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Aside from the Wolves and the Thunder... are the Utah Jazz the biggest surprise of the Western Conference this year?
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On Monday, December 11th, the Utah Jazz would lose against the Oklahoma City Thunder 134-120
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in a game that they were down by 38 points going into the fourth quarter
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putting their record at 7-16 on the year. Just two days later, on December 13th, in a home game versus the New York Knicks
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with their star Lowry Markin back, they would pull off a close win
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and begin the start of something special. At the time of this recording, which is Friday, January 26th, 2024
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the Utah Jazz are currently 16-7 in their last 23 games, which includes a six-game winning streak
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and a three-game losing skid they just recently broke, giving them the third-best record in the entire NBA during this run
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At this point in the NBA season, we're over halfway through it, so the question has to be asked in this video
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are the Utah Jazz for real, and do they truly have a chance to make the playoffs
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Currently, they are sitting at 10th in the Western Conference, tied with the Lakers but losing the tiebreaker
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If you stay to the end, we will try to answer if the Utah Jazz are for real or if they're
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going to flounder as the season continues. But in the meantime, let's go through what has happened during this stretch for the Utah Jazz
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What has been the biggest changes between this stretch and their 7-16 start to the season
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And if we think they should be buyers or sellers in the upcoming trade deadline
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But before we dive in, I'm super excited for this video because I'm doing something I've
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always wanted to do but I've never done before. I received exclusive voice notes from a Jazz creator who I think is killing it on Twitter
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right now. His username is Jazzmatic. He deserves a much bigger following, so please check out his stuff on Twitter
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I've linked him in the description. He's from the Salt Lake City area and is a two-time national champion coach
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He'll be giving us some X's and O's insight on the team he watches diligently night in
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and night out and takes on certain players peppered throughout this video. Currently, the Jazz have the 16th rated offensive efficiency in the league and the 21st
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rated defense while being just 21st in net rating. But if we were to take into an account from
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December 13th on, the Jazz have the 8th overall offensive rating in the NBA in that time span
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the 13th rated defense, and our 10th overall with a net rating of plus 4.8. They're just coming off
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a 6-game winning streak that included a win at Philadelphia, a win at Milwaukee, and a win home
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versus Denver in three consecutive games. Although the past 23 games have been incredible overall for the Jazz
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they are just coming off a three-game losing streak that included two really hard-fought losses at home versus the Thunder
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and away versus Houston. And I promise you the numbers looked even more incredible
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before that losing streak, but they were able to stop that losing skid last night in Washington
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Let's dive into some specific players and how they've impacted this 23-game stretch
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So let's start with Lowry Markkinen. In my opinion, he's an all-star and at the very least a 1B player on a championship roster right now
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What's super special about Lowry is his ability to be efficient and effective off the ball
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He does it so well, and it's a rare trait to have in today's game. The Jazz acquired Lowry in 2022 from Cleveland in the Donovan Mitchell trade
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which is a trade I think will go down in history as worse than the Rudy Gobert trade
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Like I mentioned in the intro, he did sit out for 8 games straight this season to start that 7-16 stretch, but ever since he's been back from that injury, he's been playing phenomenally, averaging 24 points per game, 8.8 rebounds, and shooting 49% from the field, 39% from three, and 87% from the free throw line
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Like I said before, Lowry is unique in that he doesn't need the ball in his hands often to score
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And although he did average 25.6 last season, he's playing only 32.5 minutes per game
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which is two minutes less than last year and shooting over a shot less than he did last year
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All the efficiency is pretty much exactly the same. I know there's been some rumors over the past couple months on NBA Twitter
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that Lowry would be a perfect fit in Oklahoma City, but I just don't see Danny Ainge ever giving this man up
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he is your key to building a championship roster for the future and to be honest i think he would
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be able to attract a superstar in free agency due to his style of play here's a quick tidbit that
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jazmatic had to say about lowry what i like about lowry is he's touching so many different points
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of the game it's not just his shooting it's not just his scoring he's improving his defense and
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you can see that in the most at reese example when they played the la lakers marketing was the
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primary defender on Anthony Davis in that game. And Davis, while he did have a triple-double
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he went 5 for 21. Not a great percentage. The other thing that I think Lowry is improving is
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his off-the-bounce game. He is taking it strong to the rim, and he's doing it off more than one
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dribble. There's multiple possessions where it's 1, 2, 3 dribbles, sometimes a spin move
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and he either getting to the line or he finishing As a 7 the Jazz and Hardy inverted a pick where Markkinen was the ball handler and he coming off this pick and roll and he hits Colin Sexton on time
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on target, off that pick and roll in the opposite corner. Lowry has improved so much year over year
