Life as an NBA rookie is not easy.
The celebration following draft night is short-lived, and guys who have consistently been the best player on every team they have ever been on are now in the throes of a whirlwind world where they have to prove that they even belong in a rotation.
For those who come from the collegiate ranks, they are only used to playing roughly 35 games in a season and having a ton of down time. The NBA calendar is nearly year-round with Summer League and pre-camp workouts, training camp, preseason and an 82-game regular season. Then there’s practices and shootarounds, extra workouts, treatment. There are appearances and photoshoots and charity events and interviews and meetings with agents, learning schemes and new terminology, and on top of all of that, they are expected to demonstrate growth and improvement.
It’s a lot to deal with and it can be lonely, stressful and intimidating. Fortunately, the Utah Jazz rookies have each other.
“I feel like I’ve been through three seasons of college already, and we’re not even halfway through this one,” Utah Jazz rookie Kyle Filipowski said. “I couldn’t really imagine being the only rookie on the team going through this. I think guys who have done that, I give them a lot of credit for being the only rookie on the team and having to go through a whole season alone.”
The three Jazz rookies are able to commiserate with each other and see that they aren’t the only ones who are fighting through the emotional and physical struggles of a first year in the NBA. What’s more, they have examples of how the struggles and work can start to pay off with three players on the roster who were rookies last year.
The things that have been made clear to all of the young players are that they can’t expect to be perfect, they can’t become finished products overnight and improvement is not linear. Their goals and expectations will change and grow as they do and they need to trust that the people surrounding them know what they’re doing and are guiding them in the right direction.
As we approach the midway point of the 2024-25 season, and keeping in mind everything that the rookies are going through, it’s a good time to assess where they are. What are their strengths and weaknesses? And, where do they need to focus their development efforts?
Cody Williams
One of the main things the Jazz were looking for when drafting in 2024 was players who were smart. They wanted players who could make good decisions and think out the game. That’s one of the reasons they selected Cody Williams with the 10th overall pick in the 2024 draft.
The Jazz brass knew that he would come to the team lacking physical strength and that he would need time to develop into his adult body and put on weight. They also knew that there would be skill things that would need fine tuning. But they trusted in his basketball intelligence, and so far this season, he hasn’t let them down.
“Cody’s biggest strength right now is his understanding,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “I think Cody is very rarely out of position. I think the thing that he needs to continue to improve is the force he plays with, because there’s moments where he’s in the right place and his body position is pretty good, and he just gets bumped off the spot.”
Part of playing with force and being able to maintain position will come with physical strength and literal physical growth for Williams. But there is a piece of “playing with force” that Hardy believes Williams can achieve before he adds muscle over the next couple of years. Learning angles and learning to use his legs to hold his ground can help along the way.
Williams agrees that his biggest strength is in his decision-making and understanding of the game, but also has a lot of belief in his defensive abilities. He wants to be known as a versatile defender that can be used in any lineup and is switchable. But he also knows that in order for his defensive talent to shine through, he has to get stronger.
“That’ll come with time but it’s definitely like, you know, you’ve got Joel Embiid and you switch onto him and it’s like, all right, let me go lift after the game,” Williams said with a laugh. “The biggest thing, especially for a skinny guy like me, is you have to really be consistent with how much you’re eating and you’re lifting all the time. You miss one meal a day here and there, one meal a week, that can actually set you back.”
So Williams is putting in extra lifting sessions after games and practices and trying to stay strong throughout the season. Since it’s hard to gain weight throughout the course of the regular season, it’s a lot of preparation work in anticipation for an offseason that will be more intensive when it comes to trying to really add weight.
Additionally, Williams knows that he needs to get more consistent with his shotmaking, especially because he expects that he will be asked to do more off the dribble in the future, so he needs to make sure that his mechanics are tight.
Isaiah Collier
Isaiah Collier, who was the No. 1 rated high school recruit in 2023, went into USC having been able to dominate as a driver and finisher. Rarely has there been a time in Collier’s life when he didn’t think he could get the upper hand on a defender. The Jazz knew that life for Collier would be different in the NBA, but like Williams, Collier has a knack for decision-making that was appealing to the Jazz.
