Let's start off with a champion.
Let's start off with somebody that just stacks trophies two Utah Sports Writer of the Year awards, Our Queen Sarah Todd on a Tuesday, Hello, champion, how are you?
I'm doing great? I mean, after an interest that I not be doing great?
What's it like just to win awards all the time as opposed to those of us who just do our job every day and nobody ever recognizes our awesome work.
It's hard. It's hard to be me, you know.
Oh goodness, Sarah, I want to start with I would imagine you were able to get to know Alex Jensen a little bit during his stint here. He was here ten years and overlapped with you taking your job, and a lot of reports, including our very own Sean O'Connell.
John Rostinho covers college basketball. It's not done yet, you know, obviously there's contracts and negotiations that have to take place, but it sure seems to indicate Alex Jensen's high speed ahead to moving back to Salt Lake City to take the Utah Mend's head coaching job.
What are your thoughts on this situation?
I mean, I think it's clear but there's obviously a lot that went into like Kevin Young going to b YU right like, and there's there's even more to it when you consider Ryan Smith and the connections that like
Guenny Angi and stuff have. But even if it was just Kevin Young and not all of the other factors, having someone that has that much NBA experience and can look at these young guys and say, like, if that's where you want to go, I know how you what you have to do to get there, like, and it's it's not like they were NBA coaches twenty years ago, right like it was yesterday. And so those kinds of
things really really help recruiting. And I think that at these young kids, like that's what they want, right, And yeah, the chances are slim, but it's good. And as for Alex, like, he's a great person. I got to know him his wife actually his father in law on to while they were hearing Utah and they're great people. They're good coaches, and Alex was loved by the people that he coached, and that's also important. So as the way that I see it is only good things.
Tell me one more question here, because he is widely credited and credited by Quinn himself as well with the evolution of mainly Rudy as far as the bigs go, But of course he coached fab He coached a lot of those young jazz bigs ns while he was here as well. But you know, the evolution of Rudy Gobert from his rookie year where it just didn't look like it was going to work at all, quite frankly, to a Hall of Famer, multiple Defensive Player of the Year,
multiple All Star Awards. Look, Rudy deserves the bulk of that credit. But if you talk to anybody around the organization, they were glowing with their praise about the way Alex worked with him. Tell me what you saw with that Dynamics Eraah, yeah.
I wasn't here for the early days of that, but I certainly talked to Rudy a lot in the years that I was here. And it's not just people about around the organization, like Rudy would credit Alex with so much of his development. And I think that you know, you're right that Rudy deserves the bulk of that credit. But if he's the one that's going to be giving credit to someone, then like you have to listen to
what he's saying. And there's so much when these young players, and we're looking at it so much of it now with the Utah Jazz, right Like, when these young players are developing, there's a lot of guesswork, and it's about maximizing potential that someone in the outside sees, but also the person that is developing has to be willing to kind of like grab the opportunity with both hands and like really go for it. And it had it all
is like it needs to be the perfect storm. And I think that at that time, like Rudy his determination work, ethic, Alex Jensen, what he was willing to do, how hard he wanted to put Trudy because from what I've heard, like he really challenged him and pushed him in a way that no one else would. It was just the perfect storm.
All right.
Moving over now to the Utah Jazz, Let's start with some fun news for Isaiah Callier named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for the month of February. You know, he's kind of caught a lot of people off guard. Of course, we know the background. He was very highly recruited coming out of high school. One of those players kind of like Michael Porter Junior was, where if they were allowed to enter out of high school, Isaiah might
have been a top five pick. Goes DEAs See doesn't go all that well because you know, that was a bit of a mess with with Andy Enfield on his way out and they had Bronni there as well, and so he slipped in the draft. The Jazz were able to grab him late in the first and ever since, Will made the choice to start Isaiah and bench Keyante and we'll get to Kiante and a moment, let's stick
with Isaiah. I think Isaiah's really responded. So what do you make of as far as the way he's embrace the potential to start as the lead guard, the way he's played in your thoughts on this fun award for this young kid, Yeah, I.
