Every week during the regular season begins here at SCH with the Salt City Seven, a septet of recurring features that let us relive the biggest moments, key performances and hot issues in Jazzland from various angles. Check in every week for the quotes, stats, plays and performances that tell the stories from the last 168 hours in the world of the Jazz.
The big topic of the week has been minute allocation — and more specifcally, Jazz coach Will Hardy's insistence that young players check some boxes if they're going to stay on the floor.
Jazz veterans like Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson finally came out of mothballs, infuriating some fans as they ostensibly steal precious minutes away from Utah's collection of recent draftees. Of course, Love's 14-minute appearance at center was almost a necessity when Walker Kessler's bursitis flared up ahead of a Sunday date in Charlotte. Anderson, on the other hand, appeared in the middle of a blowout loss in Phoenix when other rotation wings had frustrated Utah's head coach.
"I will poke and prod and dig and sub and flip the team upside down until I find people that want to play hard," Hardy told reporters after the game.
As a result of the coach's consternation, rookies Ace Bailey and Walt Clayton Jr. averaged between 16 and 18 minutes across this week's four games. Taylor Hendricks played just 16.0 per contest, Kyle Filipowski 15.4... and Brice Sensabaugh a scant 9.8.
Luckily for them, Hardy's hardly being mysterious about the reasons why; he has used some form of the word "execute" a couple dozen times in interviews this week. "You can’t lose a five-minute segment of the game by 20 points, throwing the ball over the gym, not executing the defense at all, and thinking that that’s OK," he continued in his Friday edict.
Execution is a big deal for NBA coaches. You can't always coach the ball into the basket, but you can insist on having five guys who collectively understand the game plan on both ends. A coach opting to play guys he can trust to follow what was drawn up on the whiteboard is a tale as old as time.
The thing is: it matters. NBA players need to be able to walk out of a huddle and do what was just asked of them 14 seconds earlier, or else you're essentially a well-paid pickup squad. Hardy mentioned that much of what broke down against Portland was the stuff they spent the entirety of shootaround rehashing as it related to their Blazers-specific game plan. If you spend all day in a gym with professional basketball strategists yelling at you, "Don't let Deni Avdija go right, don't let him go right!!" and then you repeatedly let Avdija straight-line drive to his right, maybe you in fact need to revisit how you mentally prepare for team basketball.
Talent is an NBA commodity. Athleticism is an NBA commodity. So is the mental acuity to follow a play design, execute a defensive strategy, or remember basics of an opponent's scouting report. A lot of guys get to the NBA having relied on their talent and physical gifts, and they never had to worry much about the other stuff because they were special in those other attributes. Then you get to a league where everybody's that special, and the only way to succeed is if you know how (or figure out how) to play smart basketball too.
All that said, it's understandable to want to see Bailey and Sensabaugh and Clayton and Hendricks instead of thirtysomethings who won't define Utah's future. That's valid. But if you want those young guys to eventually be able to contribute to winning basketball, then it’s helpful to their development for them to understand the types of things that are non-negotiable if they want to extend their time on the court.
Minutes alone have no developmental value, especially if they’re not tied to any sort of performance expectation. If dudes are granted minutes no matter how well or how poorly they carry out what's been asked of them, that could actually result in them getting FURTHER from contributing to winning. Hardy has been a part of some pretty amazing NBA development systems, so he knows that. When he pulls a guy because the execution is lacking, he’s actually protecting that guy from getting stuck in losing habits.
Some of Utah's young players are buying into that. “There's no reason Will should be constantly talking about our energy, our effort, our competitiveness,” Keyonte George told KSL.com after Sunday’s loss. “No matter if the ball goes in or not, those three things are controllable."
That George is now preaching the gospel of Hardy after himself being subject to changes in playing time is a pretty good indication that course corrections can in fact enable meaningful growth. George is having a breakout year, at least in part because Hardy and the staff showed him how to earn his minutes and role.
Hopefully others will follow him down that path as they heed the message being sent.
"Good golly!"
-Walker Kessler
What could be more delightfully wholesome than Kid Kessler's heart-of-gold reaction to Lauri Markkanen's 50 spot?
The full quote came to us via the Jazz's JP Chunga: "Fifty points is insane. I got nothing else to say about that. I mean, I'm super proud of him obviously. But no, yeah, he was hoopin'. Golly, plus-26 is insane! Good golly! Yeah, that's insane."
The Jazz are really relying on Markkanen right now, who has become one of the game's best off-ball weapons. But that wasn't all that was on display on his 51-point night. Yes, 15 of his points were on catch-and-shoot threes, but even those came with varying levels of play design and off-ball work to get free. Many of his 25 point-producing plays (14 total buckets, 8 free-throw trips, 3 assists) involved some amount of attacking and/or dribbling.
Examples: he drove baseline, then saw the help coming and spun into a fader. He Euro-stepped in space, then spun to the lane to earn FTs. He isolated, spun and finished over the help for an and-1. He took it himself in transition, soaring to finish over four Suns.
Still, what's best about Kessler's quote is that his "Good golly!" reaction wasn't about the points at all. Rather, Kessler was most impressed with how unstoppable Utah was as a team with Markkanen on the floor.
10,065
That's how many days elapsed between Karl Malone's 50-point game on April 7, 1998, and the very next Jazz regular season 50-piece, by Markkanen on Monday night. National average for gas prices was $1.03 per gallon that month, City of Angels was the #1 movie in America, and congress was still trying to get Monica Lewisnky to testify. Google was months away from being incorporated, and Markkanen himself was not quite one year old.