The questions coming into the season for Collier were: How would he fare against bigger, stronger NBA players? Would he be able to adjust his game? And, can he shoot the ball well?
Becoming more of a playmaker and facilitator has been necessary for Collier and he has answered that call. He knows how to draw defenders and he is a very good and willing passer. The questions that were being asked about Collier before the season started are still being asked, but there is some context and nuance now.
One thing that stands out about Collier is his self-awareness. He is under no illusions that he has things figured out and he knows that he has to clean up parts of his game.
“Finding open teammates, I think that’s the biggest strength,” he said. “The weaknesses? I mean, I feel like there’s a lot right now that I have to work on, as far as cutting down turnovers, making the right play, over penetrating sometimes, hitting shots ... It’s a learning process and there’s no way to go but up. Just looking forward to learning every single day.”
He’s absolutely right. He needs to cut down his turnovers, some of which are caused by over-penetration or overconfidence when faced with multiple defenders and not being able to use his size the way he was able to previously. He also has a ton of work to do on his shot (through 27 NBA games, he was shooting 15.2% from 3). But changing, tweaking and fixing a player’s shot is a really delicate process.
The Jazz, of course, have a ton of data and do their due diligence on players long before they come to the NBA. But even if they know that there are going to be things they want to iron out, they don’t want to jump in and make that the focus on day one.
“We generally try to let things play out a little bit,” Hardy said. “It would be like, you get your PGA Tour card, and the day you get it, I tell you, ‘we’re gonna change your swing.’ You’re like, ‘my swing seems like it’s decent, it got me on tour.’ You have to let people go through it some before you just pounce on them and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to change your shot.’
“You also run the risk of them starting off 0-for-10 from 3, and they go, ‘Yeah, well, it’s because they’re changing my shot.’ And then they’ve lost belief in the process. You want them to have some autonomy and belief in the reasoning to change their shot. And so when does that happen? It’s a case-by-case basis. Everybody’s a little bit different.”
Kyle Filipowski
At this point, you’re probably noticing a trend — the Jazz wanted smart decision-makers, players who are thinkers and can absorb information quickly, and that’s exactly what they got in Williams, Collier and Kyle Filipowksi.
“He really sees the game,” Hardy said of the 32nd overall pick. “I think he’s a tremendous playmaker and passer. We need more activity from Flip when he doesn’t have the ball — that’s running the court both ways, that’s sprinting to screen, that’s how he helps us create an advantage offensively with his screening, whether they’re switching or not. Because I think he’s a really talented player when he gets the ball ... but you have to learn how to do all of those other things that are a little more subtle to continue to make an impact.”
Filipowksi probably came to the Jazz as their most NBA-ready player, despite the fact that he was their final pick in the 2024 draft. He is truly a gifted passer and he has some grit to him on defense that has been surprising in the early days of the season. He knows that those are the areas that he excels in, but he is also aware that there is more he can do.
Hardy has not sugarcoated things with Filipowksi and regularly challenges him, which is welcomed by the rookie who said he appreciates the off-court relationship he’s building with Hardy. It’s that rapport that has Filipowski accepting some pretty hard coaching.
“He said he’s just gonna keep getting on me about those things, and I mean, that’s great, because it shows me that he’s still thinking of me,” Filipowski said. “I think there’s always things to improve on in every aspect, even within my strengths. But I’d probably also say working more on drop coverages when playing the five and being able to change sides of the court faster .. .being as intentional without the ball as I am with the ball, setting hard screens, running to my spots fast.”
What’s important for Filipowski to remember — and frankly important for Jazz fans to remember as well — is that small and nuanced incremental improvement is worth celebrating. The people who matter, the ones who sign the checks and who can determine how the future of his career pans out, are not looking for wild, sweeping changes in a matter of weeks. What they are hoping for is that small, subtle improvements will be clear and consistent by the end of this season.