Utah
Luka Samanic’s difficult task of growing as an NBA player
For some young Utah Jazz players, there is a somewhat clear path to improvement and increased opportunity.
Take Taylor Hendricks and Brice Sensabaugh for example. The two rookies came to the team extremely green and needed time in the G League to gain strength and a more well-rounded feel for the NBA game. Now they are getting minutes with the Jazz. Hendricks is even getting starting minutes and has been tasked with guarding some of the leagueâs best players. Even Sensabaugh, who is averaging just 15 minutes a night over the last six games is getting those minutes consistently. And consistency is the key.
âItâs absolutely necessary in order to grow, really at all,â Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. âBecause thereâs things that you can watch on film, but thereâs nothing like a game. And I think it also settles you down a little bit knowing that one mistake, two mistakes, are not the end of your opportunity. It allows you to to play with a little bit less anxiety. So I think itâs critical to get consistent minutes.â
But for a player like Luka Samanic, the path to improvement and opportunity is not as clear and consistency is much harder to come by. Throughout this season, heâs mostly played spot minutes or gotten on the floor in garbage time and he has more DNPs to his name this season than he does games played.
The 24-year-old, who was the 19th overall pick in 2019, knows that itâs harder for him to get minutes and that his situation, in turn, makes it harder to evaluate any improvement, but it hasnât stopped him from trying to see a bigger picture.
âOne thing Iâve learned throughout this is that youâve got to stay working, really even harder when you donât play which is sometimes hard,â Samanic said. âYou see all these other guys play and then youâve got to come in the next day and work even harder. But if you can channel that and use it as a motivation, it can be a good thing.â
On Monday night, Samanic was given a rare one of those rare opportunities. With Lauri Markkanen sidelined because of a leg injury, Samanic went from playing mop-up minutes, to being thrust into the starting lineup.
Hardy fought for the Jazz to sign Samanic last season, having worked with him with the San Antonio Spurs, the team that drafted Samanic and when the two were reunited, Hardy was pleased to see that Samanic had matured and was approaching things with a completely different mindset.
Samanic previously told the Deseret News that getting waived by the San Antonio Spurs, the team that drafted him, was the best thing that had happened to him, and gave him a deeper appreciation for the work necessary to stay in the NBA. He admitted to feeling slighted by needing to play in the G League as a rookie and was jealous of teammates and disappointed that he wasnât getting the same playing opportunities. And unfortunately, he let that all affect him in a way that directly contributed to him being eventually cut from the team.
âHeâs 180 degrees different in his approach,â Hardy said. âI think Luka would be the first person to tell you he didnât handle it great. His youth sort of showed, and he was a little immature at times. Heâs never been a bad dude. Heâs never been somebody that you didnât want to coach. But I think he didnât deal with adversity as well as he does now.â
The way he deals with his situation now is by paying forward what heâs learned. He often tells Hendricks and Sensabaugh to see their situation thought a positive lens.
âIâve been on them about not making mistakes that I did when I was their age,â Samanic said. âI told him to use their time in the G League as a good thing and itâs showed. I mean, they played well in the G League and they came here and have played well, both of them.â
Thereâs nothing that Samanic has done wrong for him to be lacking in minutes with the Jazz. In fact, Hardy loves how athletic and versatile and strong Samanic is and went as far as to say that heâs probably the strongest screener and roller that the Jazz have on the roster. But there are players ahead of him that the Jazz are trying to get up to speed in order to properly evaluate.
Itâs a dilemma that is not lost on Hardy. He knows that the most important thing for growth in these young players is consistent minutes, but also knows that he canât give that to everyone.
âItâs hard and itâs where, as a coach, you never feel great,â Hardy said. âBecause you develop relationships with everybody in the locker room. You see how hard they work and you just canât play everyone. … Luka is in a really hard spot. … Heâs just trying to stay ready best he can. And yeah, itâs one of the toughest parts of this business, seeing players that are really good basketball players on an NBA roster, and theyâre just not getting a chance.â
All of that said, Samanic has not let his lack of opportunity sway his approach, and Monday night is the perfect example of why itâs more important than ever for him to stay ready.
âItâs the only way to stay professional,â he said. âYouâve got to work because you never know when youâre gonna play. You know, Lauri got bumped in the knee and all of a sudden Iâm starting.â
Utah
Jazz Injury Report Rules Out 7 Players vs. Raptors
The Utah Jazz are set to face off against the Toronto Raptors to kick off their new week for their second of two meetings across this season, where the Jazz in particular have ruled out a total of seven names on their injury report.
Here’s what the injury landscape looks like for the Jazz and Raptors rolling into the night:
Utah Jazz Injury Report
OUT – Isaiah Collier (hamstring)
OUT – Keyonte George (hamstring)
OUT – Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee)
OUT – Walker Kessler (shoulder)
OUT – Lauri Markkanen (hip)
OUT – Jusuf Nurkic (nose)
OUT – Blake Hinson (two-way)
QUESTIONABLE – Cody Williams (shoulder)
It’s much of the same from what the Jazz have been dealing with across the past couple of weeks.
Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen still remain out with their minor injuries that they’ve suffered past the All-Star break, and Walker Kessler, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jusuf Nurkic remain out for the year with their respective season-ending injuries.
However, the two names that stick out on this injury report against the Raptors in particular are their two first round picks from the 2024 NBA Draft; Isaiah Collier who’s out with a hamstring injury, while Cody Williams is the latest to be among those listed with a shoulder issue.
For Collier, it’s set to be a third-straight game that he’s been out due to what’s been labeled hamstring soreness, and thus leave the Jazz without both their starting and second-string point guard for the night.
