Jazz media day live blog

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SALT LAKE CITY — Before the players can get to work on their first practice in training camp Tuesday, they must meet with the media Monday afternoon to get their pictures taken and talk about the upcoming season.

KSL.com's Andy Larsen is keeping you updated live with all of the latest news that comes out of the unofficial start of the Jazz's season.

You can stream the proceedings live at UtahJazz.com.

Monday, 05:30pm

Wrapping up

Well, we’re done! That concludes our live blog of Jazz media day in 2017. We learned Rodney Hood has big goals: he wants to be Most Improved Player. Joe Ingles made his presence known, telling stories about new and old teammates. And Ricky Rubio looks to be on everyone’s mind changing how everyone is going to get the ball and score. Training camp starts Tuesday, and KSL.com will be with you every day of the 2017-18 season. Welcome back!

Monday, 05:27pm

Can Bolomboy make it?

Joel Bolomboy and Royce O’Neale are fighting for a spot on the final 15-man Jazz roster, but neither Jazzman really wanted to acknowledge the possibility of being cut. Instead, Bolomboy says that he wants to put his mediocre summer league performance behind him, and show his coaches that he’s not only good enough to make the roster, but play consistent minutes in the NBA. He does have a mentor in Derrick Favors. “Joel Bolomboy reminds me of myself when I first came into the league,” Favors said. He said he’s helping to teach Bolomboy how to use his size and explosiveness to do more than just finish rebounds around the basket.

Monday, 05:10pm

Keeping tabs

The final three players at the podium were Naz Mitrou-Long, Eric Griffin and Nate Wolters. Mitrou-Long only has a training camp contract, but Griffin and Wolters have two-way contracts with the Jazz and the SLC Stars. All three are likely to spend most of their time with the minor-league team. But even with this in mind, it was interesting to hear how thorough the Jazz are in finding these players. Wolters, for example, said that he knew the Jazz liked him in the pre-draft process five years ago, and that they had been following him ever since. That includes regular check-ins with him even while he was playing overseas. And with Griffin, he said that he thought he was going to sign with the Jazz last season, and only an unexpected complication (that he didn’t want to get into) prevented him from becoming a Jazzman sooner.

Monday, 04:50pm

Ricky Rubio knows the Jazz

Ricky Rubio is new to the Jazz, but he has a lot of experience with his Jazz teammates. Rubio was Joe Ingles’ roommate in Barcelona in Ingles’ final year. “Sleeping in the same room with Joe Ingles is hard,” Rubio said. “He’s messy and leaves clothes out in the room.” And he has a complicated history with Rudy Gobert, thanks to the national rivalry between France and Spain. Rubio isn’t the biggest fan of Gobert’s Twitter account, for example. “It’s funny. But we got our battle. Spanish is always gonna be better than the French.”

Monday, 04:31pm

Donovan Mitchell, co-pilot

Life as a rookie in the NBA can be a whirlwind, but Donovan Mitchell has a unique set of brakes: he doesn’t yet have a driver's license. Instead, fellow rookie Tony Bradley has been driving him wherever he needs to go, including to practice. It makes sense: the 21-year-old Mitchell is a native of New York City, where driving isn’t a necessity. Things are different here in spread-out Salt Lake City.

Monday, 04:22pm

Round of applause

Joe Ingles just crashed the interview with Ekpe Udoh and Raul Neto. Chaos ensues. Udoh says, “I hate Joe Ingles!” Ingles asked why Neto came to Gobert’s basketball camp in France and not to Ingles’ in Australia. Neto says he wasn’t invited. After Neto and Udoh finished their interview, Ingles applauded.

Monday, 04:16pm

Dante's peak

Dante Exum is excited to show off how he’s improved this summer, the first one he’s been fully healthy for since his rookie season. He says his shot hasn’t changed, but it has improved, thanks to increased consistency and confidence due to the thousands of reps he took. He also talked about the pickup games the team has played together in the two weeks before training camp begins. He says Donovan Mitchell looks great, and that the pick and pop has been successful for the team with a lot of different players, including with Jonas Jerebko.

Monday, 03:50pm

Thabo Sefolosha speaks on Trump, NFL

Thabo Sefolosha has a personal connection to athletes protesting and the Black Lives Matter movement: his leg was broken by NYPD outside of a nightclub in 2015. When asked about President Trump’s comments about the NFL, Sefolosha said, “Obviously those comments were offensive. I don’t think that’s something a president should have said.” Sefolosha, though, has declined to protest during the national anthem in the past.

Monday, 03:47pm

Friendly controversy

David Locke asked Joe Ingles about how it was to make a pitch to a “good friend” (Gordon Hayward) who ultimately made another decision, and Ingles replied, “He’s not a good friend.” Ingles has said that they’re likely to stay in contact, but will certainly see less of each other now that Hayward plays for the Celtics. And then Ingles told 1280 AM, “I didn’t get a phone call...like a LOT of people,” and added “I would’ve done it differently.” Hmm… maybe there’s something there!

Monday, 03:38pm

Ricky Rubio's new look

Ricky Rubio is sporting a new elaborate haircut and new arm-length tattoo. He explained it simply by saying: “Change of team, change of look.” He’s working with his sixth NBA head coach, but says that despite being with the Jazz only two months, he’s already talked with “high-IQ” Snyder more frequently than any of his previous coaches. After taking more threes in Eurobasket, Rubio also wants to extend that to his performance next year.

Monday, 03:26pm

Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert on playing with one another

Derrick Favors thinks that his pairing with Rudy Gobert can work. “I get it, because neither one of us extends to the three point line. But there are good things. We’re both high-low passers; we’re both good screeners. I can step out and hit the 18-foot jumper consistently.” Gobert agrees: “I think we’re the best defensive front court in the league.”

Monday, 03:16pm

Joe Ingles' relationship with Ricky Rubio

Joe Ingles talked about being teammates (and roommates) with new Jazzman Ricky Rubio, and walking around with Rubio in Spain. “It was kind of like a Justin Bieber thing really. It was like hundreds and hundreds of 12-to-16 year old girls, he was like 16-17 at that time, literally all screaming his name. If we got in in the afternoon or middle of the night, everywhere we went, screaming his name. It was entertaining.”

Monday, 03:08pm

Rodney Hood's goal for the season

Monday, 02:44pm

Dennis Lindsey comments on player protests

Dennis Lindsey just spoke on recent player protests against police brutality during the National Anthem. Lindsey stayed out of specifics, but said that it’s not simple: “In an odd way we had this binary choice: if you don’t stand, you’re not patriotic… We can reject that premise.” Lindsey went on. “We want our players to be really aware of the country that we live in.” That means the team will continue to have civil rights speakers come in and talk to the team about the issues that the country faces.

Monday, 02:43pm

Media Day begins

Dennis Lindsey comes to the podium with Quin Snyder. Snyder’s wearing a nice suit, but the cool thing is Dennis Lindsey’s JP Strong shirt, which supports 5-year-old Jazz fan JP Gibson, who has acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

RT to wish our friend JP Gibson a VERY HAPPY 8️⃣th BIRTHDAY today!

🎂🎉🎂🎉🎂🎉🎂#JPStrong pic.twitter.com/yNIPATga6h

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) September 24, 2017

Monday, 02:24pm

We're waiting live for media day to begin

We should have Quin Snyder, Jazz head coach, and Dennis Lindsey, Jazz general manager, come to the podium first to answer questions from the assembled media. Then, the players will come up two at a time to answer questions. The conference is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m.

Jazz media day live blog

By Andy Larsen, KSL.com | Posted - Sept. 25, 2017 at 2:30 p.m.

Wrapping up

Can Bolomboy make it?

Keeping tabs

Ricky Rubio knows the Jazz

Donovan Mitchell, co-pilot

Round of applause

Dante's peak

Thabo Sefolosha speaks on Trump, NFL

Friendly controversy

Ricky Rubio's new look

Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert on playing with one another

Joe Ingles' relationship with Ricky Rubio

Rodney Hood's goal for the season

Dennis Lindsey comments on player protests

Media Day begins

We're waiting live for media day to begin

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Jazz media day live blog

By Andy Larsen, KSL.com | Posted - Sept. 25, 2017 at 2:30 p.m.

Wrapping up

Can Bolomboy make it?

Keeping tabs

Ricky Rubio knows the Jazz

Donovan Mitchell, co-pilot

Round of applause

Dante's peak

Thabo Sefolosha speaks on Trump, NFL

Friendly controversy

Ricky Rubio's new look

Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert on playing with one another

Joe Ingles' relationship with Ricky Rubio

Rodney Hood's goal for the season

Dennis Lindsey comments on player protests

Media Day begins

We're waiting live for media day to begin

Photos

Most recent Sports stories

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Utah's Daniil But notches first career goal, but shorthanded Devils outlast Mammoth 2-1

Dybantsa takeover guides No. 10 BYU to 18-point win over Abilene Christian

Related topics

More stories you may be interested in

Dybantsa takeover guides No. 10 BYU to 18-point win over Abilene Christian

Patrick Kinahan: Kyle Whittingham leaves Utah as role model for coaches

The Utah Checkdown podcast: An end of an era with Kyle Whittingham + Morgan Scalley named head coach

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