Salt City Seven: The Big Picture, Pick Watch, Kid Play & More

Hendricks is getting some defensive tests lately. (Isaac Hale via sltrib.com)

Every week during the regular season begins here at SCH with the Salt City Seven, a septet of recurring features that let us relive the biggest moments, key performances and hot issues in Jazzland from various angles. Check in every week for the quotes, stats, plays and performances that tell the stories from the last 168 hours in the world of the Jazz. 

A quick look at the big, burning question of the moment in Jazzland

Once again we launched this week’s SC7 with a video segment, this time about the bigger picture.

Hope those who watch find that enjoyable, but I’ve also heard feedback from folks who want to know what’s here in case they can’t watch the video right away. Here is a bullet point summary: 

• It was a rough week, with five straight double-digit losses. (0:00)
• We knew they’d be focusing on data collection, but this week prompted some dire declarations. (:36)
• Jazz have never been in a position in any rebuild where they’ve had a collection of assets like this. (1:54)
  • 12-15 first round picks in the next seven drafts
  • A literal All-Star
  • Four guys in the first half of their rookie contracts
  • $40M in cap space this summer
  • Three recent 20-ppg vets all locked in well below the max, two of whom are still 26 or younger
• All of that really only matters if they can turn some portion of it into a 2nd (and probably 3rd) star alongside Lauri Markkanen (2:45).
  • If that happens this summer, next year could look different.
  • If those opportunities aren’t there, fans could be in for something similar.
• This year, the Jazz were between the 22nd and 25th ranked team in net rating all throughout the year (4:45).
• Detail on Utah’s pick situation for the next 7 years (5:48).
• Close (10:07).

Projecting the Jazz’s place in the broader picture

The Jazz had one of their three picks get slightly better over the weekend, and another get slightly worse. But their own pick is still tracking to the 9th spot pre-lottery.

One pick got better over the weekend, one pick got worse.

Brooklyn has an easy schedule and zero motivation to lose, so there’s an outside chance they catch the Jazz. In the other direction, the Hawks and Bulls are play-in bound and essentially playing .500 ball right now. So it’s looking increasingly likely that the Jazz will stay inside the top 10 and keep their pick this year.

Telling or interesting words from Jazz people

“I definitely feel myself coming out of my shell a little bit… They’re always coaching me and adding bits and pieces to what I can do to improve.”

–Taylor Hendricks, about his teammates’ role in his development

This quote was a reminder of just how young the Jazz are right now. In recent games, they have devoted a huge percentage of their minutes to rookies, two-way players, and guys signed off the free agency bargain rack. I joked during one game that Collin Sexton, John Collins and Kris Dunn were essentially on babysitting duty for that particular night.

Hendricks and his fellow rookies, Keyonte George and Brice Sensabaugh, have all shown interesting flashes while also displaying the mercurial nature of relying heavily on first-year players.

It does sound as though the Jazz might be inching back toward a normal roster. Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson should be back soon, and that alone should raise the “I know what I’m doing here” factor a decent amount. But it has been fun to get a more in-depth read on the young fellas.

Stats that tell the story of the week

39%

Hendricks’ week included having to guard oh just Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards. In two meetings this week, he held Ant to 4-for-9 shooting as the primary defender, and so far this year Doncic is shooting 5/14 with Hendricks on him. Whoa. That’s a combined 39% from a pair of likely All-NBA guards. It’s not all rosy, though: in a very brief 1:40 where he was matched up with Jalen Green, the Rockets guard shot 5-for-6.

+40

The Jazz hung around with the Thunder for three quarters, thanks in large part to a 61-21 advantage in bench points. Sexton led the way with 25, one of his seven straight games with 20 or more. Since the 2007-08 season, only Donovan Mitchell, Markkanen and Sexton have had multiple streaks of seven or more games with 20+ in the same season.

4/30

The Jazz made just four of 30 3-point tries in Dallas. In NBA history, only seven teams have shot at least that many threes and made fewer than the Jazz’s four. Oh yeah, and they also allowed 18 (!!) dunks to the Mavs.

24-8

Everybody will point to the Jazz’s 3-point defense in Houston, but even before the deluge began, Utah was losing 24-8 in paint points in the first quarter. That’s a crap load of paint points for a single quarter, at a point in the game when Fred VanVleet was really the only Rocket making threes. He stayed hot, and eventually Green warmed up to a similar degree, but the cracks in the defense were first evidence inside, not on the perimeter.

