My guess would be:
Collier
Keyonte
Ace
Lauri
Walker
It will be interesting to see if Keyonte gets another chance to prove he can be a starter.
Training Camp 2025
- Thread starter nateboz
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My guess would be:
Collier
Keyonte
Ace
Lauri
Walker
It will be interesting to see if Keyonte gets another chance to prove he can be a starter.
** Keyonte and Brice showing some focus and interest in playing defense.
** What does Hendricks look like/how close is he to playing?
** Can Ace play significant minutes?
** What are the Jazz doing with Kyle Andersen and Kevin Love?
If I was Hardy and trying to win games I might go with:
- Keyonte (assuming/hoping he takes a 3rd year jump)
- Harkless
- Anderson
- Lauri
- Kessler
...
...
Actually that lineup isn't great. I'm not sure it's possible to create a well rounded defensive/offensive lineup with our team. I guess that's why we won't win many games.
- Keyonte (assuming/hoping he takes a 3rd year jump)
- Harkless
- Anderson
- Lauri
- Kessler
...
...
Actually that lineup isn't great. I'm not sure it's possible to create a well rounded defensive/offensive lineup with our team. I guess that's why we won't win many games.
Does Love even make it to camp is another question. I was under the impression that when we signed him he would be cut before camp.
I do think Flip might be the most ready of our rookie contract guys to play meaningful NBA minutes, but I'm not sure you can play him and Lauri together defensively? I wonder if Lauri is at the point where he is only really capable of defending 4's and I don't think Flip can guard anyone right now.
Yeah, maybe its Taylor instead of Flip if he's ready to go, but Flip gives the team playmaking and spacing. Defense is going to be an issue no matter who you put on the court.
I would say my locked in 4 are Ace/Clayton/Lauri/Walker and then its a tossup between Brice/Flip/Hendricks.
I don't have Clayton Jr as a lock. I need to see more.
I also don't think Ace is a lock, but it would be disappointing if he isn't starting by some point this year.
I think Clayton is kind of a lock, at least he would be for me. They traded up to get him in a good draft and he's older than Key or Collier. He's also a far better shooter than either of them and is the guy who most helps the starters.
Handlogten's Heros
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If Clayton is starting early it means he has a great pre-season and camp. I think the age matters less than NBA experience on the depth chart and that he will have to be a clearly better option than both (which he may be). So I think it would be a big indicator that he is gonna be legit.
I wonder which direction they try to go with Brice's development. The guy can clearly shoot it, but his BBIQ was truly awful last season. He does have some scoring chops that could allow him to play more with the ball in his hands, but I also wonder if it's time to really hone into an off ball role. Generally I think it's good to give young guys more opportunity vs less, but Brice's just might be in over his head when he can be a really nice off ball player who makes less decisions.
I think Key-WCJ is a good pairing for their developments. They can play some with and without the ball without taxing the other too much. With Collier, for everyone's sake he's got to dominate the ball and that would force Key/WCJ to be more off the ball and not get as many ball handler reps. I'd expect both Key and WCJ to be better players than Collier next season, but if we're going to play Collier it makes most sense to pair the minutes with Lauri IMO.
It's mostly difficult for me to put together lineups that can work because we only have two players that I have any confidence in defending guards on the perimeter (Harkless and Anderson), and I don't think either player gets close to starter minutes this year.
homeytennis
Well-Known Member
Harkless is limited at the moment at the number of games he can play. I believe the number is 52.
Locke talking to Thurl Bailey on today's podcast
"I can't wait to be around you and feel your juice"
"I can't wait to be around you and feel your juice"
Step-Back Lauri
Well-Known Member
The only certainty is that Lauri and Walker will start. Keynote very likely per reports we've been getting from off-season. He's gonna have improved shot but will be seen if his defensive effort and court vision has taken any jump.
Would you call it hating if someone called Anthony Davis being injury-prone? Since Lauri came into the league he missed more games than Davis! You can count on him missing 20-30 games like clockwork. And that happened when Lauri was young. You can pretty reliably expect 7-footers to get injured/miss significantly more games when they are getting close to 30.
Last season Lauri played in 47 games, which was his career-low. This summer in the EuroBasket he supposedly played through injuries. I think that pretending that Lauri's health is not a major concern going forward is not particularly productive. If I were the Jazz I would try to trade Markkanen as soon as possible, even if they cannot get much in return.
The Jazz Wonderbra
Well-Known Member
Locke's gonna locke
I always wondered what was the deal with Keyonte and his horrible defense. If he simply improved his defense from being one of the worst in the NBA to "below average" he would immediately become a guaranteed starter on many teams. Is he capable but just hates playing defense with passion? Did he miss crucial defensive development in high school/college and simply cannot figure out how to play it now? Does he have insurmountable physical limitations preventing him from being better on D?