Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 133-106 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. A fun experiment in losing
In this first point, I generally like to discuss one of the largest reasons the Jazz lost the game. The Triple Team is primarily a game recap, after all.
Undoubtedly, you are tired of me writing about turnovers at this point. I suspect this because I am tired of writing about turnovers at this point. Usually, in these circumstances, I’ll pivot to some other, more interesting item that played a role in the game’s outcome.
In this game, there’s no other reason. The Jazz lost this game because of turnovers. They shot better than the Thunder, believe it or not. They got more free-throws, and even got a slightly higher percentage of their own misses on offensive rebounds. It’s just that, urg, the Jazz turned the ball 29 times.
Twenty-nine is a high water mark for turnovers this season. Heck, the first half count of 19 is a record in the last decade of NBA basketball.
I could show you the turnovers, but that video would get about four views: You know what the Jazz do at this point. A shocking number of them happen above the arc, leading to easy opposition runouts. The Thunder scored a whopping 45 points off turnovers tonight.
So why do I say that it was fun? Well, in some ways it was like a scientific experiment. What, exactly, would happen in an NBA game if you played reasonably well except for setting the “butterfinger” slider to the max? It turns out that you lose by 27 points.
Good to know! I don’t think anybody was asking that question, but it’s nice that the Jazz are exploring the statistical limits of the sport for our benefit. Knowledge is power.
2. Egor Demin’s game
Given the snoozer, let’s talk about the potential future of the Jazz rather than its present. If the season ended today, the Jazz would have the third most lottery balls.
We’ll start with a discussion on Egor Demin, the Russian BYU freshman who had really, really popped early this season. There were three really impressive points.
First, a 6-9 point guard, Demin just made passes you do not see other point guards make — on-time, on-target passes over his head, to the weak-side corner, behind him for threes, for dunks. Second, known as a limited shooter, Demin came into the season with a remodeled shot that A) looked good and B) was going in. Headed into tonight’s game, he was 44% from deep. Third, he was finishing around the rim with both authority and touch, depending on what was needed.
His game against Central Arkansas was a thing of beauty.
Given these performances, I 100% understand why Sam Vecenie, one of the best NBA draft analysts out there, moved him all the way up to No. 2 on his big board this morning, right below Cooper Flagg. It was saying a lot, because Vecenie was critical of Demin’s game coming into BYU — but Demin had shone that brightly.
And then came tonight’s game against Providence. With a reported 17 NBA scouts in attendance for the game, Demin was awful: 0-10 from the field, 0-5 from three, just two assists. BYU benched him at the start of the second half, probably less because of the shooting accuracy and more because of the shot selection and defensive woes. Providence simply played physically on him, and Demin cratered.
It’s a bummer, because I think theoretically, a Demin pick would fit the Jazz nearly perfectly. The team clearly needs a point guard. A big, ballhandling creator who can shoot and also set up Lauri Markkanen for open shots and Walker Kessler for lob dunks? That’s the ideal partner for those guys.
It’s just a matter of whether or not Demin is that guy against quality opposition, or whether he’ll continue to sink against better, longer, more athletic defenders. We’ll find out much more in this upcoming Big 12 slate.
3. Dylan and Ron Harper
We’ll continue our prospect discussion with an interesting bit of Utah-related drama regarding prospect Dylan Harper.
Playing at Rutgers this year, he’s a 6-6 point guard, combo guard mix who is just a do it all player. He can pass, finish around the rim, play defense, lead a team, score in half-court or in transition, etc. The shooting is a slight question mark, but not a huge one. He’s at No. 2 on many draft boards, often No. 3. He’ll be a really good NBA player.
His dad is former NBA player Ron Harper. On Twitter, a fan likely confused Ron Harper with Derek Harper, who refused to play for the Utah Jazz in the 90s, and said that Ron would prevent his son from being drafted to the Jazz. And Ron, despite the confusion, seemed to agree — there’d be a trade that moved Harper away from the Beehive state.
Later, Ron Harper backtracked.
And he’s right: Ron Harper’s opinions aren’t Dylan’s. Even if they were, the NBA gives pretty ironclad team control of players who are drafted in the first round, which Harper will be. It’s pretty clear Ron wouldn’t be excited about Dylan in a Jazz uniform, but it’s honestly good distance from Ron to acknowledge he doesn’t get to have much of a say in what happens in Dylan’s future.
Nevertheless, this is something to consider. Let’s say you’re the Jazz’s front office, and you believe Demin and Harper are prospects of a similar caliber. Do you pick the prospect that could have gone anywhere in the world — and chose BYU? Or do you pick the prospect who’s dad might be somewhat grumbly on draft day if he’s wearing a Utah hat?
The answer is clearly the former. Because one day, that draft pick will be a free agent. You will want to retain him in Utah.
And yet: there’s no such real thing as two prospects who NBA evaluators have equal feelings on. I assure you that Danny Ainge, Justin Zanik, and the rest of the Jazz’s front office have significant preferences between the two, even if there were to be disagreements internally. Given that, they should just pick the player the process indicates is better.
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