PHILADELPHIA — Not long after he was drafted by the Utah Jazz, rookie Trey Lyles was asked while on a basketball show called The Starters to guess the age of Quin Snyder.
“I guessed 32, 33,” Lyles said. “I gave him the benefit of the doubt.”
Add one year to his guess.
Friday was Snyder’s birthday, which meant Lyles, Raul Neto and Tibor Pleiss had to fulfill their rookie duties of singing to their coach.
“They did a nice job,” Snyder said.
Yes, he was giving them the benefit of the doubt, too.
Neto’s assessment of his version of the song that differs from what they sing to those celebrating birthdays in Brazil?
“I don’t usually sing ‘Happy Birthday’ or whatever,” he said, “so I’ve gotta work on it.”
The 19-year-old Lyles smiled when asked if he’d heard his NBA coach’s real age.
“Yeah, I have,” he said. Like a seasoned veteran, he added, “I’m not going to say it, but yeah.”
For the record, this was Snyder’s 49th birthday.
“It’s irrelevant at this point,” he joked.
BIG SCARE: After missing Thursday’s practice, Neto was upgraded from questionable to probable Friday after incurring a deep contusion in his left knee during Wednesday’s 92-87 season-opening loss at Detroit.
“I just feel sore a little bit,” Neto said after trainer Brian Zettler wrapped his left knee with plastic and ice at shootaround. “But nothing like that’s going to bother me playing.”
The rookie ended up starting Friday, scoring seven points with three assists and three steals in the Jazz’s 99-71 win over the Sixers.
Neto said he felt his leg twist a bit when he planted late in the first half against the Pistons. Initially, he feared the worst-case scenario, but when he got up and started walking after a moment on the court he realized “it wasn’t too bad.”
Neto said his soreness increased Thursday, forcing him to skip the team’s practice at Temple University.
“It was a little scary,” Snyder admitted.
FOUR-FOR-FOUR: Shooting was one concern about Neto’s game as he came to the States from playing in Spain the past three years. So far, he’s been the Jazz’s best 3-point shooter, going 2-for-2 in each of the team’s first two games.
“He’s been solid. I think that’s the word right now I would use to describe him,” Snyder said in his pregame interview Friday night. “He’s taking and making some shots. We’re comfortable with him shooting the ball. He’s just got to be decisive and he was. He’s a guy that defends and makes people better when he’s out on the court.”
LONG TIME COMING: By the way, Neto did something that even John Stockton and Deron Williams didn’t do in their Jazz careers — start their first game as a rookie. On Wednesday, the 23-year-old became the Jazz's first rookie guard to start since Darrell Griffith in 1980. The Jazz haven’t started a rookie player since Luther Wright in 1993.
You have to go back to the Jazz's inaugural season in Salt Lake City of 1979-80 to find the last rookie point guard to start: Duck Williams.
FEELING IT: Jazz rookie Trey Lyles hasn’t scored in an NBA game yet. He missed his only shot Wednesday and was 0-for-3 Friday.
The former Kentucky player said he didn’t experience butterflies this week as his professional career began.
“It was exciting, but it really didn’t feel like my first game,” he said, speaking of Wednesday’s season-opener. “We had played seven before that.”
So, is it setting in that he’s in the NBA now?
He smiled. “Not having to go to class helps a little bit.”
NO FAVORITES: Forwards Trevor Booker and Gordon Hayward had particularly sweet and strong dunks in Friday’s game. Booker’s was a powerful sweeping left-handed jam in which he treated the rim like it was Roy Hibbert’s face. Hayward elevated to emphatically dunk over a Philly player.
Which was better?
“Both of them was impressive,” Jazz power forward Derrick Favors said. “I think Book’s might’ve been a little bit nastier, but Gordon dunked on somebody. I don’t know. I’ll let y’all pick on that.”
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