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Rookie guard Keyonte George is very new to playing point guard. For the majority of his playing life (high school and his lone college season at Baylor) he’s been used to having the ball in his hands a lot, but as a primary scorer. He’s not as familiar with being a playmaker and facilitator.
Being put into a new position in his rookie NBA season has not always been easy and I wrote earlier in the season about how George was learning to not only be the primary playmaker, but also the primary communicator, which he found sometimes uncomfortable, considering that he was directing players much older than him.
“Will is putting me in uncomfortable situations and I’m learning to get comfortable,” George said back in November. “Guys are way older than me in that locker room. It’s kind of out of the box to tell a 30-year-old, ‘Hey, get to the corner,’ or ‘Hey, this is what we’re in.’ ... It helps me a lot knowing that the four guys that I’m on the floor with, they’re going to let me play through mistakes and also let me lead them throughout the game.”
That’s still something that George is working through as we near the final stretch of his first NBA season and the area that Jazz coach Will Hardy wants him to focus on the most through these last weeks of the 2023-24 campaign.
“I’m really focused on Keyonte and his voice,” Hardy said. “It’s hard to be a rookie point guard. It’s hard to take on that role and direct traffic and tell people where to go, there’s moments that’s uncomfortable, especially when you’re dealing with veteran players. But I think the communication between he and I and then the communication between him and his teammates is my biggest focus for Keyonte as we close the season.”
To be fair, there has been significant growth and Hardy has noticed that George has found a real comfort level when it comes to speaking up and calling out directions when the team is practicing. He’s vocal during film sessions, he is learning what kind of language and tone he can use with different players, and there’s comfort in the closed environment at Zions Bank Basketball Campus.
“The next step is doing that more consistently in the games,” Hardy said. “He’s better now than he was the beginning of the year. I see it a lot during the games at the dead balls — coming out of timeouts, free throws — in those situations he’s communicating very well. The part we need to translate more from the practice court to the game is communicating while the game is in flow.”
New with the Jazz
Quote of the week
“I’ve always been a yapper.” — Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler
From the archives
Extra points
- Walker Kessler’s next step: Navigating expectations and emotions (Deseret News)
- John Collins’ emotional return to Atlanta (Deseret News)
- Quin Snyder reflects on his time as head coach of the Utah Jazz (Deseret News)
- Jazz fans treated to best of both worlds against Victor Wembanyama (Deseret News)
Around the league
- Joel Embiid plans to return this season, no matter Sixers’ position.
- Hawks waive veteran Patty Mills, convert Trent Forrest’s deal.
- Hornets set to hire Jeff Peterson as president of basketball operations.
Up next
- March 2 | 3 p.m. | Utah Jazz @ Miami Heat | NBA TV
- March 4 | 7 p.m. | Utah Jazz vs. Washington Wizards | KJZZ
- March 6 | 7 p.m. | Utah Jazz vs. Chicago Bulls | KJZZ
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