The Bad
Just as the positive should be taken with a grain of salt, so should the bad at this early juncture of the season for this new-look Jazz squad. The negatives were few and far between but they should still be considered.
First and foremost was the mere fact that the Jazz were without some of their core guys, most notably Mitchell, Conley and Gobert. That’s not anything to be worried about as they were all held out for rest purposes rather than injury, but it still would have been good to see them in action and to get a feel for how they’re going to mesh with their new teammates.
Fortunately, they’ll have plenty of time to get there, and while their absence definitely made it so Saturday’s bout wasn’t as good of a testing ground as it could have been, the Jazz still performed exceptionally well.
The only real occurrence that falls under the ‘bad’ category was that neither Joe Ingles nor Bojan Bogdanovic managed to find their stroke all that well as they both went an identical 4-of-9 from the field and 2-of-6 from three. Truly, though, that wasn’t all that bad of a mark especially for one single game. And considering they were instantly thrust into somewhat of an awkward role without Conley or Mitchell in action, I’d say it’s no reason to panic.
Not only that, but both members of the ‘Bo-Joe Show’, as Conley recently opted to call them, made several great plays despite a less than riveting shooting night. Bogdanovic had four assists while Ingles had six as each displayed an incredible chemistry.