Three thoughts on the week in basketball from the Utah Jazz from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. On Will Hardy yelling at his players to play harder
This week, a video of Will Hardy yelling at his players — “I’m tired of doing this every game, play harder,” but with several more expletives — went viral. Again, if you’re squeamish about the cursing, don’t watch it, this has been your fair warning.
I wrote about a month ago about how Hardy yelling at his players is intentional, a tool he has in his toolbox that he intentionally goes to. That article certainly applies to this situation.
But I’ll admit, I, like Hardy, have been discouraged at how little it’s worked, and how lackadaisically the Jazz’s players have played at times this season. On Sunday night against the Thunder, both Isaiah Collier and Brice Sensabaugh played just six minutes in the first half before being pulled for the rest of the game for poor effort.
I happened to watch Collier during the team’s pregame warmup in the 15 minutes before the buzzer sounded, and, well, lackadaisical was the right word. The guard stood around, singing along to the music going over the PA system. Occasionally, he’d go over and try to get a ball thrown to him from a ball boy, at which point he’d hold onto it for, oh, 45 seconds, dancing to the tunes, before throwing up a shot that had no relation to those he might see in the game.
It’s wrong to criticize Collier alone for this too much — all sorts of NBA players are goofing off in warmups, all the time, among winning and losing teams alike. But after watching it, I wasn’t exactly surprised when he came into the game flat either.
Normally, there’d be a concern that the Jazz’s players were tuning Hardy out — but we just saw Keyonte George this month take a significant leap in maturity and quality this season as a result of his methods. Last year, George would have been one of those players goofing off; this year, he’s much more professional.
Interestingly, the out-of-state reaction to the video has largely been sympathetic to Hardy. There’s an understanding in NBA circles that this situation isn’t his fault, and that his players, whether due to immaturity or talent deficiencies, are unequipped to really compete in the NBA.
Instead, I’ve seen criticism of the Jazz’s front office, and Danny Ainge in particular, for this roster. Year 4 is really a deciding point for rebuilds, the point at which you might be turning up like OKC or Houston, or staying down like Washington. I think that criticism is probably reasonable, and it’s worth noting that Ryan Smith has seen the Jazz’s struggles here too, hence the hiring of a new GM and new scouts this offseason.
Now, that that new GM is Ainge’s son doesn’t exactly reflect a sea change in approach — but in his defense, Austin Ainge’s approach has been markedly different than Danny’s. We’ll see what happens in practice moving forward.
2. Why have Taylor Hendricks’ minutes been inconsistent?
While I give Hardy the benefit of the doubt in his efforts to get buy-in like those above, I find myself struggling with the up-and-down nature of Taylor Hendricks’ minutes.
As a recap: Hendricks started the Jazz’s season in the rotation, coming off the bench. Then, he started the Jazz’s sixth, seventh and eighth games, before suffering a hamstring injury that cost him four games. Upon his return, he was a DNP-CD, then played eight minutes, then played 37 seconds. Then, he was sent down to the G League, played a few games, then was called up, played seven minutes against the Nets, then was a DNP-CD in a blowout against the Knicks, then played 24 minutes in a very similar blowout against the Thunder. On Monday, he was once again sent down to the G League.
What the heck is going on?
Asking around, I think a lot of this is injury related. They’re trying to take Hendricks’ recovery extremely slowly, which I think has led to limitations on back-to-backs. As Hardy said, “I see this as a kind of an extension of his return-to-play (protocol).”
Taking it this slowly has been frustrating, though, because it’s clear Hendricks needs the playing time. There’s actually a lot there — he’s big, and the shooting percentages have been good — but in real game situations, he’s been kind of slow to react to plays. That’s exactly what you might expect if a player, say, missed a year due to a broken leg.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks as the Utah Jazz host the LA Clippers.
“I think right now, the G League minutes are so important for Taylor, because he needs as many repetitions as he can get at the reactive part of the sport that you just can’t replicate when you miss a year,” Hardy said. “Getting your body used to making those decisions and reacting and fully trusting your body in those moments is where we’re trying to get to with Taylor.”
Getting playing time in with the SLC Stars when the Jazz aren’t playing, like this week, just makes sense, and Hendricks has no real problem with doing so.
“They just really want me to get playing reps,” he said, when asked about the G League. “I’m trying to get better every game. I’m starting to figure out how to be more physical on the offensive end and use my body to attack mismatches and score down low.”
But he summed it up well: “I feel like playing is the best way to get better.” It doesn’t make any sense for the Jazz to be playing the likes of Kyle Anderson or Kevin Love ahead of Hendricks in the NBA rotation, not when the former will not be on the next good Jazz team, and Hendricks might be.
If Hendricks is in the G League, that’s a good opportunity for him. If he’s traveling with the Jazz but nailed to the bench, count me against that.
3. Walker Kessler speaks for first time since surgery
We’ll wrap up this week, as we did last week, with news on Walker Kessler. On Sunday, Kessler spoke with reporters for the first time since the shoulder surgery.
First, know that Kessler’s shoulder has been an ongoing issue for him.
“I’ve had a posterior labrum tear on my left shoulder since Auburn. I think the Tennessee game, I tore it and just kind of tried to play through and strengthen it,” Kessler said. “The doctor explained it ... there’s no amount of strength that’ll keep it from slipping out again and again. So he told me, ‘You got to have the surgery.’”
What that means, Kessler said, is he’s been limited with his left arm ever since playing at Auburn. “There were just some times where I couldn’t do those certain movements,” he said — which means he feels he’ll be able to impact the game more with his left hand once he’s fully healthy. He said when the shoulder subluxed, he couldn’t move it for a couple of days.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) as the Utah Jazz host the Portland Trail Blazers.
“Another thing is, the more you sublux it, the more risk of injury (there is), of destroying everything around it: you know, the rotator cuff, the anterior labrum, and so that’s why it was necessary,” Kessler said.
As you can tell, Kessler got into more detail here than players usually do on their surgeries — which makes sense, because his dad is a surgeon. His dad helped review the opinions of the surgeons, and agreed with them.
Kessler didn’t want to talk about how the surgery might affect his contract negotiations this summer. “My feelings, obviously, haven’t really changed. Obviously, it was frustrating at first, but I think everything happens for a reason,” he said.
Kessler didn’t want to reveal a recovery timeline, though says his goal is to be 100% by the time the offseason begins so he can attack a development plan this summer.
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