2023-24 NBA Season

[Xiao Yao You]

https://saltcityhoops.com/group-scoring-trades-brigde/

Dan Clayton: Contrarian take here: I actually think there’s a solid chance it’s Collin Sexton. Clarkson has evolved impressively over his Jazz career, but John Collins’ arrival probably evens things out a bit behind Markkanen, especially within the starting group. Meanwhile, Sexton will be a designated defense-buster off the bench. His per-36 average last year (21.5) was actually right in line with his career figure (21.8) so I think as his minutes normalize he could easily jump. And while Clarkson’s raw numbers will likely be affected by some amount of democratization in the first unit, Sexton will play alongside sometimes-reluctant shooters like Kris Dunn, Ochai Agbaji, Kelly Olynyk and whichever of Simone Fontecchio/Luka Samanic finds himself in the 10th man role most often. That sounds like a recipe for a whole lot of Sexton.

we don't actually know who's starting and coming off the bench and it could change through 20 games according to the coach. Anyone other than The Bum is great though

Mark: Sexton. I feel pretty alone on an island with my belief in Sexton as a burgeoning playmaker. Smart people have rightfully pointed out Sexton’s legitimate success as a scoring on-ball guy while noting his deficiencies as a passer, but I see more. Learning to play NBA point guard is so difficult. The top-tier guys already have the skill from day one, but lots of good point guards needed years of digestion of developmental minutes to exhibit real showrunning ability. Sexton can create so much space off the dribble, and learning real passing from those advantages will be easier. This will also be Sexton’s first fully-healthy season with the Jazz, and his first season /ever/ playing for a not-garbage team. His very high “give-a-shit” level matters, too.

I thought he looked like that guy after Conley was traded. He learned a lot. But Dunn should start and Sexton off the bench

Clark: Sexton and Talen Horton-Tucker for Gordon Hayward.

would be funny if Hayward was back here

Steve: It has to involve the guards. With playing time needed for Sexton, THT and Dunn, it doesn’t seem like there is enough pie at the table. I can also foresee Keyonte George pulling up a chair. If he develops and is ready that quickly, the Jazz will be shopping some guards elsewhere. Did I answer the question? I don’t know, but I’ll also say this: I don’t think the big trade with all the picks and assets happens in-season this year.

Olybyk and Collins could go too. How long will they continue to try to play big? Hendricks and Sensabaugh will need time eventually as well

Clark: Seven: Markkanen, George, Hendricks, Walker Kessler, Brice Sensabaugh, Clarkson, Abagji.

Won't be going anywhere as long as The Bum is around

[Xiao Yao You]

https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/24/ran...-be-this-year/

Christopher isn’t a great shooter and is already on his second team after just being drafted a couple of years ago. He’s got some issues as a prospect. For Potter, he’s coming in second. He’s a solid rebounder, but he isn’t athletic enough to make up for a lack of refined shooting. Then there’s Juzang, the most likely of the three to see any real-time on the pro squad.

I'll go with the guy that could still be in college and was a 1st round pick

This means that Yurteven is basically just sitting on his hands for most games. He’s a solid defender, and a decent rebounder but he isn’t really doing much else to get eyes on him. He’s a fine backup but unless someone gets hurt, Yurtseven isn’t likely to see many minutes or make any meaningful impact.

he'll get minutes when they play some of the bigger centers in the league I imagine

Simone Fontecchio looked good in the FIBA World Cup, helping lead Italy to a nice showing. There was some belief from us that he may crack into the rotation with how well he played but that doesn’t seem likely to happen. Unlike some on the team, Fontecchio isn’t that far down the depth chart. He’s right behind Lauri Markkanen and maybe Ochai Agbaji, depending on if the team feels Agbaji can replace Markkanen for a spell.

pretty sure Agbaji will get most of those minutes until Hendricks or Sensabaugh do anyway

Despite being buried further behind the starter than someone like Omer Yurtseven, Luka Samanic may find more minutes to play due to those ahead of him. Samanic is the team’s third-best power forward, just behind Taylor Hendricks and starter John Collins. Samanic isn’t going to get minutes over Hendricks, as Hendricks is a vaunted prospect (and Samanic is not). And he’s not going to get minutes over Collins, as he’s the new addition the team is quite excited about.

Lauri is their best 4. Samanic they see as more of a 3 I think

He is only (ha, only), 6’6, so he’s likely not an option at power forward and definitely not at center. So he’s limited to just perimeter positions. And due to the fact he isn’t a strong ball-handler and isn’t a great passer, he isn’t a point guard. So he’s stuck playing just the shooting guard and small forward positions.

not too hard to imagine in today's NBA in smaller lineups and certainly in the Gleague where he will be

Dunn is everything Horton-Tucker is, but better. He’s a better defender, better rebounder, better passer, and even a better scorer. The only reason why it makes sense for Horton-Tucker to start over Dunn is because the team is trying to trade Horton-Tucker.

wouldn't say he's a better scorer. If he wanted to be he might but he doesn't want to be

If he can keep his shot falling at a consistent rate and become the perimeter defender needed to pair with Walker Kessler, Agbaji may not be a bench player for very much longer.

