When a team loses frequently, the rigors of an 82-game season can start to show around January. These are the dog days of the NBA schedule. Games come almost every other day. The excitement of the beginning of the season has faded.
The Utah Jazz lose frequently. But they are improving. The callow roster is rapidly developing, and the wins are starting to come.
The Jazz went on the road this weekend and defeated the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic on consecutive nights. Those are two teams currently in playoff position in the Eastern Conference — teams that probably should beat Utah.
But the Jazz are improving at the big-picture issues. They are defending much better. They are sharing the ball. They are running people in and out of the lineup, and no matter who is playing, they are finding ways to be competitive.
This Jazz team needs help that can only come through picking high in the NBA draft, which is why this roster is designed this way. But the culture that is being established is something that bodes well for future Jazz teams and the players from this current team that will be on it.
“The messaging doesn’t change,” Utah head coach Will Hardy said Sunday night. “The players deserve all of the credit. They have dug in, and they have bought into the little things that it takes to win. This has become a cohesive group that’s committed to helping each other.
“The building of a team doesn’t happen in one day. This has been a new group, but it has been a fun group to coach.”
The tightrope that the Jazz are trying to walk is real. In Lauri Markkanen, the Jazz have a bonafide top-three option on a potential championship team. He can be a second or third option somewhere else, depending on how you view his ability to handle the basketball and create shots in tight quarters.
What Utah doesn’t have is the top option on a potential championship team. That’s what this season is for. It’s to lose enough to potentially draft a top-three prospect, which in this case would be Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey. The Jazz know they are unlikely to draw that kind of talent in free agency or through a trade, so the draft is the best way to find an alpha.
Currently, the Jazz are 9-25, which would give them the fifth-best lottery odds. Truthfully, that might be their ceiling. The Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors are all worse teams than Utah. The New Orleans Pelicans have a worse record than the Jazz, but they can become better if they return to full health.
Here’s where the plank is being walked. Whoever the Jazz come away with in the 2025 draft, they want that prospect to come into a stable environment. They want him to come to a franchise that will support his growth and development as a young player. Because if not, then the Jazz run the risk of being the Wizards, a franchise with a bunch of young talent, but one that has had a rudderless direction.
That’s what makes a weekend like this important for Utah. Yes, the Jazz are better off losing games, but you have to have some affirmation that doing the right things on the floor will yield positive results. If nothing else, that’s good for a young Jazz roster mentally.
Lately, the Jazz have been doing a lot of good things on the floor. They have run good offense and created good shots through the offense. They have been stingy defensively of late, forcing the Magic to shoot 35% from the field in Sunday night’s 105-92 win.
Context is everything, and there is context here. The Heat are a mess, because they just suspended star forward Jimmy Butler for seven games. The vibes are bad in Miami. The Magic have been depleted by injuries to star players Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, and they have also missed valuable role players Mo Wagner and Jalen Suggs.
But on Sunday, the Jazz were without Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, Keyonte George and John Collins. That’s three starters and the sixth man. Clearly, the Jazz have begun doing something correctly.
“The results matter in order to keep belief in your process,” Hardy said. “Seeing the work pay off really helps. Players need to feel that the work is paying off, and tough wins on the road are helpful. The players are staying with it, and the players deserve all of the credit for that.”
Most importantly, the Jazz are finding out some things about their roster. Walker Kessler is having a career season and is emerging as one of the best and most impactful defenders in the league. He’s second in the NBA with 2.6 blocked shots per game. He’s eighth in the league at 11 rebounds per game. If we’re talking consistency, you could claim he’s been Utah’s best player this season.
This has been a resurgent campaign after a rough second season. Kessler is a big reason the Jazz have remained competitive. When he’s on the floor, the Jazz are difficult to score on consistently because he’s such a deterring presence in the lane.
Brice Sensabaugh has been terrific of late. He scored a career-high 34 points against the Heat on Saturday, and he followed that with a 27-point performance against Orlando. He’s always been a terrific shooter, which is why the Jazz spent a first-round pick on him in 2023. But now he’s starting to become proficient off the dribble. He’s starting to learn angles and how to get his shot off in the NBA.
Sensabaugh has gotten into better shape, and his confidence has started to grow as he has gotten more opportunities. He has the look of Utah’s next everyday sixth man, as he continues to work on his defense.
“Brice is a really talented offensive player,” Hardy said. “He knows I’m going to stay on him about the little defensive things, because that’s what gets you on the court.
“He deserves a lot of credit for sticking with it. He’s been coached hard, and he has responded.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
