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As the players were introduced, for a moment I had to look around and make sure I wasn’t in Logan watching the Aggies play. The roar when Jaycee Carroll was introduced was the loudest cheer of the game, unless you counted each basket the Aggie made.

I was watching Jaycee interact with his Net teammates as they waited to take the floor, and it was fun to see how they were giving him a bad time about being the local hero. It’s obvious they genuinely like the Aggie, and it’s a shame the Nets have 15 players already signed. Jaycee promptly took the game over in the first quarter, as the Jazz had no answer for his shooting and athletic play. One shot in his repertoire that I really liked was the floater he was throwing up over our big guys. He’s one of those players when he takes a shot, you expect it to go in. As the game went on, the Jazz began to exploit his lack of quickness, but I’ll get to that later.

The Nets are a very good summer league team, I was thinking that they might have been one of the best RMR teams I’ve ever seen. Brook Lopez started at center, Carroll at point, CDR at shooting guard, Ryan Anderson at PF, and Julius Hodge at SF, gunshot wounds and all. The only starter I was at all disappointed in was Brook Lopez, who made Fess and Koof look like All-Stars. That should tell you how bad Lopez looked in the first stanza, as he scored a goose egg in the first half on three very hotly contested shots, as Fess played him pretty well. Jaycee Carroll and Ryan Anderson both looked very good with eleven points each at halftime, and Anderson had eight boards in the first half. Lopez looked like he really didn’t want to be there, I’m not sure if he was hobbled at all by injury, but he certainly didn’t look like a Lottery pick. Appearances can be deceiving, because he just has that look of a very good player. Fess is more mobile than Lopez, stronger, and that should give some of you a little hope that he might turn out to be a player. He stuffed the ball down Brook’s throat on one shot, pass the pepper and salt, please.

Whatever bonus points he earned on that play evaporated when he missed a wide open dunk after being set up perfectly by Earl Calloway, I believe. If he was embarrassed for landing on his butt on the dunk a few nights ago, he should have slunk out of the arena and started walking for the Ukraine. It was just sad.

Once again Mo led the Jazz with twelve points at halftime, scoring eight of those from the free throw line. Mo duplicated that total in the second half, playing thirty minutes of very good basketball. And yes, he should have two assists as twice our big guys fumbled away very nice dishes for easy baskets. Mo wound up with fourteen out of eighteen from the free throw line, as he continues to make teams foul him to stop him. It’s patently obvious he’s the focus of opposing team’s defense, and CDR and Julius Hodge went crazy trying to stop him, and they’re both very good defensive players. I was especially impressed with CDR, who has a different game than most NBA shooting guards, but is still very effective and a potent scorer. I really like his game. Hodge impressed me as well, he looks very strong and quite a bit bigger than two years ago, obviously adding some weight. He looks good.

For a while in the first half, Ryan Anderson was a wrecking crew by his lonesome. Labeled as not athletic, he certainly didn’t have any trouble scoring on a plethora of moves, some very nice drives showing decent quickness. His jump shot is a thing of beauty, and he’ll be burying threes all year long. When he gets to the free throw line, count it. He actually missed one, and I was surprised.

If there was a player more disappointing than Brook Lopez for the Nets, it had to be Sean Williams. During warm-ups he was dunking 360’s with ease, slapping the backboard with his left hand while slamming it down with the other, and generally looked like a stud from the word go. And then the game started. Different story. It’s obvious he doesn’t know how yet to translate his freakish talent into game savvy. Ryan Anderson is a marked contrast, with average talent but a wonderful feel for the game. He just knows how to score.

The Jazz were being run off the court in the first quarter, and scored two baskets in the last thirty seconds or so to make it 22-13 for the Nets, and I had already crossed off any chance of the Jazz winning the game. Not so. Led once again by Earl Calloway, the Jazz fought back with timely baskets by Yaroslav Korolev, Hiram Fuller and Mo Almond.

I’m very impressed with Korolev, and think he should probably be invited to training camp, if he hasn’t signed with a Euro team by then. The kid can play. He’s quick, plays good defense, has a dynamite jumper and is a very long 6’9”. He needs some strength, and most of all some confidence. Making this team is problematic, but he deserves a shot somewhere in the NBA. If a team was patient with the kid, and he’s only 21 or so, you might really have something.

