Yahoo! Sports: Jazz are the NBA's "Deadwood"

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

So, if the Utah Jazz were a movie or TV show, what would it be?

According to Yahoo Sports! writers Kelly Dwyer and Eric Freeman, who are previewing the NBA's finally upcoming season, the Utah Jazz are "Deadwood."

After last season, when a power struggle between players and coaches left us with Jerry Sloan retiring, Deron Williams being traded to New Jersey, and the team missing the playoffs, Freeman and Dwyer write that the Jazz "are a team in need of laws. Which, incidentally, is the rough outline of 'Deadwood,' HBO's landmark series about the incorporation of a gold-mining town in 1880s Dakota Territory. 'Deadwood' is about a lot of things (I'd say it's primarily about how to live life in a society), but the most tangible aspects concern turning a loose collection of people and buildings into part of a larger government. … The Jazz already play by the NBA's rules, but their interior power struggle must still play itself out."

One difference between the show and the Jazz: "Characters on "Deadwood" swear all the time, but people in Utah totally don't! Isn't that crazy?"