48

Having said that, Utah *did* get outscored by 48 on the 3-point line, which is… bonkers. Only GSW and the Rockets have been outscored by more from the perimeter this NBA season — both by Boston.

Recognizing the best (or most memorable) performances from each Jazz win

No fake Wilsons this week, but here’s a roundup of the best performers from an 0-4 week.

Strong in defeat:

• Jazz 104, Wolves 114: Lauri Markkanen. Nice to have the Finnisher back: 22 points, 12 rebounds and two steals worth of nice. The turnover problems didn’t help, but his mere presence helped the Jazz’s geometry greatly. Sexton had an efficient 24 but was light in some of the other areas, and Keyonte had 15 and 8. But having the All-Star back was both the biggest story and the most important basketball thing on this night. 
• Jazz 107, Thunder 119: Collin Sexton. Another easy one, because there weren’t that many great performances against the Thunder. Young Bull had 25-5-7, and was the catalyst behind the bench minutes being Utah’s most competitive. Collins (16 and 6) was the best of the starters, but this one was fairly straightforward.
• Jazz 97, Mavs 113: Walker Kessler. Sexton and Walker Kessler each had 10 points in the first half while Utah kept it close. Markkanen and George found some rhythm after halftime, but both struggled with efficiency overall. Kessler shot perfect, led the Jazz in boards and deterred in the paint, so we’ll go with him, but Sexton’s 20-4-5 made it close.
• Jazz 147, Rockets 119: John Collins. Despite another nice one from Sexton (20 points, 8 assists), this had to be John: 26 points on 7-for-9 shooting, because he punished little guys, scored at all three levels, and made it to the FT line at will (9-for-10). Kira Lewis Jr. had his first meaningful run, and Kessler had 12 and 9 off the bench. The rooks all scored, but not super efficiently, so let’s not oversimplify and recognize Collins, who is playing banged up on top of it all.

Looking ahead to the next seven nights of action

The Jazz have their longest remaining homestand of the season before spending Easter evening in California.

• Monday 3/25: Jazz vs. Mavs. Dallas is 15-6 since early February and is now just a half game behind sixth-place Phoenix for a chance to bypass the play-in tournament. Utah’s two blowout losses in the 214 notwithstanding, the Jazz did dominate in a 37-point win on New Year’s Day, on an off shooting night for the usually spectacular Doncic. 
• Wednesday 3/27: Jazz vs. Spurs. The Spurs’ last visit to Salt Lake was one of Utah’s scant three wins since February 7. Victor Wembanyama is the marquee attraction, but Devin Vassell has also averaged 24.5 against the Jazz this season.
• Friday 3/29: Jazz vs. Rockets. Anybody who endured Saturday’s game in H-Town knows that the Rockets are pretty hot right now: eight straight wins and 10 of the last 11. Many folks were ready to write off Houston after Alperen Sengun’s injury, but Jalen Green is averaging over 31 since his Turkish teammate went down — on 48% shooting from deep!
• Sunday 3/31: Jazz @ Kings. The Kings have won four of their past five road games, and an overall 7-3 stretch is helping them hold the Lakers at bay and keep pace with the Suns and Mavs. They already have two wins under their belt against the Jazz, by 16 and 21, although sharpshooter Kevin Huerter has been out.

Random stuff from the Jazz community

I’m going to milk this for one more week of the NCAA Tournament: let’s check in on Jazz alma maters in the Big Dance.

• Dancing: Omer Yurtseven’s NC State (he played two years there before transferring to Georgetown) is still alive as an #11 seed. The other Jazz players whose schools are still dancing are Kessler’s UNC (#1), Markkanen’s Arizona (#2), Talen Horton-Tucker’s Iowa State (#2) and #4 Alabama, where Sexton and Lewis both went. In fact, UNC and Alabama will face off in the Sweet 16.
• Early upsets: Kessler’s more recent school, #4 Auburn, got upset in the first round by Yale. Johnny Juzang’s first school, #3 Kentucky, also got upset by a #14 seed, and his more recent school (UCLA) didn’t dance this year. Micah Potter’s Wisconsin entered as a #5 seed, but got surprised in the 5-12 matchup.
• Out after two: George’s Baylor program (#3) got upended by Clemson in the round of 32.
• “Pass:” As a reminder, the alma maters of Collins, Kris Dunn, Sensabaugh, Hendricks, Clarkson, Jason Preston and Kenneth Lofton Jr. either went to the NIT instead or missed tournament play altogether. Luka Samanic and Darius Bazley didn’t play college ball.

Another week closer to a very interesting offseason.