Think, you know, well deserved because he has He's kind of responded with an opportunity and done really well. I get a lot of flack because I'm not as high on Isaiah as a lot of other people are, but that's because, like I'm I'm thinking, you know, five years down the line. Every night that I watch this team, every time that I interact with anyone. I'm trying to think what's this going to look like five years from now?
And so I'm thinking, is Isaiah Callier? Is he good enough to be a starting NBA point guard on a team that's actually trying to win a championship? And I know that that's a crazy question to ask if someone like midway through their rookie year, right, but like, I just need to continually be asking those questions about every
player on this team. And if it's not that question, it's is this player good enough to be included in a trade that would get the Jazz something of value that would be useful for a team that wants to win a championship? And so I think that he's making all of the right steps in that direction. I love
the pace that he plays with. It's my favorite part of his game is like the way that he pushes the ball, not just for how it results for him, but how it forces the other players on the team to kind of get in line and they need that, and so I think that that sets such a good example for everybody on the team. Obviously, his passing is great, but I have to I have to ask the Devil's
advocate questions like, is his passing look great? Because there the most recent people we were watching past the ball is Tayalen Harton Tucker and Kiante George. It is just passing great because no one else on the team is passing the ball like someone The assists got to go somewhere, right, And is this the kind of guy that could play point guard in the playoffs? And I think that those are still question marks. I don't think that those are answered yet, and so do I hope that those are
answered and that he continues to develop and he's great. Absolutely, is the is the award from the NBA deserved? Absolutely, But he's still a rookie and so I'm still waiting.
Well, And the other thing, Sarah, is if you're going to be a leadue guard in pro basketball in the year of our lower twenty twenty five, you can't shoot twenty three percent from three? You know, he's good. You know, I don't know if it's getting jumpers up over the off season. I will say this, I have and I get asked this.
All the time. You probably do as well.
You can learn to shoot, okay, you can learn to shoot on this level. You just have to put in a lot of work and be willing to get up early and go meet with your shooting coach and get hundreds of jumpers up every single day in the offseason.
Karl Malung was a rookie.
We would pray that he would hit the backboard when he was shooting free throws of the rim, just to get the you know, just to be able to get the rebound. And he turned himself into a really good spot up you know, face up shooter, a good free throw shooter as well, so you can learn to shoot. When Isaiah is fully baked, what do you think it looks like?
Yeah, I mean Brook Lopez is a person that is in the NBA, right, Like, we have seen guys not even like Isaiah has the benefit of like, well, he already shoots the ball some right, Like, there are guys who like did not shoot the ball at all and then have become good, good shooters.
And so.
There is one hundred percent chance, you're right, a chance, an opportunity potential that he could learn how to do this. But you know, when he's fully baked, like, what does that look like? I can't say like one hundred percent that he's going to he could, right, And so you still have to put a question mark on there. I can't say that he's going to be able to like if you're going to throw him in the playoffs right now, absolutely not. He cannot be your lead guard if he
can't shoot. And also if he is still willing to kind of run down hill and not always have a backup plan or you know, run into like three guys that are way bigger than him and try and like shoot over him. Like, there's the infot his game that
he needs to clean up. Turnovers and shooting are the biggest one, and as Will Hardy has been pointing out lately, like his ball pressure, his defensive effort, and how much attention to detail he is using on that end of the floor, those are the things that have to actually develop in order for him to be considered a guard that could last into a postseason.
I don't care if you're John Havlichak, Mounto Genobili or Keyante George. When your coach comes to you and says you're not starting anymore, you're going to take that as a demotion. And you could see it in Keyante's body language early on, and quite frankly, you could see it in the production. And you know, when you look at a lot of his splits, there are still numbers that are very concerning.
