At the risk of sounding pompous or being branded an NBA elitist, I want to share something with you all. I pride myself on watching all 30 teams. One, because it’s part of my beautiful job. And two, because I truly believe there is something fun about every team.
Take the Utah Jazz, for instance. On the surface, they are a Western Conference D-lister struggling to defend even the gunkiest of offenses (they’ve given up over 120 points in six straight games) and likely more concerned with their place in the Draft Lottery than making a serious push at the playoffs.
But dig a little deeper and you will find even they have intrigue around them, simultaneously touting one of the league’s most complete scorers and one of its most underrated head coaches.
Lauri Markkanen Has Hit Another Level
After going from a solid starter to a bonafide All-Star upon his arrival in Utah in 2022, Markkanen had bumpy 2024-25 campaign. Injuries plagued him and he was limited to just 47 games. Now, Markkanen is healthy and better than ever. On the season, he is fifth in the league in points per game (30.6) and third in total points scored (429). He’s doing it on pristine efficiency, too. At 62.9 percent true shooting, Markkanen is in the 74th percentile in scoring efficiency.
He’s leveraging his unique combination of size and skill to convert on threes and cuts to the rim. As a true 7-footer with the quickness of a guard and force of a rim-running big, this creates unique problems for the players tasked with defending him. On this play, Rui Hachimura actually does a nice job anticipating the back-cut but it doesn’t matter because he’s shadowing the NBA equivalent of Calvin Johnson in the back of the end zone.
However, you don’t average five points more than your previous career-high (25.6) by just doing the same old schtick. You need to add a new trick up your sleeve. For Markkanen, that trick is his midrange game. He’s always been a mid-40s midrange shooter. But now, he’s taking more attempts than he ever has (5.6 attempts per 75 possessions, 86th percentile).
It’s more than just taking more shots from that region, though. Dirk Nowitzki — a player extreme optimists once compared Markkanen to — reached new heights as a scorer by becoming stronger and more balanced in the midpost area. From watching Markkanen, a similar maturation seems to be taking place. Look how Markkanen stops on a dime and sticks this fallaway jumper:
Will Hardy Is Building Something In Utah
It is always hard to know for certain just how good a coach is on a rebuilding team because you never really get to see them making adjustment after adjustment in a playoff series. But the fact Will Hardy has authored three (probably soon to be four) straight losing seasons with the Jazz and we haven’t heard any rumblings of him being on the hot seat tells us he has the organization’s vote of confidence.
They are right to believe in him. Despite being straddled with a young team that touts little by way of on-ball creation (outside of Keyonte George), Hardy has created a semi-respectable offense (20th in offensive rating) predicated on movement and passing. The Jazz are first in the entire Association in assist rate at 72.1 percent.
One way to measure the mark of a good coach is to pay attention to how they do on plays directly after timeouts. Due to the free-flowing, read-and-react nature of the NBA, coaches have very few opportunities to draw up their own sets. So, their only real chance to get behind the steering wheel on offense is to diagram plays in the huddle.
On the season, the Jazz are 18th in points per possession on plays coming after a timeout (per PBP Stats). However, I’d be willing to bet this mark is more about young players failing to nail the timing necessary to run a successful after-timeout play than it is a lack of creativity on the part of Hardy.
Whenever I watch a Jazz game, I come away thoroughly impressed with the stuff Hardy calls.
In the play above, we see George inbound the ball to Svi Mykhailiuk before dragging across two screens (part of the Iverson series). Normally, players pop out to the opposite wing to receive a pass and go to work. But here, George runs a wheel route to the basket for an easy layup.
This seems simple but Hardy had the wherewithal to make Markkanen the player George runs around. Since you don’t want a smaller defender switching onto Markkanen, Collin Sexton is forced to chase around the screen. And since you don’t want to help off Markkanen, Miles Bridges can’t offer any extra assistance. There also isn’t anyone in the weak-side corner, which means there is no one rotating from the low man spot, either. So, it’s an easy layup for George.
The play below seems like a simple flare screen into a layup for Markkanen. But it’s all about how the pieces on the chess board are positioned. Markkanen receives the screen from someone being guarded by a smaller defender (Sion James). So, you can’t switch that action. And no one is stationed in the weak-side corner (again), allowing Markkanen to stroll into the lane unabated.
We haven’t even really mentioned George’s scoring leap or the fact one of the most talented players in the 2025 NBA Draft (Ace Bailey) is rocking a Jazz uniform. The Jazz may be 5-9 but they aren’t an automatic win for opponents and they surely aren’t a boring team to watch.
