The King is dead. Love live the King!

Recent events have forced my hand, and I can no longer remain silent. We are all hurting right now. A season filled with injury (no need to elaborate) and insult (lack of recognition from the NBA family, especially during all-star weekend) just got worse. Larry H. Miller died yesterday. Typing the words makes my heart ache and fingers feel ashamed for even punching in the string of offending letters that spells such a statement. Earlier this year Larry was in bad shape, and back when I blogged about it (back when I was a frequent blogger) I even suggested that he was not out of the woods yet. ("after all, 'you know this guy' could have very well become 'you knew this guy' . . . ") It really does pain me that he is gone.

Not just on a Jazz fan level, but on a personal level. While I've never been a Utahn, never been a part of his church, or driven a car from a dealership he owned . . . I am at quite a loss right now. He was on my list of people that I wanted to meet once in my life, and now that will never happen. (For the record, I could easily live without having ever met Stockton, Malone or Sloan in my life)

Larry was different. He was a team owner, and a self-made business man (he used to sell auto parts door to door apparently, and last season generated $3 billion in revenues from his various businesses), but he was a fan first. He had walked the lonely road, and followed his conscience in his endeavors. He wasn't a rich old man chasing girls younger than his grand daughters. He wasn't an over night Internet billionaire who did not work a day in his life. He was the type of man who against logic and sound business sense would be loyal to his initial investments and make them worth the time and blood and effort he put into them.

Some casual people look at the Jazz and see an old school franchise. Their coach, Jerry Sloan, is old school. John Stockton's shorts are old school. They work the ball for layups, that's old school. Well, they were old school from top to down because Larry was old school. He did not cut an run when things went bad. He didn't need any stimulus package because he knew the value of hard work. More than just a hard working, self-made business man he was an even better human being. Sure, his values were conservative (why is this almost automatically a negative adjective today?) but he was more than just a rich old man. I couldn't even begin to list all of good things he did for the community, and the state of Utah, in his life time. Nor am I the right person to do that. What I can do is relate some of my favorite Larry H. Miller stories:

• I remember an incident that occurred early in Karl Malone's rookie season. When Malone arrived in Utah he did not know anyone. One night (which probably led to many nights over the years) he was visiting with the team owner. [How often does this happen? How amazing is it that Miller was even accessible to his most wet behind the ears employee?] Somehow, perhaps after dinner, Miller was driving Malone back to his apartment. Instead they were having such a deep conversation on the way back that Larry pulled into a Wendy's parking lot and they just stayed there, talking for over three hours. Both emotional men talked about their demons, what motivated them, and about life. That night a rotund Mormon business man and a large African American athlete from the south bared their souls to each other and forged a relationship that has lasted the rest of Miller's life. They both laughed, cried (anyone familiar with either individual knows that this is the truth) and a team owner was able to connect with one of his players on a level seldom achieved in professional sports. Karl and Larry have been family ever since, Malone even mentioned on TNT when he was on that he was going to go see Larry shortly. I hope for Malone's sake that he did -- otherwise it would be something Malone would beat himself up over for the rest of his life. [For the record, Malone did see Miller at least as recently as last August]
• Larry did not play favorites though, back in the 1993-1994 season the Jazz were playing the Denver Nuggets in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Malone was having a particularly poor game and killing his own team. Miller -- a Jazz fan first and owner second -- moved out of the stands to personally instruct Sloan to bench Malone. Not to belabor the point, but I'm pretty sure the Lakers owner (Dr. Jerry Buss) isn't even clinically aware of when his team is playing, let alone if it's a home or road game. Larry was a much more hands on coach, but not obnoxiously so.
• Larry took the time to understand and befriend all of his players -- though some more than others. While Deron Williams has only been in the league for 4 seasons, they have known each other well enough to call each other "friends," (ESPN.com, 2009). Miller even admitted that he does not relish playing against Deron in anything, but it's a challenge he does not shy away from. Why? Because they are both super competitive people -- but while Larry can be a gracious winner, Deron is not satisfied being named victor unless someone loses. What other team owner knows these personality quirks of his players?
• He also befriended the SLC media where he even had a frequent (monthly? weekly? I don't even remember anymore as I don't get to listen to the radio over the Internet that frequently anymore) radio address on a local sport talk radio station, 1320 KFan. From those radio address I was able to learn much more about Larry, and where I became a huge fan of his.

