Salt City Seven: Developing Lauri, Flip’s Passing, First Buckets

The Jazz are trying to expand Markkanen’s game. (Trent Nelson, The Salt Lake Tribune)

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 exploration of a big-picture topic

While the microscope this season has largely been focused on the Utah Jazz’s eight 23-and-under players, this simple fact bears repeating: this is a development season for Lauri Markkanen, too.

During a year in which Utah will be, umm, unencumbered by high expectations, it’s the exact right time to have even your best player operate beyond the bounds of his comfort zone. If some healthy experimentation puts Utah in a position to reimagine the upper limits on Markkanen’s creation ability, it will have been worth whatever short-term discomfort comes with it, especially since they’re not exactly chasing wins anyway.

There are already some clear ways Utah is trying to throw more responsibilities at their lone All-Star.

Growth as an iso bucket-getter

Markkanen already made a huge leap in his first two Jazz seasons, but the context there was different. He was playing with legitimate NBA table-setters in Mike Conley Jr. and Kelly Olynyk. More often now, the Finnish forward finds himself needing to create his own buckets to get going. Given his size and scoring profile, that’s probably going to involve him improving in his ability to go to work against smaller defenders.

Unfortunately for him, opposing teams have figured out that smaller guys crowding him at the waist can make it harder for Markkanen to create at the nail or the elbow.

When we’re looking back on this season in 2027, one of the key findings that will have mattered most about this year is whether or not Lauri makes progress at maximizing those exact situations. The Jazz appear to know this, because these types of setups are way more common this year. 

Markkanen should have plenty of options against these mismatches. He’s visibly stronger this year, and still has a feathery touch for a 7-footer. There are little things that other gigantic iso scorers like Kevin Durant (totally unfair comparison alert) use to create space when hyper little guys try to crowd them. 

Or there are guys like Giannis Antetokounmpo (another wildly unfair comp) who if you crowd them at 18 feet, they’ll just leave you in the dust and go attack the rim. When Markkanen tries to dribble out of trouble with one of these pesky wings harassing him, teams almost always bring some blindside help to rip the ball from the unsuspecting Finn. That type of play accounts for a lot of his turnovers so far this season. (On a separate but related note, I care not one bit about his passing turnovers… more on that shortly.)

If refining some of those moves and counters costs the Jazz some efficiency today but makes Markkanen more lethal later, it’s worth it.

Growth as a passer

The Jazz are also being quite intentional about giving Lauri more opportunities to create for others.

These days, when he drives, you can almost see him anticipating late help, so he’s got his eyes up. Drive-and-kick plays are the simplest version of him reading defenses, but lately he’s even finding angles on tough interior passes, often to another big when a helper slides over to slow him down.

This is a terrific bit of development. I’ve always said that Jazz-era Markkanen possesses the ball far too often to not wind up with a handful of assists almost by accident. Already this year, he’s having a career year in practically every assist metric — but this isn’t about stats. It’s about recognizing how defenses react to you. There’s a reason that virtually every 20-ppg scorer last season averaged 4 assists or more. Of the league’s top 70 scorers last season, Lauri had the lowest assist average (2.0).

As with the iso scoring component, mistakes will happen. That’s perfectly fine. Markkanen had a passing turnover against Milwaukee as he tried to wrap a pass around two defenders to Walker Kessler who was standing under the rim. I absolutely loved that play, because it’s a pass Markkanen hasn’t always looked to make. If Markkanen’s passing turnovers go way up that season, that’s likely a sign that he’s trying new things, and that’s a good thing.

Defensive variety

Especially now with Taylor Hendricks out, Markkanen is going to have a very different role on defense from night to night.

Per defensive box plus-minus, he’s never been a plus defender. But frankly, this is more about the types of assignments he’s going to draw. He was one of Utah’s primary options on Victor Wembanyama in Saturday’s win. His top matchups by head-to-head possessions, though, also feature creating wings like Giannis and DeMar DeRozan, and even guards like Luka Doncic and Marcus Smart. Some of that is the result of Utah’s selective switching (and even some zone), but the point is the Jazz no longer have a Swiss Army knife of a defender in Hendricks, so Lauri and others are going to find themselves in some matchups that demand different things from them.

This all makes it a very interesting year for Markkanen. It might feel at times like he’s struggling when really what he’s doing is experimenting, expanding his comfort zone. Few things about this season are likely to change Utah’s long-term ceiling as much as Markkanen making another leap from top-20ish player to top-10ish. That type of jump will almost certainly require more from him as a bucket-getter, a passer, and a defender.

Telling or interesting words from Jazz people

“I have the long view in mind for all of these guys. The reality is that we can’t play every young guy every night. That’s not how this is going to work…

“This notion of just getting minutes helps you get better is not true. Just playing for playing’s sake doesn’t just make you better. That’s why we have practices. That’s why we have the G League…we’re going to use all of our resources to help all these guys get better.”

