The Jazz have moved one game above .500 by winning 11 of their last 13 games. They’re now ninth in the Western Conference and the players have taken note of the team’s rise in the standings, Sarah Todd of the Deseret News writes.
“Of course,” big man John Collins said of checking the standings. “All the time, and I see us popping up in the standings a little bit. I like it. I’m enjoying all this good energy right now.”
The coaching staff hasn’t made it a point of emphasis.
“I haven’t mentioned the standings once to the team but they all know,” coach Will Hardy said. “I can promise you that with the way social media is now and friends and family and agents and all of you guys, they know where we are, but it’s my job to try to keep them focused on the present moment.”
We have more from the Western Conference:
- Timberwolves star guard Anthony Edwards is shooting more free throws this season — 6.5 attempts per game compared to 5.3 last season. Edwards is falling short of his goal of averaging eight free throws a game, but he’s pleased that he’s getting more calls. “I worked on it all summer because that was an emphasis,” Edwards told Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Being able to draw fouls, get to the line, stop the clock, especially when we’re down, I think I’m doing a pretty good job at it right now.”
- While the expectations for the Trail Blazers dropped after they traded away Damian Lillard, they’ve still been worse than projected this season, Sean Highkin of RoseGardenReport.com writes. They are coming off a road trip in which they went 1-6 and got outscored by 192 points. The games have been as non-competitive as Portland’s post-trade deadline tanking during the past two springs, Highkin notes.
- Could Grayson Allen be the Suns’ best bargaining chip? Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes reported on TNT during Phoenix’s 127-109 road win over the Lakers that the Suns are more interested in acquiring an athletic wing player, rather than a point guard. Allen, who has an expiring $8.5MM contract, might be the only player the Suns could move and get that type of wing in return to help improve the team’s perimeter defense, according to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic.
The Trailblazers are not worse than expected. In fact when Grant and Simons have been out they’ve been more competitive than expected. They’ve been shopping Grant, Simons and Thybulle and given those three a green light to go ISO and play selfish basketball while alienating Sharpe, Scoot and wide open teammates. The chemistry is horrible as long as Grant and Simons ball hog ISO. They traded Lillard for those same reasons and you can bet they’ll do the same with the selfish three! It’s like watching offense by pay-scale, and it horrid.
The Suns would be foolish to trade Allen, they desperately need his 3 point shooting. Eric Gordon can’t play heavy minutes anymore