INGLEWOOD, California — On Saturday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, the Utah Jazz started the fourth quarter with one of the youngest lineups the game has seen.
Rookies Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski were joined by second-year players Keyonte George and Brice Sensabaugh to open the final period of the Jazz’s 130-110 loss.
Though that final score shows a wide margin, it was an eight-point game when the youngsters took the floor together at the start of the fourth, and that group — in which Sensabaugh was the elder statesmen at 21 years and 102 days — cut the Clippers’ lead to just three points before some of the older players started to sub into the game.
What better way to welcome the Jazz’s newest addition — 24-year-old KJ Martin — than to show him that youth is prioritized and invested in heavily with this team, and Martin comes to the Jazz with some real knowledge about what can go right and what can go wrong with young teams after having spent his first three years with the Houston Rockets during some pretty dark days.
“You should be motivated enough to go play basketball every single day, so that’s one thing,” Martin said. “The second thing is still going out and just competing at a high level, regardless of what your record is or what the score of the game is. You have 48 minutes to go out and play as hard as you possibly can.”
Another thing Martin has learned about being on young teams is that communication is key, that not taking things personally and being able to take criticism from teammates and coaches is what helps young players get past their own egos.
The fact that Martin even mentioned that as being an important factor with young teams was incredible, because not 10 minutes before he uttered that sentiment to local reporters, Jazz head coach Will Hardy was saying the same thing about the young lineup he had put out on the court during the fourth quarter against the Clippers.
“My favorite part is that they’re showing the ability to disagree and get on each other and not have it turn into a fight,” Hardy said. “It’s healthy.
“That’s part of team sports, and I love seeing that they’re able to be very honest with each other in the game, in those moments, and then we move on. They’re stripping themselves of the sensitivity to the communication of each other, and that’s really an area that’s been a focus for us.”
Martin has been sidelined because of stress reaction injury in his left foot since just before Christmas, but in the days leading up to the trade deadline last week, he was upgraded to questionable on the Philadelphia 76ers’ injury report.
He’d been playing 5-on-5 and ramping up his rehabbing activity and was eyeing a return, then through a series of trades he ended up on the Jazz roster.
He joined the team for the first time on Saturday morning in Los Angeles, which gave him a chance to also see his family who live in the L.A. area.
The Jazz expect that once they get back to Utah next week, they’ll be able to work on getting Martin up to speed and have a couple of practices under his belt, then they want to get him on the court and get as much of a look at him with this Jazz group before the season ends.
“He’s tough, physical, can guard, is an improved shooter,” Hardy said. “He gives us some size on the wing and can guard a variety of different people. We’re excited to have him with us.”
The Jazz will stay in L.A. to play the Lakers on Monday before returning home for back-to-back games against the Lakers and Clippers heading into the All-Star break.