Game Thread Jan 22, 2026 07:00PM MT: San Antonio Spurs @ Utah Jazz

[Tremendous Upside]

Uhh. Yeah. Im rreeaallllyyyyyy sure. Have you watched the other end of the court ? Lol

I have.

So?

Walker is a non-switchable, slow-recovering, traditional rim protector. A lot of his perceived effectiveness on that side of the ball is tied to the willingness of teams to keep challenging him near the basket. But we've already seen a decrease in that since his rookie season. Teams have figured him out.

As rebounders Nurk and Kessler are pretty much equal, if different. Kessler is better at chasing loose balls, Nurk is better at using his size and strength.

All in all, both have their warts on the defensive side of the ball. But Nurk's offense is overwhelmingly better.

We've found our center of the future

 

[fishonjazz]

Feel like tanking rotations were used this game more than usual

Tanktations

 

[LogGrad98]

Tanktations

Rotanktions.

 

[HermanG]

Seeing KO out there and watching Nurk post that triple double made me realize how much Hardy loves point centers, and how well he uses them in his offense.

Kessler and KO were both effective in their roles back in 2022-24, and Hardy was able to build good starting unit around Kessler and a good bench unit around KO despite their very different skillsets. We won a lot of games despite having one of the worst backcourts in the NBA with guards who were at most 6th man quality (except Conley, who wasnt there for the 2nd KO season).

 

[KqWIN]

Just finished this one. Interesting lineup to close the game to say the least. Kinda seemed like Hardy had his rotation planned out and stuck to it. Don’t think he was truly coaching to win that one.

Nurk was good, but we kinda froze out the rest of the offense in the 4th.

 

[HermanG]

Ace is really embracing his role and starting to thrive in it. I just wonder if him and Hardy can figure out how to keep this up even after Lauri comes back, as Ace is running a lot of stuff that Lauri usually runs (especially the curls).

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Ace is really embracing his role and starting to thrive in it. I just wonder if him and Hardy can figure out how to keep this up even after Lauri comes back, as Ace is running a lot of stuff that Lauri usually runs (especially the curls).

IMO it's obvious that he should be coming off the bench to replicate Lauri's role with the 2nd unit.

Getting reps carrying a bit more of the scoring load against bench players would be a good experiment. Then again, it also wouldn't hurt him to keep playing off the ball with the starters.

 

[HermanG]

IMO it's obvious that he should be coming off the bench to replicate Lauri's role with the 2nd unit.

Getting reps carrying a bit more of the scoring load against bench players would be a good experiment. Then again, it also wouldn't hurt him to keep playing off the ball with the starters.

Problem is Lauri has played pretty big minutes this season, so how much breadcrumbs will Ace be able to get if Hardy wont either redistribute the actions a bit or come up with other actions that utilize having 2 guys out there who can do this stuff?

You often talk about development and last few games have shown that Ace can handle this stuff very efficiently with these increased volumes. So based on that we should try to maintain or increase the current volumes, right?

 

[Peter_Mentor]

Key didn’t get much love from the refs this time, but it was still a good effort from him. In the fourth quarter, our offense leaned a bit too heavily on Nurk, and Key turned into more of a bystander. SAS and Wemby adjusted by giving Nurk all the space to shoot, effectively taking away his passing game.

Collier is a really polarizing player to me. In the right conditions and against the right matchups, his game is very effective, but more often than not he’s a liability on both ends. I’m skeptical about whether the Jazz offensive system is the right environment for him.

Cody’s reluctance to take corner threes was a big issue early, as he kept forcing cuts when we needed spacing. Luckily, SAS put Olynyk on him, and Will adjusted by using Cody as a screener. That helped him find more ways to be impactful on offense. Overall, a good game from Cody.

Boler is having a hard time distinguishing Svi from Love.

 

[Domino]

There’s just no world where we aren’t a good team next year especially if we retain our pick


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[Udidthizz]

Looks like we're going to need a Jusuf Nurkic Hype & Appreciation thread.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Problem is Lauri has played pretty big minutes this season, so how much breadcrumbs will Ace be able to get if Hardy wont either redistribute the actions a bit or come up with other actions that utilize having 2 guys out there who can do this stuff?

As always, Hardy's in-game decisions will be based on winning, accountability and rewarding hard work, not propping up this player or that. I don't see why Lauri would need to be playing 39mpg or something in a tanking season, but I think it's safe to say that he'll always play 30+. He averaged 30 even as a rookie, and he's in his prime now.

IMO that leaves plenty of minutes and opportunities for Ace, particlularly as we don't even know what type of substitution pattern they're gonna go with when Lauri returns. I don't think Bailey is in danger of being buried on the bench anymore, but it's even more unlikely that Lauri's role would be cut in favor of a shaky rookie.

You often talk about development

I only talk about "development" to stress that I don't believe it's a thing you can control by force-feeding someone touches, shots, minutes and actions. Good players develop the best when they're in an environment where good, win-oriented NBA basketball is the goal.

My boy Edgecombe is a great example. He's like the 5th offensive option for the Sixers and outside of simple pick and pops, they run almost no plays for him, but the team plays winning basketball. He's learning, getting better and has an important overall role in their playstyle. It would be insane to force shots to VJ when they have several better offensive players on the roster.