26th
After a promising start fueled by deflections and some new schemes, the Jazz are back to being in the bottom five for overall defensive rating at 117.4. But it's mostly a transition problem. Per Cleaning the Glass, they're pretty average (17th) at halfcourt defense, but a staggering 18.6% of their opponent's possessions begin with a transition play.
59.1%
Let's talk specifics with George's impressive third-year jump. He's maintained his usage while seeing huge jumped in efficiency (59.1% true shooting, up from 53.6% prior) and assist rate (40.8%, up from 25%). And that efficiency jump is happening despite his threes still just not falling: 25% now from deep.
-33
In each of their three straight losses, Utah has been outscored by double digits from behind the arc: by 30 against Portland, by 15 in Phoenix, and by 33 in Charlotte. Those are deficits Utah just won't be able to overcome most nights.
Here's a fun little set sideline play from early in Sunday's game:
In this unique play, the Jazz are essentially taking the logic of a "hammer" cut (a cut to the weakside corner that is run parallel to the driver's path) but apply it in the slot to get Markkanen a dunk. And it works because of how completely empty that side of the court is.
The backpick for Svi Mykhailiuk is pure fluff, meant to make the defense focus their attention there for a nanosecond. Jusuf Nurkic's defender does have to briefly honor Svi's cut, which has him slightly out of position to play "contain" defense on the George-Nurkic pick and roll.
But because of that pick-and-roll, the side where Hendricks is coming up to screen for Markkanen is now technically the weak side, which is why Sion James is watching George way more closely than he is paying attention to the decision of whether to switch the off-ball action. He's still concerned about his helper duties from the weak corner as Markkanen slides right by him. From there, what makes this play is perfect synchronicity between George's drive and Markkanen's cut.
That's now 11 dunks on the season for the 2023 All-Star, who by the way is still averaging 33.0 points on 63.2% true shooting even after a clunky second half in Charlotte.
Jazz 138, Suns 134 (OT): Lauri Markkanen. Big old "duh" here. You get 51, you are taking home the Wilson. Markkanen went 17-for-17 from the line, grabbed 14 rebounds, was a +26 in game decided by four, and was perhaps more of a creation hub for the Jazz offense than he's ever been in a game. He was just a completely different breed of player than usual, completely commanding the flow of the game. George played excellently (26 & 10, multiple big plays) and Walker Kessler poured on more stats (25 & 11, plus 4 block and 4 steals), but Lauri's night was so resplendent that those meaty lines didn't even make this a close call.
Strong in defeat:
- Jazz 134, Blazers 136: Lauri Markkanen. You could honestly just copy-and-paste the Finn's name throughout as he's been spectacular throughout this young season. The damage in this one: 32 points, 5 boards, 3 steals, 3 blocks and a couple of assists. George posed a strong challenge with 29 points, 8 assists and 15-for-15 from the line, and was a closer-than-usual second. Kessler added a monster 18-and-12 line and dished 4 assists.
- Jazz 96, Suns 118: Keyonte George. I'd have no problem with someone telling me this should go to Markkanen again (33 points), but I was already 50-50 on giving George the last one, and in Phoenix he flirted with a triple-double (17-8-9) and was the only Jazz player with a positive plus-minus (+3) in a 22-point blowout. Nobody did enough to challenge those two, although some deep bench guys saw minutes and played well.
- Jazz 103, Hornets 126: Taylor Hendricks. Markkanen's 2-for-10 second half wasn't great, but overall he finished with 29-7-3. George had a similar game: an uneven start but still just kind of walked into 25, with seven assists. It might be taking those two for granted, but Hendricks might have been a bigger story. He didn't get off the bench in Friday's second half, and then in this one he started and had his best game of the season: 14 points and seven rebounds.
The Jazz have three more stops on their current trip:
Monday 11/3 @ Celtics: It's been described as a "gap year" in Boston, where Jayson Tatum is expected to miss most or all of the season, but Boston is 3-4, including Philadelphia's only loss and a 20-point drubbing of Cleveland. Here's someting fun: Utah State University product Neemias Queta has started all seven games for Boston.
Wednesday 11/5 @ Pistons: Detroit is a bit of a throwback team: they take more two-point attempts than anybody, and they defend really while fouling the hell out of you -- 30th in the league in opponent free throw frequency. Cade Cunningham is averaging almost double-digit assists, although he's been a bit of an early season shooting funk.
Friday 11/7 @ Wolves: Anthony Edwards' hamstring injury has the Wolves improvising a bit, but Julius Randle is filling the void with four straight games of 24+. He's shooting 47% from deep this year, on almost six attempts per game. The Wolves are 3-3, and have reinserted Jazz alum Mike Conley Jr. in the starting lineup for more playmaking juice. Rudy Gobert is still anchoring their defense; Joe Ingles and Johnny Juzang are Wolves, but rarely play.
Loved seeing Markkanen retweet a celebration of his brother's soccer career, and the Jazz-Mammoth jersey crossover. (Side note: I like the gray. By rule, all City Edition unis this year had to be a recolor of a previous City Edition, and I have no complaints about the Jazz's. Granite is actually a pretty big part of Salt Lake history, and the blue accents look cool.)
But on our way out this week, let's just pause and reflect on how special a start Markkanen is truly having:
That's right, his 198 points through six games are a new Jazz record to start a season.
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Let's see how the Jazz fare on the rest of this trip.