But he has been a little bit better as of late.
The three point percentage is up to thirty five percent, the field goal percentage is up to forty percent. I don't know what we can do to get our guy to at least pretend like he's going to try to guard because that things. Still, he's a marathon away from being an acceptable NBA defensive player.
But same question asked you about Isaiah.
Since this rotational switch took place, what are your thoughts on the way Kante has handled it?
Yeah, I mean you're absolutely right, Like when Keyante is pushed down to the bench, like you can see it in the body language, like he is taking it as emotion. But I think that's kind of the key word here, right, Like the body language wasn't that great when he was
a starter? Right like he was. He carries himself in a way that makes you feel like he is deserving of something, But we have to remember how young he is and that he needs to prove he deserves something still, and absolutely he should be taking it as a demotion. He should be looking at it as like, oh wow, I need to like really do something and wake up and show everyone that I'm not san diva. I'm not entitled.
I don't think that I deserve everything. And I'm not saying that he acts like a diva, but like he had a real opportunity with the Jaess Human right now, like Isaiah Collier is taking that away and that's not anybody's fault but Kiante's.
And so.
What's really interesting about Kiante, and I think is really obvious, is that there have been a couple of games when we've seen him try on defense, and there have been games where we've seen him really take care of the ball. And so it's not like we it's not like he has a game where it's like, oh, I don't know if he can do that, we have to still wait and see. It's like, no, we know that he can do it. It's just that he's not doing it. And
so that's where the problem is with Kiante. I think that Kiante has all of the skill and potential to be a really good player, and it's just whether or not he's going to want it bad enough to do it. And some guys come into the league with that kind of skill and they're able to maximize all of it and they become really good players, Like you know, borderline all star is what you could see out of him.
But if he's not going to use all of his skill and maximize all the potential that he has and really take a hold of the opportunity, then he probably will just end up as like a seventh man in the league. And that's not bad, but it's not as good as he can be. And so I think that that's like the message here right Like Will Hardy, I'm sure has said similar things, but he's not gonna, you know, just take take Keiante out of the starting lineup and put a rookie in his place and not have said
things to him. And so I have to imagine that Kiante has heard all of this, and now we just have to see how he handles it from this point moving forward.
There was a lot to like about Kyle Philipowski in college.
The questions, as it always is, is will that translate to the pros when he's not thought to be some dynamite athlete with great speed and great explosiveness, But he's got good has good skill and in spurts and moments, it has translated, and certainly over the past month month and a half when he's had more opportunities, we've seen some really good games from Kyle Philipowski. Just same question, We're going to kind of run down the list of the young players because I'm talking in a minute as
we sit here today early March. Where you'ah with the development of Kyle Philipowski.
Yeah, I think Kyle's game has a ton of translatable attribute the passing, his footwork, his shooting. He's actually changed his shot release this season, and doing that during the course of an NBA season rather than the off season is really difficult, and so that shows initiative and some work ethic from him. But I think is really good to note the worst thing that Kyle has right now and it's just going to take time. It's the same with Cody Williams. He's not strong enough at all. He
has to be stronger. He needs to gain strength, and he needs to be will to just like kind of put his body into plays a billion percent more than he is right now. Like we understand you can look at Kyle Philipowski and look at guys like you know, balance Unis or even Jalen Duran, who's the same age as Kyle philip Howski but is clearly stronger than him. Right from last night's game, he's just getting bullied, getting pushed around, and we know that there are times again
we've seen there were moments where Kyle played. He was matched up with Jokic in a game earlier this season, and you could tell that he was really really trying to, you know, plant his feet and not get knocked off his spot, and he was using a little bit more forced and that's what you want to see from him the rest of the season. Like, we know you're going to get pushed around. You are not the strongest guy
out there. Nobody thinks that you're going to be able to like hold up Jokic and keep him from getting to the basket. But you want to see him try. And then this offseason it's really about him gaining strength because that's probably where the big the biggest weakness in his game is.
