Earlier this afternoon, Jody Genessy tweeted out this link to a video on NBA.com of Jeremy Evans thanking Jazz fans for their support and that he was on his way to Orlando for the dunk contest:

According to Jeremy Evans on this video on.nba.com/wnoEOb, the Jazz forward will be in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. (h/t @ReaganHackett)

— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) February 22, 2012

Shortly after however, the video was taken down with only a couple of screenshots remaining. Was the video put up prematurely? While nothing has been made official yet, a twitter account has been set up under Jeremy Evans' name with its first tweet being a big announcement about All-star weekend. Alec Burks chimed in mentioning that Evans was on his way to Orlando. And CJ Miles followed that up by RTing Burks and tweeting out his own thoughts about Evans winning (presumably the dunk contest). To add to the mystery, Gordon Hayward's tweet about having Evans in Orlando was deleted.

So why was it taken down? Unless the NBA is expanding the field like they did for Jeremy Lin in the Rising Star Challenge, then one of the existing contestants is going to drop out due to injury. Brian T. Smith speculated that Iman Shumpert's recent knee injury could keep him out of the contest. If that's the case, then Evans could get his shot.

At this point, if Evans doesn't get in the contest for some reason, it would be downright cruel after being snubbed in the first place, then apparently being told he was in it, only to have the offer rescinded for one reason or another. Hopefully the video was pulled because Shumpert hadn't officially dropped out yet and not because Evans won't be going.

I was able to do some Internet sleuthing and find the lost video and post it to YouTube. As you can see, Evans has every intention of being at the All-star game.

[Update, 02/21/12 10:39 PM MST ]

As I was posting this, these tweets came across the wire:

Iman Shumpert won't compete in the dunk contest, source confirms.

— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) February 22, 2012

It sounds like Jeremy Evans will be competing in the dunk contest this weekend. Sources say he'll likely replace Iman Shumpert.

— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) February 22, 2012

Nearly five years ago when blogging was taking off and the Jazz were making a run to the Western Conference final, there was a surprising lack of Jazz blogs. There were a few and had good content but none had enough updates to satiate my thirst for insight and perspective from the fan. So for reasons unknown, I decided to start up my own blog and try to post on a regular basis. What started out as a simple blogspot site moved on to my own domain at basketballjohn.com where I received the moniker of Basketball John. I just kind of went with it though it even though John isn't my real name. It was easier to assume that identity than to correct everyone. Shortly after, I was fortunate enough to be picked up by SB Nation and start SLC Dunk as part of their NBA network.

So why am I boring you to death with this? Well, it's time to retire Basketball John. I've thoroughly enjoyed building up readers, covering the Jazz and following them more than I have before in my life, and seeing this amazing community grow over the past five years. I don't know what the Internet equivalent to five years is, but it's a lot. In that time I've put in countless hours to writing, reading, and watching Jazz games. I've loved every minute of it.

Unfortunately, time is a finite resource. That's no surprise to any of you reading this. I've recently had changes in my real job that is going to require a lot more dedication and time that I currently have available. This is a good thing. It's an exciting time in my career and I can't wait to see where this takes me. More importantly, my little family is growing and becoming more involved in school, sports, and everything else that comes with fatherhood. Any free time that I have will be dedicated to them. My personal life couldn't be better. I'm looking forward to what the future brings.

With that though, I wouldn't be able to provide the same level of commitment required to run a site like SLC Dunk. Your support as a community and reader deserves the very best. That's why I'm handing over the reins to the site to Amar, Clark, Moni, and Jon. You all know them already from their posts here. They do a fantastic job. In the brief time that I've told them that I was leaving, they've put together an amazing plan to not only keep things going as they are now, but to improve and bring new things to the site.

I won't be completely disappearing. I'll be in game threads when possible and chime in if time allows. And since I'll be turning over the @slcdunk twitter handle to the new/existing team, you can find me on twitter now @5kl with my real name, Kris. I know, it's not as sexy as Basketball John, but at least I'll respond in real life now. Being called John when I met someone outside of the site always felt kind of weird.

I don't have any favorite stories on SLC Dunk that I've done other than to keep things doing as long as I have. It's a small accomplishment to me to keep something like this going this long. You don't have to have been reading or lurking here long to realize that it's the community of the site that makes this the best place on the Internet for Jazz fans. That will always be the case.

