Simone Fontecchio Has the Juice

Fontecchio is starting to show what he can do, writes Mark Russell Pereira. (Michael Wyke via sltrib.com)

It took just two games for me to reach an unshakeable conclusion: Simone Fontecchio needs a permanent spot in the forward rotation for the Utah Jazz.

The Italian hybrid forward has played precisely two (2) games in a sizable rotation role¹, and he has kicked ass in both of them.

On the road against the Rockets, Fontecchio came in for a foul-saddled Walker Kessler in the 3rd quarter and barfed up two quick turnovers. But then he played the entire fourth quarter as he blitzed around the perimeter and gunned it from deep. Once Houston started respecting his spacing after drilling three 3s in a row, he drove past closeouts for an easy layup and dunk. Fontecchio picked up four fouls, but three were soft throwaway calls and I’m not going to fault a rookie forward being a little handsy in his first real NBA action.

Look at this! It’s cool!

And so we all kind of thought Fontecchio would find more minutes immediately. Surely there was room in the rotation for instant super-spacing, quick decision-making and “give-a-shit” defense, right? Talen Horton-Tucker was still playing unremarkably, Kelly Olynyk didn’t really *need* to play 34 minutes a night, and there was little benefit to Rudy Gay’s presence on the floor.

Then Fontecchio was placed in quarantena due to coronavirus health and safety protocols, and when he returned he was planted on the end of the bench. Until Tuesday night against the Knicks.

It was easier to gloss over Fontecchio’s first “real” game. Houston’s defense is preposterously bad, and he made some shots coming off of good screens. Bit players in the NBA have good nights all the time. (Terence Davis, a player you’ve definitely heard of, had 31 points on Tuesday.)

By contrast, the Knicks game was particularly notable because of the man he was ostensibly replacing in the rotation: Gay, out with a sprained hand. And look, the focus of this blog post isn’t “Rudy Gay has been shit,” but Rudy Gay has been shit, and so his injury provided a timely look at who might play better in his stead. Unlike the Houston game, Fontecchio’s rotation minutes were planned and expected. And while the Knicks have their own defensive issues, they are firmly a tier or five above Houston, so I was greatly anticipating Fontecchio’s minutes.

The outcome matched the anticipation.

This is already the most absurd praise of a 9-point performance² in the history of basketblogging, but Fontecchio’s presence was indubitably felt on both ends of the floor in his 17 minutes. I mentioned this on the postcast after the game³, but let’s start with the perfect example of Fontecchio’s offensive skillset:

Each one of his acts here, taken by itself, isn’t groundbreaking stuff. But he strings together several great decisions in a row at an exceptional pace, which is uncommon and really great. The sprint to the corner on the fast break is nice, and he has a shot against a late-ish closeout, but unselfishly finding a wide open THT for a better attempt is good basketball.

As soon as THT’s shot is up, Fontecchio immediately occupies prime offense rebounding real estate⁴. The back iron rebound kicks all the way out to Malik Beasley, so Fontecchio very quickly relocates. All of this isn’t remarkable, but game after game you see countless NBA players—regardless of role or fatigue level—just kind of play out the string of a possession and not prepare themselves or teammates for second possessions. Fontecchio’s constant movement and effort is noticeable throughout his extended run.

Now the real niftiness begins. Fontecchio has already mastered a move we’ve seen from Bojan Bogdanovic over the past few years—the pump fake to sidestep off-the-dribble three. Like Bogdanovic, these feel almost like easy catch-and-shoot threes even though he’s taking a dribble. But because RJ Barrett’s closeout is so slow, the pump fake actually doesn’t create the separation he intends.

So Fontecchio initiates a quick pass-and-catch with Kessler that completely shakes Barrett loose (and a nice bit of basketball IQ from Kessler to understand the intent). This is not a common play! It’s very Klay Thompson-esque from a shooter who puts in maximum effort and guile to get the shot he wants. We’re all rewarded with a splash from the corner.

Let’s check out a sample of his other minutes on Tuesday:

Fontecchio gets on the scouting report as a frightening perimeter threat, but if the closeout is too exuberant, he has the verve to take it to the cup and make good decisions. You saw the dunk in the Houston reel above; he also keeps his eyes open for the easier play if it’s available:

And like I said, he’s already nailed the sidestep three:

He has the size and vision to matter on the offensive glass, and he knows where the open teammates are going to be on the second attempt:

He’s been a sturdy defender in Europe, and doesn’t appear outmatched by NBA speed and talent on that end. He needs to figure out pick-and-roll defense, but that’s a challenge for any new NBA player. Fontecchio’s general feel and anticipation will matter a lot defensively:

I’m probably stretching here, but I really liked this activity and thought process on this fast break turnover. For a team whose ethos is speed and controlled chaos, I greatly prefer a young team figuring out how a play like this can work on the break if you simply outrun the opponent and make cuts off the ball. A little bit better pass from Fontecchio and this is a layup:

And yeah, I’d obviously prefer Fontecchio to make this layup, but this type of cutting activity really stresses a defense that needs to stick on him as a perimeter threat. Jericho Sims has been an impressive young rim protector; I think this layup opportunity will be available most other nights⁵:

I’m bludgeoning you over the head with the theme here, but the energy and effort is constant with Fontecchio. This doesn’t matter much on its own, but it is always paired with immediate, correct decision making and scoring that creates the real edge on the court. Fontecchio finished a -19 against the Knicks, but that negative mark was almost entirely caused by his bench teammates missing shots or throwing the ball away, coupled with New York having a nice stretch of shot making.

The obvious takeaway here is that this dude needs to play over Gay, like, yesterday. I have already decreed that we are not going to spend 1000 words showing clips of Gay’s effort, decisions, and missed shots. It is not easy for Will Hardy to bench Gay, given their prior connection and Gay’s perceived leadership role. Nailing Gay to the bench could also cause unforeseen issues with the good vibes on the team. So no, I don’t expect Hardy to make that switch automatically.

But, keeping the better-performing player on the bench also can mess up the vibes of a team, especially if that player is effectuating all the stuff the coach purportedly cares about. Danny Ainge and Justin Zanik may need to force the issue by removing that club from Hardy’s bag, if you will, by finding a departure path out of Salt Lake City for Gay.

In the meantime, though, Fontecchio has a prime window of opportunity with Gay expected to miss 2-4 weeks with his injury. And whether it comes at the expense of Gay or some other minutes in the forward rotation, we need way more Simone Fontecchio on the floor to win basketball games—both now and in the future.