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and now he's just getting to the point where he's dominating just looking at his stats and the way
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the team's playing. It's incredible and it's fun to watch and I don't see the Jazz moving him
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anytime soon. While Lowry is definitely the main character in this story, Colin Sexton has also
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played a major part as well. In fact, that Knicks game that Lowry came back and started this 15-5
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stretch for the Jazz, Utah's head coach Will Hardy slid Colin Stexton into the starting lineup for
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the first time that season in that game, and he hasn't taken him out since. During this 23-game
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stretch, Colin is averaging 22.1 points per game and five assists on pretty awesome efficiency
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shooting 51.6% from the field, 42.2% from three, 89% from the free throw line, and only playing
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27 minutes a night. I really think Colin Sexton has a serious case for most improved player of
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the year. He's not going to win it, and he really isn't even being considered right now as it's a
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two-horse race between Tyrese Maxey and Alperin Chengun, but my point still stands. Will Hardy
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had this to say about Colin after this recent stretch he's been on. Because I think he was
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somebody that really came in with a lot of narrative around the type of player that he is
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and I probably let that impact me too much last year you know he's somebody that has shown me that
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like you don't you don't need to listen to any of that at all you need to just take people at face
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value for how they are when they get here and what they do when they're with our team and he's a big
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reason why we're playing well right now if you're watching the NBA back in 2020 you know how much of
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a menace Colin was in Cleveland in that 2020-2021 season he would average 24 points per game but he's
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actually playing better this season in my opinion than that one he's more efficient he only shot 47
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percent from the field in that season and this one he's shooting 49 percent including a four percent
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increase from inside the arc but it's also more than that Colin because he came off the bench to
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start the season and just the way this Utah Jazz team has been structured is only playing 23.8
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minutes per game versus in that season before he was playing 35, yet he's still averaging 17.2
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points per game this season. One thing I think we all forget as NBA fans, because things change so
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much from year to year, is that players deal with injuries and it takes them a while to get back to
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what they were before then. And when it comes to Colin, he had a torn meniscus early into the 2021
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season, playing in Cleveland, was out the rest of the season, and then that offseason was traded
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in the Donovan Mitchell trade. So last season, he had a new coach, a new environment
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and he also dealt with some injuries that got him out of the flow
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including a nagging hamstring injury that kept him out most of the end of the season last year
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Here's a quote Colin had on how he's been able to put the past two seasons of injuries behind him
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I put my time in, I feel healthy, I'm excited. Coming off injury last year and playing, it was different
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I wasn't able to work out in the summer. I wasn't able to play, but this summer
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I was able to play as well as lift and get to the goals that I wanted to. I feel great, I'm excited
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and I plan on playing a hole 82 this year. And so far, he's done just that
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He's played in every single game for the Jazz. Bottom line, Colin Sexton has been phenomenal
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and I'm so glad he's allowed to continue flourishing in his newfound home
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When it comes to a guy like Jordan Clarkson, I think he's a very valuable sixth man
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coming off the bench. He started the season starting and then got hurt
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Colin moved into the starting lineup, and ever since he came back, he's been coming off the bench, which I think is a perfect role for Clarkson to be in. He's a
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microwave on offense. He comes in if he's hot. It only takes him a shot or two to get going
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and he can provide that nice offensive spark. But I honestly think he just doesn't fit this
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Utah Jazz team's timeline. Being 31 years old, almost 32, without any inside info, my guess is
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that Danny Ainge is going to want to move him at the trade deadline just due to there has to be a
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contender out there pursuing a title that could use a scoring option as legitimate as Clarkson
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coming off the bench. Then you have a guy like John Collins who the Jazz traded for from the Hawks
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this summer and while Collins has always struggled on the defensive end he really looks like he's
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found his home over this past 20 game stretch in Utah and is playing some of the best basketball
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he's played in recent years. We all just kind of considered Collins washed after the trade from
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Atlanta this summer. So it is really cool to see him fitting in nicely in this Utah squad
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But let's hear from Jazzmatic on this one. He'll be able to provide a much nuanced take
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on what Will Hardy and company have been able to do to unlock John Collins in Utah
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If Collins is being guarded by a slower big then Hardy will put Collins on the three line and let him use his athleticism and speed and his shot if it falling to attack in space Now if there an equal guy or smaller that gets switched on to Collins or that starts the games on Collins Hardy will then have Collins
