Sad News: Utah Jazz key player die in a Car Cr……
For the first time this season, the Jazz played a lineup with all of the team’s draft picks over the last two years on the court together. Isaiah Collier, Keyonte George, Cody Williams, Brice Sensabaugh, and Kyle Filipowski played in the fourth quarter, and were a +2 together. All of them, remember, are 21 or younger.
To be sure, the biggest reason for the lineup was the game’s absences. Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Walker Kessler all sat as the team tries to lose as much as possible.
But in my opinion, playing all of the young guys together is just about as good of a use for the remaining 31 games as there can be. For one, they’re not likely to be that good together, so you’re not risking your team’s draft position.
More importantly, though, it pushes them into bigger roles from a leadership and a execution perspective. With veterans on the floor, the rookies can simply yield to them for a big basket, or decision making. The veterans are expected to be the ones to diagnose the opponent’s offense or defense and provide a solution. With all of them on the floor together, there’s no hiding — someone young will have to step up.
“In that moment of the game, I intentionally backed my communication down some because I wanted them to solve some problems together, to get organized together on both sides of the court,” Will Hardy said. “Doesn’t mean I stopped talking, but you try to pull back a little bit and let them take up that space.”
It’s also nice because it allows the youth to learn about how to play together. For example, Brice Sensabaugh turned the ball over in that fourth-quarter run, because Cody Williams slipped to the rim when Sensabaugh expected him to stay spaced at the 3-point line. Next time, hopefully, they’ll be on the same page.
Yeah, I’m being a bit simplistic. No one expects all of the Jazz’s six rookies and sophomores to all be big NBA successes, to all be part of the next good Jazz team. Some of them will likely fail, and even the successful ones might be traded or sign somewhere else. But in a season mostly about getting to the next season, some sense of chemistry on and off the court might be one thing that carries over from 2024-25 to the future.