Miller, though, was much more than just a Utah Jazz guy, or a Utah guy. He was an NBA guy. Miller was one of the instrumental players who was able to negotiate an end to the NBA Player's Association lockout back in the 1998-1999 season. If you are a fan of the NBA product you have Miller partly to thank for that -- regardless if you love or hate the Utah Jazz franchise. If you do love the Jazz, then you have so much to thank for, for this is the guy who was instrumental in making NBA basketball a possibility all these years in such a small market.

So today is the first day in my life as a Jazz fan where Miller isn't a part of the team. And it still hurts. It hurts his family. It hurts the players. It hurts the Jazz community. It hurts the Utah community at large. It hurts all around. Miller is survived with the new face of the franchise, his wife Gail; the Jazz brass (see sidebar at right) -- particularly his eldest son Greg; and a legion of loyal Jazz fans hungry to cheer on the Jazz to bring Larry his first NBA title.

The King is dead. Long live the King!

Please be sure to visit the other great Jazz blogs for their awesome posts on this subject. Together we can heal and console each other. Right now is the time for the Jazz Family to circle the wagons and take solace in the fact that it is always darkest before the dawn returns. SLC Dunk | True Blue Jazz | The Cowhide Globe

The D League is not poop.

It's come to my attention that I may have been overly critical of the NBA developmental league. In my defense, I don't think I was clear in my original statements, so allow me to elucidate my point of view. I do not think that the D league is poop. In fact, I think I enjoy the NBA DL on more pure levels than I love the NBA. I've longed for a real farm system in the NBA for years and I'm happy that we finally have that (though not every team has their own affiliate). The NBA DL is a fantastic place filled with stories of hard work and a path to greater glory. Personally, I think a guy like Randy Livingston should be the first guy in the NBA-DL Hall of Fame as a player (at least on some life time achievement level at least).

Without sounding like one of those "some of my best friends are _______ (insert previously maligned group name)" after the fact apologies I do have to say that I watch NBA-DL games even when my team isn't playing. Some people love the NBA developmental league more than I do, and that's cool . . . but I wanted to say sorry if I sounded like I thought it was pointless.

I just think that in the selfish world of making Morris Almond a better NBA player he's only going to get better by playing against other NBA players. (Like defending other NBA guys, or getting passes, screens and so forth from other NBA guys) This was the number one observation I made after watching him play in the Rocky Mountain Review a few months ago. His ceiling is pretty much maxed out in Orem. That's my personal opinion. I know that the Jazz keep close ties to the Flash, and Jerry Sloan's nephew is the head coach down there in Orem . . . but that doesn't mean that there is complete equivalency between the two systems. There just cannot be, because there is such a talent gap. In Orem Almond may drive the ball to the free throw line, have defenders prevent him from shooting a good shot, and have him reverse the ball to an open Kevin Kruger . . . only for him to brick an open jumper.

Photographed by someone for NBAE, I'm guessing . . . and here's is Almond posting up, when was the last time the Jazz posted up a SG (or SF, for that matter) in the course of a regular game? They almost exclusively get the ball off of screens and cuts, not post ups. Something tells me that these are plays that don't help Almond get better for Sloan's non-SG posting up offense.

Though, Kruger is a statistically accurate shooter for a guard at 43.5 fg% and 38.8 3pt%, I've seen this happen more often that I'd wish for. If Almond was playing with the Jazz a) he'd be passing the ball to NBA talent, and b) Deron would be the one driving, and Morris would be the guy with the open shot.

In some ways I get the feeling that KOC, Sloan and the rest of the Jazz brass may look at the NBADL as a chance to ship people off to (and have them improve magically) while not really developing them directly; or even worse, just a place to stash someone who is on contract and forget about unless there are injuries to the senior team. (Like what happened with Fesenko last season when Boozer and Memo went down and he had a whale of a game against the LA Lakers in a Jazz win)

When C.J. Miles went to the d-league he was 18 years old and had no college experience -- it clearly helped him both times he was sent down. Morris Almond is in a different situation has he'll be 22 this season, and had 4 years of college. (And he already spent most of the season with the farm team, so he's experienced that already)

I think that guys like Kosta and Fesenko need the farm team, because it can help them get better for playing with the senior team. The farm system has helped guys before in the past (like CJ). I just fail to see the long term utility of it for SPECIFICALLY Morris Almond.

That's just my two cents. In closing: NBA D-League is awesome, I just would rather Almond play 10 mpg for the Jazz and get into 60 games under Sloan than play 35 mpg with the Flash and end up playing in 10 NBA games this season.

