The good and bad of the Utah Jazz’s summer so far

The Utah Jazz have wrapped their on-court portion of the summer and are headed into the home stretch of their offseason.

But there was a lot to digest through a combined eight games in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.

This was an atypical summer league roster for the Jazz. Between rookies and second-year players, they had so many guys who needed to be featured and needed development. It’s not often summer league rosters resemble what the regular-season roster is going to look like, but that was the case here for the Jazz.

So, we want to evaluate what guys did right and what could have gone better. I tried to leave defense out of the evaluation because almost every young guy has to improve on defense. But this was a good summer league for the Jazz to watch on film. For every player listed below, here’s what I liked and what concerned me.

Cody Williams

What I liked: I thought Williams was the Jazz’s most impressive player in Las Vegas. I also thought he was one of the best Vegas summer league players overall. His skill level is immense. He’s one of the few in Vegas who can do the following things: Dribble, pass, shoot, defend. When you talk about NBA players, it’s difficult to find a guy who can do all four of those things, and most who can do all four of those things turn out to be very good players.

Williams was able to figure out angles to get his shots off. He’s a tremendous finisher at the rim, which is almost shocking considering he’s 6-foot-8, 190 pounds. He made shots in Las Vegas from all three levels. He was a pick-and-roll initiator. He finished above the rim in traffic on more than one occasion. It’s easy to see why the Jazz liked him in the pre-draft process. At this point, I’m pretty surprised that he lasted until the No. 10 pick.

The most impressive thing I saw from him was his ability to adjust from the SLC summer league, where he struggled. He went from not making an impact in Salt Lake to making a huge impact in Vegas. That’s not a simple accomplishment. I’m not the Utah Jazz. But if I were, I would have Williams in the rotation on opening night. I think Williams’ floor is a starting-level small forward and he has the ceiling to be more than that. I would give him 10 minutes a night from the start and let him to learn on the job.

What concerns me: There are three things on this list, and two of them aren’t big because they will be alleviated with time. Williams has to get his body right because he’s light but strength will come over time. The second is experience, which is why for me he wouldn’t be a G League candidate. In terms of skill, Williams can play in the NBA now. He needs to take his lumps and there is not a better year to do that than this one.

The third thing might be a little complicated. Someone needs to tell Williams how acutely talented he is, because I’m not sure he realizes it. If he does? I think he turns into a monster. If he doesn’t? He becomes Derrick McKey, the former Indiana Pacers forward from the 1990s, who played 15 years and everyone wondered why he never became an All-Star.

Williams can float and be too deferential. He needs to play like he is the man, because that’s what he has a chance to be, if his mindset catches up to his skillset.

Isaiah Collier

What I liked: Few guards in the class got downhill off the dribble as Collier did in Las Vegas. He did a lot of the same things in Salt Lake. Collier is hard to keep out of the paint. He has broad shoulders and his body is already NBA ready. He has a crafty handle and is explosive off the dribble. He knows how to use his body to get past a defender and that creates lanes to the basket.

More impressive, Collier is a terrific passer. He makes advanced reads off pick and roll. He makes reads off the dribble when he’s getting into the paint. He’s also fearless. If you block his shot or put him on his backside, he’s coming back the next time. When he gets rolling, it’s difficult to shut him down.

What concerns me: Collier’s jumper needs work. It went in some during summer league but teams won’t show that part of his game respect in his rookie season. Expect teams to go under his screens until his jumper develops. Collier has a tendency to penetrate too far, which led to his shot getting blocked a lot in Vegas. Right now, Collier’s window of scoring involves the occasional jumper going in, getting fouled and scoring at the rim. So the jumper has to improve a lot. He needs a floater, but those skills are what the Jazz hope will come with development.

Collier knows he will have to make some adjustments. In high school, nobody could keep him away from the basket. He was so talented that he was still good in college. In the NBA level, he’s going to have to develop his game more.

Kyle Filipowski

What I liked: When Filipowski played the majority of his minutes at the center spot in Las Vegas, he was difficult to deal with and you saw the skill that made him a potential lottery pick. He played at all three levels on offense and he was a handful for opposing bigs to guard. I like that Filipowski can play with his back to the basket or facing the basket. I was also surprised at his ability to grab a rebound, bust out of a crowd off the dribble and start a break. That’s a valuable trait to have. At 7-feet, Filipowski is skilled for his size and more athletic than he gets credit for. I’m still trying to figure out how he lasted through the first round in a draft like this.

What concerns me: Filipowski had a lot less success when he was playing at the power forward spot. The level of athlete he faced was different. At center, Filipowski was often too quick for his counterpart. At power forward, his counterpart often had a much higher level of quickness. The Jazz are going to use Filipowski at center, but they also want him to play power forward, so an adjustment has to be made there.

