Top Unanswered Questions as Training Camp starts

Can Sexton earn Will Hardy’s trust to run the offense?. (Trent Nelson, The Salt Lake Tribune)

The offseason for the Utah Jazz lasted 176 days. From the final game of last regular season, April 9, to the start of media and training camp, October 2. The first preseason game will be played on October 8 in Hawaii versus the LA Clippers, and then the season kicks off in less than a month with an opening day matchup verses the Sacramento Kings on October 25. It was a long wait, but you made it!

Heading into this season there are multiple unanswered questions that are going to begin being sorted out during training camp and pre-season. So let’s look over a few of those questions that you are going to want to keep an eye out for over the next month.

Who will start at point guard?

This has been the most common question asked over the summer, including by me. So there’s no need to go into deep detail again, but let’s get this one out of the way now by looking at the options.

First, there’s Collin Sexton. Prior to coming to Utah, Sexton had started 208 of a possible 218 NBA games. then last season with the Jazz, he only started 15 of a possible 48 games, mostly a function of Mike Conley being on the roster. All of his starts came when Conley was either injured or after his trade. So with Sexton the question is whether the Jazz view him as a starter for them going forward, or if they prefer him being instant offense off the bench. That said, we know his preference. In an interview with Tony Jones this summer, he said, “I want to be able to try and take over the point guard role. I want to show them that I can run the show… I think this season is going to be fun.”

The next common choice I’ve seen is Jordan Clarkson, who had the best season of his career last year, posting careers highs in points (20.8), assists (4.4), and rebounds (4.0). Throughout much of his career, including his time with the Jazz, Clarkson has thrived in the sixth man role, evening winning Sixth Man of the Year during the 2020-21 season. Last season, Clarkson started all 61 games he appeared in and thrived in the role as he was given more control of the offense. As the NBA has transitioned away from the John Stockton point guard prototype, Clarkson has been able to easier make the transition from shoot first bench player, to lead ball handling guard under coach Will Hardy.

Three more players that have legitimate arguments. Talen Horton-Tucker  averaged 18 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds as a starter for the Jazz last season, and is still somehow only 22 — younger than Ochai Agbaji. Kris Dunn revitalized his career with the Jazz late last season and averaged 13.2 points, 5.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds, while also playing suffocating perimeter defense. Then finally, they could throw rookie Keyonte George into the deep end as the opening day starter. If he shows the ability to play at a high level during training camp and preseason, they could decide to just turn over the reigns sooner rather than later.

Who will play the backup small forward?

This isn’t a question I have seen a lot of people asking, but it is one that intrigues me. Maybe a bit less pressing compared to who starts at point guard, but who is going to be the primary backup small forward to Lauri Markkanen? Here are the current players on the roster who primarily played small forward last season accorrding to the positional player tracking on Basketball Reference: Leandro Balmaro (now gone), Luka Samanic and Simone Fontecchio. That’s it! Other players saw time and are capable of playing small forward, like Agbaji. But of players who played the majority of their minutes at the position, the Jazz aren’t rostering anyone with a ton of experience.

Most are in allignment in believe the starting frontcourt will be Walker Kessler, John Collins, and Markkanen. Outside of that starting lineup, we will most likely see Markkanen slide to play the center or power forward position. From there, we will probably see Agbaji handle minutes as a small forward and he’ll be paired with players like Sexton and Clarkson in the backcourt. Agbaji can’t handle all those minutes though, and there is a good chance we are going to see consistent minutes from one of Fontecchio, Samanic, or, depending on health and what we see from them during the pre-season, this is where both Taylor Hendricks or Brice Sensabaugh could find a way to regular rotation minutes early.

Speaking of the rookies…

Will any of the rookies see regular playing time?

I think by seasons end, one to all of Utah’s three first round draft picks could start seeing regular rotation minutes. Really just depends on how the season pans out, but if they are out of the playoff picture and leaning towards a semi-tank to keep their top-10 protected pick, then playing their young guns is a natural way to help that happen. To start the season though, where can George, Hendricks and Sensabaugh find playing time in Hardy’s rotation?

