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.

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The heroes of Jazz basketball over this past week-plus[fn]The SC7 is a day late this week, due to umm real life.[/fn] are some of the least expected headliners.

I mean, sure, some guy named Keyonte George had the single most electrifying performance since our last column. And yeah, a Finnish dude had 29 points in 32 minutes in his lone appearance.

But outside of those stellar individual nights, most of the chatter about Jazz players this week was devoted to end-of-roster guys who are trying to make their case for a longer stay along the Wasatch Front.

Elijah Harkless has been hounding ball handlers and wrestling with Nikola Jokic on his two-way contract. Recent Jazz transplant John Konchar has been highlighted for his hustle and smarts. Blake Hinson is up to 50% on his first 16 NBA 3-point attempts. And Oscar Tshiebwe has the best net rating over the last four games (+17.5).

Jazz coach Will Hardy went so far as to call Harkless "our best defender." Days earlier, he had lauded Konchar's knack for the ball and called him a "winning player."

We've talked a lot about which Jazz draftees are most likely to be relevant as Utah shifts back into competitive mode next season. But in honor of all the nice play from other Jazz projects, here's a guess as to which of Utah's under-30 guys not added via the draft are most likely to be on the roster next season.

• Svi Mykhailiuk, 28. Low-usage, high-efficiency connector types are pretty valuable when you're filling out a rotation. The journeyman wing is a 62.5% true shooter this season and the Jazz have the option to keep him on a cost-controlled contract, so he's as good as back.
• Konchar, 29. Hardy is sounding like a believer. Konchar will turn 30 this month, so only barely fits in the parameters of this exercise, but he has veteran know-how and a guaranteed contract. Unless his salary becomes helpful in trades as Utah seeks to refashion its bench, the default will likely be to bring him back and let him compete for a role.
• Hinson, 26. He's 6'8" and smooth scorer. But mostly he's above the other two-way guys because his contract already extends into next season.
• Harkless, 26. At last July's Salt Lake City Summer League, Harkless forced an opponent turnover with some gritty defense, and a coupel of notable spectators in the front row came to their feet in excitement: Justin Zanik and Danny Ainge. That was a pretty good indication that the front office had a soft spot for the hard-nosed Hardless.
• Tshiebwe, 26. Changes to two-way rules[fn]Players used to be able to be on a two-way for the same team in two seasons, but now it's three.[/fn] mean the Jazz could welcome him back next year without using a standard roster spot. But he's only seen 81 minutes of NBA action this year, and the depth chart has gotten more crowded up front.
• Vince Williams, Jr., 25. Before the injury, he was a pretty safe bet to return on his $2.49 million team option. Now, the Jazz have to consider whether they can essentially have a roster spot on hold while they're trying to turn the corner into compettitiveness. Having him as a deep bench option (at least) could probably help, but it will likely be 2027 before he takes the court again.
• Mo Bamba, 27. Sources close to Ken Clayton tell me that the "Bamba is the 366th all-time Jazzman" tweet has been ready and loaded since the weekend. But since he hasn't made it to the hardwood yet and since his 10-day contract is up shortly, for now we'll assume this isn't a long-term play.

As we've covered in this space already, it's probably the younger reserves whose progress will dictate how win-ready Utah's bench will be this season. But if a couple of these young vet types are around to bolster the depth, it could buy the front office some time to see where other guys' development paths might lead them.

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With all the recent focus on all these deep bench pieces and recent transplants, it's been fun to hear how each of them kind of processes their NBA journey. For example, Konchar was asked it he had to humble himself to adjust to his NBA role, and his answer was pretty wholesome and cool.

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"Umm, not really. I just want to go out there and play and hoop, honestly. So whatever I gotta do, I'll just try to be out there."

- Konchar, via KSL Sports

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It's pretty refreshing to hear a guy embrace the role player/hustle guy identity and not at all talk like it's beneath him or a sacrifice. Konchar was an on-ball creator, 15.5-ppg scorer and even a part-time point guard in college, but it doesn't seem to bother him in the least that his path to NBA minutes is different.

"Your three best players are probably going to take a majority of the shots (in the NBA)," he said, "so you need a role player. So I just try to fit in."

Konchar went undrafted in 2019 after his senior season at Purdue Fort Wayne. Memphis signed him that offseason to a two-way deal, and by tne next fall he had earned a standard NBA contract. He carved out a rotation role while on that team-friendly contract, and Memphis rewarded him with a guaranteed 3-year extension going into his fourth pro season. He's in year two of that extension now, and has played just over 5.900 NBA minutes, largely because of his complete lack of ego and williness to do the little things.

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+26, +19

For the first time all season, the Jazz have played four straight games in which they scored more points off of turnovers than their opponent. That streak includes the two biggest margins in turnover points of the Jazz's season: they beat Houston 34-8 last Monday, and Denver 27-8

#5

Consecutive losses to the Pelicans moved Utah into the fifth best lottery odds, with a 42% chance of moving up into the top four and only a 0.6% chance of falling past #8 and surrendering the pick to OKC. Be sure to check out our new Lottery Watch tool, designed by Zarin Ficklin.

56%

Mykhailiuk is on a heater right now, hitting 18 of his last 32 outside attempts, or 56%. That includes a torrid 7-for-13 on off-the-bounce threes.

5.8

Regardless of what the NBA thinks of Utah's recent rotation decisions, it's been a positive for Ace Bailey, whose usage over the past four games is up to 21.7%. He's driven with the ball in his hands 5.8 times per game since the start of February, up from 3.3 before.