Things to look for this season: Morris Almond

If you've been following this blog for a while (perhaps by some court ordered mandate or potential Gitmo torture method) you may have noticed that I associate C.J. Miles' trials and tribulations to that of the works of Shakespeare. (And really, it's almost apt!) Morris Almond (or 'Mobe' as I like to call him) requires a whole other author to describe him -- probably Charles Dickens. Most specifically the whole "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" bit from A Tale of Two Cities. For Almond the two cities are -- obviously -- Salt Lake City, Utah and Orem, Utah. These are the respective homes of the NBA's Utah Jazz and the NBA-DL's Utah Flash franchises.

Orem, Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah
Morris Almond is the star player for the Utah Flash, the NBA-DL's Impact player of the year who gave teams 50 twice that year and was involved in everything from the All-Star game, H.O.R.S.E. and set league scoring records.	In the Salt Lake he is a guy who only gets burn in garbage time, and seems to be unremarkable in any distinct way . . . save for his lack of hustle on defense and below average quickness and court vision. (3 assists last season, total)

Morris Almond is coming off quite the 'tale of two cities' Rookie campaign in 2007-2008 -- if it wasn't made absolutely clear by now already. This season his Rocky Mountain Review Summer League ball had ups and downs, but over all it showed us that he is a dynamite scorer with NBA ready moves -- but does not really grasp the team game yet (hence the name "Mobe", like "Kobe"). His work so far in the Pre-Season has been -- pretty much -- more of the same of what we expect of him -- just in less minutes.

• 8 points per game
• 12 FGM - 29 FGA (41.4 FG%)
• 7.25 Field Goals Attempted per Game
• 1 Shot for ever 2.45 minutes played
• 1 - 3 from the three point line (33.3 3pt%)
• 7 - 9 at the free throw line (77.8 ft%)
• 1.5 rebounds per game (RPG)
• 0.25 assists per game (APG)
• 0.50 steals per game (SPG)
• 1.25 turn overs per game (TOpg)
• 17:45 average minutes per game (MPG)

Ideally he'd have more than 1 assist in 4 pre-season games -- but let's not forget that is probably better than what he was getting in Summer League this past season. Some of his troubles must stem from the fact that he is essentially two different people depending on if he's with the Jazz or the Flash. In Orem his role is that of 'The Man' and he knows that on every offensive possession his team has the best chance of making a bucket if the ball goes through him. It's pretty much a continuation of what he had to deal with his last two seasons at Rice in the NCAA's. When he's wearing a Jazz uniform it's completely different -- he's at the bottom of the totem pole and his role is completely different. The offense doesn't run through him, it's his job to be a cog in the larger Utah Jazz offensive machine.

In some ways we kind of know who he is, and what he can do -- there's very little benefit to having him run in the NBA-DL anymore because it's not like that improves him as a player, nor does it better prepare him to play with the Jazz (as what the Flash need out of him is pretty much the opposite of what Jerry Sloan wants to see from him). That said, what three things should we look forward to this season from Morris Almond?

1. Pass the Rock more -- Being a good offensive player is more than just being able to give other teams' buckets. If he's not going to get on with the hustling, rebounding and defending -- the least he can do is learn the playbook and make passes. I'm sure it's quite discouraging to actually pass the ball to an open guy in the NBA Developmental League, only to have him clang the shot. I watched every Summer League Game and I saw Morris passing the ball, only for his team (and his boxscore) to be rewarded with nothing. Pretty much he's been somewhat classically conditioned to dislike passing. Here I am being all Mr.Psychology and getting past the FA-err and try to figure out why he's seen as an offensive black hole. Whatever the cause, he has to break out of it. My solution would be with the Cognitive-Behavioral therapy of systematic desensitization. Basically, the more time he plays with other guys who can make shots the more and more he'll understand that positive results can happen when he passes the ball. He hasn't really played with good players (even in garbage time he's running out there with Jarron Collins, and not Mehmet Okur), so it's not like he's had good targets. If he's running around against second string guys with Korver, AK and Millsap I'm sure we'll see some more passes -- after all, passing is contagious.
2. Get caught up in a numbers game -- See what I did there? I put him on the bench in our team in Salt Lake City . . . I guess assuming that a) Brewer and Miles start and b) Harpring is still out for part of the season. The grim reality is that there are too many talented people for too few minutes. (96 total at the wings -- Brewer and Andrei need at least 30, and Kover needs around 20, so that leaves 16 TOTAL to be divided between C.J., Morris and Harpring) If you just take out guys playing small forward there's only 48 minutes to go round for four guys -- which is just insane any way you slice it. The time Morris does see on NBA courts are going to be high pressure situations for him as he tries to make a name for himself and earn more playing time. Basically this could just lead to him jacking a lot of shots as that's probably what he does best. That's quickly not going to fly with the Jazz brass, and even though it doesn't make him better, makes it harder for him to adjust to his role on the Jazz, and reinforces bad habits -- eventually may lead to him playing the majority of this 2008-2009 season in Orem . . . just like last year.
3. Take it out on the NBA-DL -- And that's just going to make him angry, and cause him to go all Hulk like on the NBA-DL out of frustration. (After all, he can audition for other teams that way, as it's filled with scouts, and after he drops 50 a few times next year some Shooting Guard anemic teams may drop Kevin O'Connor an e-mail or two).

