Morning Jazz 05-13-14

Tomorrow, the NBA draft combine will be taking place in Chicago, Illinois. If you missed the news, some of the top prospects heading into the draft won’t be attending the combine. We’ve got that, as well as more news relevant to the Utah Jazz that you can find below.

2014 NBA Draft: Top Prospects Not Attending Combine (via The J Notes)

Sunday, while everyone was watching coverage of the NBA Playoffs, and celebrating Mother’s Day, there was a bit of basketball news that a lot of basketball fans, and Utah Jazz fans in particular, will find a bit interesting. With the NBA Draft Combine coming up May 14-18, some of the top prospects have decided they will not participate.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who drops breaking news typically first before anyone else, dropped his first “Woj Bomb” early Sunday afternoon. (Continue reading here)

Playing For Keeps: The Utah Jazz and the need for the number one pick (via Crab Dribbles)

With the Draft Lottery set for May 20th, lottery teams finally get some attention in the midst of one of the best NBA playoffs we’ve ever encountered. These teams have been drooling over the likes of Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Dante Exum, Joel Embiid, and Julius Randle for quite some team, and will finally find out if their dreams will either come true or if this season was nothing but a nightmare. At this stage, we know that the Milwaukee Bucks (25%), Philadelphia 76ers (19.9%), and Orlando Magic (15.6%) have the greatest chances of locking up the number one overall pick, but there’s another team these rookies and fans should be rooting for to leave the lottery as champs.

The lottery has essentially been built to give bad teams a leg up, but what if I told you there is a team that, despite competing with the likes of the 76ers and Bucks all season long, is on the verge of being something special? A team that is already loaded with youth, talent and potential. A team that has a deep front-court, consisting of a 22 year old stud, a double-double waiting to happen who can play both the center and power ford spots, a bruising center with a baby soft touch that is only 21, and a raw but athletically gifted 7’2″ reserve. A team with a talented backcourt, led by a young combo guard who will put up points whether he’s starting or coming off the bench, a point guard of the future who has only just wrapped up his rookie season, and a 24 year old wing who has improved every season of his career.

Would you believe me if I told you this team already exists, and all it needs to put it all together is a final piece; someone who can be the face of the franchise? Well, it does. (Continue reading here)

Utah Jazz to participate in Las Vegas Summer League (via Deseret News)

The NBA has confirmed that its summer league will take place in Las Vegas from July 11-21. As previously reported, the Utah Jazz will be among the participating teams in Sin City instead of Orlando, where the organization had gone since the Rocky Mountain Revue folded in 2009.

Teams will play in three games between July 11-15 and then have at least two games in a tournament format from July 16-21 at various sites in Las Vegas, including the COX Pavilion and the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Vegas summer league will be open to the public and televised on NBA TV.

Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said the organization will hold a training camp in Salt Lake City leading up to the summer league. It’s possible one of the practices will be open to the public as a way to engage fans in the offseason. (Continue reading here)

The big question: Can Favors and Kanter anchor the Utah Jazz’s frontcourt together? (via Deseret News)

It wouldn’t exactly be a fun offseason experience to relive details of the oft-painful rebuild year, which ultimately cost former Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin his job. But, as a friendly reminder, most of those moments included less-than-stellar hoops.

Four weeks after the third-worst season in franchise history mercifully ended, it’s worth pointing out that big men Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter only played together for 771 minutes. Or 19.5 percent of the time.

Considering the third overall picks of the 2010 and ’11 drafts are positioned to be cornerstone players for this team’s future, their rare pairing was certainly one of the surprises of the season.

It’s also a big question the team must answer going forward.

Can Favors and Kanter be the imposing frontcourt Jazz management envisioned when it decided to allow established veteran talents Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap to wander elsewhere last summer? (Continue reading here)

Be sure to check back with The J Notes tomorrow as we bring you another edition of the “Morning Jazz”. Also, be sure to check out our coverage of the NBA Playoffs with Game Previews, Game Recaps, and also betting lines for each and every game.