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dive off pick and rolls and DHOs and certain actions that they do for him, not only to use
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his speed and athleticism, but also on the offensive glass. I do think, though, as I say that
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I think Collins has a little ways to go still defensively, and I don't just mean as a point
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of attack defender which he has enough speed and athleticism to be decent at but what i'm talking
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about is more so on the team defensive side as sometimes he gets lost within the team defense
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or forgets his responsibilities especially because hardy and the jazz like to switch up defenses so
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much once again depending on matchups you know hardy will go from a zone to a box in one or back
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to man they'll do certain rules on certain guys but you can tell that he cares and he cares about
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the team and the guys like him which is something that i think every jazz fan can appreciate he at
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George is the Jazz's 16th overall pick out of Baylor. There's growing pains there, but it does
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look like he has some serious promise as a scorer in this league. Walker Kessler is also someone who
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was injured for six or seven games early in this season, but he has been nothing short of remarkable
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in this 23-game stretch. Walker is leading the team in net rating at plus 10.7. He's second in
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defensive rating on the team at 108.9, and his offense has been surprisingly efficient as well
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Danny Ainge has to be very happy to have a young defensive anchor locked in for the indefinite
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future of this court. And then we have the infamous Chris Dunn. I remember when my Wolves
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selected him at the fifth overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft. He shot just 37% from the field
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that season, playing only 17 minutes a game on an awful Timberwolves team, but he really did seem
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like a bust after his rookie season. He was traded to the Bulls along with Lowry in the Jimmy Butler
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trade. And now here we are in 2023 after bouncing around the league for the past four to five
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seasons. He is the starting point guard for this resurging Jazz team. We're also going to let Jazz
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Matic take it away on Chris Dunn. I've been on the Chris Dunn bandwagon since super early in the year
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when he wasn't starting. He was getting spot minutes. The lineups were tinkered with. They
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were adjusted. Some games he played, half the game, some games he wouldn't. And now that he's
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starting, everybody else can see what he brings to the team. And the thing that I love about Chris
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Dunn is he's just doing what's being asked of him. He's not trying to do anything more. He's just
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doing what Coach Hardy and the Jazz want, which is to defend and to get scores the ball. A nice
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addition to his game is his ability to get into the paint and make a play for himself. Anytime
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Chris Dunn has the ball, he has the ability to get to his spots, especially by the charge arc. And he
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definitely looks for shooters and looks for his guys but now what he's also doing is looking for
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his shot himself which I think makes him invaluable so Will Hardy has him being a rover where he's
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roving around disrupting everything when anybody attacks the paint he's there not caring about the
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shooter he's rotating well he's taking charges he's getting steals this way I wouldn't trust
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anybody else on the jazz to do this besides Chris Dunn I've called for him to be starting since he
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got 10 minutes a game maybe less than that and now he's showing everyone what he can do
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But Talon Horton Tucker is a player that ever since the Jazz have been rolling, he's been taken out of the rotation almost entirely with a ton of DNPs during this stretch
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It really goes to show you that Will Hardy values continuity, teamwork, and playing within the system, which just honestly isn't THT's MO
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He's probably the most obvious sell at the deadline for this roster. And then you have a guy like Kelly Olenek, who has been fantastic in the second unit
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He is 32 years old. So I really do think Danny Ainge is also going to trade him at the trade deadline
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It's just something that makes sense. Simone Fontecchio has also been a role player during this stretch
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He's a 28-year-old second-year player averaging 8.9 points per game. He actually starts with this new starting lineup
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And I have nothing really to say about him except that he's just super solid. But to be honest, the biggest reason in my opinion
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obviously you give the players credit where credit is due. but the biggest reason for this Jazz team's success is their head coach, Will Hardy
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He was the Spurs assistant alongside Greg Popovich from 2015 to 2021
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In 2021, he would join Ime Odoka's staff in Boston for that season
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Owner Ryan Smith and CEO Danny Ainge would hire him to become their head coach in the summer of 2022
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What makes him such a fantastic hire? Our friend Jazzmatic can say it better than I can, so we'll let him take it away
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I think the Jazz absolutely knocked it out of the park with the hiring of Will Hardy
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He's humble and he's not afraid to try some things that might make him look foolish
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For instance, this morphing zone that they've put in, which kind of a mix between a 2-3 zone
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3 zone with matchup responsibilities He throw out a box in one He tinker with lineups He not afraid to try things for the success of the organization He figures out ways to let guys play to their strengths He doesn coach every dribble and he has mentioned
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in recent interviews that he sets philosophies or ideas of how he wants the team to play
