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ORLANDO — After two games of the Orlando Summer League it is time to jump to wild conclusions about the upcoming season.
The Utah Jazz are now 1-1 and that about sums up everything known about the team. This will be a bit of a recap, but instead of stats it will be more about how the players look and random thoughts from the first two games.
In the Jazz's 85-71 loss to the Houston Rockets, Alec Burks came back from an injury to lead the game with 18 points. Trey Burke actually made shots, but didn't fill out the stat sheet like he did in the first game.
First things first the play of Burke has been erratic. In the spirit of overreaction he looks like the worst pick the Jazz have ever made. He's not. He is 6-27 shooting, which isn't good. In the first game against Miami he had seven rebounds and five assists. In the loss against the Rockets just two for each stat.
What does this mean? Most likely nothing. Burke is a young man learning. He showed hustle and changed his game slightly from game one to game two. He gets better as the game goes. If anyone hasn't watched the games his few good looking plays have come late in the game.
Burke played 32 minutes in game one, six more minutes than anyone else on the team. In the loss it dropped to 25 minutes. Nothing really to be alarmed about, just coaches looking at different players and lineups.
There isn't a ton to take from Burke that correlates to his actual game. He is 1-10 shooting 3-pointers, but shot 38.4 percent in college. Burke is getting open looks, but people have said he has some jitters.
When Burke played well it was when he used skills instead of his raw ability. Burke isn't an explosive athlete, but a good one. He hit jumpers early on against Houston using step-backs and working off screens. When those things happen regularly and decisively his shooting percentage will return to the mean.
The next two games will be pretty big to see how Burke adjusts. He missed essentially every shot at the rim. He tried to go into bigger guys instead of around them.
Speaking of bigger guys Rudy Gobert looked great. According to the overreaction protocol can we just say... best center the Jazz have ever had! He is still raw and just watch the way he makes defenses adjust.
But really he has been most impressive. Gobert's length bothers people. Watching a point guard split his defender then look up, way up and see Gobert looking down has been fun. Multiple times an easy bucket turned into a driving player thinking twice.
He isn't a presence on offense, currently averaging a whopping five points per game, but he isn't needed to be. Gobert's 7-2 frame could eventually allow him to shoot over defenders, but for now he can just focus on defense and let the offense come.
Gobert looks like he is over-thinking the game. Coming from Europe it seems like he is really afraid of grabbing rebounds too early. In European rules players can grab off the rim and it isn't goaltending. Once he stops thinking and starts playing on instinct he should grab rebounds in droves.
Gobert looks surprisingly athletic. His feet move really well. He could be the opposite of Al Jefferson on pick-and-roll defense. Gobert isn't the most athletic guy, but for his size he moves incredibly well.
Dionte Christmas has looked good. He has played about 22 minutes in each game coming off the bench. Against the Heat he scored 14 points on 10 shots, 2-4 from 3-point range. In the Rockets game he didn't score from the field on three attempts, but had a stat everywhere else.
Veterans Burks and Jeremy Evans are exactly who they were last year. Burks is better than most of these players, while Evans is still a work in progress that produces rebounds and cool highlights. Burks is still playing some point while Burke rests. The Jazz need to find out if he can handle the load.
Michael Stockton has looked good as the other point guard for the Jazz.'s Summer League.
The Jazz will play again tomorrow at 9 a.m. Against the Nets who are 0-2 in Summer League play. On Thursday they will play the Pacers in the final scheduled game also at 9 a.m.
### Video package by Dave Noriega
