Jazz host open scrimmage on special night for local youth


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SALT LAKE CITY — The summer of 2014 brought new life to Utah Jazz fans.

The struggles of last season were tempered with new energy brought in the form of lottery picks and a new coaching staff.

Fans showed their excitement in early July when over 10,000 fans packed EnergySolutions Arena for an open scrimmage between the team’s summer league rosters. Monday, over 6,000 fans witnessed another scrimmage on the eve of the team’s first preseason game versus Portland.

If the scrimmage was any indication, the Jazz roster is adjusting well to new coach Quin Snyder’s system. Snyder viewed the scrimmage’s results positively.

“I think we’re doing a lot of the things that we want to do,” he said. “There’s a level there that’s really in the air, and we’re going to keep working at it. It’s what you would expect early in the season, the first time they’ve come out and played in front of people.”

An increased commitment to defense was one of the trademarks Snyder promised, and the team had a mixed defensive performance. He said the team’s defensive improvement will be a process.


"I think we're doing a lot of things we want to do," Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder said.

“It’s just going to take time to develop habits,” he said. “When the game gets going, when there’s other things going on, we need to try to get to a point where (defense) is consistent throughout the course of a game, regardless of what’s going on. We’ve got a lot of work to do with that, but we’ll just keep at it.”

Fans were excited to see Gordon Hayward take to the court. Hayward, who signed an extension with Utah over the summer, said the Jazz’s inconsistencies in the scrimmage were largely due to playing in front of a crowd for the first time this year.

“This is the first time for us to be in front of fans, and you can tell,” said Hayward, who is expected to take a strong leadership role with the team this season. “We weren’t as sharp as we are in practice, guys forget where they need to be, we’re not executing the way we should, and I think that’s to be expected. So, hopefully we can learn from that today and be better tomorrow.”

Jazz fans are also eager to see how Dante Exum performs in live game opportunities. His performance in the Las Vegas Summer League was positive, but fatigue from a whirlwind schedule was noticeable in his play.

Now that he’s more rested, Exum said he is excited to begin the process of playing live games.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” he said. “I think I’m ready, definitely mentally. I’ve been trying to focus in as much as I can, and trying to learn as much as I can over the last week of training camp, whether it’s been from a veteran or a coach. So, I’m just ready to go in and give it all I can.”

After the preseason game against Portland, Utah will begin the process of playing against other competition, and forward Derrick Favors said it would be a blessing to play against another team.

“You get tired of going up against the same guys every day in practice,” he said. “I can’t wait to get the game going (Tuesday).”

As far as what to expect Tuesday against Portland, Snyder said the team will continue to focus on self-improvement.

“I think there does come a point where playing against another team is helpful,” he said. “We’re far enough along where we can know a little bit about what we’re doing, but there’s always more as a coach where you want to get in. We need to be realistic about the fact that we’ve been together about a week, and we’re learning.”

NOTE: The scrimmage featured a late addition to the Jazz roster. Five-year-old JP Gibson signed a one-day contract with the team. Gibson, who suffers from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, took part in the scrimmage thanks to Millie’s Princess Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping families with children suffering from cancer. Gibson scored two points coming on a dunk in the third quarter.

Contributing: Jeremiah Jensen

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