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specifically on offense, and then he trusts the guys to execute on those ideas, but within the
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strength of their games. So an example is he loves having Keontae George come down the right side of
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the floor because Keontae loves coming off screens or attacking going to his left hand. I think he
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does a good job of giving the young guys experience like Keontae and Taylor Hendricks in the NBA. But
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then when they have a full roster and they're not injured, he's still getting those young guys reps
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in the G League, which I think is just as valuable. To me, if the Jazz keep this up and they make a
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playoffs, Will Hardy has to be considered for coach of the year. Chris Finch is right up there
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Mark Dagnall is right up there, but so is Will Hardy. The best part about this recent surge for
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the Utah Jazz is the insane amount of draft capital they have from now until 2030. Through
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the Donovan Mitchell trade and through the Rudy Gobert trade primarily, Danny Ainge has armed
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himself with a first round pick in 2024, three 2025 firsts, including two unprotected from the
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Cavs and the Wolves, their own first in 2026, four first round picks in 2027, the Cavs, the Wolves
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their own, and a Lakers top four protected, which is a part of the D-Lowe Russell Westbrook trade
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And then three first in 2028 and three first in 2029. This is an insane amount of ammo in the arsenal for Danny Ainge to mess around with
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But the question still remains, will the Jazz be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline
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Like I said before, I think they trade away Kelly Olenek at the deadline
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He doesn't fit their timeline. Same with probably Jordan Clarkson. If they can get a good deal for him, maybe they decide to keep him
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But the real question is, could the Jazz go out and make a big splash
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is Danny Ainge ready to win now? Is this team ready for a play-in push? I truly do think they
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are. They have an elite coach. They're getting good guard play out of Colin Sexton and Chris Dunn
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They have an all-star in Lowry Markinan. They have a first-team all-defense caliber anchor in
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Walker Kessler. And lastly, let's be honest, the West is a juggernaut this year, but the play-in
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is completely wide open. With the Grizzlies losing John Morant for the season, Marcus Smart and
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Desmond Bain being out for the foreseeable future. The Lakers have really sucked this year. The
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Warriors have sucked even more, and the Rockets have been faltering lately, and the Mavs and the
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Kings have been struggling lately as well, which means we have six teams and four spots available
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Why can't the Jazz beat out two of those teams? It's not really too much of a concern to me if
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they lose in the play-in. They have to get their young core a playoff atmosphere experience at some
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point, so why not give them a taste for it now? You're too good to get a high lottery pick no
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matter how hard you try. So if I'm Danny Ainge, I'm making zero moves involving my future first
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but I may try to be a third team in a trade again, take on a salary filler for extra ammo
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I then trim a couple layers of fat like a Kelly Olenek and maybe a Jordan Clarkson. And then I
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ride with the rest of my guys. We haven't even mentioned the fact that you have Taylor Hendricks
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and Bryce Sensabaugh getting play in the G League, ready to come up and see if they can contribute
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Let this team that you've constructed see if they can prove themselves. And even if they do barely miss the play-in
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let them see how it feels to almost make the playoffs, get them hungry for next year, and go all in this summer
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Either way, if I have to predict the play-in teams today, here's what I think. I have zero concerns of the Mavericks or the Kings not making the play-in
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so we'll put them at 7 and 8. I don't see the Lakers not making the play-in, so I'm going to put them at 9
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which means it comes down to the Jazz, the Rockets, and the Warriors for that final spot
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I don't know about you, but I have zero faith in the Warriors. They'll have to do some miracle working at the deadline for me to believe in them
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so I'm going to eliminate them. It's really down to the Jazz and the Rockets, and I just think the Jazz have the upper hand
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The Rockets are good, but they haven't been as strong as they started the season. I really could go either way, but I'm going to say the Jazz get the final spot
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Bookmark this, and we'll see how I did in my predictions at the end of the year. Either way, whether the Jazz sneak in the play in and get bounced
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or they somehow make it into a playoff series and get a gentleman's sweep, or if they missed the playoffs entirely
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I don't think there's a way that you can say this wasn't a successful season for this team
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Their best days are ahead. This Jazz team is for real. I think we've seen enough
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They're good enough to make the playoffs. They play unselfish. They have such depth at almost every position
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and they have a truly elite coach who knows how to get the most out of his guys
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This is the first time I've ever collaborated with a local creator slash beat reporter for a video
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I hope you enjoyed this style. Let me know if you'd like to see it more. Make sure to follow Jazzmatic on Twitter
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He deserves way more eyeballs on his tweets. If you enjoyed this video, check out the video I just made on the Lakers role player problem explained
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And as always, we'll see you on the hardwood
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