We all know Mo can score, but it is how he scores that impresses me. He’s drawing fouls often enough to clog a ref’s whistle, and draining free throws with an excellent percentage. Is he one dimensional? Oh yeah. Big time. He knows how to win. His athleticism is greatly improved over last year, he’s playing very nice defense, and he’s scoring while not taking a lot of shots. Yes, he’s not leading the team in assists, it’s Mo that is on the receiving end of all those assists. I asked Scott Layden if he was satisfied with Mo’s passing game, and he was speechless for a second. He then replied that Mo was a good passer, and the inference was that the Jazz weren’t expecting Mo to be a point guard.

No, that position belonged to Tyrone Brazleton during the late third and fourth quarter. He was on fire, baby. On fire. He went coast to coast on a couple of fast breaks, and then the Jazz held their hands to the fire, and joined Tyrone in blowing past the Nets. Jaycee Carroll was forced to play a lot of minutes because their other main point, Marcus Williams, was traded today to the Golden State Warriors. Brazelton abused Carroll, but Tyrone was really motoring and would have blown by most NBA points in the same stretch. He’s really, really quick. Tyrone scored 16 points in the second half, on 7-9 shooting, with four assists.

I despaired about this Jazz revue team, but I think they’ve found their niche, and it’s running the break and playing up tempo. They looked outstanding in the second half, which floored me, I expected the Nets to blow the Jazz out of the water, but the Jazz outscored the Nets 74-47 over the last three quarters, dominating the last three stanzas.

It was a very good game for the Jazz RMR team, shorthanded with Kevin Kruger, Britten Johnsen and Russell Carter all out with injuries.

Surprised the heck out of me.

Some Misc. Revue notes….

Watched the Warriors-Mavs game before the Jazz. A couple of things. One, Anthony Randolph is beyond impressive. Remember that name, because in a couple of years he’ll be in the All-Star game. He’s incredible. Smooth, very long, he can handle the ball as well as most points, made a couple of the most incredible moves I’ve ever seen on the basketball court, and generally impressed the hell out of me. Plus, he’s seems very coachable and a nice kid. He had a poor shooting night, but still scored 20.

As for Gerald Green, I’m not so impressed. He scores ok, sometimes very well, but there’s something missing in his game. He shoots bad shots, shows very poor court judgment and knowledge, and I wonder if he’ll ever learn. I hope he does, because he’s a hoot to watch. Super athletic, great outside jumper, and seems like a nice kid too, just brain dead on the court.

Jaycee Carroll, who might have been the most popular player in the state last night, impressed me as well. I think he can play in the NBA, perhaps not starter minutes, but his lack of blazing speed won’t hurt him as a back-up for short stretches. Tyrone Brazelton abused him for a short period of time, but I was quite surprised how quick Jaycee really was. As a combo guard coming off the bench, he’ll be just fine. He’s a great shooter and scorer, but we already knew that. He’ll make a very good living playing basketball somewhere. For most of the game, he ran his team almost faultlessly.

Brook Lopez, if last night was a true test, will be a bust. Somehow, I don’t think so. He just looks like a ball player, has a very nice shot and excellent and varied moves around the basket.

Forget about trading for Sean Williams, unless you just want highlight dunks in warm-ups, and perhaps a spectacular block every now and then. He can sky, but doesn’t know how to play basketball yet.

Mo Almond is much more athletic than I thought, with a super nice slam move last night, and just barely missing a Ronnie B type reverse slam tonight. His handle is much improved as well, and he’s just fine dribbling the ball on moves to the basket.

Saw Paul Millsap after the game, and he looks good. Britten Johnsen was talking to Hot Rod, Boler and another KJAZZ guy, and he said his quad was bruised so badly when he woke up this morning, his foot was swollen. Doc advised him not to play on Thurs, but he said the hell with it, I might as well. Look for him to play. Kevin Kruger was on crutches, as was Russell Carter. Won’t see them again this revue.

Off tomorrow night, so see you on Thursday.