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Game Thread Oct 07, 2024 07:00PM MT: Houston Rockets @ Utah Jazz (Preseason)

Added to Calendar: 10-07-24

My top four things that carried over from the Breakers game:
  • Clarkson is definitely looking more like the 2022-23 version, and he might end up cooking this season. I think a lot of guys who counted us to be bottom 5 sort of ignored how bad of season he had in 2023-24
  • Brice Sensabaugh continued making myself and other doubters look like fools
  • Juzang on the other hand salvaged some of that lost credibility by looking like a rotation guy again
  • WE NEED MORE FLIP. That dude needs more minutes and more on-ball duties. We need to give him a game where he gets into rhythm early and see what follows.
I liked the attempt to make Lauri and Keyonte iso more as thats about pushing development which this season should be all about. The results werent exactly pretty, but I hope Hardy keeps on pushing for more of that.

Hendricks looked amazing according to my eyeball test. I mean his physical presence is so much improved and he looks way more comfortable and in control out there than last year.

Collier with another multi-steal game. Did gamble and fail once or twice but they werent horrible gambles where he was the only defender between his guy and the basket. He also did a better job at pacing the offense and taking care of the ball than he did vs the Breakers.

I was shocked to see that Cody had 0 stocks on the box score. I clearly remember him deflecting 2-3 passes with those long arms of his, but I guess they didnt materialize to steals or whatever. Overall he still played good defense, but was pretty terrible on offense this time around. Still he wasnt a clear negative out there and could win biggest minutes of all the rookies just because defensively he has some goods that we have a short supply of.
 
Weirdest stat of the day:
Walker Kessler -9 (team worst)
John Collins +13 (team best)

That may be the first time ever that they are on the opposite end of the plus minus that way around.
 
- Amen Thompson is a stud on defense, a stud in transition, and an issue in half court offense.
- Reed Sheppard changed the game for HOU on defense in a negative way. It gave us someone to target. In the NBA you can get picked on just by looking like someone that can get targeted.
- Cody Williams is a good defender, I think that is clear. He seems to have 0 confidence in his jumper, which is a problem because he's not strong enough to live in the paint. One of those things needs to change for him to be an impactful player on offense.
- Juzang is the kind of player that could really help some of our lineups work. Right now he is out of the regular rotation, but I'm not sure how long that will last.
- I like Collier. He needs some time to work on his decision making, but I think he'll be at least a backup PG in the league. If he ever figures out his shot he could be more.
 
HermanG said:
Weirdest stat of the day:
Walker Kessler -9 (team worst)
John Collins +13 (team best)

That may be the first time ever that they are on the opposite end of the plus minus that way around.
Click to expand...
Probably going to be the norm going forward. Kessler is going to get spanked by starters and Collins will be better against backups.
 
Collier > Keyonte as a point guard... meaning initiating the offense, readings plays, not dribbling until there are 6 seconds on the shot clock and then chucking.

Juzang is the new Dunn... he took basketball seriously (finally) over the offseason. I was baffled by the 4 year contract but his off-season work CLEARLY earned it. That contract will look amazing for a while.
 
Hardy makes us too good to lose more than 50 games unless he tries to. He should be in food processing because he could squeeze 70% more juice out of oranges than they have according to lab tests.
 
  • Lauri looked really good. Houston seems like one of those teams that fouls a lot and hope the refs dont call most of them. They called them on Lauri
  • Keyonte continues to look good. He looks like the most vocal Jazz player on offense.
  • Hendricks looks good when he doesnt have to dribble.
  • Kessler continues to be the least enjoyable Jazz player to watch. I know the defense is better with him on the court, but sometimes it's hard to tell with how soft he is.
  • Sexton looked fine. Seems to be looking for his 3pt shot more. Interested to see him and Keyonte develop chemistry together.
  • Brice has reversed the narrative after his SL. I think the key is just not having the ball for too long with him.
  • Cody has good man defense, I think the best on the team. Not sure he knows what to do on a NBA court currently unless he gets the ball with an open driving lane.
  • Collins has looked fine. Absolutely going to be bad on defense at center, especially if he has to guard someone of Senguin's quality, but against most backups it probably wont be that bad and he will look good.. The bounce pass to Lauri was a nice highlight. Still a more enjoyable watch than Kessler.
  • Filipowski looks great. It's a shame he's stuck behind a logjam created by my two most disliked players on the roster, Walker Kessler and John Collins. He's going to be a shooter. He's going to be a playmaker. He's going to be a problem
  • Collier is ultra aggressive and wants to playmake. I'm not sure how much actual passing/vision talent he has, but he tries. He's got a great strong frame and he's quick for his level of mass/muscle, but he cant jump at all. Think he's got great small guard defensive potential. Not sure how he scores with his broken jumper and lack of pop in the paint.
  • Juzang a baller. It will be a shame if he isnt in the regular rotation.
  • Clarkson looks good. Dude is just so slithery with the way he scores. I think Brice is probably the closest thing to Clarkson we have in terms of just scoring talent from anywhere on the court.
  • Eubanks seems like a good backup center. Like him more than Yurtseven. Probably a worse scorer/finisher, but he's active and mobile.
 
in regard to Collier's shooting, while he has looked bad, going 7-7 on FTs or whatever he did last night is at least an encouraging sign.

