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.
Three games in, it's already clear what Utah's biggest issues will be as they try to return to competitiveness.
"Turnovers will continue to be an issue until we fight through fatigue better," said fifth-year Jazz coach Will Hardy. "We're lazy and sloppy when we get tired, and it's unacceptable."
Giveaways have been a factor in all three Jazz games so far. Against Memphis, Utah's 18 miscues fueled the Grizzlies' 23-9 fast break advantage. The Pelicans were able to erase a 15-point lead on Friday due in part to Utah's 8-turnover quarter in the third. And, after building up an 18-point lead against the Lakers, the Jazz again got caught throwing the ball over the gym, but this time in the second quarter. In a 45-24 quarter for L.A., 11 of those points came after giveaways by Utah.
"We just gave into the fatigue and our offense got a beat behind music," Hardy continued.
It's a little discouraging to hear fatigue cited as a factor just three games into the season when Utah has the lowest minutes-adjusted average age in the league. The Jazz should be the last team effected by fatigue, at least in theory.
But for whatever reason, the Jazz have had at least one stretch in every game so far in which they have just been extremely miscalibrated.
Jazz-Lakers was a 1-possession game in the final two minutes, and Jazz-Pelicans came down to the final play. The Jazz very feasibly could have won both and just as easily could have lost both, which is why the variance involved with 35 empty possessions across those two games really matters. Even Jazz-Grizzlies could have gone very differently, as it seemed every time Utah began to put together a run, they'd cough up the ball again and the Grizz would restore their significant lead.
Because Utah doesn't have a true ball-in-hands superstar, they're going to be more dependent on passing than, say, Luka Doncic's Lakers or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Thunder. Lauri Markkanen is a primetime scorer, but often scores after a pass. That's partly why the team has struggled with turnovers throughout Hardy's tenure: they almost have to play with the pass to be successful on offense.
Also, Utah's decison-makers are all extremely young. Keyonte George is the closest thing they have to a seasoned playmaker, and he still hasn't played in his 200th NBA game[fn]That will actually happen tonight against Memphis.[/fn]. He's actually leading the Jazz in turnovers right now, gifting the ball to opponents 4.7 times per game.
Utah also starts rookie Darryn Peterson and 20-year-old Ace Bailey, and their backup point guard is a third-year pro who just turned 22.
As a team, about one in every six possessions will end without Utah even getting a look at the basket. And it's not like even faced any defensive powerhouses yet.
Perhaps it's a chemistry thing. This version of the Jazz is still very new, and also had to adjust to a pretty key injury that changes the way they play to a degree. Hardy also acknowledged before Jazz-Lakers that the absence of Jusuf Nurkic forces them to play with more on-ball actions, whereas the Bosnian center allows them to run off-ball stuff with him serving as a decision-making hub at the nail or elbows. That's a pretty big adjustment to have to make on the fly. Maybe Utah's still settling into that.
But keep an eye on it, because Utah is going to struggle if 17% of their possessions end in an opportunity for their opponents to score instead of them.
"Nobody can stop us when the ball is moving and we’re making those 0.5 decisions."
- Ace Bailey, as relayed by KSL Sports' Chandler Holt
This quote from Bailey came after the Jazz played an offensively dominant first quarter against the Lakers. Their 47 points were the most in any quarter since December 2024, and 14 of their 19 buckets were assisted.
They had a similarly delightful first half against New Orleans: 19 assists and just six turnovers.
They had an ORtg of 130+ in the first halves of both games.
The "0.5 decisions" Bailey is referring to is internal vernacular for being ready to make a decision in the first half second that a player possesses the ball. Based on the geometry of the court and what your defender is doing, you should know right away whether to shoot, pass or drive. The Jazz have had stretches where they played like that, and Bailey is right that they looked pretty unstoppable in those moments.
Hardy also talks about "quick decisions" all the time and bemoaned the doubting, overdribbling, and jab-stepping that took over in the second half against the Lakers. "It's hard when we get stuck," Hardy said, "because we're not an isolation team. We have to play a team style on offense."
126
Jaren Jackson Jr. has now has 20+ points in five of his first six games as a Jazzman. In fact, his total scoring through six games in purple is at pretty historic levels. In the franchise's Utah era, only Adrian Dantley (168) and Lauri Markkanen (127) scored more than Jackson's 126 in their first six games with the club.
39.1%
The Jazz had plenty of issues in Memphis in the season opener, starting with Ty Jerome's 45-point explosion. But among other things, they really struggled on the glass. Memphis rebounded 39.1% of their own misses in halfcourt play, and Utah's own 12.8% offensive rebounding rate (overall) was the lowest of any game so far this NBA season.
24-4
Utah's turnover problems against New Orleans opened the door for the Pels to get back in the game by getting easy buckets. In the third quarter alone, the Pelicans outscored Utah 24-4 in the paint. It's tied for the biggest paint advantage in any quarter by any team this season — in fact, it's tied with the Jazz, who outscored the Lakers by the exact same 24-4 in the first quarter two days later.
-30
Speaking of Utah's paint success against the Lakers, Utah wound up outscoring their opponents their by 28, but still lost. How?! By giving up a 30-point swing on threes: the Lakers made 20 to Utah's 10. Utah also lost the free throw battle by 11 points.