-Will Hardy (to Sarah Todd) on playing time questions 

Everything about Hardy’s minutes-related diatribe in Milwaukee was great stuff. Especially because your loyal scribe is a longtime believer that the relationship between minutes and development is wildly misunderstood by most fans.

Minutes, this writer likes to say, don’t lead to development. Development leads to minutes. There comes a point at which a player has done all of the individual work and practice reps and needs to apply the skills in the most authentic scenario. But that’s the endpoint of a long process of development work — not the beginning of it.

We’ve all wondered what Hardy’s no-free-minutes edict would look like in a season with so dang many young guys. He’s clearly not afraid to use young guys: two rookies started Saturday’s game, for example, and a third rookie closed it out. But part of the thinking behind Utah’s roster construction with the vets is that guys do need to feel a little pressure to earn their opportunities.

“We have to maintain a standard of, like: doing your job well means that you get to play some.”

Stats that tell the story of the week

≥24

Monday’s bout with Chicago was the first time this season three Jazz players went for at least 24 points: Keyonte George, John Collins and Collin Sexton. It’s actually just the eighth time this century and 28th time in the team’s Utah era that they’ve had three such scoring performances on the same night. Only two other NBA teams have accomplished that this season: Denver has done it three times, Charlotte once. Teams are 4-1 this season when three guys hit that mark (the Nuggets lost one).

39

Milwaukee’s 39 fast break points on Thursday night were an NBA season high. Their advantage there (39-7) was offset in the first half by Utah’s good outside shooting, but when Milwaukee got hot from deep and equalized that advantage, it was a runaway: 66-39 in the second half.

0/4

It’s not very common for an NBA team to reach halftime without any of its starters having converted a 2-point shot, but that was the case for the Spurs against the Jazz. Their first five attempted just four shots collectively from inside the arc in Saturday’s first half. No surprise, then, that Utah’s big paint advantage (24-6 at half, 54-34 for the game) was a big factor in the win.

4

When Markkanen got ahead of the Spurs’ defense for a dunk on Saturday, it was his first flush since the season opener. He actually threw down three times against Memphis on October 23, but then played his next four without getting to the rim.

+1

One interesting wrinkle: the Jazz are back to experimenting with 3-big lineups. The sample size is still too small to say definitively whether it’s yielding anything. The Markkanen-Kessler-Collins trio is +2 in four minutes. With Kyle Filipowski in Kessler’s spot, they’re -5 in 15, and with Eubanks they’re +4 in 10. But more interesting than the combined +1 is the fact that they’re trying it at all after mostly mothballing the Collins-at-4 configuration las season.

Dissecting a Jazz scoring play from the week

While we’re on the subject (above) of big man passing, let’s take a minute and give flowers to Filipowski.

The Jazz believe in Flip’s court vision enough that they ran a lot of their clutch offense on Saturday through the rookie big at the elbow. But some of the best X-and-O examples of Flip’s basketball IQ come from reads out of set plays:

The first play is a SLOB Iverson backcut: “SLOB” meaning it’s a set play for sideline out of bounds. The Iverson cut Patty Mills makes across the tops usually results in the guard getting the ball in an attack position, with the defender at a disadvantage. But watch Mills glance at the defensive configuration and immediately change the play. He excitedly instructs Johnny Juzang to deliver the ball to Flip instead, because he sees that Collins’ defender is high enough that he can turn it into a loop play and there will be no help at the rim. Flip is watching Mills and knows exactly what that hand gesture means. Before he even catches the pass, his head is already on a swivel, looking for the vet guard.

The second one is equally impressive from the rookie big. The setup here is planned: Juzang comes around an off-ball screen and then sets a backpick for Collins. That’s a lot of work for Devin Vassell (a hell of a talent, but not the Spurs’ best wing defender) to deal with in his first game in months. He’s still navigating the off-ball pick and then suddenly has to decide whether to show on the screen for Collins or allow a dunk. Watching Flip, I think the Jazz actually expected this play to yield a lob pass for John.

But Vassell does choose to help, so Flip does something really smart. He takes two dribbles to the left to occupy Collins’ original defender, knowing the whole way that doing so will leave a pure shooter wiiiiide open. Brilliant improvisation out of a set play.

Filipowski is really smart. Having his vision and passing available is going to open up some optionality in the Jazz’s offense not unlike what Olynyk unlocked.

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

We finally had an excuse to call in the team for an all-hands meeeting in the Game Ball department after Utah secured its first two wins.

Jazz 135, Bulls 126: Keyonte George. Early in Hardy’s presser after the Jazz’s first win, he said, “Obviously this would be Keyonte’s best game of the year, John Collins’ best game of the year.” So there are the candidates. Collins might have been more of an emotional leader, but George’s explosion probably means more to Utah. The Jazz finally experienced some success on the offensive side (35 assists to 12 TOs, 54% and 44% shooting) so it feels right to reward the offensive show-runner. Plus, his 33-and-9 performance is pretty hard to ignore. For Collins’ part, he had 28, 13 and 5 including several big, emotional plays, but George’s 12-point fourth loomed a little too large for John to get it. Sexton also had 14 in the final frame, 24 overall.