Hardy needs to find meaningful minutes for Filipowski. It might be tough to find legit "rotation" minutes (though hopefully they get there by mid-season or so), but at least 10-15 meaningful minutes a night. Same with Juzang, but they might need to be rotation minutes - 15-20 minutes or so. the problem there is his minutes may have to be at the expense of Sensabaugh and/or Williams and that's a tough call.
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
Probably going to be the norm going forward. Kessler is going to get spanked by starters and Collins will be better against backups.
Click to expand...
I hope not. I'm still not completely off his bandwagon but even if I was, I would want to see DA extract some value if we give up on him.
 
Pleasantly surprised at Cody's good natural defensive instincts. We saw some of this in summer league. He is going to still suffer due to his weight, but could be a very good defender in 3 years. It remains to be seen if Kessler's added weight will help him. On offense, he generally scored with more finesse in the past by using the opposite side of the basket.
 
seattlejazzfan said:
in regard to Collier's shooting, while he has looked bad, going 7-7 on FTs or whatever he did last night is at least an encouraging sign.

Hardy needs to find meaningful minutes for Filipowski. It might be tough to find legit "rotation" minutes (though hopefully they get there by mid-season or so), but at least 10-15 meaningful minutes a night. Same with Juzang, but they might need to be rotation minutes - 15-20 minutes or so. the problem there is his minutes may have to be at the expense of Sensabaugh and/or Williams and that's a tough call.
Click to expand...
Lauri is going to miss a decent amount of games, so Flip will get his eventually, but I doubt he's in the rotation to start and might be in the G when Lauri/Kessler/Collins are active.
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
I just got back from the game. My main takeaway is that Keyonte isn't a lead initiator. I don't think he processes and makes reads fast enough to be a lead decision-maker with the ball. Truthfully, I'm not sure there's anyone on the roster that's better suited than Keyonte at the moment, but I wouldn't pencil in Key as PGOTF. I still think he's a score-first combo-guard. He can make a few plays, but I'm not sure the feel is really there.
Click to expand...
It's the start of year 2 of him playing a new position. To me he looked great as a playmaker. He's out there commanding the offense. I think Houston's early physical play just blew up everything the Jazz wanted to run and they werent hitting any shots.

While I agree him being the "PGOTF" is far from a guarantee, I think he is firmly a starting guard past his rookie contract. He's very good.

I'm most curious how him and Sexton play off each other. There's a lot of offensive potential from that pairing.
 
Projection

Sheppard turns 20 a few days before the Draft, and while he has some areas to improve, he is probably the most polished product in this 2024 Class and could contribute immediately. In 2023-24, Grayson Allen led the NBA in three-point percentage and Sheppard led the NCAA, but the former had a little more offensive athleticism than the latter did coming out of college. However, Sheppard is a better playmaker and defender, showing off some Jalen Suggs-esque tenacity during his lone season at Kentucky. Sheppard profiles as the classic three-and-D guy in a starting lineup, but he could also be utilized as a primary offensive weapon off the bench.

— Profile by RotoWire

Hard for me to visualize sheppard as a 3D guy. Dude is tiny
 
My big issue with the Jazz as currently constructed is that the front-court of Lauri/Walker/Hendricks just doesnt have enough on-ball ability. Cooper Flagg would fix that. But watching Hendricks/Kessler's only move with the ball to run a terrible dribble handoff (more like a dribble pitch-off with no screen contact) was frustrating.
 
Agent#00 said:
Projection

Sheppard turns 20 a few days before the Draft, and while he has some areas to improve, he is probably the most polished product in this 2024 Class and could contribute immediately. In 2023-24, Grayson Allen led the NBA in three-point percentage and Sheppard led the NCAA, but the former had a little more offensive athleticism than the latter did coming out of college. However, Sheppard is a better playmaker and defender, showing off some Jalen Suggs-esque tenacity during his lone season at Kentucky. Sheppard profiles as the classic three-and-D guy in a starting lineup, but he could also be utilized as a primary offensive weapon off the bench.

— Profile by RotoWire

Hard for me to visualize sheppard as a 3D guy. Dude is tiny
Click to expand...
He's a defensive playmaker, not a defender, if that makes sense. Think he will be an elite steals guy, but will get hunted on isos. Being a terror to dribble against will help that, but the highly skilled big guards will see him as a target.

Cody Williams had no prayer of dribbling on him.
 
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