The Markkanen, Hendricks, Kessler front court

Good morning all.

As a Norwegian, it is hard for me to watch the Jazz play. The home games are on @ 3am, or 03.00 as we say over here, and it is only in the weekends that I get to watch recordings when I get up.

We all know the defensive potential of Hendricks and Kessler. We also know how good Lauri Markkanen is. But, is there any realistic scenario where we can get the best of both world with Markkanen being our lead offensive front court player, Hendricks being a very good 3 and D guy with Kessler locking up the paint?

You guys watch way more games than me and know a lot more about the game than I do. Do any of you see any path to this becoming something that actually works? If so, what improvements do the players have to make?

The Jazz brought Kessler off the bench for the majority of games this year. It's possible that, in part, they wanted to feature John Collins to boost his trade value. However, I think the Jazz really want their center to be able to play on the perimeter, both defensively and offensively. Kessler doesn't fit that model. He also was very limited offensively this year in general.

I don't think the Jazz's rotation going forward is set by any means. They may replace Kessler. They may bring in a wing who can playmake at the 3 (replacing what Olynyk contributed) and move Lauri to the 4. Hendricks is a decent rotational player, but he'll need to continue to prove that he's a starter as the Jazz add more pieces to their roster.

I think that, for the time being, the Jazz believe in Keyonte being a starting guard, and I think they believe in Lauri being a starting forward. Everything else could be in flux.

Hedda Gambler said:

Good morning all.

As a Norwegian, it is hard for me to watch the Jazz play. The home games are on @ 3am, or 03.00 as we say over here, and it is only in the weekends that I get to watch recordings when I get up.

We all know the defensive potential of Hendricks and Kessler. We also know how good Lauri Markkanen is. But, is there any realistic scenario where we can get the best of both world with Markkanen being our lead offensive front court player, Hendricks being a very good 3 and D guy with Kessler locking up the paint?

You guys watch way more games than me and know a lot more about the game than I do. Do any of you see any path to this becoming something that actually works? If so, what improvements do the players have to make?

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Good morning.

The big problem with that front court is that you still need more perimeter/PoA defense but you are already putting massive expectations on your guards offensively. I think the list of what you need your guards to do is just too tall with that front court.

If you want to involve Kessler (as he is now) in any plans of building a great team you essentially need 4 great shooters 3 of whom are also solid to great perimeter defenders. I wouldn't personally try to build around him to cover for his weaknesses, as you just set too high of a bar for the rest of your roster.

Personally I think Lauri/Hendricks combo will give you enough help defense in the paint so you wouldnt even get full benefit from an elite rim protector. So I would either invest in an offensively skilled big or just play 5 out / small ball with possibly a tweener center like Collins (who just needs to be able to shoot, rebound and hustle).

I wouldn't be surprised if anyone on the roster got traded Lauri included. It struck me that Collins provided a lot of empty calories. He hustled, tried hard, his stats were OK but he sucked up minutes that could have gone to Tay Henny development. The last four or five games with the raggamuffins in the line up the Jazz were freaking competitive. Yurt7, Luka, Bazely, Lofton, THT, Juzang, Potter and Lewis all had their moments at a fraction of the cost of journeyman wages. I'm sure the front office is grading this all out.

Hi Hedda.

- we do not know much about Hendricks, and for what we know he's not demonstrated he's close to even be an 8-9 rotation man in the pecking order
- we know a lot more on Kessler... I don't see him being an important part of any team (in the near future at least, probably at 26, 27 years his maturity might overtake over his sort of soft-being...)
- Markkanen is a great player/dude/character. I like him a lot, so I don't wish him to have to survive another 2 or 3 seasons of losing basketball... he deserves better.

The Smith organization really appears to be cooking some big fishes all around, a lot of Jazz and non Jazz tings will be floating around (which it's probably the best for the future of sports in Utah)... but my guess is the Jazz are going to suffer a lot for at least 2 to 4 more seasons... AND.... no one is safe with Danny Ainge around... he would trade anything/anyone just because....

When your plan to involves taking swings in the draft, it could be 2 years or it could be 10 years to get where you want to be. You want to end up with the best players to win, but that just doesn't easily in a competitive league. I would modify that approach. The best reasonable top players if possible but the best supporting class and the best asset management to constantly tweak and the best player development.

Simply put Walker isnt going to be a priority until he makes himself a priority. Can't be a full out scrub on offense if you arent a complete defensive player.

The most disappointing thing about this entire season is that Key, Sexton, Hendricks, Lauri and Walker played a grand total of 20 minutes together.

sip said:

The most disappointing thing about this entire season is that Key, Sexton, Hendricks, Lauri and Walker played a grand total of 20 minutes together.

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Wow that is kinda shocking. Hardy wouldnt even try that lineup really..

sip said:

The most disappointing thing about this entire season is that Key, Sexton, Hendricks, Lauri and Walker played a grand total of 20 minutes together.

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Yep

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sip said:

The most disappointing thing about this entire season is that Key, Sexton, Hendricks, Lauri and Walker played a grand total of 20 minutes together.

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What a lunatic statement my lord. Your biggest disappointment is that you didn't see one lineup? Not Walker Kessler taking a step back? Not Clarkson having the worst home/away splits of all time?

Saint Cy of JFC said:

What a lunatic statement my lord. Your biggest disappointment is that you didn't see one lineup? Not Walker Kessler taking a step back? Not Clarkson having the worst home/away splits of all time?

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Yeah it is super strange to be disappointed about not seeing Key, Sexton, Hendricks, Lauri and Kessler play together. It's not like they weren't viewed as the possible building blocks of our team.

The Hendricks-Lauri-Walker trio has obvious potential on the defensive side. It's the offensive side that's problematic. I've said this in other threads, but if Walker isn't good in the short roll, then the offense of the lineups that feature this trio will be dead-on-arrival. There's not much more that needs to be said than that.

In theory should be a good defensive front court, but that doesn't seem to be a priority for Hardy. None of these guys want to play with the ball in their hands. Puts a ton of ball handling responsibility on the backcourt, but one of those backcourt guys also needs to be a strong perimeter defender. Hardy definitely prefers a big with initiation/passing out of the high post/top of key area. He does not like to run PnR. He wants a Sengun/Bam/Sabonis type.

If the Jazz had landed Porzingis and Holiday (two guys they were rumored on) we could have been extremely good this year.