Finally, thanks to everyone. There's no way to name everyone that needs to be named. But I want to say thanks for every link, every comment, every mention, every article that I've read and grown from, every interaction, and everything that I've experienced as a result of this site. Thank to SB Nation (and Matt the one that brought me on) for giving me an audience and their support. Thanks to the NBA blogging and reporting community. It really a great brother(sister)hood of members that are willing to help one another. Thanks to the local and national beat writers that provide so much content for blogging and commentary. Thanks to the Jazz and their organization.

And thanks to my wife who becomes near to an NBA widow once the season starts.

Again, I'm not disappearing completely. Hit me up on twitter anytime to talk Jazz or whatever you'd like.

Now, get back to talking about whether this recent success the Jazz have had can continue and all things Jazz.

• Zach Randolph (MCL) out, Darrell Arthur (torn Achilles) out
• Straight Outta Vancouver
• 3SOB

This is Greg Foster going to the Heat and then back again awkward. Shortly after I posted what was to be the last Fesenko Friday here on SLC Dunk and passed on the torch to Golden State of Mind, the the Warriors and Fess mutually agreed to back out of their one-year deal. Then it was reported he could end up in Dallas and that hasn't happened yet. So, here we are with another Fesenko Friday.

I'm not sure what Fess is up to other than playing Original Ganstaz on Facebook. Hopefully he gets signed somewhere quickly because the well is drying up picture-wise. #FesenkoFriday is growing though with a shout out from Amazon MP3 of all places proclaiming #FesenkoFriday.

So let's do this again. Let's read your best and remember to req your favorites.

Mine after the jump.

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The Big Turkey? I guess that might work for Kanter. At least the nickname comes from one of his teammates and not a reporter trying to force a nickname on a player. But when Coach Corbin talks about Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors, you can't help but hear a little grin in his words. From Jody Genessy,

The Jazz were running a routine drill in which the ball is thrown off the backboard, the rebounder makes an outlet pass and a fast break play is executed.

Only problem?

Favors and Kanter both wanted the basketball in their hands.

Glass. Crash. Clash.

"They were fighting each other just for the rebound to get out into transition," Corbin said, smiling about the good problem. "I was excited about it from that day."

One thing I would like to see Kanter do better is hitting the outlet quicker. He's grabbing the board just fine but seems to take a few seconds in recognizing where Harris or Watson are. Maybe he can teach them some Turkish so that they can yell at him?

At least we don't have to hear "Get it Memo Enes!"

The digital ink wasn't even dry on Paul Westphal's firing before Jerry Sloan's name came up to replace him. The Sacramento Bee said this (via SheridanHoops),

This all came down pretty quickly, which probably means Geoff Petrie and the Maloofs are still studying their alternatives. They can go one of two ways here - give the job to assistant Keith Smart on an interim basis for the remainder of the season or try to make a big strike with one of the established coaches available. The list of the latter is fairly impressive: Jerry Sloan, Larry Brown, Don Nelson and Phil Jackson, though it sounds like Phil wants to take off a year. Sloan would seem like an obvious choice here. I am hearing he wants to coach again, likes some of the Kings' talent, and likes coaching in small markets.

Then late yesterday afternoon, it was announced that Keith Smart, the interim coach, had been given a two-year deal to stay on as a head coach.

Jerry Sloan wanting to coach DeMarcus Cousins? I don't see it.

Again though, every time there's an opening in the league, Sloan's name will be brought up as a replacement. Will he coach somewhere again? Perhaps, but he's one of the few coaches that can have his choice of a team.

A happy belated 80th birthday to Coach Layden. I really, really wish he had some desire to do his own talk show. I think he has the perfect balance though of a retired life and popping up now and again for interviews and whatnot. Here's more from ABC 4,

Do yourself a favor and kill some time on Youtube and watch all of the Frank Layden stuff you can.

I've wondered why Kanter hasn't been taking many outside shots. It's good that he's working on his post game first according to Corbin but wasn't one of the big attractions of Kanter was that he had range to the three-point line? Does nobody remember the the video where he made every shot?

Kidding aside, being able to hit from the outside would open up thing for him and for Favors or whoever is playing opposite of him. I'd like to see how he puts the ball on the floor as well after giving a pump fake.