I may be in the minority here, but I really think that the bad parts of the NBA-DL outweigh the benefits of sending Morris down there. I don't know what they do down there in Flash practice, but when it's game time they want to win, and they do that by having Almond shoot a lot. I only watched about 5 or 6 Flash games last season, and it doesn't look like they do anything but post him up, or run plays for him. Jerry doesn't call those plays in Utah -- so it's not like sending him down there makes him any better prepared for playing for Jerry. The best way to make him earn playing time with the Jazz is to -- I dunno -- have him be on the active roster? And for the record, he had more asissts per game with the Flash than Harpring did with the Jazz (and with better shooters) . . . I just say put Harp on the IR, and have Almond and others take his place. (unless we are playing Ron Artest or Carmelo Anthony -- he completely takes those guys out of their games)

News Headlines - The calm before the storm

Can you believe that it's almost October? Really? We're less than half a month away and more and more NBA news will be coming in the near future. [point of reference: us bloggers have lamented how boring the Month of August was, imagine how bereft of information it will be in those non-Olympic years!] Anyway, here is a quick rundown of some Jazz related stories:

* The Dominator is ubiquitous -- Deron Williams is "The Man" of this team, and lives in SLC full time, and as a result, he's been busy there full time giving back to the community, read about in the Desert Morning News! "When Williams first appeared in Utah, he was confident but guarded. Charles Barkley he wasn't. But as time passed, he became increasingly willing to show his humor. Sometimes it's simply a glint in his eye or a short one-liner. For those he trusts, he's engaging and cooperative, the proverbial good guy. Which raises the obvious question: What's in it for him? Is this some kind of radical publicity blitz? Probably not, since he had already signed his contract extension before most of this happened. "We didn't just sit down and say, 'Deron, we've got to come up with a major media crash course,' like we're promoting a movie," said Wright. "It's not like that. People were calling and saying, 'Can you go here?' And a lot of it, if it fit into his schedule, we did." Wright says Williams also did it because he understands he's the Jazz's guy. His team, his town, his responsibility. Which is quite unusual. The team has three players who have been All-Stars (Boozer, Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur), yet the most popular, and the unchallenged leader, is Williams." (Brad Rock, 2008, Deseret News)

 

* Steve Luhm (of the Salt Lake Tribune) talks about the 2010 Draft pick that we own, and how the improvement of the New York Knicks may reduce what looked like a for sure lock at a Top 5 pick in that draft. "The Knicks weren't going anywhere under Isiah Thomas and the Jazz's chances of being in the top five or top 10 of the 2010 draft with the pick previously acquired from New York would have improved had he stayed in charge. The hiring of Donnie Walsh as team president and Mike D'Antoni as coach is first step toward respectability for the Knicks, which is not good news for the Jazz. Walsh's track record and reputation are impeccable. He's one of the best in the business and was the perfect choice to direct the reconstruction in New York. D'Antoni? I've known him since he was hired as Denver's director of player personnel in 1997. During the lockout-shortened 1999 season, D'Antoni inherited the impossible job of head coach and guided the Nuggets to a 14-36 record. He was not retained, but got a second chance to be an NBA head coach in Phoenix, starting early in the 2003-04 season. Everybody who follows the NBA knows what kind of job D'Antoni did with the Suns." (Luhm, 2008, Salt Lake Tribune)

 

* AK back to Russia, for reals this time, people! -- People love to jump to unreasonable conclusions, as a story grows exponentially with each blog that links to it, and gives their take -- I read this blog post from "The Hoop" from a variety of sources (ballhype and dimemag) today, and Dime even goes the distance to suggest that solving the financial burden in Utah is as easy as shipping AK off to CSKA Moscow (reading jazzfanz much?)-- because of their "reported" interest in him. Didn't they have 'reported' interest in Ben Gordon too? How did that work out? The Hoop reports from somewhere else (krepsinis.net?) that this can be a done deal, and that it may have some weight because Andrei hasn't renewed his contract with the Utah Jazz yet. First of all, it's good to check your sources.

