Utah Jazz Players Are Ballin’ in Rio Olympics
The Utah Jazz have four players playing in the Rio Olympics in Joe Ingles (Australia), Raul Neto (Brazil), Boris Diaw (France) and Rudy Gobert (France), and they have all had some great performances.
If you look over the Utah Jazz roster, you will find six players who have represented countries other than the USA in international competition. This is exciting for fans because it means that during the NBA’s offseason, Jazz players can be found playing basketball on the world stage.
Trey Lyles (Canada) and Tibor Pleiss (Germany) aren’t playing in the Olympics due to their teams failing to qualify, and Dante Exum is missing the opportunity to win a silver medal for Australia as he continues to recover from injury. However, Jazz fans are getting to watch Joe Ingles, Raul Neto, Boris Diaw and Rudy Gobert play some spectacular basketball for the respective countries.
Here is how each is faring through two games in Rio de Janeiro–
Joe Ingles
Australia has gotten off to a 2-0 start despite missing two potential starters in Dante Exum and Ben Simmons.
Although Ingles is commonly labeled as a ‘sharpshooter’ in the NBA, he has generally been considered an ‘all-around’ player on the world stage. His do-everything mentality has aided the Boomers in capturing consecutive strong wins in Olympic play.
This has been on display thus far, averaging 7 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and a huge 5.5 assists.
Raul Neto
The Jazz point guard lit up the floor in Game 1 against Lithuania and played a crucial part in an unbelievable comeback that almost saw victory for Brazil. He finished with 14 points on 4-of-6 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line, to go along with three rebounds, two assists and a steal in 26 minutes.
In Brazil’s second outing against Spain, Neto had three points, two assists and a rebound in just nine minutes. Despite his limited court time, Brazil still managed to come away with a one point win in what has to be considered a major upset.
I’d like to consider this game a rest for Neto, but since Spain are such strong competition, it seems more likely that Leandro Barbosa and Marcelo Huertas will start in the backcourt for the remainder of the tournament.
Boris Diaw
The newest member of the Utah Jazz and the captain of the French national team is trying to make France the number one threat to what is likely Team USA’s gold medal. They got off to a slow start with a routing at the hands of Australia, but Diaw still had a neat looking box score; scoring 9 points with 5 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks.
Diaw had another solid all-around performance in his second game against China with seven points, four rebounds, five assists and three blocks.
Despite some of their struggles, with the likes of Tony Parker, Nic Batum, Diaw and Gobert in the fold, France should be one of the top medal contenders at Rio.
Rudy Gobert
Big things were expected of Rudy Gobert heading into the Olympics, and he has not disappointed. I felt sorry for Gobert in their blowout loss against Australia because the final score could easily fall on the shoulders of their defensive anchor. However, what happened to France in Game 1 was by no means Gobert’s fault.
The majority of Australia’s points came from very poor communication on pick and rolls and the option of guards not to help out on defense, which led to an astounding amount of open dunks and layups off back cuts. Despite France’s poor defensive efforts, Gobert still had three blocks and was always a threat on the defensive end.
In Game 2 vs China, Gobert was a on- man wrecking crew in the paint; he had 10 points, eight rebounds and five blocks in just 20 minutes of play. The FIBA rules suit Gobert nicely because you are allowed to smack the opposing team’s shots off the rim, which plays right into his hands with his supreme length and athleticism.
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All four Jazzmen in Rio are all playing important roles on contending teams and should be fun to watch as they get deeper into the tournament.
Statistics courtesy of Rio Olympics