Let's stick with the good news before we move over to the space of maybe some things that are problematic. And you know, if there's one bright spot this year, if you're asking me for the best news, if you're a Jazz fan, It's what Walker's done.
Man.
You're three after a rough sophomore campaign, and it's got to be a bit of a relief, quite frankly, for the front office and the coaching staff to watch this young man approach this year, the way that he has put up monster numbers, and when he is not playing, the difference is stark. They do not guard the rim at all when Walker's on the sideline. So I feel like Walker has played his way into a clear part of the future and a clear piece to this puzzle.
What's been the Sarah Todd take on watching Walker Kessler's evolution year three.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. It's it's the best part of this season for the Jazz, the brightest spot. I'm working on a story about Walker, kind of a longer dive into what's been happening this season, and I think, you know, there's a lot to be said about the strength that he's gained, the work that he's done, trying to use his voice more on the court, which helps the defense when he's out there too. But I think that the biggest difference has been like a mental shift
for Walker. He went his first season coming into the league and just being like kind of I'm just glad to be here, right, and just appreciating every moment and not really paying attention to like results or individual stuff. But when he was out on the floor, just like trying his absolute hardest because he was so grateful to
be here. And his second year, he started to overthink and he started to just look at things a little differently, and often he was pretty negative, and like he would say that himself, and I think that and he did like a really really intentional job over the offseason, talking with a sports psychologist working on just like different ways to center himself and try and approach every day, every game, every practice with gratitude rather than thinking about anything negative.
And he said that, you know, I'm just going out to have fun and try to help the team. I'm trying not to think about anything else. And I think that the mental shift and focusing on the team's betterment rather than what is happening to him individually has really really changed. And I know that's kind of like a wu wu answer for like Walker being better this season, but I think it's a really big part of it. And he was really intentional with making that a.
Part of it, all Right, I got to ask you about Cody.
You know, I am certainly not one after being around this league as long as I have, I will not annoint nor dismiss a twenty year old no matter what, thirty six games in his pro career. But it just hasn't looked good. It really just you know, it's not just data, it's the eye test. He had a couple of passes last night where you're like, dude, what exactly were you seeing there?
Are you concerned for a.
Top ten pick to not necessarily show the organization or the fan base, in my opinion, enough consistent hope or are you still optimistic about what Cody can be.
A little bit of both? Right, Like, absolutely, I'm concerned. I think that anybody who has been watching the Jazz or watching Cody, you can't not be concerned. At the same time, like, I recognize that he is a rookie. He's incredibly small. He kind of has the same thing as what we were talking about with Kyle. He he has to gain strength. The problem is is that like some of some of the guys with like his body type, he's so he's so slim. It just is going to
take more time. But that's not to say that like slim guys can be force full and can't be good in the NBA. Right Like, one of the more recent guys that I think about is like Micheale Bridges, like not as tall but still really really slight frame was at least that skinny, if not skinnier coming into the league and was nearly a defensive Player of the Year, Like I think I'm pretty sure he was top three
of the year that he was voted. And so, like the there are cases where guys with frames like that like can be good, and I think that that kind of is the mold of the Jesse for him, like being like a three and D wing, but he he also has like potential. I mean, I know that it hasn't looked good, but like I'm not completely really willing to write him off yet and I really really hope that we can see some more good stuff out of him next season. But I just don't think that he
he has the tools to do it this season. And you know, I know that it's a small sample size when we think about like Taylor Hendrix playing in the first three game of this season, right, Like, that's it's insane to even really look at just three games and
try and take anything out of it. But if you compare what Taylor Hendricks looked like just in the if you only looked in the first two games this season, compared to what he did last season, Like we're talking about a guy who, like he didn't even know how to run back on defense last year. Okay, but we're all very excited about the potential of Taylor Hendricks because of how different he looked, how much more how much more attention to detail he had just in a couple
of games. And so for a guy like Cody where it looks so bad this season, I still think there's potential. And like, if we're going to be giving guys like Isaiah Collier or even Kyle Philipowski, and we think about Taylor Hendricks, if we're going to be giving them the benefit of the doubt about being projects or young guys that need more time to develop and aren't going to, like,
you know, stand out exactly their rookie year. Think about Rudy Gobert right like, it looked horrible his rookie year, and so I'm still willing to give it some chance in some time, But you're absolutely right, Like, if you're watching it this year, you are concerned.
