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🏀 The Rise of the Utah Jazz

🏀 The Rise of the Utah Jazz

Chris Lesiak
November 08, 2022

Mike Conley has led the Utah Jazz to the top of the West, Trae Young & Dejounte Murray are off to a hot start, and how former NBA player Rick Fox is helping fight the climate crisis.

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UTAH JAZZ

Mike Conley has Led the Utah Jazz to the Top of the West

The Utah Jazz are THE surprise team of the season. For a team that everyone and their mother expected to be at the bottom of the league, the Jazz are 8-3 and tied for first in the West. It’s not all smoke and mirrors either, as six of those wins came against teams that made either the playoffs or the play-in tournament last season.

A big reason for their success is 35-year-old Mike Conley who’s embraced his new role as the leader and primary ball handler. He’s currently averaging 7.1 assists per game, which if it held up, would be a career-high, and is shooting 41% from three. Conley understandably took a backseat to Donovan Mitchell in recent years, but he’s shown just how much the NBA was sleeping on him.

The Utah Jazz didn’t expect to be this good, but they also knew from practices in the offseason that this team simply wasn't as bad as people projected. In addition to Conley, they have several talented veterans in Jordan Clarkson, Kelly Olynyk, Malik Beasley, and Lauri Markkanen, who have all been balling out. Whether this team is the same one that makes it past the trade deadline remains to be seen, but for now, the Jazz are winning a lot of games, and they’re having a blast doing it.

ATLANTA HAWKS

Trae Young & Dejounte Murray's Hot Start Continues

The Atlanta Hawks shocked the NBA when they traded for Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs this off-season, and naturally, questions immediately arose if a team built around two ball-dominant point guards would work. So far, the answer is yes.

Last season Murray and Young ranked in the top 10 in touches per game with 87.5 and 84.2, respectively. Currently, they’re down to 69.3 and 72.5, which is the 31st and 37th in the league. However, both players are impressively putting up very similar stats as last season despite touching the ball considerably less. Murray is up slightly in points and steals and down slightly in assists and rebounds, meanwhile, Trae Young is nearly identical across all major categories.

Murray’s presence has also had some other positive effects on the Hawks. Trae Young’s turnovers are down to just 3.1 per game, smashing his career low of 3.8 from his rookie season, but perhaps most importantly, Murray has been a noticeable help on the Hawks' defense. Last season the Hawks ranked 26th in points allowed per 100 possessions, and they’re currently ranked 20th, a figure that’s likely to improve as this group spends more time together.

RICK FOX

How Former NBA Player Rick Fox is Helping Fight the Climate Crisis

After seeing firsthand the devastating impact of a 2019 hurricane in the Bahamas, former NBA champion Rick Fox is stepping up. Fox created Partanna Bahamas, a company that creates homes using a special building material that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Through this company and in partnership with the Bahamian government, they will build 1,000 hurricane-resistant homes.

The Partanna material consists of natural and recycled ingredients like steel, slag, and brine. Through a process called carbonation, this material naturally absorbs carbon dioxide, and each home will remove 22.5 tons of CO2 over the lifecycle of the property, making it fully carbon negative. For comparison, to produce a standard cement home of the same size, you’d generate 70.2 tons of CO2. It’s a small program right now, but if successful, it could very well change how the world builds homes.

THE RUMOR MILL

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