 points, his career high, two seasons ago after he went 7-13 from deep against the Sacramento Kings. Last year, he never eclipsed 40, as the season high was a 38-point performance against the 76ers, when he interestingly went 3-12 from deep. I’m willing to bet big this year, he tops the half-dollar and gets a 50-nugget game.

what is interesting about it? That he only missed 9 3's?

Picking for JC again, he needs just 43 more threes made to pass up Gordon Hayward for 4th on the all-time leaderboard. Let’s say he does so in 50 games, that would put him at 300 games in a Jazz jersey while it took Hayward 516 to get to his spot on the board.

and one was a hell of a ball player and the other is A Bum

Collin Sexton, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Kris Dunn will each take a turn as starting point guard this season. In fact, let’s get crazy: why not say that George and Clarkson will as well?

because The Bum sucks? Could see George being the guy before March

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https://saltcityhoops.com/positive-t...azz-preseason/

He only played the first half of each game, and there was no reason for him to play a second more other than helping him to stay warmed up for the start of the season. In 20 minutes per game, he averaged 16.8 points and 8 rebounds. His per 36 minute averages (he averaged close to 35 minutes last season), were 28.8 points and 13.8 rebounds. Considering he only shot 30.8 percent from three-point range compared to his career 37 percent mark, it’s looking like there is a real chance his scoring could even top his career high of 25.6 points from last season.

started slow from 3 last year as well

While he won’t be the opening night starter, Key has already shown enough to earn consistent rotational minutes. Those minutes will give him invaluable experience and could ultimately lead to him being the Jazz starting point guard before the season is over. Taken with the 16th pick in the draft, the Jazz might have gotten the steal of the draft.

Who has he earned minutes over other than The Bum? I'm not seeing it. He should be with the Stars to start the year

This was the biggest question mark coming into the season for the Utah Jazz. Who was going to be the starting point guard? Something that became obvious during the preseason though is that the question of who will be our starting point guard is not there due to a lack of talent. Utah lacks a standout, clear-cut starter, but every potential point guard on the roster seems to have legitimate strengths that will help the team to be successful. While each guard has some clear strengths, but some obvious flaws as well.

clearly Dunn

Clarkson seems to be the best of the guards. He is coming off a season scoring 20 points per game to go along with 4 assists. Whenever he is on the floor, it just feels like the offense is less bogged down because he has the ability to create for himself at any time but has also really seemed to grow as a facilitator.

4 guys standing around while one dribbles and throws up prayers is beautiful to watch

Kris Dunn is clearly a fan favorite and many are clamoring for the Jazz to make him their starting point guard. For a player who doesn’t look to shoot very often, he runs the offense very well and seems to have a positive impact. There is just something about the way he plays that seems to settle the team. He is also a suffocating defender. Outside of Walker Kessler, Dunn is the best defensive player on the Jazz roster, and it’s probably closer than we realize. All that said, he doesn’t shoot. During the preseason, he attempted only five shots per game and shot 84 percent, because he only takes shots when there isn’t another option and he knows he can make them. Hard to win with a point guard who doesn’t seem to want to shoot the ball.

until Kessler shows he can guard in space Dunn is their best defender. They have plenty of guys that will shoot. Having one that gets others the ball is welcome in my book

That’s five legitimate ball-handling guard options for the Jazz, and they are all positive impact players, despite their flaws. The Jazz would love to have a Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Donovan Mitchell level point guard, but the question mark revolving around the point guard position is not because they don’t have talent at the position.

If Mitchell was a pg we'd still be talking about Gobert and Mitchell but we're not

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https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/23/ksl...ck-right-call/

And all three of these men can make equal claims to such spots against the broader NBA landscape. All three men could easily take claim to be the best the team ever had, and that’s probably why KSL ranked all three men in the Top 3 of their Top 50 list.

Pete has no claim. Stockton, Malone, Gobert, Dantley, Pete, Deron than you can take whomever you choose

Honestly, seeing Mark Eaton, Adrian Dantley, Maravich, Stockton, and Malone in the Top 10, is not surprising, even if you don’t agree with where some of the names fell. Seeing Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, Rudy Gobert, and Donovan Mitchell also in the Top 10 is rather surprising.

No one outside of the statues had close to the impact as Gobert. Not surprising that they had Mitchell and others over him though

Not that they don’t deserve it. It’s just wild seeing more modern names etching their position in the upper echelon of the team’s history. Especially since Kirilenko bridged the gap from Malone and Stockton to Williams and Boozer, who then bridged it to Gordon Hayward (#14), who then bridged it to Gobert and Mitchell.

Hayward was hardly a bridge for Gobert. The team sucked until Gobert made them good despite the supposed greatness of Hayward, Favors, Kanter and Burks

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Jason Anderson: The Sacramento Kings are listing Chris Duarte as questionable for Wednesday’s season opener against the Utah Jazz due to left knee soreness, but the team is optimistic he will play. Trey Lyles is out with a left calf strain. Utah doesn’t have anyone on its injury report.
– via Twitter JandersonSacBee

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https://www.deseret.com/2023/10/24/2...-24-season-nba

If they can’t make the playoffs, or at least the play-in, something has gone terribly wrong

You mean like A Bum being one of their featured players?

Jazz coach Will Hardy was looking like a mastermind. Following a summer of huge trades and roster turnover, he got the newly put together team to play fast and play for each other, leading to a breakout season for Lauri Markkanen and rookie Walker Kessler.

if it wasn't for The Bum starting he'd look like a mastermind

If 37 wins was possible with Rudy Gay and Jarred Vanderbilt and Udoka Azubuike while Markkanen and Clarkson were watching in street clothes, then this year’s team, if healthy — with the continued success of the returning players and the addition of John Collins, Kris Dunn and Keyonte George — should be able to cobble together a handful of wins that would push them into a playoff berth.

Unless Dunn is allowed to replace Conley it could get ugly

I find it hard to believe that inserting Markkanen and Clarkson back into the lineup at the end of the year wouldn’t have netted the Jazz another five wins at least. Adding to that, I think this team is better than the post-trade deadline Jazz of last season, and so do the players — even the ones that have yet to play in a regular-season game with the Jazz.

inserting The Bum helps no one