A fine interview with Coach Corbin at Utah Jazz 360 from last year. On how he became the milkman,

Speaking of food, where did you get the nickname Milkman?

The milk mustache started right here in Utah. We did the first campaign that I'm aware of with the milk mustache. Utah Dairy Farmers had a campaign going to drink more milk. I was the player they selected to do the commercial and to do the signage on it. I had the first milk mustache.

And thus started the fine tradition passed down to all young Jazz wing players. Does anyone know who the other milkmen were between Corbin's days and Brewer's (and now CJ's)?

The NBA released its 2012 All-star ballot where Millsap finally makes it on the main page. If you remember, he was left off last season after the writers who choose who gets put on the list left him off. Water under the bridge.

He's on there now along with Derrick Favors, Al Jefferson, and Devin Harris. Here's the closest I could get to an All-(former)Utah Jazz team with faces. I could have used Wesley Matthews but I'm not giving him even a throw-away vote.

So I went with the write-in for Alec Burks.

So get voting. You can vote once per day or as many fake NBA.com accounts as you can make.

• Brew Hoop
• Bucks vs Jazz coverage

Tempered optimism abounds in the New Year even though we're only five games into the regular season. Jazz fans, myself not excluded, are notorious for being on one extreme or the other. Usually both extremes are without merit but so far this season, it might be justified. The three losses have been by an average of almost 20 points per game while the two wins have averaged a 3.5 point margin. It's no coincidence that the two wins have come at home where the team appears to have more energy than on the road. Granted they've also played three of the top teams in the West so far away from the ESA, but they haven't really been in any of them.

So now the team hits January where they will be sleeping in hotel rooms for only three nights. However, few, if any, of the home games could be considered gimmees. On paper, the Cavs, Nets, and Kings should be games that the Jazz win. After that you have the Lakers, Mavericks, and Blazers that don't have problems winning on the road. The rest of the home schedule is filled with games that could go either way.

There will be ups and downs at home still no matter the perfect record so far. The one quality win -- even though I know this isn't the BCS -- was against a good 76ers team. Philly is ranked high so far this season in both offensive and defensive efficiency. The win against New Orleans though -- while still a win -- was one that should have been by a bigger margin. Eric Gordon was out and it was Jarrett Jack and Jason Smith who almost stole the show. That shouldn't happen at home.

So like I've been rehashing for the past month or so, don't let expectations go wild either way. It's likely that the Jazz aren't as bad as they seem but they're not as good as they would appear either. At least wait two to three more weeks before making judgements on this team.

I think we're seeing Raja Bell being slowly phased out which should please 99.9% of the fanbase. He hasn't broken 20 minutes since the first game of the season and hasn't been on the floor late in the game. Corbin has elected to go with CJ Miles or Josh Howard to close out games.

The next move will come with him coming off the bench. He won't be regulated to the 13th man, but if he averages more than 15 minutes a game for the rest of the month, I'd be surprised. In David Locke's post, he talks about why this hasn't been done already. One of the reasons he gives is that nobody has taken the job from him. I would argue that while CJ, Hayward, and Howard don't have the best numbers, they're far and away better than what Raja has put up. And like I said when I commented on Locke's post, it's really a continuation of last season. A lot of players have gotten off to slow starts because of the hectic season, but we expect most of them to bounce back. With Raja, I'm not sure.

With his playing time likely to become more limited, where does he get the chance to improve? I would love if he becomes a semi-effective player off the bench and in certain capacities but with Hayward, Howard, and CJ all outplaying him, not to mention Alec Burks demanding (through his play of course) more minutes, where does he fit in? He has nowhere to go but up from his current numbers, but how much more effective can he be?

Are fans coming around on Josh Howard? One of the best things about Jazz fans is that even with players that have what might be considered character issues, they'll rally around players that play hard and just flat out play basketball. Howard's never met a shot that he didn't like, but he took two charges in last night's game against the Hornets that will help endear himself to fans.

He's also getting to the free-throw line at a career-rate. While his shooting percentage has been low, he's been going to the stripe five times a game -- seven times per 36 minutes -- and his 23 of 24 on the year. If his shot comes around, he's going to be a great pickup. Even if it doesn't, if he keeps getting to the line at the rate he is now, he'll still be a good pickup.

