Utah
The 1 reason you should care who Cody Williams’ older brother is
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Three new rookies means three new jerseys and numbers that adorn them. So what numbers did the Utah Jazz newcomers choose?
Cody Williams, the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft, wore No. 10 at Colorado and wore No. 24 in high school, but he’ll wear No. 5 for the Utah Jazz.
“I wanted a single-digit number,” Williams said.
Isaiah Collier, the 29th pick in the draft, wore No. 1 at USC last season but that number isn’t available to Jazz players, owing to the fact that it’s been retired to honor former head coach Frank Layden. So what’s the reason that he chose 13?
“It was just available,” Collier said with a laugh.
Maybe the most interesting number choice came from 32nd overall pick Kyle Filipowski, who will wear No. 22 with the Jazz.
Filipowski wore No. 22 a few times throughout his high school career, so he has a level of comfortability with the number and was happy it was available with the Jazz, but those who have worn No. 22 with the Jazz have not always fared well, leaving some to call the number cursed for the team.
Most recently, Rudy Gay and Jeff Green wore No. 22 for the Jazz, turning in really underwhelming years after signing with the Jazz as free agents. Prior to Filipowski, 20 players have donned the number 22 for the Jazz and it includes players who were busts, were languishing at the end of mediocre careers and even John Drew, who was the first player banned by the NBA for repeated violations of its substance abuse policy.
Here’s to hoping that Filipowski can turn around the fate of No. 22 for the Jazz.
The players will debut their new numbers during Salt Lake City Summer League, which begins on July 8.
New with the Jazz
From the archives
Extra points
- Jazz rookies arrive in SLC with a foundation the head coach will love (Deseret News)
- Kris Dunn finds new home with Los Angeles Clippers (Deseret News)
- Jazz add Drew Eubanks in free agency (Deseret News)
- Joe Ingles to join former Jazzmen in Minnesota (Deseret News)
Around the league
Up next: SLC Summer League
- July 8, 9, 10 | Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers | KJZZ
SALT LAKE CITY — A California man in Utah, as part of his duties with the National Guard, is accused of trying to solicit sex from a young teenager.
Joshua Ruben Rodriguez, 29, of Fresno, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with attempted rape of a child, a first-degree felony, and enticement of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began when an agent with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation posed as a 13-year-old girl on a “popular social media site … in an attempt to locate and apprehend adults attempting to have sexual contact with children,” according to charging documents.
On April 16, Rodriguez sent the agent a message — believing he was talking to a teen girl — that stated, “I’ll be direct with you, I would like to get to know you and (have sex with) your mind into a daze to where you feel like a woman,” according to charging documents.
When the “girl” asked if he had a problem with her age, Rodriguez replied, “I don’t have a problem with your age,” the charges state.
The agent told Rodriguez to meet at an apartment complex in Salt Lake County where the girl lived, claiming her mother would be gone. When Rodriguez arrived, he was taken into custody, the charges state.
“(Rodriguez) does not have ties to Utah. He is a resident of Fresno, California. (He) was in town as part of his military service with the California National Guard,” prosecutors stated in charging documents while requesting he be held without bail pending trial.
ST. GEORGE, Utah (KUTV) — One person was hospitalized at the St. George Regional Hospital after a car rolled and caught fire just south of the Utah-Arizona border.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department in Arizona said its crews responded to the crash near the Black Rock Road exit – roughly two miles south of the state border – on Sunday night.
Upon arrival, crews put out the car fire and found the driver had left the scene. A single occupant, who was able to get out of the car on their own, was transported to the hospital by a Beaver Dam ambulance.
MORE | Crashes
Their condition has not been publicly released.
Details on what led to the crash and the condition of the driver were not immediately available.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department said law enforcement investigated the scene.
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz missed out on the NBA Playoffs, but still scored a big win thanks to a coin flip.
In Monday’s tiebreaker coin flip to determine who had the fourth-worst record in the league last season, the Jazz came out winners over the Sacramento Kings, who had the same 22-60 record.
Had the Jazz lost the coin flip, they would have been fifth in NBA Draft Lottery odds. Only the worst four teams are guaranteed to remain within the top eight of the lottery.
If Utah had fallen to fifth, there would have been the chance they could have dropped out of the top 8 teams in the lottery, and owed the draft pick to Oklahoma City, which was top-8 protected in a previous trade.
The Jazz now have an 11.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 10.
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