he should be starting

Speaking of the second-best scorer, have we talked about Jordan Clarkson? Clarkson, as we’ve mentioned before, is Collin Sexton’s final evolution. As with Sexton, Clarkson really only does one thing very well; sore. But unlike Sexton who doesn’t shoot many threes or has spells where he’s inconsistent, Clarkson does in fact shoot threes and hardly ever has a long cold snap.

he's cold a lot more than he's hot

So yes, Clarkson isn’t elite from three, but he is from inside the arc. He’s a career 51% from inside the three-point line and it shows, namely in last year’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. He can be a genuine difference-maker on offense. If he’s able to play solid defense, which would be a year-to-year improvement for Clarkson, then the Jazz may even see Clarkson make the All-Star team in 2024.

[Xiao Yao You]

https://sircharlesincharge.com/2023/...imer-teams/14/

Utah Jazz

Starting Lineup

Collin Sexton
Jordan Clarkson
Lauri Markkanen
John Collins
Walker Kessler

Key Bench Players

Keyonte George
Ochai Agbaji
Talen Horton-Tucker
Taylor Hendricks

Pretty sure Olynyk will play and Dunn should

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.ksl.com/article/50765183...-loss-to-kings

"To be completely honest with you, I feel like I belong," George said. "Since we've been playing, I think that was the most comfortable I've ever been in an NBA basketball game."

he looked better than the preseason

[Xiao Yao You]

https://kslsports.com/506594/how-did...-job-for-jazz/

“Talen pairs well with Jordan, and Jordan is very much a good pairing with Lauri because he provides a second threat offensively, a second ball handler, a second playmaker, kind of a second focal point of the offense,” the coach explained. “So when we made the determination that Jordan was going to play with Lauri, Talen was the best fit to play with Jordan.”

too bad The Bum sucks

[Xiao Yao You]

https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/25/202...ide-preview/2/

The team is also not deep at the center position. Walker Kessler is on the rise and Kelly Olynyk is a very good backup, but should either get hurt or see foul minutes, then you may have to turn to Omer Yurtseven who hasn’t looked great this preseason.

He's looked fine and you'd have Lauri and Collins as well as Potter

Beyond that, we think there’s going to be some hardware coming to the Utah Jazz. While we’re not picking Walker Kessler for winning the Defensive Player of the Year Award, we are expecting him to make the 2nd Team All-Defensive Team. We think he’s a true gem in the NBA and a difference-maker on defense.

yet to show he can guard in space and the Fact that his minutes were limited last night I presume because of the matchup says a lot

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.slcdunk.com/2023/10/26/2...is-2023-season

The Jazz starting lineup might be really bad

The Bum alone is awful. Talen wasn't even in the rotation last year until they went into tank mode after the deadline.

One of the most glaring things from the Jazz’s first game was the disparity of 3-pt attempts. The Sacramento Kings took 58 threes compared to Utah taking 28. The percentages weren’t far off either at 37% and 32% respectively. As Will Hardy mentioned that becomes a math problem at some point and that’s hard to overcome. With all the shooting on this Jazz team, there’s no reason they can’t take things to another level. The question is, is it possible with the current starting lineup? What we saw last night was the starting guards unable to set up their shooters with threes. Over the next set of games we’ll see if the starting lineup can improve. If not, the need to make some changes.

Dunn will set guys up for 3's and Agbaji(or Sexton) unlike The Bum will hit 3's

Consider this the beginning of the campaign for Keyonte George to become the starting point guard for the Utah Jazz (that’s probably too large for a sign). When George had the ball, great things happened. He was surprisingly poised in a chippy, sometimes violent game, and was also efficient (3/5 from the field). What’s better is the offense flowed while he ran the show with players getting into their actions. Open threes were finally being taken! It’s one game and it was against a Sacramento defense that isn’t known for being great, but it was a great sign and should start the momentum to get him his starting role, one he probably should have already.

He looked good but based on pre-season he shouldn't have even been playing. Let's not rush things

[Xiao Yao You]

https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/26/big...k-bad-tonight/

Will Hardy needed to call timeouts a few times to settle the troops, but refused to do so. He needs to improve at this and realize when things are getting out of hand.

might have us another COTM that is a lot smarter than all of us?

Lauri Markkanen needs to do a better job on the perimeter. Steph Curry goes 5-7 on the night, you take it because it could’ve been 9-11. If Harrison Barnes goes 5-7 on the night, you have to start wondering where your life went wrong. It’s not all on Markkanen, team defense in the NBA never is all on one guy, but Markkanen has to play better on defense. Now, we say that to say this; he had a solid offensive night. He had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, two steals an assist, and looked comfortable all night on offense. There are going to be nights like this from Markkanen on defense, as he’s not going to be as quick as every forward he faces, but he balanced out a shoddy defensive outing with a very solid offensive one.

