Keyonte George is saying all the right things

Following beatdown by the Mavericks earlier this week, Jazz rookie displayed wisdom beyond his years

Published: Dec 9, 2023, 11:30 a.m. MST

Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George passes off against Dallas’ Dereck Lively II (2) and Kyrie Irving (11) during game in Dallas, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. The Jazz ended up losing to the Mavs by 50 points. LM Otero, Associated Press

Sarah Todd covers the NBA and Utah Jazz for the Deseret News.

This article was first published as the Jazz Insiders newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Friday.

Following the Utah Jazz’s 50-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks this week, coach Will Hardy was disappointed and the players were understandably embarrassed.

Inside the Jazz locker room moments after the game, players shook their heads in disbelief, noting that they’d never been on the wrong side of a 50-point loss at any point in their lives, until now.

All the players said the right things — they’d let their play slip, they’d gone away from what has made them successful before, they didn’t blame any one person and said that they needed to come together to be better in all ways.

But, rookie Keyonte George’s words were not only right, they were really smart.

Jazz put on a ‘horrendous performance’ in 50-point loss to the Mavericks

“That’s unacceptable,” George said. “We can’t go out here and lose like that — not play hard and not communicate, not compete. This is a great organization to be a part of, a winning organization with winning DNA. ... There’s got to come a point where we’ve got to show it each and every night, every 82. We’ve just got to continue to keep building and keep building and keep taking small steps.”

That pretty much lined up with what everyone else in the locker room said. It was what he said next that felt wise beyond his years.

“We’ll figure it out, but it’s just gonna take some time and it’s gonna take some sacrifice,” he said. “We have to be willing to do what Will wants, do it the right way and not do it our own way. We have to be disciplined enough to do it each and every possession.”

In one breath, he called out the kind of selfish play the Jazz have a bad habit of falling into and also showed loyalty and deference to his head coach.

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Sure, it’s a small thing, but these kinds of small things add up. Saying something like this shows that he’s willing to put his own feelings aside in order to execute a game plan. In the future, this also gives George (if he does what the coaching staff wants) the ability to shift blame from himself.

Add savvy to the ever-growing list of adjectives we can use to describe the Jazz’s standout rookie.