Utah
Gobert looking forward to first trip back to Utah
Rudy Gobert, who hoped to make Utah residence for his total NBA profession, eagerly anticipates returning to Vivint Enviornment for the primary time as a member of the visiting group when his Minnesota Timberwolves play the Jazz on Friday evening.
“There’s in all probability going to be numerous feelings, however I simply need to benefit from the second and get a win,” Gobert informed ESPN as he drove to the airport for the Timberwolves’ flight to Salt Lake Metropolis. “I spent 9 years of my life there and created numerous reminiscences, have numerous very highly effective relationships with folks that I like and gave me numerous love through the years. It should be bizarre to stroll into the sector and go to the guests’ locker room, however it’ll be in all probability numerous love and numerous pleasure to come back again.”
Gobert developed from a thin challenge who was the No. 27 total choose in 2013 right into a three-time Defensive Participant of the Yr and four-time All-NBA choice throughout his tenure with the Jazz. Utah made the playoffs the previous six seasons — and had the NBA’s greatest regular-season file in 2020-21 — however the Jazz by no means superior to the convention finals.
New Utah CEO Danny Ainge opted to shut that chapter in Jazz historical past, which he made clear by buying and selling Gobert to Minnesota in a blockbuster deal that despatched key contributors Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt and rookie Walker Kessler in addition to 4 future first-round picks to Utah. Gobert has no exhausting emotions about the way in which his tenure with the Jazz ended.
“Spending 9 years there’s clearly one thing that I am going to always remember, however on the similar time, you have at all times received to remember that it is a enterprise,” stated Gobert, whose Rudy’s Youngsters Basis stays lively in Utah, in addition to in his native France and now Minnesota. “That is the way in which I see it. My dream was at all times to carry a championship to Utah. Some individuals did not imagine that might occur, and it is truthful. It’s very truthful. It is a part of their job to do what they assume is greatest for the group.
“Now, I am in one other place, however it would not change the human facet of it. After I say that, I believe it is greater than simply basketball. I gave my soul to this group, this metropolis, this group, my blood, sweat and tears, [and] there are some issues that transcend the enterprise of basketball. That is why I [thought] we would be right here ceaselessly. Now, I am in a brand new place with the chance to perform nice issues, and I am at all times going to be pleased about these 9 years in Utah.”
The Jazz, who traded All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers and beginning ahead Bojan Bogdanovic to the Detroit Pistons later this previous summer season, have been one of many NBA’s most nice surprises this season. It was anticipated that Utah could be a lottery group within the first 12 months of a rebuild, however the Jazz are sixth within the Western Convention standings with a 15-12 file.
“I have been very comfortable to see them having success,” Gobert stated. “Most individuals sort of counted them out after buying and selling me and Donovan, and Bojan, too, however there’s nonetheless numerous expertise on this group. You’ll be able to inform that they are having numerous enjoyable, and likewise when you do not have numerous expectations, you sort of play free. I believe that is what’s been taking place for them. They play collectively, they play free, they play actually exhausting. Whenever you play that method with the extent of expertise they’ve, good issues occur.”
Minnesota, in the meantime, is eleventh within the West with a 12-12 file. The Timberwolves struggled to adapt to taking part in Gobert apart Karl-Anthony Cities in a supersized frontcourt earlier than Cities suffered a calf pressure that’s anticipated to sideline him for 4 to 6 weeks. The Wolves have gained two of three video games since Cities’ harm, together with Wednesday’s victory over the Indiana Pacers, when Gobert had arguably his greatest efficiency of the season with 16 factors, 21 rebounds and two blocks, together with a victory-sealing swat with 11 seconds remaining.
“I have been loving the method thus far,” stated Gobert, who’s averaging 13.3 factors, 11.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per sport, all decreases from the previous a number of years. “Clearly there’s some adversity, however this adversity is nothing I did not count on coming into a brand new scenario with a youthful group — all of the issues that it’s a must to undergo when there’s change, you alter surroundings and are in a brand new place after 9 years. I have been embracing it, and I am very enthusiastic about our group. I am very enthusiastic about our progress. I do know this progress goes to translate to numerous wins this season.”
Utah
Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George named to NBA All-Rookie Second Team
Keyonte George has been named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, the league announced Monday.
The Utah Jazz guard was selected 16th overall by the Jazz in the 2023 draft and started 44 of the 75 games he appeared in during the season. He averaged 13 points, 4.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds, and was the only rookie to total more than 950 points while also dishing out more than 325 assists during the 2023-24 campaign.
Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs) earned All-Rookie First Team honors alongside Chet Holmgren (Oklahoma City Thunder), Brandon Miller (Charlotte Hornets), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Miami Heat) and Brandin Podziemski (Golden State Warriors).
George was joined on the All-Rookie Second Team by Dereck Lively II (Dallas Mavericks), GG Jackson II (Memphis Grizzlies), Amen Thompson (Houston Rockets) and Cason Wallace (OKC).
At the beginning of the 2023-24 season, it wasn’t clear how George would factor into the Jazz’s roster with a number of guards vying for rotation minutes. But it quickly became clear that George was more skilled and NBA-ready than expected and he earned a starting role eight games into the season.
After a minor foot injury sidelined him for a couple of weeks in December, George came back and played off the bench until he took over starting point guard duties Feb. 12; he averaged 15.8 points per game over the final 28 games of the season. The 20-year-old was also named to the NBA’s Rising Stars team during All-Star Weekend.
George received three All-Rookie First Team votes and 71 Second Team votes from the pool of reporters and broadcasters who vote on end-of-season awards.
Utah
Utah’s reservoirs are at about 90% capacity, except Lake Powell
Kyle Dunphey
(Utah News Dispatch) Utah’s reservoirs are still at what the state calls “impressive” levels, with most hovering around 90% capacity — by comparison, statewide levels were a little over half full this time last year.
But Lake Powell, the country’s second-largest reservoir, is an outlier. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, it’s currently at about 35% capacity.
During a Legislative Water Development Commission meeting in Salt Lake City last week, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources Candice Hasenyager gave lawmakers an update on the state’s water outlook.
“Our reservoirs are about full, we’re at about 90% of our statewide average,” she said. But, she noted Lake Powell as a glaring exception.
“That’s still definitely a concern that we have,” Hasenyager told lawmakers.
In a statement, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said Lake Powell should not be compared to other reservoirs in the state because of its size and the various policies that dictate its levels.
“Lake Powell is substantially larger, with a live capacity of nearly 25 million acre-feet,” a spokesperson for the bureau said. “This capacity is more than eight times the capacity of Strawberry Reservoir.”
Those levels are often out of the state’s control, and are in part due to the complexity of the Colorado River Basin and the system that allocates water to seven states and Mexico, called the Colorado River Compact.
Through the compact, the bureau “has modified the operating guidelines for Glen Canyon and Hoover dams through 2026, to protect these facilities and lake levels if poor hydrologic conditions persist,” the spokesperson said.
Despite Lake Powell appearing to be far behind Utah’s other reservoirs in terms of capacity, the bureau noted that the situation is much better than last year — currently, it sits at about 24 feet higher than last May, and officials say levels will continue to rise, expected to hit about 41% capacity in June. After that, the bureau said it will decline until spring runoff in 2025.
Still, the state’s lack of control over Lake Powell drew some disapproval from outgoing Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, who is currently running for governor. Lyman, a fierce critic of the federal government’s presence in Utah, lamented the levels being “set by the Secretary of the Interior.”
“Are we working with the Secretary of the Interior, are we working with the federal government to keep that at a viable level?” Lyman asked. “What we’ve really seen is intentional, keeping that below a viable recreation level and I hope the legislature can influence that decision in the future.”
In response to Lyman’s comments, the Bureau of Reclamation pointed to the bevy of compacts, federal laws, court decisions, contracts and regulatory guidelines that control flows in the Colorado River and levels at Lake Powell.
“Reclamation has a long-standing history of working with all stakeholders in the basin on cooperative agreements that help define operational actions at critical times and to protect the levels at Lake Powell and sustain and protect the Colorado River Basin,” the bureau said.
When asked about Lyman’s comments, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox responded, “I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
“People can make up stuff all they want. Nobody is deliberately keeping the water levels low at Lake Powell,” the governor said during his monthly PBS news conference on Thursday, calling his gubernatorial opponent’s claim “bonkers.”
Cox pointed to ongoing negotiations among water managers from Colorado River basin states who are working on a new management plan ahead of 2026, when the current guidelines expire.
Cox told reporters the state has been releasing its own water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to ensure the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell can continue generating power. Some of that water was released to Lake Mead, he said — now, the state is hoping to get that water back.
