Talen Horton-Tucker didn’t get off the Jazz bench Tuesday night despite being available to play after missing two games with a sore left foot, writes Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. Coach Will Hardy explained it was because other guards have been playing well during the team’s three-game winning streak, but Todd believes Horton-Tucker is in danger of being dropped from the rotation.
“There’s only so many people that can play in the game,” Hardy said. “Kris (Dunn) and Collin (Sexton) have been in a good groove. Talen has played well. It’s nothing that he’s done wrong, but he is coming off an injury and we had won two games in a row. It didn’t feel right to the team to disrupt that rhythm. I think it would have been the same if it had been somebody else.”
Todd points out that the same standard didn’t apply to rookie Keyonte George, who logged 24 minutes Tuesday after missing six games with a foot injury. Horton-Tucker began the season as a starter in Utah’s backcourt, but George took over that role in the team’s eighth game and held it until his injury.
At that time, it was Dunn who was out of the rotation, Todd adds, but he and Sexton have been meshing well together recently, so Hardy is relying on what has been working. With an $11MM expiring contract, Horton-Tucker may not be part of the team’s future unless something changes.
There’s more from Utah:
- Sexton has been working with assistant coaches to dissect the pick-and-roll so he can become more of a play-maker, Todd states in a separate story. As he expands his options, Sexton has raised his assists to 3.6 per game after averaging 2.9 last season. “He’s just sort of in a groove right now,” Hardy said. “I think the best thing for me is that he’s had a couple of games where he’s made a lot of good decisions and he’s still scored a lot of points and I think it’s just showing him that though he has a scoring mindset, you don’t have to think ‘score’ on every play to score a lot of points in this league.”
- Replacing Walker Kessler with Kelly Olynyk in the starting lineup has helped unclog the team’s offense, observes Tony Jones of The Athletic. Although Kessler remains one of the league’s best shot blockers in his second season, he doesn’t put enough pressure on opposing defenses. Jones notes that Hardy can run a five-out approach with Olynyk, which creates room for Sexton and Lauri Markkanen to attack the basket.
- The Jazz are focused on overcoming their slow start to reach the play-in tournament, per Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. The recent hot streak has moved Utah to within two-and-a-half games of 10th place. “You’ve got to just keep building,” Olynyk said. What’s happened in the past happened; now you gotta learn from it, grow, keep building, and not let the past dictate the future.”
Sexton will never turn into one of the league’s better PGs. You can’t teach elite court vision to a veteran player anymore, especially if he hasn’t even internalized absolute basics like the PNR yet.
In regard to reaching the play-in tournament, the team still has tank-affine Danny Boy to deal with. He’s not interested in winning at all but rather intends to accumulate more draft assets to maximize ownership profits while selling the gullible part of the Jazz fanbase on the promised land, waiting right behind the horizon if the franchise only tanks for a few more years.
The 2022 Jazz also were on a clear path to reach the play-in tournament at this exact stage of the season when Danny Boy gutted the roster, thereby depriving the team of its only capable playmaker in Mike Conley, among other things.
The Jazz FO’s propaganda about their intentions to win, which has been sharply contradicted by management’s and coaching staff’s on-court decisions, merely aims at stringing their fans along while buying ownership and Danny Boy more time.
You can’t teach elite court vision, but you can make a player better at getting his teammates involved and readying himself for how defenses might guard him.
Look at Coby White this season.
Exactly. That and Sexton is barely 26. He’s just starting to come into his prime going forward.
I’ve seen a much more patient Sexton than even to start this season. He looks so much more under control now than even a few weeks ago or so. I’ve been impressed by this sudden change.
Sexton has noticeably opened up his court vision, by keeping his head up a lot more, and probing the defense instead of barreling into them.
Coach Hardy has repeatedly said that he loves Sexton to death. Sexton, after all, is the main reason why the team finally started putting more energy into their defense. Sexton’s confidence and energy is infectious.
Conley had to go in rebuild. You are not winning a playoff series with him. Conley went to the right team. George was picked at Utah’s spot and he is the PG for the promised land. KO is the next to go that is why he is starting to show off his skill. Lauri can fetch another pick heist. But does Utah need more picks. We shall see but Danny knows how to build a team.
Unlike last season, Utah has no reason to tank for the draft.
First of all it is a much weaker draft than last year, so getting a top 10 pick has lower value than last season, when it made sense to have a chance of getting Wemby, Scoot,…
But mostly, they owe either their 2024, 2025 or 2026 pick to OKC. They want it to be this year, as the draft class is weak.
