I was really looking forward to NBA preseason, not only because it's nice to be able to watch basketball again, but also because I was very interested in how Utah would look heading into the season. Today, after two preseason games, I am more confused than anything when it comes to how the Jazz are going to look this season. The front office got a lot of work done this offseason, but I'm not entirely sure if they put their efforts into the correct areas of need.
The Good: The Core Looks Great
The last thing I'm worried about this season is the team's core, and these two preseason games have proven me correct for the most part. Lauri Markkanen still looks like an all-star level player. There were moments where he looked a little rusty, but he's still head and shoulders the best player on this team. Walker Kessler is still exactly who we know him to be. In the first game he finished with five blocks and in game two it was very apparent that the Clippers weren't interested in attacking the rim. Offensively he's still shaky, but his movement is still fantastic. If he can improve his touch and his shot outside of the paint he will immediately become one of the best centers in the league. Finally, Keyonte George looked really good. He's by far the best playmaker on the team, which at this point is probably the most valuable asset for the squad. He had some rookie growing pains out there such as shooting poorly from three and some turnover trouble in the first game, but for the most part I liked what I saw. That's it, that's the core. Every other player on the roster is either somewhat or very expendable.
pc: via Fansided
The Bad: Guard Play and Depth
As anyone with a functioning frontal cortex could've told you before the season began, the Jazz have a massive hole in their backcourt depth. As of right now my best guess for the starting guards come opening day are rookie Keyonte George at the one and Ochai Agbaji at the two. I am a huge fan of these two, but after them there isn't much to look forward to. Collin Sexton is a lost cause, and the Utah front office should be shopping him around as often as possible. Jordan Clarkson is way past this team's timeline, and his score first play style doesn't work for this team. Talen Horton-Tucker is legitimately one of the biggest shot-chucking offensive black holes in the league, and the longer he's on this team the longer the team will be at the bottom of their conference. I will say that I am a fan of Kris Dunn, who showed flashes of being pretty solid in these games on both ends of the floor. Not that he should be in our long term plans, but he's the only other guard that received minutes that didn't make me cringe every time he touched the ball. All in all, the front office has a ton of work to do when it comes to our guard depth throughout the season.
pc: Scott G Winterton/Deseret News
The Ugly: Frontcourt Confusion
Unlike the Jazz's backcourt, the team's frontcourt is almost too deep. Going into this offseason the team already had Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Kelly Olynyk, and Simone Fontecchio. They then traded for John Collins, the starting power forward in Atlanta at the time of the trade. Finally, they draft Taylor Hendricks with the ninth overall pick in the draft, another power forward. These developments have to left the coaching staff bamboozled when it comes to who will make the rotation and who won't. Markannen, Kessler, Collins, and Olynyk seem like locks, but I think to throw Hendricks to the wayside would be incredibly irresponsible for this rebuilding franchise. The lottery pick out of UCF barely played in these two preseason games, but when he did I saw the potential that the team obviously saw when they drafted him just a few months ago. He wasn't fantastic on the box scores, but the raw talent was apparent. Hendricks is significantly more valuable to this team's long term future than Olynyk and Collins, and if the Jazz don't see that they could make a huge mistake. At this point I'm worried that Utah will give up on him too fast to chase some sort of eighth seed playoff push, something that would not surprise me at all from a team like Utah. Being this deep in the frontcourt is a good problem to have, but I'm not super hopeful that the front office will properly handle the issue.
pc: Leah Hogsten/Salt Lake City Tribune
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