We’ve only seen Keyonte play, and he absolutely dominated during the Summer League. After a slow start to the SLC portion, he found his way to averages of 16.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists. Then in the first two games in Vegas, he put up 29.5 points and 8.5 assists, while shooting 53.8 percent from the field and 44 percent from three before injuring his ankle. We already know from the first question asked that point guard is a major question mark for the Jazz this season. That isn’t because of a lack of talent at the position though. They may not have a clear cut star, but they are very deep at the position with Sexton, Clarkson, THT, Dunn and George. With so much proven talent available to run the show, it wouldn’t be shocking for Hardy to feel more comfortable bringing Keyonte along slowing and perhaps even given him time with the SLC Stars. 

Training camp and pre-season will be a great time to see where he falls in the pecking order of guards on this roster and if Hardy has plans to get him into the rotation right away.

Hendricks and Sensabaugh are harder to project since they both missed the Summer League due to injuries. Hendricks has been fully cleared and arrived in Utah weeks ago to begin working out at the Jazz facility. As excited as fans are for Keyonte based on what he showed in summer league, it’s important to remember that Hendricks was the Top 10 pick in this years draft for a reason. He has a rare combination of size, length, elite athleticism, and the ability to shoot from three. His biggest area of opportunity is his handle, which might limit his opportunity. Between Markkanen, Kessler, Collins, Kelly Olynyk, and even a player like Omer Yurtseven, playing time at the center and power forward spots is going to be hard to come by. With his shooting and foot speed, small forward would be his opportunity at playing time, but unless he can show an improved ability to handle the ball, the Jazz may wait for him to develop further before putting him in that role.

Will Hardy said the three rookies – Keyonte George, Brice Sensabaugh and Taylor Hendricks – are all healthy and ready to go

— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) September 29, 2023

Enter Sensabaugh. Despite being a late first round pick for the Jazz, he may have the clearest path to playing time if he is fully recovered from his knee injury. If not for hurting his knee and needing surgury, he was originally projected to be selected in the teens. At 6’6″ and 235 pounds, he has the prototypical size to be a small forward who could even handle guarding most of the power forwards in todays NBA. He was also viewed as one of the best shooters in the draft, which is a skill that should translate immediately and could greatly benefit the spacing for this team. The biggest question mark for Sensabaugh will be his ability to play defense on the wing. He can handle the strength of the NBA, but can he consistently stay in front of some of the faster guards and wings in the league, especially as he returns from a knee injury.

What role will John Collins play?

One of the biggest x-factors heading into this new season is certainly the play of Collins. While it came via a trade, Collins was essentially the big free agent pickup for the Jazz, and they aquired him for pennies on the dollar from the Hawks. The Jazz have a clear star in Markkanen, but it will be interesting to see who becomes the number two option for the team. Clarkson held that role last season, averaging a career high 20.8 points. Currently, Collins is the highest paid player on the Jazz roster though, and I am sure he is going to be energized with this change of scenery. 

Collins was an All-Star calliber player early on in his career with the Hawks, averaging 20.3 points and 9.9 rebounds during his second and third seasons. From there, his production started to dip as his role with the team was minimized. Finally, last season, he averaged just 13.1 points and was consistently surrounded with trade rumors. 

One of the biggest impactors to his drop in production was his three-point shooting. Throughout the first five seasons of his career, Collins shot 37.6 percent from three. His peak was a 40 percent three-point shooting season while attempting 3.6 per game. After suffering a broken finger near the end of the 2021-22 season, the injured finger continued to cause him trouble last season. In an interview with KSL Sports, Collins provided an update and calrification, saying, ““I feel like there’s always room for it to get better — it’s like an arm sprain, if I sprain my arm it’s never going to be 100 percent until I stop playing the game, right? It’s just sort of that mentality of playing through it, rehabbing it, and treating it as such.” He then went on to say that he is excited to let his game do the talking in an effort to clear up the rumors and discussion around his finger and dip in play last season.

Hardy has already shown an impressive ability to get the most out of his players by focusing less on what they can’t do and working to maximize what they can do. During training camp and pre-season, we’ll begin to see what role Collins will have with this team and if he can regain some of his former flair. As a reminder, he just only turned 26 earlier in September.