Mercy rule?

A youth movement win for the Utah Jazz, who use a big OT by Key and Lauri, plus Flip's season high. 🏀 probably needs to go to one of them, but Cody's late defense was also nice, and a Hendricks sighting is also fun, too. Who gets it?

Lots of big lines in Memphis tonight, but I think 🏀 is a pretty easy call tonight. Let's compare notes, though. A career night for Key, a throwback night for Love, meaty double-double for Nurk, Lauri was big again. Who you got?

It's a BIG Salt City Hoops Podcast! Dan Clayton (@danclayt0n.bsky.social) joins me to talk about this 1/3 mark of the season. What did we get right/wrong? What's the deal with Will Hardy? YT: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBZ9... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1eWX... Apple: bit.ly/498DKxC

Cool thing a friend of mine is doing, that my sports-loving online friends would probably dig. These are cool little blocks you can use to display hats. But I won’t explain it as well as the guy who created them, so here are his words. Brimblox.com

For this week's Salt City Seven, it felt like a good time to talk about the vet minutes, plus Lauri weighs in on the rebuild, and a bunch more stats, plays and thoughts about two unique figures in Jazz history. Up now at @saltcityhoops.bsky.social! www.saltcityhoops.com/posts/sc7-ve...

The Jazz had a slow start but the Nets were just too bad to hang onto a double-digit lead. 59 for the featured Jazz duo, 15 for Flip as a starter, nice game off the bench for Clayton... who gets the 🏀 from Kings County?

Heck of a bounceback game for the Jazz after getting blown out on Sunday and then coming back to lead the Rox by as many as 21. Seven guys in double figs, plus a nice spark off the bench by an 8-point scorer. But there's only one 🏀, so let's figure this one out together.

Jazz wrap up a skid-busting with thanks to three guys with 20+ and plenty of supporting performances. Let's hand out our first 🏀 in nearly two weeks.

Happy Monday! The latest Salt City Seven is up and looks at the Jazz's 5-11 record through the lens of opponent strength. Plus a quick glance at what's working for Keyonte, and more stats, quotes, highlights etc. Up now at @saltcityhoops.bsky.social www.saltcityhoops.com/posts/sc7-br...

Updating this because there were some superlatives tonight: This was the widest swing in any Jazz game all year at ±54. Also the biggest lead the Jazz gave away in a loss (+18)

Wait, it's @markrussellpereira.bsky.social's bday?? Happy birthday to one of my favorite podcasters and a very good dude!

Funny story about this. I had a whole different "notable" section already written, about the "winning too much?" chatter. Then I was working on something else and found all these plays of Lauri's and thought to my self: "Self, it would be criminal to not highlight what this dude is doing rn."

Lauri Markkanen is way more than a "dependent scorer," and I spend a big chunk of the Salt City Seven showing why that's true. Come for a dissection of Markkanen's superstar scoring, stay for Ace's arrival, Key's lightning strike, love from Love and more. www.saltcityhoops.com/posts/sc7-di...

A Sunday special and an overtime 🏀 to give away. Two overtimes means lot of big lines and big shots, but we only have one Wilson. Who gets it?

A 4-7 record translates to 29.8 wins over 82 games

The Jazz season so far.

The 🏀 discussion usually boils down to "who was the Jazz's best player in this win?" and/or "whose meaningful contribution was most memorable?" Tonight I think those are two different answers, so let's decide together how we handle this one. Who gets it?

Was talking with @markrussellpereira.bsky.social the other night about how I'm encouraged at how well Ace is thinking the game right now, even though sometimes nothing super tangible comes from it. Here are some examples. 🎥🧵

I watched late tonight, so wasn't around to ask the question, although I think it's as obvious tonight as in the first two wins: who gets the 🏀 from Utah's first road win?

It's Monday, and you know what that means: SC7 time! For @saltcityhoops.bsky.social, I put some dimension around Markkanen's red-hot start, and weighs in on the minute allocation angst. Plus a sexy designed play, stats, quotes & more analysis from Utah's week. www.saltcityhoops.com/posts/sc7-mi...

If Lauri does score 30 today in Charlotte, he'll join Malone (7 streaks, longest was 10), AD (9, longest was 7), Pistol (3 streaks, longest 6) and Deron (1 streak of 5) as Jazz players with a streak of 5+ games reaching 30.

Group post! Also.. GUEST post! @loudclap.bsky.social rallied four other prominent voices from the Jazz online world to opine on the first 5 games & where the team is headed. www.saltcityhoops.com/posts/guests...

Finally getting to @markrussellpereira.bsky.social's most recent video, this is excellent work. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWda...

Sometimes I do something and I can't tell if it's fun or a waste of pixels... but I'm sharing it anyway in case some of you get 43 seconds of entertainment out of it.

So listen... It's not just that Lauri scored 51. It's about how he got 'em, how he commanded the game, engineered exact switches he wanted & then demanded the ball. Often attacked on the move & in semi-iso. That's just a completely different look than off-ball threat Lauri.