That could lead to either two-way signee Elijah Harkless getting a starting nod for a second straight game following his elevation against the Philadelphia 76ers, or that spot could go to 10-day signing Kennedy Chandler, who played 35 minutes in that same game for a career-high 19 points in his team debut.
As for Williams, he’s been downgraded to questionable for the action due to shoulder soreness; something that could leave him still able to go before tip-off, but remains to be seen based on how he feels before gametime.
The second-year forward has been on a hot streak as of late. In his past five games, he’s averaged an impressive 19.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, shooting 50.0% from the field throughout.
If Williams is out of the mix, it’ll leave their frontcourt a bit more shorthanded from what they’ve been used to across the past couple of weeks, and might lead to even more minutes for guys like 10-day signee Bez Mbeng and two-way big man Oscar Tshiebwe to fill those minutes.
Toronto Raptors Injury Report
OUT – Immanuel Quickley (foot)
OUT – Jakob Poeltl (rest)
QUESTIONABLE – Collin Murray-Boyles (illness)
When it comes to the Raptors, they’ll be without a couple of guys on their roster, Immanuel Quickley who’s slated to miss out due to a foot injury, while Jakob Poeltl won’t be playing for Toronto’s second leg of a back-to-back following their previous battle against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
Collin Murray-Boyles, on the other hand, has been upgraded to questionable against the Jazz with an illness after previously being out against the Nuggets over the weekend.
Tip-off between the Jazz and Raptors lands at 9 p.m. MT in the Delta Center, where Toronto will have their chance at a 2-0 series sweep over Utah depending on the results.
Utah
POST-GAME: André Tourigny 3.22.26 | Utah Mammoth
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Utah
Utah chef’s cake didn’t have enough booze, Food Network judges say
After hitting a snag and suffering through what he called “the biggest embarrassment” on national TV, chef Adalberto Diaz managed to narrowly avoid elimination during the premiere episode of Food Network’s “The Ultimate Baking Championship.”
“I’ll make you proud,” Diaz told the judges when the show revealed he would be claiming the final spot in the top 10 and moving forward in the competition.
But during the second episode of the season, the Utah chef behind the Salt Lake City bakery Fillings & Emulsions once again found himself in a far from ideal situation.
Adalberto Diaz faces criticism on ‘The Ultimate Baking Championship’
After an intense first episode that eliminated six of the top pastry chefs from across the country, Diaz found himself in the competition’s top 10.
The first challenge of the episode tasked the remaining bakers with putting a modern twist on a classic dessert. Diaz did OK in this round, creating strawberry shortcake canapés that put him in a three-way tie for fifth place with 11 points out of 20.
But like the premiere episode, things took a turn for the worse during the second challenge.
Diaz and his fellow bakers each had 2.5 hours to create a geometric layered mousse cake. The Utah chef’s specific assignment was to give his cake a tropical and boozy theme — something he said he felt confident about given his Cuban heritage.
The chef went to work creating a blueberry mojito gelée cake with mango mousse, topped off with a chocolate hibiscus flower. He gave it an ocean look with dark blue coloring.
In a blind taste test, celebrity guest judge and pastry chef Amaury Guichon said Diaz’s final product wasn’t the right interpretation for a boozy dessert. There wasn’t enough booze in the cake, both Guichon and judge Duff Goldman said. Guichon also criticized the amount of dark blue coloring Diaz used and said it wasn’t a natural look.
“This cannot be served in a restaurant,” Guichon said.
Diaz, who was watching the judging on a screen in another room, became emotional as he heard the feedback.
He told his fellow pastry chef and competitor Juan Gutierrez that it hurt to get that kind of criticism on the show because as an older competitor, he doesn’t have as much time for improvement in his career as the younger chefs.
“We should be already there,” a visibly upset Diaz told Gutierrez.
After all of the judging, host Jesse Palmer revealed that Diaz was once again among the bottom competitors for the round. And, just like the premiere episode, the Utah chef ended up narrowly avoiding elimination.
Diaz received a 15 out of 30 for his cake, bringing his cumulative score for the episode to 26 points.
Oralia Perez, a pastry chef based in Houston, got eliminated from the competition with a cumulative score of 25.

Now, Diaz moves forward as one of nine remaining chefs competing for $50,000 in “The Ultimate Baking Championship.”
The show airs Monday nights on Food Network, with episodes available for streaming the following day on Discovery+ and HBO Max.
Who is Adalberto Diaz?
Diaz’s colorful macarons and fruit desserts are on display at Fillings & Emulsions in Salt Lake City — which the chef has described as an “eclectic Latin bakery with a French flair.”
“The last 12 years I have invested everything I have, everything, into my pastry shop,” Diaz said during “The Ultimate Baking Championship” premiere episode, which included footage of his new location that features bright murals painted by his brother to highlight their Cuban heritage.
“When I win this competition, it will be a dream come true and that money is gonna go straight into my business and my amazing team of chefs and pastry chefs,” he said during the premiere episode. “I want to make sure that we make it out of these harsh economic times.”
Diaz emigrated from Cuba in 2000 and made a home in Utah, where he quickly began working in the food industry. He worked at a few places around Salt Lake City over the next decade, and earned the American Culinary Federation’s title of Pastry Chef of the Year in 2012. He opened Fillings & Emulsions the following year, as the Deseret News reported.
The chef’s appearance on “The Ultimate Baking Championship” comes on the heels of being nominated as a semifinalist for the prestigious James Beard award for outstanding pastry chef or baker.
“I am part of this community and this community has welcomed me to be part of it, and even bigger, this country welcomed me when I came here, and gave me an opportunity to be more where I am today,” Diaz told the Deseret News last year after his James Beard nomination. “And I wish that opportunity was given to more people because you don’t know how they would change the world.”
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