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It’s not the results of the games that are going to matter this season, but the Utah Jazz have a lot of returning (albeit young) players on the roster, and what coach Will Hardy wants to see is some consistency and some understanding of how the Jazz should approach every game.
On Wednesday night, the Jazz lost, 136-134, to the Portland Trail Blazers, and to say that Hardy was disappointed would be an understatement. The same could be said after the Jazz lost 118-96 to the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
After the first three games of the season, there were of course mistakes made, but the feeling was that the Jazz were playing with good intention and competing at a high level despite their mistakes.
After the loss to Portland, Hardy really wanted to get across the message that playing well one night and then letting go of the rope, especially on defense, the next night is not going to be a way to find success in this league.
“Everybody needs to understand that this is a professional basketball team, where we have to play the people who are going to do what they’re supposed to do every night,” Hardy said. “And playing well one night means nothing in this league. It’s an every-night business, and we have way too many guys who tonight, in the first three quarters, just did not do their jobs.”
I think there’s a certain level of grace that will be afforded to the rookies, second-year players and even someone like Taylor Hendricks, who just returned from a nearly full-year absence from the game. There are mistakes that are more acceptable from that group. Even so, there’s a level of effort that is still expected.
Then there is another group of players that have been in Utah for a while and have the institutional knowledge that means there are higher expectations for understanding what is expected of them from a schematic standpoint.
This is all something that the players understand as well.
“We’ve got to understand how we want to play every single night,” Keyonte George said. “No matter if shots are going in or not — and like, it starts on the other side of the court. That’s got to be our identity."
There are so, so many games left of this young season — 78 games to be exact — and there’s no way the Jazz are going to be perfect every night. There will be bumps in the road. But there are standards that are emerging, and the Jazz players are going to have to rise to the occasion.
New with the Jazz
From the archives
Extra points
- Isaiah Collier cleared for action, will ramp up with G League’s Stars (Deseret News)
- Utah Jazz unveil new city edition jerseys (Deseret News)
- Lauri Markkanen scores career-best 51 points in OT win against Suns (Deseret News)
- Is this a new measured and mature version of Keyonte George? (Deseret News)
Around the league
- Victor Wembanyama leads Spurs to first 5-0 start in franchise history.
- Thunder’s Nikola Topic in treatment for testicular cancer.
- Hornets’ LaMelo Ball fined for flipping off referee in loss.
Up Next
- Oct. 31 | 8 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Phoenix Suns | KJZZ
- Nov. 2 | 4 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Charlotte Hornets | KJZZ
- Nov. 3 | 5:30 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Boston Celtics | KJZZ
- Nov. 5 | 5 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Detroit Pistons | KJZZ
- Nov. 7 | 6 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Minnesota Timberwolves | KJZZ