Utah Jazz vs Memphis Grizzlies Post Game | Keyonte George is awesome! | Hoops Nerd Show
Jazz get an impressive win against the Memphis Grizzlies. Keonte George was awesome. Let’s talk about it. It’s the Hoopner Show. [Music] All right, guys. Before we get into it, make sure you like the video, subscribe to the channel. Also, support our sponsor, Prize Pix. Use promo code hoops nerd at prize pix. If you sign up, you will get $50 instantly if you put down five. It’s worth it. Except if you are hoping that the Jazz would try and develop Ace Bailey even a little bit this season. It’s not happening, guys. This is not going to be a very long one. The cord’s up. I forgot to put it up and I still haven’t gotten my new sign up. It’s okay. Whatever. I still got to sand this wall and paint it. I just have not had a chance. By the way, I’m sorry I haven’t had a video out for a few days. It’s been a interesting week, a long week. Holidays are coming up. Uh so, we’ve had a lot going on with kids and holidays and so on. So, we’re doing our best, but we’re here tonight to let you know I’m doing a shorter video. My parents are upstairs. I kind of want to go watch a show. We’re going to watch the second episode of The Beast in Me. That show is awesome. But anyways, we got to talk about the Jazz tonight. Uh the Utah Jazz. Um first off, let’s talk about we’re going to have to just figure out how to feel and think about these games because this Utah Jazz team does have games like this where they’re able to beat these teams. The Memphis Grizzlies are fool’s gold. They’re not very impressive. You know, John Morant came back and he’s just not the same player. He’s, you know, he’s a fine player, but one of the things that took him into star level was his athleticism, and it’s obviously not quite the same tonight. There were multiple plays where John Morant just did not get the same lift that he typically does. Although, he had a few highlight plays as well, so who knows? Maybe he’s just getting back into shape after having missed like 10 games or whatever it is that he’s missed. But Utah can come in and they can beat teams like this. This is uh probably the best road win for the Jazz since they beat the Boston Celtics who they got lucky on a no call at the end of the game. This one was also really close and could have gone either way. And it was Keiante George who is showing up big time in so many different times that so many different times this season. He has turned into the player that I hoped and thought he could to be honest. and everyone who said a lot to me those first two seasons. I said a lot of things and I even put out a tweet that I regret deleting, but I was more impressed with him with some of the things he was doing than Donovan Mitchell. And I’m just going to say it here. I think he has potential to be better than Donovan because he’s an actual good passer and he’s an actual player that actually makes other players better. 2001 gaming fan, $2, super appreciated. I really appreciate your guys donations. Big losing streak coming. I ste I smell it. Maybe uh I will say and we’re gonna talk about a little thing here. I pulled up this thing called cognitive dissonance. It’s something we got to talk about because it’s an important concept to help me just at least cope or understand what’s going on. But I don’t know. this Utah Jazz team and this front office, not the team, the front office just doesn’t it’s just not a very competent one. We just got to call it like it is these days, guys. Uh Utah in this game play out of their last three seasons, they only have one of their first round picks playing. Two of the last three first round picks didn’t even play. Or I guess Taylor Hendricks did play 24 minutes. So never mind. I am wrong. But uh Cody Williams is nowhere. Well, Cody Williams played for eight. Let’s see. Am I on the right one here? I think this is the old one. This is the old one. Dang it. Let me pull up the right one so that I am not misspeaking. That’s right. No Taylor Hendricks, no Cody Williams. Two of the last three seasons, their first round pick did not play. That is just such an I mean the player that is playing is Keonte George who they picked at 16 from from the pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves who fell to them at that point. Great pick but the fact that they were not able to hit on the other two. The fact that they did not maximize their tanking during those seasons when uh they should have is just bad management and bad ownership. It’s just bad. It’s just an a complete misunderstanding of how the NBA works. And I don’t care that it’s I mean the one that I actually believe in the most is Danny A and from things I’ve heard heard he agrees with the way I’ve kind of viewed these things is that you have to get these top picks in the draft and the only way Utah was going to do that was by tanking their butts off and they did not. They did it wrong. You know, they did tank those