Because he's a 2nd year player and he's trending up
Game Thread Dec 19, 2024 05:00PM MT: Utah Jazz @ Detroit Pistons
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Added to Calendar: 12-19-24
Tremendous Upside
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Lauri spends a LOT of time guarding out of position, which makes him look a lot worse than he is. It's not about being a switch target either, although that does happen.
For some bizarre reason, the game plan often calls for him to try to contain quick, crafty ballhandling scorers like SGA out at the perimeter. No chance.
Because it's increasingly looking that for this season October is an outlier (it was only 5 games).
He was great in the preseason. Had a good November and is having a good December. We'll see how he finishes the season.
Key is fine on offense, he’s NBA level. But it’s an uphill battle when you’re the worst defender in the league. That is where he needs to improve. I’m not super hopeful which is I don’t think he’s a long term starter, but his offense is likely good enough to keep him in the league and in a rotation.
I think he's at least like Tyler Herro. He can be the 4th, 5th or 6th guy in your rotation.
I would say he's more than fine on offense. He's in his 2nd year tasked with being the lead guard (which probably isnt a good role for him) and he's improving offensively. When his role scales down and he can be put on the other teams bad players, he will be much more palatable on defense. Yeah, maybe not starter level because of the defensive shortcomings, but his offense is going to be very good when he is fully developed.
His current pairing with Sexton magnifies his defensive shortcomings and forces him to defend the best opposing guard. Is there someone with passing, size and defense in the upcoming draft, someone like Castle?
"At least Tyler Herro", and "4th, 5th, or 6th option" on a team are two very different things.
Herro has been a 6th man for much of his early prime. He's playing better this year and is more featured on a mediocre Miami team. If the Jazz want to be a serious contender, then Lauri would be the 3rd guy, Keyonte would be the 4th guy, and either Collins or Kessler would be the 5th guy.
The #1 guy and the #2 guy aren't on the roster yet, which is why the Jazz are diving for high lottery picks.
fishonjazz
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Just watched the full game highlights.
A few comments. The alley oop reverse dunk from Brice to Sexton was sick.
In crunch when the pistons were looking to get the comeback win Sexton was scoring or assisting on every play. My favorite of those clutch plays was when Sexton stole a pass and went up at the hoop, getting the defender to commit and go for the block, and then brought the ball down and continued to sail under the basket and made a very difficult pass out to juzang for the 3.
Wish Clarkson would have been the one with the ball so much at the end and maybe we could have secured the loss.
A few comments. The alley oop reverse dunk from Brice to Sexton was sick.
In crunch when the pistons were looking to get the comeback win Sexton was scoring or assisting on every play. My favorite of those clutch plays was when Sexton stole a pass and went up at the hoop, getting the defender to commit and go for the block, and then brought the ball down and continued to sail under the basket and made a very difficult pass out to juzang for the 3.
Wish Clarkson would have been the one with the ball so much at the end and maybe we could have secured the loss.
Clarkson got ejected (kinda danced around with Ron Holland who put his fists up).
fishonjazz
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Yep. Too bad he couldn't have been the one with the ball in crunch time.