Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 111-95 loss to the Denver Nuggets from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. A game that shows how far the rookies have to go
Among losses in a 13-game losing streak, this one wasn’t as bad as some others. The Jazz kept it competitive for large portions of the game, and generally kept the crowd engaged throughout. At this point, non-embarrassment is a major win.
The troubling thing is that it isn’t the Jazz’s rookies who are leading them to this semi-competitive ball — it’s the veteran end of the roster guys, the ones that have had trouble finding NBA homes in the past or may in the future. Tonight, Talen Horton-Tucker was the Jazz’s best player for at least two quarters of the game; Omer Yurtseven was probably second-best. Darius Bazley was the Jazz’s best defender. Those are roster filler guys that are honestly pretty replaceable, but Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, and Brice Sensabaugh aren’t outplaying them.
The biggest thing to me, honestly, is that they just need to be more pass first than they are. In post-game, Jazz coach Will Hardy talked about how the team needed to find Luka Samanic on switches more. Horton-Tucker was part of the problem there, certainly, but so was George and Sensabaugh — and the hope is that George and Sensabaugh are better at passing than those two.
Hendricks doesn’t have the pass-first problem, but he does just struggle to make an impact even on the level of Bazley on either end.
Now, the overwhelming defense is that the three rookies are 20 years old. Of course they struggle to contribute.
But it is jarring to see just how far they have to go. Even with significant improvement this summer, they’re very far away from playing winning basketball.
2. Is Darius Bazley something?
Next in the “is this player something” series — is Darius Bazley something?
Eight points, five rebounds isn’t anything special. But he did play the best defense on the Jazz against the reigning champs, and has the length to continue to do so. Nikola Jokic is a player extremely used to being doubled, but there were moments Bazley legitimately bothered Jokic.
“I kind of look at it like I’m the linebacker of the defense. I’m able to communicate loudly and early. It just makes it easier for everyone else, they know where they’re supposed to go. It just cleans up a lot of stuff,” Bazley said.
He’s been with the team for less than a month, and he’s already the team’s vocal defensive leader? That’s interesting, right?
“No. Because I’m confident that I’m one of the best defenders. To me that’s like having like Michael Jordan come in and be like ‘Is it a little bit hard to come in and score?’ That’s what he does,” Bazley said. “When you’re really good at something and you put a lot of time into it — I’m not shy when it comes to that.”
Well, OK, he’s not quite the Michael Jordan of defense. But we appreciate the confidence.
Hardy, for what it’s worth, envisions him fully realized as a “a sort of a play-making point-forward at times ... a crasher, a cutter, his shooting is improving.” Something along the lines of what Aaron Gordon is offensively, perhaps?
To be sure, the comparisons Bazley is getting in this point are way out of pocket — he’s just not that good. But a role player who considers himself that good defensively and a playmaker offensively is really useful, and it’s probably worth keeping him around for, say, summer league, to find out if he can play that role more consistently.
3. The end of Collin Sexton’s 82-game hopes
The nice way of saying what the Jazz are doing right now is that they’re “choosing to not play players who could be playing if this were a playoff situation.” Probably the more accurate thing to say is that they’re tanking.
Collin Sexton, though, was a rare exception to that: he legitimately wanted to play all 82 games this season after a couple of years where injuries really hampered him. Especially given his all-out style, it was important for him to prove to himself and the league that he could stay healthy over the course of a whole season.
Well, on Tuesday he got sick and missed the game due to an illness. Nothing can go right for the Jazz this year.
Hardy said Sexton was “very, very” disappointed to miss the game, and I’m kind of surprised that the Jazz didn’t just throw him out there for two minutes and then tell him to pack it up. Truthfully, we have learned over the last 12 games that Sexton’s presence isn’t likely to cause you to win a game that you would have otherwise lost, and that’s especially true against the NBA defending champions.
Ah well. 81 games, or 80, or 79, or whatever he ends up playing, certainly isn’t a slight on his resume. Only 20 players in the NBA have played at least 78 games this season, less than one per team. Frankly, I’m not sure there’s anyone in the league who I trust more to want to play when he’s not healthy than Sexton, so overwhelming is his love of basketball.
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