kJ Martin's got a little something.
And I've always thought that now, if he was a very important player, he wouldn't keep changing teams.
So I don't know if they're long for him.
But he is twenty four years old, which kind of fits the timeline. I mean, look, we talk about anybody who's now the first and the second year guys as if they're like forty, right, and you know, some of the players, like Colin's only twenty six, But at twenty four years old, kJ is still young. I think he has fourteen dunks already. I mean, he is such an
elite athlete. Is there any chance that the Jazz are looking at kJ Martin is maybe something that they'll continue to look at and keep around for a few years.
Yeah. It's a really really interesting thing with kJ because I mean I know that Will, like so the first time I ever talked to kJ, I knew that, like, oh that's a Will hardy guy, because like the first words out of his mouth were, like, the most important thing to me is playing hard, no matter what the situation is, Like you just have to put an effort on the defensive end. It's like, Okay, well, we'll gonna
like this guy. And like he's spent a lot of time in the last couple of years working on navigating screens and getting his body in better position on defense, and so he's making a lot of adjustments to kind of mold himself into a player that teams are going
to want to keep around. And he's got a non guaranteed contract for next season, and he also has a January tenth, like fully guaranteed date, so the jeff could keep him around and try him out for a little while next season before they need to like make a full investment by January. And he's really he's just really interesting. He seems like the kind of guy that would be good for some of the young guys to have around. But it's like, do you want to spend eight million
dollars on him next season? Depending on who you get in the draft and like positionally where he's going to be. It just there's a lot of moving parts, and I think it's going to be really interesting what the Jazz do with him. I don't know. I don't know exactly what they are going to do, but it's not like it's a really high number. It's also not the lowest number.
And could they try out another, you know, young guy, and could they get someone in the draft that might be playing that position or And there's a lot of moving parts there, but he's definitely somebody that intrigues me, and I think that his attitude and his temperament are kind of exactly what the Jazz are looking for.
Before I say you, Lewis, it is reported that the Jazz signed Jaden Springer to a three year deal. I'm sure based off of the way they've handled some of the other deals, there's not a lot of guarantees in it.
But I'll just ask you the same question.
Because we're focused on the group of young players who kind of know the deal with everybody else, is there a chance they're looking at Jaden Springer as a piece of the puzzle moving forward?
Maybe I think that's more of like a tryout situation. You know, we saw what they did with like Kenny Lofton and Darius Beasley previously, and it's the same kind
of deal. You know, it's non guaranteed through the two years after this season, But I also think that they're I don't have this like on like reported from anybody in the front office, but this is just my vibe, right Like, uh, If if I'm Kyante or Isaiah and I see them sign James Springer and I know that you know, Colin, Bryce Jordan, even Elijah Harclift like all of the other Guard Wing guys that are on the roster, if I see them sign James Springer and I see
that they're giving him minute. If I'm somebody like Keyante, I'm like, I'm hoping that the message is well, absolutely not. I'm not let that guy get minutes over me, right Like, maybe it's just another kick in the pants because we've we've heard Will say what he likes about about Jadon Springer is his intensity and effort on defense, and I just like, don't think that's by mistake.
Good stuff today, Sarah, Always appreciate the time. Keep stacking those trophies and we'll chat soon.
Okay, Absolutely, thanks a lot.
Said Tod Covers.
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