Filipowski is also going to have to find his way on defense. The caveat here is that this applies to almost everyone in the summer league because young guys do not defend at a high level. But Filipowski isn’t going to be a rim protector, so he’s going to have to figure out how to stay in front of people.Filipowski did have some impressive blocked shots during summer league but I’m more trying to evaluate this at an NBA level. Still, he’s got enough strengths that I’m ready to predict a 10 year NBA career. (Tony Bradley, please stand up.) Filipowski should be a successful pro, given his strengths.

Taylor Hendricks

What I liked: Hendricks is the most interesting evaluation here, because his game is not suited for what summer league is: a lot of guys working off the dribble. Hendricks’ best offensive attributes are his ability to catch and shoot, his ability to be opportunistic and his athleticism in transition. By and large, summer league is defined by guys trying to stand out, so team play suffers. What I liked about Hendricks was his game against the Toronto Raptors. The ball found him and he made shots from 3-point range. He was everywhere on defense. His activity on offense led to easy baskets. He rebounded on both ends. For one game, he showed the flash that made him the No. 9 pick in 2023, and he did it within his NBA role. To make Hendricks effective, the Jazz will need to surround the offense with passers and ball movers.

What concerns me: My grandfather always used to say that the, “same thing that will make you laugh will make you cry.” It fits here. The very thing that Hendricks did against Toronto, the motor, the activity, the flying around on both sides of the ball, he simply didn’t do enough of during the entirety of the summer league. It’s one reason why he disappeared so many times. During the Toronto game, Hendricks’ overall activity led to the ball finding him. He needed more of that during those two weeks. Even if summer league didn’t structurally fit Hendricks, the activity is within his control. During the regular season, Hendricks is the guy who has to play with an active motor every minute he’s on the floor, because the ball is not always going to find him. He’s going to have to impact games in other ways, when it doesn’t.

Keyonte George

What I liked: I thought Keyonte had perhaps one of the singular most dominant games of any summer league. He dropped 31 points and did it with efficiency. Nobody could stay in front of him off the dribble. He scored at all three levels. He found a balance between hunting his shot and getting his teammates involved. He finished at the rim. He created huge amounts of separation off the dribble.

George came to summer league in tremendous physical shape. He played like an alpha, and it was apparent after game two that he was too good for this format, which is what the Jazz wanted to see, and they shut him down. In that sense, it was the perfect summer league for George. He proved that he had grown beyond that level, and if he plays at this level through the season, he could very well be putting himself on a star level trajectory.

What concerns me: George’s first game in summer league, against the Memphis Grizzlies, was almost the complete opposite of the above. He scored 30 in that game, and I thought that was one of the worst 30-point games I’d seen in a long time. He was inefficient. He was way too shot-hungry. He didn’t get his teammates involved, and he struggled on defense. In fact, there’s a chance that we saw a second summer league game from George because of game one.

Great games happen and bad games happen. In the great game, George showed how talented he is and how much that talent and overwhelm an opponent. In the bad game, George showed what can happen when things go off the rails. What he needs to show this season is the ability to be consistent. We will never have to question his talent level. But stars are created on the margins, and George is going to have to harness all of his ability in the right direction. There is no question, however, about how talented he is.

Brice Sensabaugh

What I liked: His summer league was abbreviated because of a tendon injury to his left middle finger but I liked his ability to pass the ball and create off the dribble. I like that he’s a knockdown shooter. I can watch Sensabaugh shoot a basketball all day and not get tired of it. At the end of the day, his ability to shoot is going to create chances for him to forge a long NBA career.

What concerns me: His strength as a player is creating off the dribble. The issue here is that to be a ball in hand player in the NBA, you have to be close to a star-level talent, and Sensabaugh has role-player level talent. This is not a diss or a knock on Sensabaugh in any way but it does mean he will need to change the way he plays basketball. If he becomes a movement shooter who can do some occasional secondary creating, that’s going to be his lane. Because he’s such a great shooter, he can carve out a nice niche catching and shooting. But he’s going to have to commit to that.

Right now, Sensabaugh plays like a primary offensive engine. In my opinion, he’s going to have to play like a role player to stay at this level over the long haul.

Walker Kessler

What I liked: Over two games, Kessler averaged almost 11 rebounds. His rim protection was top notch, as always. He didn’t get a lot of opportunity on offense, so he leaned into what he does well, which is rebound, block shots and run the floor. What I liked, and what the Jazz wanted to see, was he screened well for the guards, and the guards were able to get downhill off the dribble as a result. Kessler’s screening may have been one of the biggest reasons for him not playing well last season, and it’s been a real point of emphasis for him and his camp during this offseason.

What concerns me: Not much honestly, because we know what the baseline is going to be. Kessler’s biggest bugaboo is going to be how he handles things mentally. Physically, he’s one of the bright young centers in the league. So the question is whether he can extend his range, and whether he can continue to develop with his back to the basket. He’s going to be an important piece this season. How is he going to handle that responsibility?

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