Tuesday trivia... Can you list the top five scorers so far for the Jazz in order by total points? Answer after the jump.

Tuesday poll...

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• Liberty Ballers
• 76ers vs Jazz coverage

It's time for your final caption contest featuring your favorite Warriors big man. That's a bit sad to type. The team has lost so many fan favorites over the past couple of seasons. We'll always have a fan favorite or two but with Fesenko's departure, it's just another reminder of the closing of the old era.

After today's Fesenko Friday, the keys to the machine will be handed to the good folks at Golden State of Mind where they're eager to keep the torch burning. Thanks to all of your contributions to Fesenko Friday in the past. Click through and let us know which was your favorite.

So let's read your best and remember to rec your favorites.

Mine after the jump

Continue reading this post »

Jazz starters tonight will be Harris, Bell, Hayward, Millsap and Jefferson

— Jonathan Rinehart (@jonrinehart) December 30, 2011

Millsap definitely deserves the start. I still don't know why Bell will still get the nod. We'll see Derrick Favors responds to this.

Presented without comment.

Brian T. Smith wrote a couple of days ago that a starting lineup change could be in order after the Jazz got blown out by the Lakers. There wasn't anything done for the Nuggets game but now Jim Burton of the Standard-Examiner is writing that if there is a change, it could involve a couple of spots,

If Corbin does opt to juggle the lineup, Miles and Millsap are two likely candidates to move from the bench to the starting five, replacing Raja Bell and Derrick Favors.

There's no denying that Millsap has played well when he's been in. There's no reason to think that his play would slip either as a starter. He put up career numbers in that role last season after spending most of his career coming off the bench.

They're not dependent on each other, but would you have Favors come off the bench if it meant Bell did as well?

I would still like to see what Millsap and Favors could do on the floor together in certain spots.

I watched a little bit of Ostertag last night and it wasn't pretty. That's no surprising of course given that all he's done since he's retired is hunt and golf. He took just a couple of weeks to try and get back into shape and it really, really shows. From Scott Schroeder at Ridiculous Upside (click through for the screen grab of Tag)

Ostertag became the oldest player in the D-League when he joined the Texas Legends earlier in the week and, in a move that wasn't at all surprising, the 38-year-old looked that way when he took the court for the D-League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks. The longtime center for the Utah Jazz scored just two points in 17 minutes of court time while fouling four times to almost offset the 11 rebounds he hauled in for the losing team.

The boards that I saw him haul in were ones where the ball fell right to him. He's a big body with NBA experience so he might get a shot in this shortened season where depth will be needed. I'm certainly rooting for him though I don't have much hope for the guy.

Of course Andrei is no hurry to sign with an NBA team when he's partying with mogul Russell Simmons. From the NY Post,

Occupy Wall Street supporter Russell Simmons invited the One Percent to his lavish annual party Wednesday at the Eden Rock hotel on St. Barts. The hip-hop mogul hosted a bash with jet- setters, models and celebrities, including Tamara Mellon, Brett Ratner, Russian basketball star Andrei Kirilenko, Rachel Zoe, Simmons' ex-wife, Kimora Lee, and his new girlfriend, Australian actress Melissa George.

That's interesting to say the least. He's not in Russia and I doubt that he flew to the Caribbean just for the party only to fly back. Is he close to signing with a team then? I know he has through the first week of January to opt out of his Russian deal.

Brilliant

One thing to watch for tonight will be the team's defensive rotations. According to Paul Millsap, that's the team's biggest issue on defense right now. From Jody Genessy,

"Rotation, rotation, not being in the right rotation," the backup power forward said. "Not helping each other. Anything you can name, we kind of lost track of that."

That was a big issue as well last season. Adding a few changes this season to the defensive scheme hasn't helped yet as the team tries to adjust again. At the same time though, a lot of this shouldn't be new for these guys. They've all been playing ball for a while. I'm not sure why it hasn't clicked yet.

In this interview, Greg Ostertag gives his reasons for his comeback attempt (not for the money), what he's been doing since he retired, and my favorite part, reflecting on his time with Coach Sloan,

NBADLeague.com: Is that what made you retire early? Just having not confidence in your shot?

Ostertag: There were a bunch of factors in there. I was just tired. I was tired of the travel, tired of the practices. It's probably hard to hear you say that when you're making the money that somebody like that makes, but I was tired of being on the road. I played basketball for 24 years.