26.7%
The new Utah starting five of George-Peterson-Bailey-Markkanen-Jackson has held up decently: 39-41 against the Pels, 46-48 against the Lakers. The weird thing is, this group has made only eight of 30 attempts from outside (26.7%). One has to think that will progress toward the mean as the five get more comfortable.
One of the things fans should be most curious about in the early part of the season is how the Jazz plan to level up by deploying their All-Star forwards together. Any time there's an action involving both of them, these eyes are peeled.
The Jazz run these staggers for Markkanen out of the corner all the time. When the first screener is a traditional big, the defender can drop back a little into "contain" mode, but Zion Williamson doesn't want to leave Jackson. George's defender doesn't move an inch either, which means it's all up to the weakside helper, who's late.
Jackson's not really in the action on this one, but look at how far Walker Kessler is from the rim when Lauri catches Luka Doncic out of position.
With the ball coming left to right, Jackson is about to be on the strong side, so Kessler is on his way to get back in front of him at the point that George wheels the pass back to Markkanen. The latter flips on the burners, and Kessler simply has too much ground to cover.
It works the other way around, too:
This "horns twist" setup is another really common one for the Jazz: Markkanen and someone (this time JJJ) show double screens at the top of the key, but then Lauri flares to the opposite side. Because Lauri is Lauri, his defender has to lock-and-trail over the screen, even though Jackson's defender is dropping. As a result, Kessler is 8-9 feet away from Jackson when the pass is thrown. Kessler closes out with his feet wide, which tells Jackson that he can put the ball in the deck and get Kessler on his shoulder. Jackson's defender is in recovery mode the whole way because of Markkanen's insane gravity.
Keep watching the interplay between these two. It's absolutely the key to unlocking Utah's best-case scenario this season.
Only one game ball to give away in Utah's 1-2 start, but chances are good we'll be giving away a lot more Wilsons this season than we did a year ago.
Jazz 120, Pelicans 119: Jaren Jackson Jr. The online vote was split pretty evenly among Jackson, George and Hayes, and those are probably the right three finalists. Jackson had his first ever Jazz double-double, which featured a 9-point fourth quarter, plus three emphatic blocks. George was roughly as good late: seven of his 19 also came in the fourth, plus he took a late charge as a helper after walling off his own man. Jackson's line (24-10-3-3) was superior to Key's (19-1-10) so I went there, but the two were neck-and-neck here. Hayes deserved consideration after 17 points and several defensive plays (including contesting the final New Orleans miss), and Peterson had 15 including the winning points.
Strong in defeat:
- Jazz 103, Grizzlies 103: Keyonte George. George is the obvious choice here with his 22-3-5 line, although Markkanen's night would look a lot different if he had made even one or two more of his really good outside looks (he was 1-for-7). Scoring 22 on just 12 shots means that Utah had an ORtg of 116 on possessions used by George (with a shot, FT trip or TO) and 95 on all others.
- Jazz 123, Lakers 132: Keyonte George. A 24-9-10 line is no joke, even if it came with another 6-TO night for George. He had two timely threes, but most of his scoring came off self-created drives and fouls drawn. Markkanen scored more and felt more essential at different points in the game, but wasn't quite as efficient as Key, nor did he do the same amount of other stuff (7 boards, 1 assist). Trip added another 20, making it five of his six Jazz games ever with 20-plus. Bailey was hot to start, but had only one bucket after the first quarter.
Utah's homestand continues this week with three more games at the Delta Center, including revenge time, a date with the conference champs, and a Halloween matinee.
Monday 10/26 vs. Grizzlies: Utah's first back-to-back of the season gives them the chance to right a few wrongs from their season opener. The plucky Grizz have gone on to win their subsequent games at Golden State and Sacramento, making them one of six undefeated teams in the Western Conference. Like the Jazz, they played on Sunday, but their back-to-back involves travel and an hour of lost time. Former Jazzman Taylor Hendricks got his first playing time of the season Sunday, logging seven scoreless minutes.
Wednesday 10/28 vs. Spurs: The reigning West champs actually lost two at home (to OKC and Houston) before getting their first win in Dallas. Victor Wembanyama is averaging 20 points and 11 boards (to go with 4 blocks!) although the perimeter shot hasn't been kind to San Antonio so far — just 32% from there as a team. They'll be on a back-to-back in Utah, with a game the night before against the Kings.
Saturday 10/31 vs. Blazers: Portland has only played twice so far. They delivered an absolute shellacking to the Suns, leading by as many as 52, and then edged the Kings on the road. Their answer to their weird glut of starter-caliber guards has been to start Damian Lillard (22ppg) and Ja Morant (13), while bringing Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson off the bench. Deni Avdija is off the a nice start after earning his first All-Star selection last year, averaging 22-8-5. Former Jazzman Micah Potter is with Portland on a non-guaranteed deal, but the biggest Blazer connection is Morant, with whom Jackson spent six and a half seasons in Memphis.
First NBA buckets are unbelievably cool. Guys work their whole lives to put that silly orange thingy inside the round metal thingy, and it's one of the fun parts of opening week.
In the case of Utah's two youngest players, their first baskets were incredibly a propos for their strengths. A year ago, Bailey dropped his first two in an athletic fashion that showed off his spark and highlight-reel flare. Just this past Wednesday, Peterson scored on also a very typical part of the Peterson experience: he caught, attacked with the dribble, and pulled the cord on a baseline floater.
Here are the first NBA baskets of all 18 current NBA Jazzmen.
For posterity, here's that Peterson floater:
