How Jazz players are doing in the Olympics


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SALT LAKE CITY — Four members of the Utah Jazz's roster for the 2016-17 season are participating in the Olympic games, and three of them have had their team's tournament run come to an end. Let's take a look at how each of the players has performed.

Raul Neto - Brazil

Neto came off the bench for the home team behind Lakers point guard (and Brazilian legend) Marcelo Huertas to average 4.8 points, 2.6 assists, and 1.4 rebounds in his 18 minutes per game. Neto only shot 31 percent in the five games, and so while his impressive defense meant he was a good matchup option against other team's top point guards, the offensive misses kept him off the floor for long stretches.

In Brazil's double OT loss to Argentina, Neto missed a shot from the corner that would have likely sealed the game for his team and probably sent the team through the preliminary rounds. I'm not that worried about the shot percentage, but it would have been better to see him more forcefully wrest the title of "best point guard in Brazil" away from Huertas.

Boris Diaw - France

The man known as "Bobo" did his thing for France in these Olympics, averaging 8.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.7 blocks in 27 minutes per game with France, before they were eliminated rudely in a blowout loss to Spain in the quarterfinals.

There was some good and some bad in Diaw's tournament. That assist total is pretty gaudy, and he'll immediately be the best passing big man on the Jazz next season. That block total is impressive too, if a bit misleading; Nikola Mirotic of Spain and the Chicago Bulls did a number on Diaw and the French bigs in their quarterfinal matchup. On offense, Diaw showed off more of his crafty postgame that always relies on that right hand.

Rudy Gobert - France

Gobert ranked first on ESPN's ranking of international players in terms of projected WARP in the 2016-17 season, but it's hard to argue he was a top-20 impactful player in this tournament. He picked up 5.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game, but only played 20 minutes per game for France due to matchup issues.

His best game was probably against China, when he picked up 10 points and 5 blocks, but the French team struggled against better competition in Australia and Spain. I'll be honest: I'm a little worried about Gobert right now. At the NBA and FIBA level, if you adapt a game plan against his specific talents, you can make it a very difficult game for him on both ends of the floor. Now, yes, that means maybe taking a team out of their comfort zone a little, but we've still seen it be effective from Portland, Dallas, and now Australia. If Gobert can figure out some counters to those different ways of guarding him (perhaps by defending a little better in space, or flashing more perimeter offensive skills), he'll have a wildly successful NBA career.

Joe Ingles - Australia

Ingles is the only player still playing in Rio, as Australia takes on Serbia in the semifinals Friday. Australia, due to its solid play in this tournament, is favored to win by 3.5 points. Ingles, for his part, has been playing really well: 7.7 points, 4.0 assists, and 2.2 rebounds in 25.8 minutes per game.

Ingles is Australia's best wing player, and he's had a chance to show off his playmaking skills a little bit as well, finding easy baskets for the likes of Patty Mills, Aron Baynes and Andrew Bogut. Australia's offense has been fantastic at cutting without the ball, especially near the rim, and Ingles knowledge of space has been a big part of that. He's also been a solid team defender, and it helps that he's not guarding the speediest of athletes at FIBA's wing position. People around the league are noticing Ingles' good play, and it's a real question right now if he can find his way into a pretty deep Jazz rotation, despite having much bigger names in front of him. If not, there are going to be some veteran teams interested in picking up Ingles.

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Andy Larsen

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