It was premature - I shouldn't have done it. I should've stuck it out. Granted, the money's great, but it's not so much about the money. It's just what I know.

I don't have my college degree, and basketball's what I know. I know basketball.

I've gotten smarter. I learned over the years of being retired, and started understanding. Jerry [Sloan] and I used to butt heads all the time and I thought he was getting on me because he needed somebody to get on.

Now I look back on the things he said to me and they're all making sense. I guess I won't say the things he was saying to me - more like the things he was yelling at me.

NBADLeague.com: Haha, Jerry Sloan could be forceful...

Ostertag: I love Jerry to death. He was old school. I played with two of the best to ever step on the floor, and I was the one taking the brunt when things were going bad. I thought he was just picking on me, and I understand it now.

Good luck to Tag. The couple of times I've heard him on Jazz broadcasts when Utah was playing in Phoenix, I thought TV was something that he could do once his playing days were over. If that's the case this time around, I hope he lands somewhere with the league.

Let Favors play. This was the second game in a row where Favors saw no action until the third quarter after getting into foul trouble early. If you want to take him out after he picks up two quick fouls, that's fine. He's got to learn though and this isn't something that can be achieved readily in practice and he certainly can't learn riding the bench. He has to be in real-game situations against real opponents and learn how to defend without fouling.

There's no reason why he shouldn't have been out there to begin the second quarter. I don't know if Corbin is punishing Favors or what his MO is behind benching him for that long but it's not going to help with his development.

He's your starter for crying out loud. Get him back on the floor.

What's perplexing is this quote from Corbin in the Deseret News,

Giving up lobs, drives, backdoor cuts and transition baskets disgusted Corbin.

"That's unacceptable," he said. "That's just effort. That's disappointing."

I guess it's not the quote that's perplexing so much as his decision to not sit the man that was the victim of all of those backdoor cuts. Namely Raja Bell. If Corbin is going to sit Favors for a couple of fouls then Raja should be seeing the bench for his porous D. The whole team is to blame for the poor defense but Bell is getting beat routinely. You can say it's just a couple of games but in reality it's a continuation of last season.

Bell can still fit in with this team and fill a role but that role is no longer a starter going up against elite shooting guards. And with two years left on his deal and his poor play, he has exactly zero trade value. The Jazz would have to pay someone to take him at this point. Wouldn't it be much easier, and much cheaper, to regulate him to the bench? His role was gone as soon the Jazz started faltering last season and Deron Williams was traded. He was brought on to help a veteran team and provide defense. We're neither a veteran team anymore and he's not playing defense.

I love Raja and what he's done for this franchise, but there needs to be a change here. He's not giving us the best chance to win.

What direction is this team going? I think one of the reasons why so many people are saying that this team has no identity is that there's no clear goal. Kevin O'Connor won't use the term rebuilding. So if we're not rebuilding and we're not contending, what are we doing? We're certainly not "competing" as O'Connor would say. Competing isn't a team goal. What exactly are we competing for? The number 5 pick?

Give this team and its players a clear cut goal. They'll be fine so long as they have expectations. This hodgepodge we have now is just prolonging the inevitable and puts the team's rebuilding goal back a season.

Those that have read me for a while know that I don't normally overreact. True, this is only two games. And the Jazz have played two playoff teams on the road on a back to back. And if that were the case, then you wouldn't be reading this right now. It certainly plays a part, but again, this is a continuation from last season's play. I don't think playing the youngsters could result in anything worse right now.

There are a lot of other teams that are 0-2 or 0-3 right now namely the Celtics, the Mavs, and the Grizzlies. The difference is that they will pull out of their funk because they have the talent to do so.

The lockout affected the Jazz a little more than every other team given their youth and player turnover. It takes years for teams to come together and the shortened pre-season and training camp along with no summer league all contributed to that.

That's why the first part of the season is still a training camp of sorts. I know these are regular season games that actually count for something, but a big part of training camp is for evaluation. If that's the case, we need to see the younger players evaluated in some other way that garbage time. It doesn't have to be with starter's minutes but they do need to be minutes of significance. Yes, my primary objective here is to plead for more minutes for Alec Burks. If Bell, or CJ, or whoever is playing the two plays poorly on a defensive play, sit him and bring in Burks. If anything it could serve as a wake-up call. At this point, it seems Corbin is afraid to confront his veterans or do anything that could be perceived as a slight.

Finally, the last change I would like to see is with the fans. Developing and advancing this team would be a tall order for any coach, even if Sloan were still at the helm. This season can be categorized as a work in progress. There are going to be many more frustrating nights. The highlights are going to be fewer than the lowlights, but they will come. We want a contender and a team that we can be proud of but we don't want to pay the price.

This is not to say you can't continue to vent your frustrations with the team, the coach, or the players. We all look back at the 2004 team of scrappers that nearly went to the playoffs when they were projected to break the single-season record for losses. That team had a direction and a leader. The team then lucked into Carlos Boozer after what went down there. He wasn't even supposed to be available. Then an injury filled season landed the team an All-star point guard. We were spoiled a bit by a quick team turnaround. Most haven't had to go through a full rebuilding process.

As much as we want to turn the team over to the young players, it's not going to happen this season. Raja Bell isn't going anywhere. Al Jefferson isn't going anywhere. I don't think we see anyone going anywhere. Before you know it, this season will be over and we'll be looking forward to the draft and the hopes of a new season. So enjoy the high points, but expect a lot of frustration. That will make things all the more enjoyable when this team becomes good.

Let's try this again.

• Jazz vs Nuggets coverage
• Denver Stiffs

I think we all expected an up and down season, but I don't think we expected this.

The Lakers didn't look at all like they were playing their third game in three nights while the Jazz looked beyond rusty and inexperienced.

Utah had numerous missed inside shots and were constantly getting beat up and down the floor all night. You would have though that nerves would have shown up early in the game, but they were fine to start the game though most of us didn't get to see it. When TNT finally switched over from the Heat and Celtics, things went downhill quickly. It doesn't even do me any good to complain about the free-throw discrepancy because they were that bad.

The Jazz didn't reach 40 points until late in the third quarter and didn't have anyone that could put the ball near, let alone in, the bucket. None of the units on the floor looked like they had practiced together at all.

You could not have scripted a worse opening game for the Jazz yet it's not time to call for things to be blown up. Even if current players are moved later in the year, it's not going to happen suddenly. The one good thing about this season is that the next game comes quickly and the previous loss or win can be put behind you without much time to dwell on it.

It's not going to get much easier tomorrow night against the Nuggets. They're a good team that has the best of their core backand will be a playoff team once again.

The Jazz aren't going to be contending this year anyway. We all know that. It doesn't make games like this easier to swallow of course. But let's give it a few weeks before we call for heads.

Some more random thoughts after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Let's do this.

• Silver Screen and Roll
• Jazz vs Lakers coverage
• Millsap is a go tonight according to tribjazz and djjazzyjody
• Tonight's starting lineup only played 3 minutes together last season

I know GSOM's affinity for rallying around lesser players. I know that you will enjoy Kyrylo Fesenko. You'll probably enjoy his off the court statements and actions more than his on the court play.

He was one of the best defensive centers in the league last season. Here's what John Hollinger (Insider) had on him,

Last season the Jazz were an eye-popping 11.91 points per 100 possessions better on defense with Fesenko on the floor, and this is not a new trend. The season before it was 8.67; in limited minutes his first two seasons he also had a strong differential.

Synergy Stats, meanwhile, rated Fesenko as the second-best defender in the entire league among players who faced at least 150 opponent plays; the season before he was first. And according to 82games.com, opposing centers had a PER of just 10.4 against him; the season before it was 12.9.

As most of you have noticed though, he's a huge liability on offensive. If he and Biedrins were to combine their free-throw percentage, I don't think they still crack 50%. Every once in a while he'll pull off a spin move that will convince you that he's the next big thing and if he can just get it together, maybe, well....

I hope it happens. I hope that this new start allows him to develop and become a solid player for years to come. The NBA needs guys like this. He'll be an instant fan favorite (interpret that as you may) and will win you over.

I'm the owner of SLC Dunk. I also want to know if you guys want to take over #FesenkoFriday. It's a weekly caption contest we have of the big man with pictures from game play and a lot from his Facebook page. He even put up a while album just for us to use for #FesenkoFriday. My plan is to have one more going away FesenkoFriday this Friday and then turn it over to you if you would like.

Good luck with Fess. I hope he helps enough just to get you 8th from the bottom of the league :).

I feel like I'm giving up my puppy for adoption.

What's going on with the Lakers

The Lakers are off to an 0-2 start after losing at home to the Bulls on Christmas Day and then getting beat last night in Sacramento. With Andrew Bynum out for five four games due to a suspension, opposing guards have been able to get penetration and burn the Lakers inside.

Silver Screen and Roll had this to say,

Tonight, the Lakers D looked every bit as old and slow as we thought they might, since the roster is filled with players who are old and slow. The Lakers struggled to create shots, as we thought they might, since the roster has very few people capable of creating shots for themselves or others. They lacked energy, as we thought they might, because the roster is not strong enough or deep enough to provide the main contributors with quality rest.

They're also working on a new system having gone away from the triangle offense. They also let Lamar Odom go for virtually nothing and are struggling to be formidable. I won't ever write off the Lakers, but they aren't looking anything like they have been.

What's going on with the Jazz

If the Jazz are going to beat LA again in LA, the time is now. They're without Bynum. The Lakers are playing their first, and only, final game of a B2B2B of the season. They're a bit discombobulated right now. They've been taken out by a premiere team in the Bulls and an up and coming team in the Kings. Nothing would please Jazz fans and non-Laker fans more than to see LA start 0-3.

However, as of yet, the Jazz haven't even made known their starting lineup for tonight. It's expected that there will be changes. The Jazz though are going through a lot of changes themselves. How will they play tonight against a tired and yet still dangerous Lakers team?

The Jazz should have all the energy and all of the reserves to at least keep this game close in the end. Then it will be up to Tyrone Corbin to put his best players out on the floor in crunch time to try and pull this out.

Lineups, Records

Lakers - (0-2)

Starters: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryany, Pau Gasol, Devin Ebanks, Josh McRoberts

Out - Andrew Bynum (Suspension)

Jazz - (0-0)

Starters (guessing): Devin Harris, Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Al Jefferson

What to look for

• The Jazz need to dominate the inside tonight with Bynum out and their surplus of big men available.
• With Derrick Favors potentially starting, he'll be going up against Pau Gasol.
• Can the Jazz repeat their previous performance in LA?

Previous meetings

No previous meetings for these two teams this season. However, the Jazz did pick up their first win in LA in a decade at the end of the 2011 season.

Blogs

Silver Screen and Roll

Other notes

Game time - 8:30 MST - TNT

Game thread at 8 p.m.

Enjoy the time with your families on Boxing Day. The Downbeat, previews, and game threads will return tomorrow.

Who is this guy?

Just a little over two years ago as a senior, Alec Burks was leading Grandview to the Missouri 5A state championship. Prior to that, at the start of his senior season, the University of Colorado had swooped in and recruited and got him to commit in November of 2008. As Tom Sensler of the Denver Post points out, the Buffs got a steal,

Had Burks not signed early, other suitors surely would have come calling, because Burks broke out during his senior season, averaging 23 points per game and leading Grandview to the state championship game in Missouri's largest classification. He was selected the state's Gatorade player of the year.

Burks would go on to win Big 12 freshmen of the year after shooting 54% from the field and 35% from three. Those numbers would take a dip in his sophomore year as he took on more of the workload.

He impressed scout and declared for the NBA draft even though he had two years of eligibility left and a lockout looming in the NBA. He had a good workout with the Jazz who ended up drafting him even if he didn't know who Tyrone (Coach Borbin) was.

Just as Colorado may have gotten a steal when they recruited him before his breakout senior year of high school, the Jazz may have gotten a steal in the draft. He'll be compared to former Jazz men Ronnie Brewer and Wesley Matthews. Though is poor shooting performance in the pre-season might suggest otherwise, he'll develop into a better shooter than Brewer. If he becomes the player that Wesley Matthews was, minus the three goggles, Jazz fans and the Jazz front office will be happy.

Expectations are being heaped up Burks going forward despite #12 picks not having a good track record. He'll be part of the core unit for the Jazz for at least the next several years and will be an integral part of the rebuilding process. He has high hopes for the team and the young guys. We can only hope he lives up to those expectations.

More after the jump.

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