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A long flight home last weekend gave Shelvin Mack a chance to get in extra work. For about two hours, the Jazz point guard and head coach Quin Snyder watched film and dissected Mack's performance on the way back from a win in Minneapolis.
"He's very intense," Mack said. "I think I should get three hours of college credit right there. I took a lot of notes."
The Jazz traded for Mack at the February deadline in part because of Snyder's familiarity with him as a player. But while the Jazz system has its similarities to what Mack ran in Atlanta, where he and Snyder spent a season together, the Jazz coach thought his newest starter could use some one-on-one tutoring as he acclimates himself to a new offense and new personnel.
"There's definitely some things I felt like he could do that would help him and help our group," Snyder said. "There's nothing like seeing those things."
Mack proved to be a quick study. The next time he took the court, Monday's 48-point walloping of the Los Angeles Lakers, saw Mack go for 15 points (on 8-of-11 shooting) to go along with five assists and three rebounds. The Jazz outscored L.A. by 49 points in Mack's 29 minutes on the floor.
"I thought this was Shelvin Mack's best game," Snyder said. "He was just very, very efficient."
Sure, the Lakers' 30th-ranked defense had something to do with it. But Mack's decision making and command of the offense caught his coach's eye. Mack committed just two turnovers and avoided getting stuck in bad positions.
"He was putting himself in a position where he wasn't guessing Door No. 1 or Door No. 2," Snyder said. "He was choosing — and there's a big difference."
All-Star matchup
Andrei Kirilenko and Kobe Bryant shared the court again, albeit briefly, as former Jazz star was honored by the franchise during Monday night's game against Bryant and the Lakers. The two men embraced and smiled — a far different set of emotions than they felt during their years battling each other in the Western Conference.
"Him blocking my shot," Bryant said, when asked for his memory of playing against Kirilenko. "He's just so long, so angular, extremely quick. He was a rare defensive player, a fantastic player."
Kirilenko counted Bryant along with Vince Carter and Kevin Durant among the three toughest players he had to defend over the course of his career.
"He was the [top player in the NBA] for those 10 years, which were my best years. Of course, playing against the Lakers was the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity for us to match up and for me to prove I could stop him," Kirilenko said and then laughed. "I couldn't."
Getting Burks on track
Both full-length courts at the Jazz's practice facility are usually visible during the brief time reporters are allowed to observe the team's practices. But on Tuesday, one court was hidden behind a retractable curtain, apparently to give injured guard Alec Burks some privacy as he continues his rehabilitation.
"As you know, we're trying to get Alec to a point where he's ready to go. Every day is a process, whether it's doing different stuff physically or doing … shooting on the court," Snyder said when asked about the curtain.
Burks has been participating in some "controlled practices" of late, Snyder said. But there's still no timeline for if or when he might return this season.
"We're in the same holding pattern that we've been in," the coach said. "Believe me, I'd love to have him back, but we're not going to have him back until he's ready to be back."
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