The J-Notes
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Utah Jazz: 40 reasons to get excited for Utah’s 40th season

By Braden Stringer

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - SEPTEMBER 28: the Utah Jazz celebrate off the bench during the meet the team event at vivint.SmartHome Arena on September 28, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) Utah Jazz
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - SEPTEMBER 28: the Utah Jazz celebrate off the bench during the meet the team event at vivint.SmartHome Arena on September 28, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) Utah Jazz /
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LA Lakers LeBron James
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 10: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers walks on the court during a stop in play in a preseason game against the Golden State Warriors at T-Mobile Arena on October 10, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Lakers defeated the Warriors 123-113. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

LeBron’s First Game in Utah. The Jazz vs. Lakers rivalry is getting a new twist this year. LeBron James will be the newest Laker Legend (presumably) to square off against the Jazz. This should be fun. LeBron has gone 5-10 in Utah during his 15 year career and only 2-10 since 2007.

Grayson Allen. Grayson Allen has looked pretty good in a Jazz uniform so far. He has a nice 3-point shot that could be very beneficial to the team this year. Another impressive aspect of his game is his athleticism, so far he’s thrown down some very impressive dunks.

All-Star Bids. Even though the Western Conference is stacked with talent, the Jazz have a real shot at having two first-time All-Stars. If Rudy Gobert hadn’t been injured for the majority of the beginning of last season, he would have had a good shot at it. And if Donovan Mitchell continues to improve and excel, it’ll be hard not to find a spot for him. It’s possible that the Jazz will have two players suiting up in Charlotte come February.

Home Opener. The Jazz will be tested right off the bat as they face Golden State in the season’s home opener. It will be interesting to see how the Jazz fare against the three-time reigning champs. Last season, the Jazz won the series 3-1. If they can keep that momentum going, the Jazz have a real shot at starting the season with a 1-0 record at home.

D-Favs. Derrick is entering his ninth season as a Jazzman. It’s been fun to watch his game improve over the last few years. He’s had some injuries that really seemed to set him back for a while, but last season was a good one for him and he came in really big for the team during some important games. He’s trimmed down this offseason and should be more mobile and thus more dangerous in Utah’s system, I’m excited to see how it pans out.

Community Involvement. Book clubs, hospital visits, football games, school assemblies, Fourth of July barbeques; the list goes on and on. This Jazz team is invested in the community and that makes rooting for them even easier.

Playoff Run. The Jazz have reached the second round of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. Both runs were impressively exciting and something to be proud of, but the players have made it clear that getting to the second round is not good enough (see Donovan Mitchell’s article, No Moral W’s from The Players’ Tribune). If things go well this year, the Jazz have a real shot to get out of the second round alive.

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