134.1

One thing to watch over the final 21 games: so far the tandem of George and Isaiah Collier hasn't yielded a lot, especially on defense. All lineups featuring the guard pairing have a 134.1 combined defensive efficiency, which would be in the bottom 0.5% of all lineups with at least 100 possessions, per Cleaning the Glass.

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Bailey has gotten a lot more opportunity lately, and especially early in the Pelicans game, the Jazz ran a bunch of stuff to give him a chance to create with an advantage.

Their first two halfcourt possessions in the game, they ran a nearly identical setup: a staggered pindown, with the guard-to-guard dribble pitch followed by a second screen from a big, and the other two wings spacing from the wing and the dunker spot.

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The defense switches the guard-guard handoff both times. On the first one, Dejounte Murray does a decent job following him over the screen and staying attached, but Bailey's length allows him to get the shot off cleanly anyway. On the second one, Murray "dies" on the screen and Bailey is free to fire.

When he can get all the way to the rim — whether on this same type of off-ball screening actions or in transition — his body control really helps him finish.

Those are just incredibly athletic plays.

Most of his creation comes after getting the ball behind a screen. But more and more, they're even experimenting with having him create from a standstill.

That first move is pretty: an iso drive against a bigger defender, the little shoulder drop to create space, and then he elevates. Watch how he balances himself in the air, and he doesn't technically gather until right before his little 1-2 jump stop.

And then that second one... my oh my. Does that look KD-esque, or what? That's against a 6-foot-10 defender, and Bailey just has no problems whatsoever gettnig the shot off cleanly.

There's a lot of really fun stuff to pay attention to with Bailey.

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Utah is now on a 6-game losing streak, including four losses since we last recognized some top performers.

Strong in defeat:

• Jazz 105, Rockets 125: Lauri Markkanen. The Finn's rough night from three (1-for-10) didn't keep him from pouring in 29 total points in 31 minutes. Part of that was his 8-for-8 night on freebies, and the fact that he had nine paint buckets. The only other serious candidate was Brice Sensabaugh, although a lot of his 26 came after the game was no longer super competitive.
• Jazz 118, Pelicans 129: Ace Bailey. The Jazz ran a bunch of stuff for Bailey early, and the result was 14 points in his first nine minutes. The rest of the way he was less central to things, but still wound up with a team-high 23 points, plus four boards. Sensabaugh was again the second fiddle with 20, and Mykhailiuk had a nice little closing flurry. Konchar and Harkless combined for nine steals.
• Jazz 105, Pelicans 115: Isaiah Collier. Harkless had a career-high, but this probably came down to the guards. George's return to actioin was notable, and he had 17 points thanks to a boatload of free throws. But Collier's 21-3-7 (with two steals) probably edges out Key's 17-2-4 by any objective measure. Zay was particularly aggressive in the fourth, when he attacked relentlessly on multiple straight possessions and came away with 12 of his 21.‍
• Jazz 125, Nuggets 128: Keyonte George. George was just superb here, nearly winning the game[fn]"Whew," say the pro-tankers.[/fn] with his 15-point fourth quarter that included several electric drives and a go-ahead three to take the lead. He finished with 36 overall (and four steals). Kyle Filiipowski's 19-8-6 would probably be a distant runner-up. Bailey was good again with 18, Mykhailiuk hit four threes on the way to 15, and Harkless deserves a lot of credit for being the primary defender on Jokic.

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The Jazz kicked off a 4-in-6-nights stretch when they faced Denver on Monday, and they'll continue it by making their last Eastern Conference road trip of the season.

Wednesday 3/4 at Sixers: Philly will be on a back-to-back after getting walloped at home by San Antonio while Joel Embiid sat. His oblique strain will keep him out against the Jazz too, but the good news for the Sixers is their starters should at least have fresh legs since the blowout kept minute totals low. Tyrese Maxey is averaging 29 a game for Philly this year and just earned his second All-Star nod, but this 3-5 stretch has them teetering between a solid playoff spot (they're currently #6) and the play-in.

Thursday 3/5 at Wizards: Trae Young is expected to make his Wizards debut on Thursday, his first appearance since just before New Year's Eve. It will be interesting to see how much Washington uses him and how he gels with young projects like Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George and Tre Johnson. They had a 6-5 stretch, but since then have lost six straight. This is the first of six remaining games left against the bottom nine teams in the league.

Saturday 3/7 at Bucks: Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo returned Monday with 19 points and 11 rebounds despite a minutes limit against Boston. They were 8-4 in their last dozen games without the Greek Freak, but his reincorporation is necessary if they're going to pressure the Hawks or Hornets for a play-in berth — they're currently four games back of both. The additions of Cam Thomas (12.9 ppg as a Buck) and Ousmane Dieng (8.4) help, but this is ateam that just needs a healthy Giannis. Their efficiency differential is 13.0 points better with him on the court.

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Here's a fun stat: if it feels like the Jazz are losing competitively lately, it's because they are. They have five games this season where they lost never trailed by double figures, but four of those five have come since the start of February.

• Against Sacramento in the second game of the year, they trailed by as many as eight, lost by one.
• In Toronto on February 1, their max deficit was nine and they lost by seven.
• Two games later, they lost to Atlanta by two despite never trailing by more than five.
• In the very next game in Orlando, the deficit reached nine on the way to a 3-point loss.
• They had the exact same trajectory at home against Denver: lost by three after trailing by as many as nine.

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