From the beginning of the 2023-24 NBA season through the end of February, Utah Jazz rookie Keyonte George had just five games in which he committed four or more turnovers — that’s just five high-turnover games in more than four months. In the month of March, he’s had six such games, including two six-turnover performances.
“It’s just about making the right read. We need to get into proper spacing. I think that’s the main (thing to focus on) in lessening the turnovers. When we get proper spacing, good things happen.”
— Jazz guard Keyonte George
This season, the Jazz have committed more turnovers than any other team, but even as they have seemingly turned a corner — committing fewer turnovers in March than any other month of the season — George’s turnover numbers have gone up.
One month of data is not something that necessarily will define a player. Players will go through shooting slumps that last a month and it doesn’t mean that we believe they’ve lost the ability to shoot effectively or efficiently. So I’m not saying that George has lost his ability to efficiently handle the ball.
But, as with shooters, it’s worth examining what’s happening during the slump and taking a deeper look. It’s especially important in this case because one of the things that was widely talked about when George was coming into the draft was his negative assist-to-turnover ratio at Baylor.
In Jazz coach Will Hardy’s opinion, there’s a mix of stuff going on. George has been dealing with a different type of workload from one night to the next. One day Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson are playing alongside George, so he’s obviously in more of a facilitator role, then he might go a handful of games flanked by rookies and two-way players, where George is the primary scorer. That makes the reads wildly different from one game to the next.
Then, there’s the increased minutes George has been playing. After averaging 25.4 minutes per game through February, George is now playing 32 minutes per game.
“Some decisions are happening a little bit late,” Hardy said Wednesday night. “Sometimes trying to maybe make something (happen) that’s not quite there, trying to make something that’s maybe special, and there’s some possessions where you just need to make a simple play. You know, we’re asking a lot of Keyonte, I’m asking a lot of Keyonte, and I think for the most part, he’s handling it very well. He played almost 40 minutes had the ball a lot.”
To George, the high turnover numbers are proof that he is being aggressive, and while his intentions are good, sometimes he might just be a little late or too aggressive in trying to make a play or get to his own spot when he should do the opposite. If true, that’s some normal rookie stuff.
So I went back and watched all of George’s turnovers from this month, and for the most part, I agree with both Hardy and George. Trying to throw a lob for Markkanen and the ball goes just a little too high — it’s hard to really fault him for that. Getting caught late in the shot clock and forcing a pass that a defender gets to — that’s going to happen sometimes.
Honestly, the majority of George’s turnovers come, as Hardy said, just from making a decision one second too late. You can see that he has the right idea. As a rookie point guard, it’s going to take George a while to get the feel for the pace of the game and for where and when he needs to get his teammates the ball.
George will likely be given significant latitude and grace in this department because of the turnover on the roster. There’s already been a lot of turnover in his rookie season and the team is going to change again when the 2024-25 season starts. It’s not easy to build and rebuild and create chemistry with a new group of players every couple of months.
There was only one portion of his turnovers that gave me some pause and those were the ones that I could see coming a mile away. Driving into large crowds of defenders without an exit plan or when there isn’t good spacing, allowing him to find open teammates to kick out to. Or, when George is trying to attack the best defenders on the court.
To George’s credit, he recognizes that spacing will help when it comes to miscues.
“It’s just about making the right read,” he said. “We need to get into proper spacing. I think that’s the main (thing to focus on) in lessening the turnovers. When we get proper spacing, good things happen.”
Before I went back and rewatched all of the turnovers, I was prepared to call out some issues if needed. I wasn’t going to make any excuses for George or Hardy. But at this point, I don’t think there’s cause for concern. This seems to be a case of a young point guard finding his way.
