SALT LAKE CITY — The Jazz shot around for about an hour Wednesday morning before their preseason game against the Phoenix Suns. The media spoke with Boris Diaw, Joe Johnson, and head coach Quin Snyder. Notes from the shootaround:

Injury report

Derrick Favors, Rodney Hood, Alec Burks, and Gordon Hayward are all out for Wednesday night's game. Favors has a left knee bone bruise and IT band syndrome. Hood has a left hand sprain. Burks is still rehabilitating from his knee and ankle surgeries, and Hayward broke his left ring finger in a practice last week.

Looking for as much information as possible, I asked Snyder about the injuries. Obviously, Snyder's not a doctor, so it's difficult for him to give specifics on the complete status of each player. But the Jazz don't make team doctors available to the media, so Snyder is the best we can do.

"Derrick's got an inflammation of his IT band. How long that takes, I don't know. I know it's got to get less inflamed, I don't think it's anything we're putting a long timetable on, so presumably with rest and treatment he'll be back sooner than later." From what I've seen and heard, Favors is fairly comfortable making basketball moves, but running up and down the floor causes discomfort for the time being.

"Alec's been rehabilitating for a while. The thing there is that his body is ready, his mind is ready," Snyder said. "It's just putting it all together and making sure he's in a great place to compete again and not have other things surface as a result of that, whether its soreness in his Achilles tendon or things like that."

"Rodney's the most precautionary, in that he keeps jamming that finger. It started in the summer, and it could happen again. It might be something he pays through in January, but maybe not," Snyder said. "You've jammed a finger before: first you think it's broken, and then it feels better, and then it turns purple the next day and then you've got to figure out how much better it is and how quickly it gets better."

Hayward broke his finger last week, but was on the court taking one handed shots from 6 to 15 feet. I never saw him touch the ball with his injured hand, but it's good to have him out there with the rest of his healthy teammates.

Snyder wrapped up by saying, "Everybody's doing everything they can to get these guys healthy." And Joe Johnson had the best quote about the Jazz's situation: "We've got a few guys banged up, but I'm sure they'll be ready when the popcorn really starts popping."

Three attempts down

I also asked Snyder about the Jazz's downtick in 3-point attempts. Through three preseason games, the Jazz are last in 3-point attempts per game, taking about seven fewer shots per game from behind the arc than last season.

"It's something we've been conscious of," Snyder said. "I think some of it has to do with the cohesion on offense, and we haven't found ourselves yet. It may take us a while to find that, and we might start taking and making more threes before that. But also, without Gordon, without Rodney, without Alec, we're finding out who wants to take them. I would anticipate that going up.

The Jazz got somewhat unlucky on Monday night against the Clippers, making just 14 percent from the line. But Snyder appreciates the attempts, even if they don't go in. "Joe had one the other night when he had an open look in transition, and I applauded it. I try to make sure that even when we miss them, we let them know that they're good shots."

Trey Lyles' defense

Trey Lyles has been playing extraordinarily well through three games of preseason, following up a game-expanding summer league performance. In my Triple Team last week, I wrote about his cheat-code offensive abilities, and he showed them off again Monday.

"He's a great pick and popper. He can get a lot of shots from the outside right now, and he's also a smart player," Diaw raved. "I think we expect a lot from him."

Snyder agreed, but wanted to go beyond Lyles' shooting skills.

"We think he can be more than just a shooter," Snyder said. "Sometimes, when we think of just a pure stretch four, we kind of excuse them on the defensive end. He knows he doesn't get that pass. I've been pleased with how he's guarded. He's worked at it."

I've been a little harsh on Lyles' defense in his rookie season, and it's true: he does cede layups too easily around the rim. But I became more encouraged when looking at some vanilla adjusted plus-minus numbers. You see, advanced plus-minus metrics like ESPN's RPM use a player's age and statistics as priors, this generally allows them to be more predictive moving forward. But that might also be somewhat unfair to young players whose defensive impact doesn't show up in the box score.

Lyles is one of those players. He doesn't get many steals or blocks, and his age and rookie status means that he's dealt a large negative on the defensive end of RPM to begin with. But if you just look at how the Jazz performed on the floor when he was out there, and adjust for his teammates, it's a different story: he turns about to be mostly neutral. Obviously, Snyder wants to improve on that, and I think we've seen improved effort from Lyles so far.

Joe Johnson's comfort level

Joe Johnson's struggled a little bit through the first three games, but with injuries to Hood and Hayward, the Jazz will have to count on his production in a very real way. In the first half of Monday's game, though, he picked up four turnovers. What was the cause of those?

"I'm not playing at my pace, just getting sped up," Johnson said. "I have to slow down a little bit."

Snyder, for his part, doesn't worry much about Johnson. "The thing about Joe is that that process is going to occur, because of the way he approaches the game. He knows what we want, and he cares."

Rudy's offensive touches

Rudy Gobert has been averaging over 13 points per game through the first three games, and has taken a larger role in the offense, using 22 percent of his team's possessions. Last year, that number was 14 percent. What's going on?

Snyder credited Gobert's recent work.

"Most of his offseason preparation has been playing, and I think recently, he's been more focused on his immediate skill development, and I think he's gaining more confidence in himself. Look at the free throws, for instance."

And then interestingly, he credited Diaw for some of Gobert's calmness. "I think Boris has an impact on him. Any young player can get going a little fast, but I think Boris has a calming influence on him."

Diaw believes in Gobert's offensive potential. "I think he can be very efficient. Anytime he can catch the ball inside the paint, he's a threat," Diaw said. "I'm trying to tell him what I expect as a passer, what I want him to do to get the ball, as far as being in the right position and being available."

Dante's defense

Dante Exum won the game for the Jazz with a clutch defensive stop against one of the NBA's elite scorers, Jamal Crawford. About the play, Snyder said, "I wouldn't say that play surprised anybody, but it was a unique play."

Exum's newfound strength and size has helped him guard bigger players, not just point guards.

"I think we saw his ability to defend the ball (in his rookie season)," Snyder said. "Now you're seeing with size, he's equally capable of defending other positions on the floor. He can guard one through three."

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