There are a few places on the net that show these financial facts quite easily . . . Andrei is under contract for three more seasons @ $15 million, $16.5 million and $17.8 million. So not only is AK not able to renew his contract (as it's not expiring), but this means that CSKA would have to buy out his contract from the Jazz (much like how when NBA teams have to buy out contracts from big dogs across the pond, it works both ways guys). This guy (Anthony) said it best:

"I mean, CSKA's got money, but I don't know if they have 3 years/50 mil of buyout money to go along with a similar sized contract. His wife has a shop in Salt Lake, he's good friends with the other Eastern European dudes on the team, and he has one of the best point guards in the league (and if Boozer bolts he'd become his preferred target). Something tells me that this won't happen.

Scratch that, everything tells me that this won't happen."  (comment from The Hoop article, 2008)

 

* Training camp Tid-bits -- It basically starts on September 29th with media day (yes, we'll get to find out what hair color Fesenko currently has, or if Kover finally got that 'Thugg Life' tattoo he kept suggesting that he'd get over the summer), then they're off to Boise from September 30th to October 3rd. (Mark your calendar, Masha!)

When this happens each year I think of Jerry Sloan telling all the players that for that point in time that he's going to be their daddies, and that he forces integration by having unlikely pals to room mate together -- like, a few seasons ago we may have had Greg Ostertag sharing a room with DeShawn Stevenson. Okay, sure, my entire concept of Jazz training camp is like that sequence from "Remember the Titans".

Just fast-forward to the 3:30 mark if you don't want to watch all of this, the best part (the part I'm talking about) starts at 6:30 . . .anyway . . . the first pre-season game is against the Lakers on October 7th in Anaheim. Woo!

 

* Trickle down economics means that during an energy crisis air travel is more expensive . . . duh. Thanks for showing up Jasen Lee.

Utah Jazz 2008-2009 Schedule Analysis

No doubt you know the NBA released the 2008-2009 NBA Regular Season Schedule. (well, they may have released some other things too, but that's still all pretty hush-hush) I haven't had some time to look at the schedules for the other teams yet, but I will in time. But let's take a look at how things will shape up month-by-month.

Month-by-month at a glance:

Month	# Games	Home	Away	vs. West	vs. East	vs. Playoff Teams	vs. West Playoff Teams
Oct/Nov	18	10	8	10	8	6	3
Dec	15	6	9	6	9	8	3
Jan	15	8	7	12	3	8	6
Feb	11	8	3	8	3	5	3
Mar	15	6	9	8	7	9	5
Apr	8	3	5	8	0	5	5

October/November: There's only 1 game in October, so I included it here for the rest of November. April looks tough, as usual.

Home vs. Road:

The Jazz have 5 road trips this season that of at least 3 games. (Three road trips are of 5 games in length!) The first trip is In November and features New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Charlotte and Cleveland. This trip is a single, then a pair of back-to-backs, and last three games are the 3rd game in four nights. The last game of the trip (vs. Cleveland) will also be the 4th game in five nights for us. New York is a must win as they are the worst team of that bunch, and we need a win in MSG badly. Philly/Washington is a pretty hard back-to-back as Philly has improved vastly this off-season and Washington is always tough with Agent Zero, Caron Butler, Antwan Jamison and crew. The Bobcats game should be better (but they have some good players), and I can fully expect another loss in Cleveland. The more I look at it, the more brutal this road trip looks. I wouldn't be surprised if we got 1-4 on it.

In December there's another Eastern trip that's Boston, New Jersey, Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee. Only the Detroit/Chicago games are a back-to-back this time around. (The game vs. the Bulls will also be the 3rd game in four nights) We won in Boston last season, but there's no guarantee that we'll do it again. The Nets seem to have our number and the Jazz need to establish that they can beat these Eastern Conference Non-Playoff teams on the road. With my luck I'll be super busy the night of the Detroit game and end up missing it again. Chicago should be playing better at this point in the season again. The Jazz finish their 2nd 5 game road trip in as many months with a game against Milwaukee. This trip is easier than the first one, it's only against two playoff teams, and not three like the last trip. Also, there's only one back-to-back, and only one game is a 3rd game in four nights deal.

