Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 131-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Should the NBA do something about how bad the Jazz are?
This might be the least competitive basketball game I’ve ever watched: the Jazz were down 13-2 after three minutes, 24-4 after five minutes, down 30 at half, and never got particularly close.
On a Friday night, I’ll admit — I didn’t want to be watching this game. I wanted to be hanging out with my friends, watching the Iowa/UConn game.
But at least I’m paid to watch the Jazz game. On the other hand, about 18,000 fans paid for tickets at the (formerly known as) Staples Center, and then there are just over that many who paid for a season subscription to Utah Jazz+.
The product is bad enough that it makes one ask: should the NBA do something about this?
That’s what The Athletic columnist John Hollinger asked in his column today, though admittedly he didn’t just focus on the Jazz, but all of the league’s eight worst teams. Those teams have a .174 winning percentage against the “good” 22 teams in the NBA since the All-Star break. Why even bother?
Hollinger proposes two things. First, he proposes ending the buyout market, so that players have to be waived before the trade deadline in order to play in the playoffs. That wouldn’t have helped the Jazz, though.
Second, he proposes the “Delete Eight” — where the worst teams in the league simply don’t get to play in the league’s final months. Consider it like the cut at a golf tournament. You want to make money by continuing to play games against the best? Keep your team competitive. Of course, that wouldn’t have helped the Jazz’s situation either, as they weren’t among the league’s worst teams at the cutoff point.
My proposal is more subtle: I think we have to make the NBA’s middle class matter again. The Jazz let Simone Fontecchio and Kelly Olynyk go because they thought the rights to resign those players was less valuable than two picks in the 28-32 range of one of the worst drafts we’ve seen. And honestly? The analytics probably say they’re right — using free agent money on the NBA’s middle class isn’t usually a winning strategy.
The way to change that, then, is to make the other players more expensive. Raise the rookie salary levels and the maximum cap, so that teams like the Jazz aren’t just playing for low-percentage end-of-round bets and middling rookies.
That’s one idea, anyway. The other would just be more direct about it: give a higher percentage of the league’s TV money to its best teams, and a lower percentage to its worst. Right now, Ryan Smith isn’t really feeling pocketbook pain about how bad the Jazz are. In this proposal, he would be.
2. No free minutes
Remember, one of Will Hardy’s key tenets is “No free minutes.” I asked him about that maxim last year, and it’s worth reading his full answer here. But here’s the key bit of it:
“It can’t just be, ‘Oh, well, for my development, I’m just gonna run 19 more pick and rolls and just shoot it every time because that’s what I’m working on.’ Like, dude, it’s not working for you right now.
“When you give people free minutes, where there’s no repercussions for anything, a lot of bad habits form and a lot of lack of self-awareness forms. And that’s dangerous, because once that happens, it’s hard to undo that.”
Tonight was the perfect example: Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, and Brice Sensabaugh all started the game — and, as noted above, immediately went down by 20. Hardy pulled them, and they didn’t play for the rest of the first half. They also didn’t get the chance to start the second half. Instead, Kris Dunn, Johnny Juzang, and Darius Bazley did.
Of the three, I’m most worried about the habits Keyonte George is showing right now — maybe unfairly, because he’s the one with the most talent. He had a very successful couple of weeks, but that’s dozens of games ago now. He’s been probably the worst defensive starting point guard in the NBA, and the ball is sticking in his hands too much right now. He hasn’t had a positive plus-minus since February 15.
As Hardy said last year, “If you want to be a real NBA player, you want to be a contributing NBA player, it takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of effort. It takes a lot of attention to detail. It takes the ability to be coached. You’re gonna fail some, of course, and that’s to be expected. But you don’t get to just go through the motions and just get what you want. It doesn’t mean you have to always be super successful in everything that you do. But are you doing it with the right intent? Are you doing it with the right attitude, energy, competitiveness, all those things? That’s earning the right to play.”
I did see George play with more focus in the second half, though obviously the results weren’t perfect. He has a long way to go, but I think it’s important that he knows that heading into this offseason.
3. Brice Sensabaugh moves like Kawhi?
This highlight video of Brice Sensabaugh’s rookie season went semi-viral on Twitter this week:
Here’s why: people noticed something about the way Sensabaugh moves on the court. He looks a little, maybe even a lot, like Kawhi Leonard. (Leonard, by the way, didn’t play on Friday night due to a minor knee injury.)
(Some tweets about Brice Sensabaugh looking like Kawhi)
The hair obviously helps, but I see why people are saying this: like Kawhi, Sensabaugh kind of carefully walks through every motion, even in transition. He doesn’t get sped up, uses big Eurosteps in the paint, and finds his spots in stepback shots.
I’ll also say that this isn’t necessarily a sign of future success. I remember when folks made some of the same comparisons when it came to Tony Bradley — comparing him to top-10 player of all time Tim Duncan.
Some tweets about Tony Bradley and Tim Duncan.
And it’s true: Bradley does kind of move like Duncan, and has some of that same finesse game — except that he is way, way, way, way, way worse at basketball.
It’s one of those ways the eye test can trick you a little bit. Sensabaugh’s not going to become Kawhi. But if he improves on his all-around game, he can become a useful NBA player.
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