It would also give them an option to trade their 2025 or 2026 pick if they want.
“UTA’s 1st round pick to OKC protected for selections 1-10 in 2024, 1-10 in 2025 and 1-8 in 2026 (if UTA has not conveyed a 1st round pick to OKC by 2026, then UTA’s obligation to OKC will be extinguished); OKC may convey the 2024 pick to IND (see OKC outgoing) [OKC-UTA, 7/30/2021; OKC-UTA, 1/4/2022”
I read recently:
“The Jazz are reportedly willing to part ways with John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Kelly Olynyk, in addition to Clarkson.”
While I had thought Utah to be a big seller at the trade deadline, maybe this changes things.
If they are still in contention for the Play-In tournament by the trade deadline, they should only trade;
– expendable players like Horton-Tucker
– in case of a very good return
Remarkably, Talen Horton Tucker and Dunn are not in the above list.
Houston considered at some point to trade injured Oladipo plus a pick for THT, I think that might be a win-win.
Dunn plays well on a low expiring contract so could also yield a good value.
Markannen is often mentioned in trade rumours, but they shouldnt trade him, unless for a very high return I feel.
Expiring starter Fontechio could also be interesting to some teams. And expiring Samanic seems perfect for salary-matching.
Every draft class is somehow weak.
The roster was designed by the FO to lose. Of course, the players and coaching staff want to win, and the FO won’t openly object if they do. But UTH fans that are rooting for the team to win should know that success would require that the current roster both outperform the FO’s current expectations, and then withstand the inevitable FO deadline trade designed to reverse that.
UTH had the rail for a play-in spot last year, and, instead of bolstering the roster to insure it, they elected to trade rotation players, headlined by Conley, their veteran PG that had kept them afloat. They didn’t replace him then, or for this season. Instead they chose to start this season without any real PG, other than a career long deep backup in Dunn.
What the Jazz did last year was changing course before the trade deadline to trading all the players they could for future assets.
This year, they brought in a vet Collins with the idea to see if he could help them win or flip him in the future.
The fact that Jazz have kept all the rest of their older vets should tell us they want to win this year.
Why? Reporters keep mentioning Olynyk as likely being targeted by other playoff teams, yet the Jazz haven’t moved him.
If he doesn’t get traded by the deadline then we’ll know for sure they want to win this year then, right?
No. You’ll know the FO wants to win when (and only when) they make affirmative moves to improve the product on the court. The non-move of retaining a guy from the tanking friendly roster (like KO) suggests nothing. Even the most shameless tankers don’t trade everyone. KO has only modest trade value.
You’re forgetting when the team has no cap space or no draft picks or no tradeable contracts without gutting the team.
The FO could want to win but it takes two to tango. They can wish all they want but sometimes there’s limited moves. What they put out there could be the only thing they could do at that moment.
You’re the type of fan that gets really impatient with front offices when they don’t do what you want. There’s a slim chance of pleasing people that deal in absolutes.
Maybe pistons GM can grow a pair and trade for John Collins and Clarkson to try and improve their roster. I know they want Miles Bridges also, maybe trade the Thompson twin and a pick for him.
There’s a set of rumors before the Jazz started winning and then after. The players on that list has changed.
I would say now that only Collins and THT are on that list. Clarkson has been on their closing roster and keeps winning. They came back from 17? points down against Toronto with Clarkson taking over. They’re not trading him if they want to win.
I also think the signs are the Jazz want to convey the pick this year. They’re going to keep all the players that have chemistry together until at least the Summer.
The only reason that changes is if a big offer is made from another team. That would negate the need to convey the pick this year. That or the Jazz start losing a bunch of games in a row.
Nobody wants tht ( inc the Jazz )
Rumor is that Houston did or does.
I would prioritize setting my team up for Agbaji, George, Hendricks, and Kessler to be starters or at worst 3 starters and a 6th man in 24-25. And determine if I value anyone in the Top-10 of this years draft enough to deplete my roster for assets.
Is a 28 yr old Lauri a building block? Am I maxing him? If not, and I can get 3 FRPs for 1.5 years of control I do that deal.
Can I move Collin Sexton and John Collins for positive assets this year? If yes, do it. If no, try again in the offseason.
Is trading Clarkson or Olynyk more beneficial for their assets or is it more valuable to keep them to mentor the young core?
THT doesn’t move the needle one way or the other. He’s solid enough to keep and not worth much in a trade.