The Jazz win again, this time after a late battle. Big numbers up and down the stat sheet. Help me give away with this 🏀, por favor. I have a pretty good idea where my vote is going, but let's hear it...

My guess: this is a Sloan-esque "it'll be better if he earns it" kind of thing, especially after a slow opener... and we'll see him starting really soon.

So uh, we did a thing. www.saltcityhoops.com

Jazz already have more wire-to-wire wins in 2025-26 than they had all last season (0). More importantly, we get to give away our first 🏀 of the new season. Three 20-point scorers, Key dishing, rookie debuts... who gets it?

Good morning basketball fiends! It's time for the first League Pass Night of the year. Check out @danclayt0n.bsky.social's piece on Salt City Hoops on what to watch about the Jazz this year/tonight. WAY more than you'd think! saltcityhoops.com/interest-lev...

On NBA Eve, here is my personal power ranking of the most interesting #UtahJazz storylines, for @saltcityhoops.bsky.social. saltcityhoops.com/interest-lev...

(KICKS DOWN DOOR) Hey you! You wanna hear some good NBA season preview stuff?! Dan (@danclayt0n.bsky.social) and I are back and starting off our player previews! - Ace Bailey - Isaiah Collier - Brice Sensabaugh - Kyle Anderson - Kevin Love open.spotify.com/episode/7Fbf...

I am bad at self-promotion! Listen/read my stuff about the Utah Jazz; I promise it is fun and good because I am drinking beer during it Dan @danclayt0n.bsky.social and I talked about key Media Day notes, including Walker Kessler non-extension and Lauri Markkanen non-trade chat youtu.be/pJ8a2lliAp8

NBA media is once again obsessed with the idea of getting Lauri Markkanen off the Jazz. But as @markrussellpereira.bsky.social writes in his latest for @saltcityhoops.bsky.social, that's based on bad assumptions about his and Utah's desires. saltcityhoops.com/stop-trying-...

The Jazz’s summer moves signal a next phase in the rebuild, but what does that mean for Lauri Markkanen? For @saltcityhoops.bsky.social, I explore the idea of “timelines” as it relates to contenders, and imagine how Lauri fits into Utah’s next competitive window. saltcityhoops.com/on-timelines...

Someone on the bird asked where the Jazz sit with their pick situation after the recent transactions. Here it is. Utah used seconds in the Clayton move-up trade and in the Sexton-Nurk swap, but still own 8-11 firsts in the next 7 drafts.

Reminder: up at @saltcityhoops.bsky.social, I'm keeping track of free agents (saltcityhoops.com/fa-tracker-q...) as well as a running list of players with 3+ years left under contract (saltcityhoops.com/trade-target...). Peruse and speculate at your leisure, Jazz/NBA fans.

I like the Jazz's week so far, but like I wrote last night (saltcityhoops.com/draft-jazz-b...), feels like more rearranging almost has to be coming. 13 guaranteed contracts (counting unsigned 1sts) 4 non-guaranteed 2 two-way 2 RFAs 3 draft rights to recent 2nd rounders

The Jazz get high marks for their big swings on draft night, and their packed roster makes it clear that decisions must be around the corner on some stuff. Here's your @saltcityhoops.bsky.social draft recap: saltcityhoops.com/draft-jazz-b...

Salt City Hoops is BACK! Join me and @danclayt0n.bsky.social as we preview the NBA Draft for the Utah Jazz and a few other topics. Come see who we're excited about! Review and subscribe my friends! open.spotify.com/episode/0u6H... Also on YouTube: youtu.be/gSsKJnJg504?...

The Jazz's 2026 1st gets discussed a lot, and for good reason. It could yield something incredible for the franchise... or it could yield nothing if it goes to OKC. But it's still just one asset. From me, for @saltcityhoops.bsky.social: saltcityhoops.com/are-fans-too...

Are you hoping the Jazz trade UP in next month’s draft? What about down or out? For @saltcityhoops.bsky.social, here’s a guide to pick trade values that is informed by 25 years of historical draft deals. saltcityhoops.com/historical-g...

Since it came up this week, let's just correct the record. The Jazz currently have between 9 and 12 firsts in the next 7 drafts. The most they could trade is 9 of them because of rules around consecutive future drafts. Starting late June they can also trade their own '32 1st.

Another way to envision the pick scenarios based on Sunday's outcomes. I'm a believer that there's more upside in Utah juicing the odds at #1 (ever so slightly) over protecting their floor, so a W at Minny keeps some hope alive... however unlikely.

Here are all your scenarios for the Wolves pick, and the Jazz pick will now be 1/2 heading into the lottery, with 14% odds at #1 either way.

This is wild. A 6-team tie at 49 wins is still in play, and not even all that outlandish. Minnesota's win tonight puts them in control of their own destiny to avoid the play-in.

Some midnight fun...

We need to call the Game Ball department back from spring break for a surprise 🏀 giveaway... Flip was huge, Sensabaugh had multiple clutch buckets, and Key put it away... who you got?