Cody Williams has played in 32 NBA games, Isaiah Collier has played 49 games and Kyle Filipowski has been in 47. The Utah Jazz have 25 games left in the 2024-25 NBA season, and barring any injuries, the rookies can expect to be on the court every night from now til the end of the season.
With that stretch in mind, Jazz coach Will Hardy is raising his expectations for how the rookies conduct themselves.
“I think it’s time to graduate,” Hardy said. “I don’t think the rookies are rookies anymore. They’ve had a lot of experience. That does not mean that I anticipate perfection ... They know what’s expected of them on both sides of the ball. There will still be questions at times. There will still be moments of clarification that always happen with any team, but they should be less at this point.”
Importantly, Hardy wants to avoid language that would suggest that the upcoming 25 games are a “home stretch” or that there is an end point for the young players on the team. Rather, he prefers that they see this cluster of games as the “next stretch,” which would then lead into the offseason, which is an important stretch as far as young development is concerned.
So what does it mean when Hardy says that it’s time for the rookies to graduate? Well, in general it means that lack of effort or knowledge of basic team principles will not be tolerated.
“They know now what things are unacceptable, what sort of the hot button topics are,” Hardy said. “There are a few things on each side of the ball that are foundational pieces, and those things should not be in question anymore. So any questions that used to surround those topics, like, ‘Hey, was I supposed to —?’ Yes, you were, and you know you were. I think we’ve reached that point.”
To a man, each of the rookies knows that effort is the biggest hot-button topic for their head coach. They know that they don’t have any excuse to not be showing a certain level of fight and competitiveness from one game to the next. And often defensive effort is going to be watched and is expected. But, there are also other things, schematically, that the rookies are expected to have internalized at this point.
“Effort and just competing, I think those are probably the biggest ones,” Filipowski said. “That’s something that needs to be present every game. And then those other things, like playing defense, knowing what spots (to be in), and what coverages we’re in.”
Hardy knows that there will still be moments of confusion, chaos and when things need to be clarified, especially when situations call for a more nuanced or complex counter, and he doesn’t want the young players on the Jazz to feel like he’s putting his foot down in an aggressive way.
Instead, Hardy wants for the young players to feel empowered by the work that they have put in over the last few months and to believe in what they have learned to this point.
"You’ve put the work in, we’re X number of games into this season and this many practices, this many film sessions, this many individual film sessions, this many individual workouts," Hardy said. “You don’t need to ask me that question anymore. You don’t need to ask the assistants that question anymore to make sure that you’re right. You need to believe that you’ve done the work and that you know the answers.”
There are certainly going to be mistakes made and the rookies know that they aren’t expected to achieve perfection. But there is a sense that they need to be more confident and that they need to take some ownership of their place in the NBA. Or, more simply put:
“It’s time to grow up,” Collier said.
