Utah Jazz notebook: 'Round Mound' Charles Barkley thinks Jazz should go young

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah played on TNT in its season-opener, and — imagine this — NBA analyst Charles Barkley shared his opinion about the Jazz.

It seems the Round Mound of Expound thinks the team should have fun with the junior Jazz members.

That means Utah fans hoping to see more playing time allotted to Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Alec Burks and Enes Kanter might be in the weird position of agreeing with and laughing at something Barkley had to say.

"They're young and trying to build for the future," Barkley said on TNT this week. "The Utah Jazz are not going to win a championship anytime soon."

Sir Charles' advice to Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin?

Barkley: "They've got a very young team, and should go out and try to entertain their fans and play at a faster pace."

GREEN MOVEMENT: A devoted group of young fans will go to great lengths today to show their support of their favorite NBA team.

Twenty-five Utah Jazz Club members from Olympus High will leave Holladay at 1:30 p.m. and walk to EnergySolutions Arena for the home-opener against Philadelphia.

That's nine miles for those who don't have GoogleMaps handy.

"(We) are walking to the game to show our true devotion to the team," said Olympus student Andrew Price, who's a group leader along with Josh Willhard and Christian VanDenBerghe. "We are all really excited about this and plan to do it again in the future."

They plan on arriving in time to get pregame autographs and photos with Jazz players and coaches, according to a team press release.

Jazz president Randy Rigby was impressed with "this enthusiastic group" when meeting them at the alternate green Jazz jersey unveiling a couple of weeks ago.

No word on whether the group — Gang Green? — will have to walk home after the game.

BY GEORGE: Jazz fans have had a love-to-hate relationship with Nuggets coach George Karl's teams in Seattle and Denver. The feeling's respectfully mutual.

"Utah has always been in the top two or three rivalries that we have," Karl said. "I am pretty sure they don't like us and we don't like them."

GUESSING GAME: Paul Millsap didn't stutter, but he repeated and emphasized his response when asked what specifically was wrong with the Jazz's defense, which allowed 117 points Wednesday night.

"Rotation, rotation, not being in the right rotation," the backup power forward said. "Not helping each other. Anything you can name, we kind of lost track of that."

And especially that rotation part.

Added Millsap: "We've just got to be disciplined."

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