Most importantly, Happy 30th birthday to Joe Ingles.

Everyone is available for the Utah Jazz tonight against the Sydney Kings.  Quin Snyder mentioned being aware of Ricky Rubio’s minutes and the wear and tear on some of his other players.  Rubio played the entire EuroBasket campaign prior to joining the Jazz in camp.

No official word on starters, but it is fair to assume it will be Rubio, Rodney Hood, Joe Ingles, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert.  Favors meet with the media at shoot around and said he is much happier this season than he has been in some of the past seasons.   I talked with him before the shoot around and he said he is not feeling the knee that caused him the issues a year ago.

Pre-season is not always the best indicator of rotations, but it will be interesting to see how and if Coach Snyder uses Alec Burks and Jonas Jerebko.   Burks is healthy and has been a full participant in practice.  However, with the rookie Donovan Mitchell and Dante Exum already in the back court the minutes for Burks may be limited.

Jerebko played 17 minutes a night last year in Boston and gives the Jazz some unique shooting skills at the stretch 4.   That is where Joe Johnson prospered last season and the Jazz offense was really tough to guard with Johnson at the 4.  How Jerebko gets his minutes will be interesting.

The Jazz have increased the focus on forcing turnovers defensively.   Last year, as the 3^rd best defense in the NBA the Jazz played more of a shell defense with containment as a focus.  With the additions of Rubio, Mitchell and Thabo Sefolosha that Jazz have added three players who have a high steal rate and could change the defensive approach.  Moreover, creating some offense off the defense may be more important with the 17-18 roster than last year.

Tip off at 7:00 tonight.  Pre-game coverage on You Tube at David Locke Channel starts at 6:00 with radio and TV coverage starting at 6:30