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John Stockton's statue is featured briefly in the Jazz's new intro video, shown Monday night prior to their first home appearance of the preseason.
In the latest installment of the "New Era" that the team trumpeted in the pregame production, the statue produced only one fewer assist than the Jazz's current point guards in an 88-81 loss to Portland at EnergySolutions Arena.
Clearly, this is not is the offense of the Stockton years or even the Deron Williams phase of Jazz history. In various ways, Jazz coach Quin Snyder is creatively working around the absence of Dante Exum, sidelined for the season following knee surgery. His approach is intriguing, so I'll stop short of saying that this already has the feel of a wasted year in some respects. Even if the Jazz improve incrementally after last year's big jump, though, they'll be doing it without any advancement of Exum's game.
The point guard staffing was among many offensive issues in Monday's fourth of seven preseason games, which Snyder viewed afterward as "a true look at where we are."
And then he said, with some anticipation, "Now, we get a chance to practice."
Not much of redeeming value surfaced in this game, but whatever goodness did occur usually stemmed from lineups that included Gordon Hayward and three other wing players on the court together, plus a center. For example, the Jazz played without a standard-issue point guard for the last 5:22 of the first half. They scored 12 points in that stretch, which qualified as an outburst — considering they had posted 24 to that point.
This was not a case of wild experimentation, although Snyder would not describe it as standard practice, either. The strategy just seemed to help, both offensively and defensively against a Portland team that was missing All-Star point Damian Lillard of Weber State, out with an ankle injury.
Jazz point guards Trey Burke and Raul Neto played a total of about 29 minutes. The Jazz were outscored by 14 points in Burke's time on the court and were plus-1 in the 10 minutes of Neto, who recorded the lone assist between them. It should be noted that assists are awarded for made baskets, and the Jazz recorded only 24 field goals Monday, when they shot 31.2 percent from the field. That explains how Alec Burks led the team with three assists, to go with his 19 points and eight rebounds.
Burke's 2-for-8 shooting made him look barely worse than his teammates, but you have to wonder whether he really fits as a starter on this team. Neto is not ready for that role, so the Bucket of Wings lineup might be Snyder's best alternative.
The Jazz have used 17 starting point guards for various durations in the 12 years since Stockton retired. Just since February 2011, when the Jazz traded Williams after his 399th start for the team, seven players have started at the position: Devin Harris, Mo Williams, Jamaal Tinsley, Earl Watson, Burke and Exum.
Amid that history, how weird was it to see former Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau seated next to Jerry Sloan in row 11 on Monday? Thibodeau was the winning coach in Sloan's last game, the night of the infamous halftime exchange with Williams — triggered by the Jazz's frustration with Thibodeau's defense.
The Jazz had enough trouble with Terry Stotts' defense Monday. Of course, preseason impressions can be deceiving, so nobody should overreact to the Jazz's struggles. But this team needs some work in the next two weeks.
Snyder's offensive scheme features multiple reads and options, "as opposed to having one guy out there running the show," he said. In other words, the point guard's duty is just getting the process started — not necessarily making all the plays himself.
As of Monday, not a lot of plays were being made, period.