Jazz 110, Spurs 110: Collin Sexton. There were several solid performances in this one, including Markkanen’s 20-6-4 line. But the online vote was unanimous, and correct: Sexton undoubtedly powered Utah’s win odds to a greater degree than anyone. Just in the fourth quarter, he drove for two, tipped in a paint miss, drilled a stepback three, iced the game with free throws, and harassed multiple Spurs into misses. He even had 7-foot-whatever Victor Wembanyama on several late plays after switches. He finished with 23 (on 13 shots) after a 9-point fourth. Filipowski and Jordan Clarkson were the other heroes late. Most of the clutch offense ran through Flip at the elbows, and Clarkson had an 11-point quarter.

Strong in defeat:

• Jazz 100, Bucks 123: Jordan Clarkson. This is kind of one of those default ones, because nobody played awesome, especially after the break. Clarkson and Juzang each had a dozen in the first half, when the game was still competitive, and Clarkson finished the game with 18 total points.

Looking ahead to the next seven nights of action

The Jazz make a brief stop at home before starting another 4-game trip.

• Tuesday, November 12: Jazz vs. Suns. The Jazz’s In-Season Tournament opener got a bit more winnable with the news that Durant will miss at least two weeks with a calf strain. Without KD and with Devin Booker playing through an undisclosed illness, the Suns saw their 7-game win streak halted by the Kings on Sunday. Booker has made just eight of his last 41 attempts from deep (19.5%), but at least Bradley Beal broke the 20 mark for the first time since the season opener. Those two will be important for the West-leading Suns without KD.
• Thursday, November 14: Jazz vs. Mavs. Doncic is off to a great start (29-8-8), but is playing banged up. PJ Washington, Dereck Lively II and Maxi Kleber didn’t go on Sunday night, and Dante Exum will miss the first half of the season. With all those guys out (and Luka playing hurt), Kyrie Irving scored 43, but the Mavs still lost in Denver to fall back to .500.
• Saturday, November 16: Jazz at Kings. Sacramento already hung a 17-point win on the Jazz in Salt Lake City. They’ve won six of their last eight and are the only NBA team with three guys averaging 20-plus: DeRozan (25.2), De’Aaron Fox (24.2) and Domantas Sabonis (20.5). This game is the second night of a back-to-back for the Kings, and the front end for Utah.
• Sunday, November 17: Jazz at Clippers. The Clippers have won four straight after a rough 2-4 start, despite the fact that Kawhi Leonard is still working his way back. The star over that stretch has been Norman Powell with his 26 a game over the last four, although James Harden (21-8-9 for the season) is doing plenty, too. LAC weirdly sports a top-5 defense. Ivica Zubac and Derrick Jones Jr. are doing their part, but former Jazz perimeter stopper Kris Dunn is also getting 21 minutes a game off the Clipper bench.

Random stuff from the Jazz community

All three Jazz rookies are officially on the board! When Isaiah Collier attacked the bucket in transition in Saturday’s win, all three newbies had officially converted their first NBA buckets.

Utah’s three rookies have all scored their first NBA buckets.

That got me wondering which current Jazz player has the coolest first NBA bucket. Here’s my super subjective ranking:

1. Collins probably has the coolest first bucket story, getting a fast break layup with an and-1 in his first ever NBA possession. He scored 14 that night in a win.
2. Kessler made all five of his attempts in his NBA debut, starting with a putback layup around Nikola Jokic in an upset win.
3. Clarkson’s first made shot, quite appropriately, was a three in his NBA debut. It was his only made shot that night, but bonus points because it was also assisted by former Jazzman Ronnie Price.
4. George made his first ever shot after a wicked crossover move on a drive from angle right, but JaVale McGee goaltended it, so he didn’t get to see it actually go in the hoop.
5. Sexton only needed seconds to score in the NBA after drawing paint contact on his first pro possession. But his first field goal didn’t come until the fourth quarter of that game, when he made a hook shot — yeah, a hook shot — and quickly followed it up with a midrange jumper.

Less sexy, but because I’m a completist: Markkanen hit an 18-footer eight minutes into his NBA career. Svi Mykhailiuk drilled a garbage-time three. Drew Eubanks scored a layup.

Brice Sensabaugh’s first NBA hoop didn’t come until January 12 of his rookie year, but was a nice one: a 1-on-1 drive. Fellow 2023-24 rookie Hendricks scored first on December 2 when he followed up his own off-balance layup attempt. A year earlier, Juzang didn’t check into his first Jazz game until late February, but hit a three on his third attempt.

Mills’ first basket in the league actually came against the Jazz, but it was not terribly exciting: a short jumper in garbage time of a 13-point Jazz win over Portland.

Another week in the books!