two seasons but it was post trade deadline and both of those did not lead to a first round pick. So, everyone who says, “Oh, well, you can get a first round pick uh later than, you know, being in the bottom five.” Well, then why didn’t it happen those two seasons? If you can just win the lottery late being late in the lottery, then why didn’t we win it those times, right? No one ever explains that to me, you know, when they say, “Oh, the Hawks jumped. Oh, the Mavericks jumped.” Well, the Jazz didn’t jump, right? and they didn’t jump and they didn’t draft stars, those two drafts. Like Taylor Hendricks can’t get on the floor. I don’t know. You know, it would be nice if they played their pick that they told us was really good. Uh but they don’t. They choose not to. Um and you know, Keonte George looks like a star. I saw it. I had heard whispers on from different people about things that were going on those first two seasons that he looked incredible in training camp and things like that. And then he couldn’t get on the floor because it was more important to play guys like Kelly Oolen and Colin Ston and Jordan Clarkson and and everyone but Keonte George, right? And then online and even the stupid uh announcing team badmouths him the whole time talking about body language and stuff like that. Maybe Keonte George knew better than all of you. It certainly looks like it now, right? So everyone who said, “Oh, Keiante George’s body language.” I don’t hear people talking about that now. Do we think Keonte George just became incredible over this last off seasonason that something just clicked? Maybe. But something tells me that he could have gotten developed a lot sooner had the Jazz focused on actually trying to build through the draft. And one of the dumbest things I ever I you know I put that tank take note breaking news thing where they talked about uh you know the Indiana Pacers being interested in Walker Kesler. Um, and I guess the Jazz are really impressed with SV Mock and and how they think he can be a future eighth player on the Jazz. Well, he’s starting. Why are the Jazz worried about a player that would be like the eighth man in a rotation on a good team? The Jazz are not a very good team right now. They beat the the Grizzlies, but the Jazz currently I got to bring up. Let me pull down my screen here. The Jazz currently sit at uh nine and uh what’s their record? Oh, that strength of schedule, man. I’m just all over the place. The Jazz are nine and 15. They are objectively not a very good basketball team. They don’t defend at all. So, you know, at some point Will Hardy’s going to teach defense, I guess, because Utah apparently and Will and Ryan Smith and them think that they can just s sort of turn it on next year or I guess this year. Well, they’re nine and 15. You They don’t play defense. At some point, are we going to ask when this team can play defense or if Will Hardy can teach them to play defense? You know, we’ve seen him yell at the players on the sideline that they need to try harder. But that certainly feels a little like a little I don’t know. We’ll see. Going to hold judgment there a little bit, but we have not seen a good defense from the Jazz in a bit. at all post Rudy Gobear. Um let’s see. In fact, let’s just open this up. Let’s go to our um standings here. Teams advanced. Just the basics here. Offensive rating, Utah sits at 20. So, the offensive rating is uh below average, but it’s at least not the worst like last season. Uh defensive rating, Utah is second to last. They are just a terrible defensive team. So, what Utah is doing is manufacturing some offense. Sure, they can’t defend anybody, you know. So, I don’t know what the Jazz are going to do. Uh Clippers at 25. Man, I just I’m just curious about the Clippers. The Clippers, this tells me the Clippers should be winning more games. Utah has won like two or three close ones. The Clippers have not. Um I don’t know, guys. So, I wanted to talk about a thing called cognitive dissonance a little bit. And maybe it’s me that’s feeling this. I if you guys aren’t familiar, a state of mental discomfort that occurs when a person holds beliefs or opinions that are inconsistent or that conflict with an aspect of their behavior or actual evidence in front of them. I want to see more here. What is an example? An example of co cognitive dissonance is a smoker who knows smoking is unhealthy but continues to smoke. Doesn’t that sound a little bit like what the Jazz are doing right now? A team that thinks they’re a playoff team and yet they’re nine and 15. To me, that feels a little like cognitive dissonance, like someone is being shown something right to their face, Ryan Smith, and is choosing to believe something else and it provides discomfort and mental stress and yeah, just discomfort, right? It’s when you are believing something and then you receive all this evidence of something else and you ignore those awkward feelings you feel when you’re