I wouldn't expect much defensively from a 7 footer playing the 3

As with Lauri Markkanen, there were struggles from the defense and he and John Collins had to carry that. Collins got beaten up by Domantas Sabonis, and that’s not in dispute. He, however, did play much better offensively than he previously did in the preseason. 15 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, and a steal; not a bad stat line. Shore up the defense, and the Jazz may have something with Collins in the lineup.

most of that was in the 1st half

If Jordan Clarkson’s defense was cheese, it’d be Swiss, because there’s nothing but holes in it. That said, he had a wonderfully efficient offensive night. He led the team in scoring, putting up 24 points, had a nice six assists to only two turnovers, and shot 50% on the night. He’s not a good defender at all, case in point the 51 three-point shots the Kings attempted, but he did his job which is to produce offense. Is he the answer as a starter? Maybe not with the rotation as is, but no one can say he wasn’t as good of a version of Jordan Clarkson as he could be. We know what he is and what he isn’t and this is the best Clarkson can really be.

and he's not going to be that good usually

Four turnovers in a game is abysmal, especially when you play fewer than 20 minutes. Admittedly, Kris Dunn played fine, but for as many people, ourselves included, who advocate for him to be the team’s starting point guard, he can’t keep turning the ball over.

play him with the starters and I bet he looks a lot better

The defense was bad. Just pure bad. The Sacramento Kings shot 51 three-point shots. Read that number again, because it’s unbelievable. That’s bad enough. What’s even worse is how two of their starting forwards went ham on the Utah Jazz’s defense. Harrison Barnes was taking some very easy-looking shots, and Domantas Sabonis looked like his father and Nikola Jokic rolled into one. Walker Kessler played just 22 minutes because of how little impact he was having on the game on his own. And it’s not all on him. When you have a starting five that includes Talen Horton-Tucker and Jordan Clarkson, and then you play Keyonte George and Collin Sexton; of course, you’re going to give up a lot of points. Will Hardy is supposed to be a smart coach, yet we’re left wondering why he thought this lineup was going to do anything against the Sacramento Kings.

His love of The Bum says it all

[Xiao Yao You]

https://saltcityhoops.com/game-one-o...-observations/

Sabonis is a tough matchup across the entire NBA, but you’d hope that Kessler could’ve done better when faced with a small-ball threat. Looking closer, the stats show that the Kings went 3-for-4 from deep with Kessler as the primary defender on an outside shooter. The Kings also went 10-for-17 (58%) everywhere else on the court when Kessler was the closest defender.

which is why the all D/DPOTY is way premature. He has yet to show he can guard in space

The Jazz also tried out the 3-guard, and even the 4-guard, lineups. Basketball Reference pointed out that Agbaji primarily played small forward for most of his minutes (around 79% and then 21% at power forward) and George played some small forward as well (22%), even JC had a turn (3%).

figured Agbaji would get most of the minutes behind Lauri at the 3

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.slcdunk.com/2023/10/27/2...z-first-outing

Last night, Utah couldn’t even hang their hat on smart shots. 60% of the Jazz’s shots came from 3 or at the rim. Now compare that to Sacramento’s 71%. A perfect example was a 3rd quarter, contested floater by Clarkson amid three defenders which missed and was immediately followed by a wide-open, swished transition 3 from De’Aaron Fox.

typical Bum

[Xiao Yao You]

https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/27/we-...-and-rotation/

Sexton, Clarkson and Horton-Tucker? You can’t keep all three, and play George and expect good efforts on defense. It’s not going to happen. The team won’t survive with the Jazz playing three guys who are known for not playing good defense, and a rookie while rotating them all through at such a vital position. And this isn’t a “well, it’s the first game of the season, don’t overreact”, because we know that those there men don’t play well on defense.

Tucker is supposedly starting because of his defensive potential.. Sexton plays hard at that end

That’s why there has to be someone to tug on Will Hardy’s ear and tell him that the Jazz need to start Kris Dunn and Ochai Agbaji over Horton-Tucker and Clarkson. The team should look for trade offers for Sexton and Horton-Tucker, and return Clarkson to the sixth-man role where he can shoot at will and play the minimal defense we expect from him.

Agreed on the starters but The Bum needs to go and either Sexton or Tucker

[Xiao Yao You]

https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/27/the...ying-6-guards/

The Jazz need another forward and maybe another power forward or center. There’s no reason to be playing the likes of Horton-Tucker or George when you have better, more season, and more consistent players ahead of them.

they have plenty of bigs. Need wings. Lauri isn't a wing

[Xiao Yao You]

https://thejnotes.com/2023/10/27/uta...pansion-draft/

The Bum if he's still here and Sexton or Collins probably

[Xiao Yao You]

Shams Charania: Suns star Bradley Beal (back) will miss Saturday’s home opener vs. Jazz and Devin Booker (foot) is expected to be doubtful to play for second straight game.
– via Twitter ShamsCharania

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.deseret.com/2023/10/28/2...-beat-clippers

Hardy’s point about Clarkson continuing to grow is one that should not be overlooked. We have a lot of evidence to support the assertion that Clarkson is able to do just about anything that could be asked of him.

about everything but not suck. Let's not forget he had a typical Bum performance of bricks and pounding the ball into submission while his teammates stood around watching