“There are big discussions about where that water goes and where our portions of the water go. We’ve had huge releases from upstream reservoirs that have gone into Lake Powell,” Cox said. “That’s mostly our water. …These are very, very complex negotiations that are going back and forth, and part of the negotiations and what we’re doing right now is making sure we can restore the water that we released.”
‘Exactly what we need’
On Thursday, the Division of Water Resources said over half of the snow from this winter has melted, with recent weather patterns resulting in “optimal spring runoff.”
“A slow warmup is exactly what we need to have a safe and effective spring runoff,” Hasenyager said in a statement. “We still have a good amount of snow in the mountains, so we are hoping for a gradual snow melt.”
Utah
USA's BIGGEST States… Utah NOT In The Top 10?
Many people believe Texas is the biggest state, and Hawaii is the smallest. Those people are WRONG! States are measured by their square miles. Have you ever wondered which states are the biggest? Utah ALMOST made the TOP 10 for BIGGEST STATES in the Country!
USA’s TOP 15 BIGGEST STATES (per square miles):
- Alaska: (586,000 square miles)
- Texas: (261,232 square miles)
- California: (155,959 square miles)
- Montana: (145,552 square miles)
- New Mexico: (121,298 square miles)
- Arizona: (113,594 square miles)
- Nevada: (109,781 square miles)
- Colorado: (103,641 square miles)
- Wyoming: (97,093 square miles)
- Oregon: (95,988 square miles)
- Idaho: (82,643 square miles)
- Utah: (82,169 square miles)
- Kansas: (81,758 square miles)
- Minnesota: (79,626 square miles)
- Nebraska: (76,824 square miles)
USA’s TOP 15 SMALLEST STATES (per square miles):
35. Ohio: (40,860 square miles)
36. Virginia: (39,490 square miles)
37. Kentucky: (39,486 square miles)
38. Indiana: (35,826 square miles)
39. Maine: (30,842 square miles)
40. South Carolina: (30,060 square miles)
41. West Virginia (24,038 square miles)
42. Maryland: (9,707 square miles)
43. Vermont: (9,216 square miles)
44. New Hampshire: (8,952 square miles)
45. Massachusetts: (7,800 square miles)
46. New Jersey: (7,354 square miles)
47. Hawaii: (6,422 square miles)
48. Connecticut: (4,842 square miles)
49. Delaware: (1,948 square miles)
50. Rhode Island: (1,033 square miles)
THE ENTIRE LIST OF THE USA’s STATES RANKED BIGGEST TO SMALLEST (per square miles):
- Alaska: 586,000 square miles
- Texas: 261,232 square miles
- California: 155,959 square miles
- Montana: 145,552 square miles
- New Mexico: 121,298 square miles
- Arizona: 113,594 square miles
- Nevada: 109,781 square miles
- Colorado: 103,641 square miles
- Wyoming: 97,093 square miles
- Oregon: 95,988 square miles
- Idaho: 82,643 square miles
- Utah: 82,169 square miles
- Kansas: 81,758 square miles
- Minnesota: 79,626 square miles
- Nebraska: 76,824 square miles
- South Dakota: 75,811 square miles
- North Dakota: 69,000 square miles
- Missouri: 68,741 square miles
- Oklahoma: 68,594 square miles
- Washington: 66,455 square miles
- Georgia: 57,513 square miles
- Michigan: 56,538 square miles
- Iowa: 55,857 square miles
- Illinois: 55,518 square miles
- Wisconsin: 54,157 square miles
- Florida: 53,624 square miles
- Arkansas: 52,035 square miles
- Alabama: 50,645 square miles
- North Carolina: 48,617 square miles
- New York: 47,126 square miles
- Mississippi: 46,923 square miles
- Pennsylvania: 44,742 square miles
- Louisiana: 43,203 square miles
- Tennessee: 41,234 square miles
- Ohio: 40,860 square miles
- Virginia: 39,490 square miles
- Kentucky: 39,486 square miles
- Indiana: 35,826 square miles
- Maine: 30,842 square miles
- South Carolina: 30,060 square miles
- West Virginia 24,038 square miles
- Maryland: 9,707 square miles
- Vermont: 9,216 square miles
- New Hampshire: 8,952 square miles
- Massachusetts: 7,800 square miles
- New Jersey: 7,354 square miles
- Hawaii: 6,422 square miles
- Connecticut: 4,842 square miles
- Delaware: 1,948 square miles
- Rhode Island: 1,033 square miles
One thing that caught my eye was how TINY Rhode Island is… at 1,033 square miles, it’s less than half the size of Washington County! WOW!
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