What Jazz rookie Taylor Hendricks was so pleased to discover when arriving in Utah
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Rookie Taylor Hendricks was asked this week how he’s been settling into life in Utah and if he’s found things that he enjoys around Salt Lake City.
In the most on-brand response for a 19-year-old living on their own, Hendricks got very excited to share that he’d found a hidden gem — a chain restaurant that, although it was founded in Utah, operates in six states as well as Indonesia with more than 150 locations.
“There’s this place called Cupbop,” Hendricks said with a wide grin. “I’m in love with that place.”
Training camp Big Mac
On Thursday, I asked Jazz coach Will Hardy where the referees the team used during training camp in Hawaii came from. Were they local? Did they travel from the mainland? Did the Jazz know them prior to camp? Hardy’s response was one of the more amusing stories from their week on Oahu.
“The best moment of training camp was looking over like five minutes into practice and one of the refs was eating a Big Mac,” Hardy said with a laugh. “I mean, interesting pre-workout choice. I do love a Big Mac but it does different things to me than make me want to run up and down the court.”
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Don’t worry, Jazz fans, Taylor Hendricks is where he needs to be
Sold-out crowd makes Hawaiian NBA preseason game feel like the real deal
North Shore shrimp trucks
Food trucks are a pretty big deal on Oahu and in particular the shrimp trucks of the North Shore are renowned, with Giovanni’s being the most well-known and is said to be the original shrimp truck on the island.
Not only did I try the butter-garlic shrimp plate from Giovanni’s at the recommendation of many locals, but so did Jason Terry and some of the other members of the Jazz coaching staff.
Those who did not accompany the coaches to Giovanni’s said they were jealous when they saw what they’d missed out on. They were right to be jealous, because it was delicious.
New with the Jazz
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Quote of the week
“The competition is over. That was in training camp. And even if it was a different team, in training camp you’re going to compete, guys want to show what they’ve been working on in the summer and guys are fighting for positions, spots. But that’s over. Now we’ve got to come together. All the hard work that we put in, we’ve got to put it together to win. We’ve got to build chemistry and display it for it all to work.” — Kris Dunn on the guard competition on the Jazz roster
From the archives
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Utah Jazz viewing all of preseason as extended training camp
Kris Dunn’s second-half heroics stand out in Jazz’s first preseason game
Stat of the week
Kris Dunn was a perfect 7 of 7 from the field and scored 15 points in 16 minutes off the bench while dishing out five assists and grabbing two steals in the Jazz’s preseason debut, a 101-96 win in Hawaii against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Extra points
It might take John Collins some time to find his footing with the Jazz (Deseret News)
Fatigue sets in as Jazz fall to Clippers in Seattle (Deseret News)
How a dry wit helped Walker Kessler survive childhood and thrive with the Jazz (KSL.com)
Around the league
Rockets’ Dillon Brooks fined $25K for groin hit.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard to debut as teammates on Sunday vs. Lakers.
Up next: Preseason
Oct. 14 | 7 p.m. | Utah Jazz vs. Portland Trail Blazers | KJZZ
Oct. 16 | 7 p.m. | Utah Jazz vs. New Zealand Breakers | KJZZ
Oct. 19 | 8 p.m. | Utah Jazz vs. Sacramento Kings | KJZZ
(Times MDT)