SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz returned to work Sunday after a weeklong road trip to Hawaii and Phoenix. Here are some things we learned during Jazz practice.

Long practice today

The Jazz returned from their road trip with a 2-1 preseason record and some game experience for their young players, but one thing they didn't have a lot of on the road was practice time.

So today's practice was nearly three and a half hours long, including a lot of film work on what the Jazz saw in their first three games.

"Some good and some bad," said Gordon Hayward of the film they looked at.

Who was hurt the most by the lack of practice and film time? "More than anything, it probably hurts our newer guys," Quin Snyder said. "You saw that against Phoenix. There were breakdowns that we saw last year a lot, and had gotten better on, but they kind of resurfaced with some of those guys."

Dealing with pressure on initial ball switch

In the third quarter of the Jazz's game against the Phoenix Suns Friday night, the Jazz coughed up 10 turnovers. That makes it very hard to win, and indeed, it was the 3rd quarter that largely cost the Jazz the game.

A couple of those turnovers came from initial ball pressure on the Jazz's first perimeter action, where they switch the side of the ball in order to get the defense off-balance and get in better situations for their initial screening. The Suns, knowing it was coming, denied the Jazz's passes, causing turnovers.

"We got stuff in our offense to counter that," Jazz swingman Gordon Hayward told me when I asked about those turnovers. "You saw it in the first quarter, we did a couple of things, I got a back cut that sent me to the line. It's all just reads, man.

"It's all just being mentally sharp and mentally focused, and that's everybody. You have one person who forgets what they need to do, and it messes up the whole flow of the offense. When a team tries to take things away, you just have to go to your counter."

Neto ball pressure

Jazz rookie PG Raul Neto has been successful with 94-foot ball pressure in his early action so far, creating steals even off of inbounds passes from the opposite baseline.

Neto said he'd learned to do that when coming to Spain, as a backup point guard, and filling the role of creating defensive pressure on an island.

"I think it's a game with the other guy," Neto said. "Sometimes I'm going to foul him, sometimes I'm gonna get a steal."

One steal in the backcourt creates such value (both in preventing opposition from scoring and likely scoring yoruself) that it's probably worth two or three fouls. Neto's been on the right side of that calculus thus far, and it will be cool to see him ply his trade in the NBA regular season.

Europe vs. NBA refereeing differences

Tibor Pleiss is coming over to the Jazz after spending several years in European basketball, most recently with FC Barcelona's team in the ACB. In 2013, Rudy Gobert underwent a similar move from European play to the NBA, and he has advice for Tibor Pleiss that comes from experience.

"I'm trying to help him," Gobert said. "I know it's not easy, I went through it my first year."

But when asked about the biggest piece of advice he has for Pleiss, Gobert's answer surprised me: it's about the refereeing difference.

"In Europe, there's way more contact that they don't call," Gobert said. "Here the paint is more open, so they can see the fouls." Gobert also explained that the way they call legal rim protection is a little bit different in the NBA.

Pleiss picked up 4 fouls in just over ten minutes of action on Friday. Gobert had similar problems with fouls in his rookie season, but cleaned it up to a spectacular degree in year two, making him playable for long stretches.

If Pleiss takes Gobert's advice, he'll be in a much better place. It will take time, though.

Jazz struggle against bigs who can shoot the 3

Against Phoenix, the Jazz gave up open three point opportunities to the Suns' bevy of outside shooting big men: Markieff Morris, Mirza Teletovic, and P.J. Tucker. Morris, especially, was great, making all three of his shots from outside.

I asked Quin Snyder whether he was worried about those types of opponents moving forward.

"We'll have to deal with that as the season progresses, being a little more aware adjusting pick and roll coverages for different guys," Snyder said. "We could have had a late switch on one of (the shots) that Morris hit, and we didn't. Things like that, we'll get better ... With 4 seconds on the shot clock, go ahead and switch it."

Neto on SLC

Friday, I wrote an article about how the Jazz's players are taking a liking to Salt Lake City. I thought I'd ask newcomer Raul Neto about his first couple of months of living in SLC.

"It's a really good city. The weather is good, it's not too cold," Neto said. "I really like it here. I went to the football game yesterday, it was so much fun. I think the most important thing is that the teammates that I have, everybody's good guys, that makes it easy."

Quin on no-PG lineups

Against Phoenix, the Jazz held Trey Burke out for rest, leaving Raul Neto and Bryce Cotton as the Jazz's only point guards. While they did look at both Neto and Cotton, they also looked at a no-PG lineup, where Alec Burks, Hayward, and Rodney Hood are all on the floor at the same time.

I asked Quin Snyder to evaluate what he's seen from that look, but he was hesitant, saying "I've kinda been waiting to look at it all, since there's such a small (sample size)."

But he would say, "I think it's a very, very productive lineup defensively ... You think about it offensively, there are three guys who have some punch offensively, but defensively, I think it may be as much of a factor."

Quin then turned the tables, and asked me what I thought of the lineup. What am I supposed to say there?

(For what it's worth, I mentioned something about how I thought Elijah Millsap was a good fit in the lineups too, because playing with two of Hayward, Hood, and Burks give him space to create. Hopefully, I passed the test.)

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