Three thoughts on the week in Jazz basketball from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Defensive effort
I understand that the Jazz do not have brilliant defensive personnel out there. I understand that Walker Kessler is hurt. I understand that there’s a lot of youth on this team, and it is difficult to learn the nuances of NBA defense. Schemes are difficult. NBA players are talented. I get it.
What I think is relatively unacceptable is the lack of effort I see on the defensive end. Players are being beaten in one-on-one situations for no reason — other than that the other guy wants it more.
That was never more on display than in the Miami game, where the Jazz allowed the NBA’s 21st-ranked offense to score 147 points. The Heat had 17 offensive rebounds in the game’s first 17 minutes, which is just an astonishingly bad level of effort.
Ideally, Pelle Larsson, himself a second-year player, is not bossing Ace Bailey like this.
Ideally, Cody Williams can stay in front of Norman Powell to a higher degree than this — or at least, if there is a blow-by, Jusuf Nurkic should come to help earlier.
Isaiah Collier loses focus here. (It’s not even a blown switch, he stays with his man, Wiggins, at first ... he just ignores the cut down low.) The soft foul compounds the error.
And then the way the Jazz let Bam Adebayo just shoot threes was malpractice. Nurkic ignored Adebayo like this enough that I believe letting him shoot was in the Jazz’s game plan ... but you can’t just give practice threes like this to a player who has shot 35% from deep for three straight seasons. That’s a bad game plan.
(By the way, do you know who does show up in the Heat game film as giving significant defensive effort? Svi Mykhailiuk. Props to him — certainly not my favorite player, but he does hustle at a higher level than many of his Jazz teammates.)
The Jazz are tanking, sure. But we’ve heard so much about the importance of developing a culture — and the defensive culture for the Jazz is nonexistent right now. Lauri Markkanen, for one, would like to see development there.
“We’ve been struggling on defense, so that’s a priority for us in everyday individual workouts and everyday practice,” Markkanen said at Monday’s practice. “... We talked about it as a team earlier in the year, and somebody in the media said it too: Like, nobody’s gonna save you. It’s up to you to get better and take control of your career and keep getting better.”
2. I love the South American Jazz fans
This is my favorite story of the Jazz season.
Team owner Ryan Smith paid for 32 Jazz fans from Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile to come to Utah for this six-game homestand and watch and cheer on the Jazz every game.
They’re bringing a consistent, full-game energy to the Delta Center — it’s a soccer-like approach. From the first quarter to the fourth, they’re chanting and singing songs. (I only wish the stadium sound system would sometimes stop blasting music so their chants could be more widely heard!) When Jazz Bear comes around, they surround him and take photos.
And by every account, they’re having the time of their lives in Salt Lake City. They’ve also attended a Mammoth game, gone to Zion National Park, and, yes, found that downtown SLC has a nightlife of its own.
It’s just an extremely cool thing for Smith to do, and extremely cool that these fans are making the most of it.
I hope this is a tradition that continues from year to year — I know there are similar pockets of Jazz fans in Australia, the U.K., and even in the Middle East. Giving them this in-person connection with the sport they love can only serve to grow this game.
3. Rising Star snubs
None of the Jazz’s rookies or sophomores made it to the NBA’s Rising Stars game.
2026 Rising Stars game participants.
Ultimately, I believe Ace Bailey is talented enough to be among the league’s top rookies, but it’s hard to argue with the statistical case that left him out. Heck, there probably would be a few other rookies that statistically you’d put in this game over Bailey. (Golden State’s Will Richard, Portland’s Caleb Love, and Charlotte’s Ryan Kalkbrenner among them.) And there’s no real case for Walter Clayton Jr., Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier, or Kyle Filipowski.
Funnily enough, there is one representative of the organization going: Sean East II, the undrafted guard who plays for the G League Salt Lake City Stars. He’s a 6-foot-3 waterbug scorer. In the G League, he’s averaging 17 points per game off the bench. (Disappointed Elijah Harkless isn’t going instead, though, because that guy in a Rising Stars game would be incredible entertainment.)
To fall short of the league’s top 10 rookies and sophomores among the Jazz’s players, though, isn’t a great look for a franchise that has prioritized youth development and losing games. It’s a reminder that the Jazz’s draft picks have a long way to go before they’re highly respected in the NBA.
