Game Preview: Phoenix Suns at Utah Jazz in Final Preseason Affair

By the last game of preseason, fans aren't much engaged anymore. The novelty of watching our sorta-Suns play has about faded, and we're all ready to start the games that count. Tonight's opponent is the Utah Jazz, who are 5-2 this preseason and boast three former top 5 picks and another two top 10.

The Jazz have been rebuilding, and stockpiling young talent, since they last won a playoff series under Jerry Sloan in 2010, and then traded star Deron Williams in early 2011. Their frontcourt is thick with youngsters in Enes Kanter, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert, first round choices all.

Last season's Jazz squad was able to win only 25 games in the stacked Western Conference, but with lottery picks year after year, they figure to make progress at some point.

Allowing Jeff Hornacek to leave their coaching staff to come to Phoenix was an unwise move (BTW, thanks a lot for that!), as the Jazz rode with another former Sun Ty Corbin as head coach last year, then fired him in favor of Quin Snyder and his outstanding hair.

Seriously, if I had Snyder's hair, I might rule the world. So, it's probably best for all that I don't. Snyder has paid his dues in working as an assistant coach, and college head coach (Missouri) since 1992.

The current Jazz roster needs player development, and Snyder is the man they've chosen to lead it. Not a bad choice, really. If he can be Hornacek-ish, the Jazz could be an interesting team with all this young talent.

Here's SLC Dunk's take on the 2014-15 Jazz.

Our Suns are 4-2 this preseason, featuring all that we know they possess: outstanding guard play coupled with iffy big men. This Suns team figures to be what most Suns teams have been, lots of scoring and fun but probably not a real threat unless some of the big men can surprise us.

I'll be covering the game with a radio listener's view, because there is no legal way for me to watch this game while living in California. It's all about some contractual/TV rights blah blah blah. I ranted about this during the Suns first preseason game, and got this nice reply from the Suns official Twitter account.

@EastBayRaymundo Sorry Ray. It all has to do with TV rights deals.

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 11, 2014

The TV rights apparently include that people in the US but outside of AZ cannot watch Suns preseason games. I appreciate that the Suns responded to me, and realize it's bigger than the single franchise, but still can't figure out the point, unless the point is to prompt me to become a Warriors fan because of where I live. And, I will never do that!

Tonight's game will be radio broadcast at 6PM AZ time on AZ Sports, 98.7FM.