January holds at quick three game road trip against Oklahoma City, Memphis and Dallas. The Memphis/Dallas set is a back-to-back, and the Dallas game is the 3rd game in four nights.

In March the Jazz play their last 5 game road trip, against the Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat and finishing with the Orlando Magic. Three of these five teams are playoff teams and this road trip is a single followed by a pair of back-to-backs. Toronto should be a win, as should Indiana;, Atlanta, Miami and Orlando all have the capabilities to beat the Jazz when the Jazz are on the road.

The last road trip of the season is a three game set in April that pits the Jazz against New Orleans, Dallas and finishes in San Antonio. April (like in the 2007-2008 season) is a brutal schedule and at the very least, all of these games are spaced by a day each. The San Antonio game is the first game in a back-to-back with the Jazz playing Golden State in the second game. This is one of the few back-to-backs where the second game is at home. (17 times out of the total 21 back-to-backs have the Jazz playing the 2nd game of the back-to-back on the road)

On the flip side, the Jazz only have three home stands longer than 2 games the entire season. (Trying to make it easier to play in SLC?) There's a home stand at the end of November that's 4 games long. Another in January that's 4 games long, and the last home stand this season is a 5 game stand in February (that also includes time away from SLC for the All-Star break).

The first is a sequence at home facing the Chicago Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies, the Sacramento Kings and finishing with the New Jersey Nets. The last two games comprise a back-to-back, with the last game (New Jersey) being a 3rd game in four nights.

The second home stand (January) involves the Jazz facing off against the Golden State Warriors, the New Orleans Hornets, the Detroit Pistons and finishing against the Indiana Pacers. This will be (probably) one of the best sequences for the Jazz as none of the games are back-to-backs. All of these teams are teams the Jazz should beat when playing in Utah.

The last home stand bookends the All-Star break in February. The last game for the Jazz before the break is against the Los Angeles Lakers. After the break the next four teams are the Memphis Grizzlies, the Boston Celtics, New Orleans Hornets and Atlanta Hawks. This is the longest home stand of the season, and it also features 4 games against playoff teams in five nights.

Overall the three long Eastern trips make the home/road disparity seem worse than it is, I wouldn't have minded a more home friendly last month though. (The Jazz only play 3 home games in all of April, but I guess it all evens out as the Jazz only play 3 times on the road in February)

Schedule Conflict:

Situation:	Total # of games	# of games played on the Road	# of games played vs. 2007-2008 Playoff teams	# of games played both on the road, and vs. 2007-2008 Playoff teams
2nd night of a back-to-back	21	17	11	11
3rd game in four nights	24	12	14	8
4th game in five nights	4	3	3	3

Yeah, 81% of the time the Jazz play the 2nd night of a back-to-back, the game is on the road, 53% either against a playoff team -- and each of those times on the road. Half the games played on the 3rd night in four nights is on the road, and more than half the time, that game is against a playoff team from last season. Lastly, 75% of the time the Jazz play a 4th game in five nights the game will either be: on the road, vs. a playoff team, or both. You know what that is?

Scruffy says: "Schedule Conflict."

It's not all bad:

Because the league insists on playing 82 games (split between 30 teams), not every team plays each of their conference opponents 4 times. This season the Jazz only play three games vs. the Lakers, Spurs, Hornets and Clippers. Sure, it would have been nice to switch out the Clippers game with a game again, say, Sacramento or Portland (two teams that both owned us last season) -- but two of the three games against the Clippers are at home, in Utah.

Contrastingly, two of the three games against the Lakers and Spurs will be on the road. This seems like it hands to series to both of these teams as the Jazz are more likely to win at home, and the games that were taken away (from the 4 game series) appear to be Jazz home games. The optimist in me looks at it like an opportunity to play one less game against a really good team -- and thus avoid a potential loss.

Lastly, the NBA is protecting Chris Paul by having him only face Deron Williams 3 times this season. Thankfully two out of the three games are at home. (The last game of the series is in New Orleans though, and will be a very interesting Game 77 for all to watch)

Oh yeah, I forgot, the Jazz have come out of nowhere to be on ESPN and TNT a grand total of 11 times (or some other ridiculously large number), which is the most I've ever seen in my life as a Jazz fan. (the last 19 of my years)