Utah Jazz Notes: Rudy Gobert Becomes Pokemon Trainer

An early morning wrap up of happenings from around Utah Jazz Nation. This week: Rudy Gobert plays Pokémon GO, Dante turns 21 and Gordon Hayward welcomes a baby girl.

Pokémon GObert

Speaking of busy offseasons: Rudy Gobert has his hands full, and not just with his commitment to play with France in the 2016 Rio Olympics. On Tuesday, Gobert announced via Twitter that he was coming out of retirement as a Pokémon trainer, saying it was time to regain his throne.

Pokémon GO launched in the US just last week and has since become a national phenomenon. Seriously. The app has more active daily users than Tinder, Snapchat and even Twitter.

Rudy is just one of the millions of people trying to catch ‘em all.

On Monday, while trying to watch a Jazz summer league game in Las Vegas, a wild Spearow appeared on the court in front of Gobert. Whether or not Gobert was able to capture the Spearow is just one of the many questions that I (and probably tons of other Jazz fans) have for Rudy.

https://twitter.com/rudygobert27/status/752663237833793537

Other questions include: Are you Team Mystic, Team Instinct or Team Valor? How many Pokémon have you caught? Do you want to meet up and go scour downtown Salt Lake for Mew? If so, just let me know.

Dante Exum Celebrates a Birthday

Dante Exum celebrated his 21st birthday on Wednesday. They just grow up so fast, don’t they?  It seems like not that long ago that Utah Jazz brought the then-18-year-old home via the No. 5 Selection in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Dante is entering his third year in the NBA, and things are finally looking pretty good for the young Aussie. He’s eager to make his return, after a left knee injury forced him to sit out all of what should have been a transformable season.

The Jazz acquired George Hill from the Indiana Pacers earlier this summer. And more recently, traded Trey Burke to the Washington Wizards. Both moves will have observable effects Exum’s basketball career, but the underlying message might mean more to Dante.

Utah’s offseason moves show they have faith in him as their point guard of the future.

It’s important to remember that the recovery process (both physically and mentally) for a serious knee injury will take time and can still be difficult. Heading into next season, Hill is exactly what Exum needs. The perfect early birthday present, if you will.

It’s likely Hill will start, which will alleviate some of the pressure and allow Dante plenty of time to get back into the swing of things. Additionally, Exum will likely learn a thing or two by coming off the bench behind the nine-year veteran.

Happy 21st Birthday, Dante! Here’s to a healthy 2016-17 season.

More from The J-Notes

• With the FIBA World Cup over for Simone Fontecchio, it’s clear he deserves minutes for the Utah Jazz
• Best, Worst and Most likely scenarios for the Utah Jazz this season
• Hoops Hype downplays the significance of the Utah Jazz’s valuable assets
• 3 Utah Jazz players who have the most to gain or lose this season
• Former Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is a free agent still and it shouldn’t surprise anyone

Gordon Welcomes Baby No. 2

The offseason, though only half way through July, has proven rewarding for 26-year-old Gordon Hayward.

In June, he made history by being the first NBA player to sign an eSports endorsement deal. Later that month, Hayward was invited to join Team USA in Rio at the upcoming Olympics, though he later withdrew “due to family obligations,” according to this press release.

Those “family obligations” are perhaps the most rewarding thing to happen for Hayward. He and his wife were expecting their second child.

Early Tuesday morning, just after midnight, Hayward took to twitter to announce that his wife, Robyn, gave birth to their second daughter this week.

Welcome to Jazz Nation, Baby Hayward!