hearing these things and feeling these things. You know what’s really nice is when you just embrace it. And I have to say I’ve had a lot of cognitive diss dissonance with this Utah Jazz front office. For the last 3 years, I have tried to find the the bright side of what they’re doing on this channel and talk about, well, I can see this, I can see that. But then I would have the evidence hit me in the face and it would be not my favorite feeling all the time. And eventually you just get to it. This season, I’ve just decided that I am going to go off of what I’m seeing. What I’m seeing from this Jazz team is a young guard in Keonte George who looks like he can be a real offensive star, like real impressive and does try enough defensively that if you put the right pieces around him, you can you can be very good offensively. Like I think the Jazz, if they get Ace Bailey to another level, could be really good offensively. There are some things with this offense I think are extremely fool’s gold. One of those being uh Lowry Markin. I just don’t think Lowry Markin is good is as good as uh jazz media and propaganda tries to make it. That’s just what I’m seeing. I’m trying to avoid the cognitive dissonance here. I’ve been seeing this like the last two, three years because guess what? For as good as everyone says Lowry Markinan is and as awesome as Kee George has been this year, Utah is still and they are trying to win with this team still just the number 20 offense in the NBA. So, this Utah Jazz team has Lowry Markin as their best player with Keonte George hitting another level, which has been setting up uh Lowry Markin in a in a nice way. They still are bottom 10 offensively. So, that’s that’s the thing I’m trying to convey here is we’re seeing something or believing something, but we’re kind of seeing something else. And Utah tonight barely pulls off this win after the the Grizzlies missed a bunch of bunnies. I watched this. You know who sucks? Jock Landell sucks. That guy missed a bunch of bunnies. You know who else sucks? John Morant. You want some cognitive dissonance? It’s anyone who thinks John is anything but an overrated player because he is not a good defender. And tonight goes seven for 20. He’s not very good. So Utah was able to take advantage of John Morant on his first game back and it may cost the Jazz a pick. Now all of this can be better if the Jazz just win. If Utah just gets lucky. Maybe this is the time Utah gets lucky by being late in the lottery. You know, Zack Low and all these people want to say like the flattened odds have changed everything. Well, they certainly didn’t change anything for Utah in the drafts of Taylor Hendricks and Cody Williams. um when the Jazz actually tanked correctly, they got Ace Bailey and Ace Bailey tonight had uh more flashes of looking really good. They they certainly will not ever apparently run the offense through him. It’s just extremely important that Utah just runs literally everything through uh you know, Markin and Key, which is fine. I like seeing Key succeed cuz you know, I was big on Key from the start and I I think Keante George is great. I’m just extremely disappointed that the Utah Jazz wasted two years of our time to end up with two players that they don’t play. It’s not good. So, we’re going to talk about some cognitive dissonance things tonight. Things I’m seeing. Utah wasted two years of our time. They did. Taylor Hendricks not playing. Cody Williams not playing in these games that Utah is trying to win that they think they possibly can. They’re not playing. So anyone who says like, “Oh well, you know, Utah, they screwed it up. The Jazz did a bad job.” Yes, they good job drafting Keonte George. Bad job in how they ran the season. Bad job in drafting. Bad job in how high they drafted. You know what makes it easier to draft better players? Be higher in the draft. We already saw that this last time with Ace Bailey. We saw the failure of that with Taylor Hendricks and uh and Cody Williams. Now, I hope Taylor Hendrickx can turn into something nice, but the Jazz don’t seem super interested in developing him. He doesn’t play and they’re sending him to the G-League as if that does anything for anyone. It really doesn’t change much. You either got it or you don’t. And the only way players actually get playtime during the season is during these games. Just a reminder, these teams don’t get a lot of practice during the season. So, these games are in a lot of ways the practice for the year. Uh, you know, uh, cognitive dissonance thing. I’m just going to I’ve already said it, but Lowry Markin is a little bit of fool’s gold. Not a very good defender. Not good defender. There’s a reason why Utah, who is trying, has the second worst defensive rating in the NBA. They have a worse defensive rating than the New Orleans Pelicans, who have uh Derek Queen, who looks incredible, by the way, as a rookie rim protector. And they have a better defense than the Utah Jazz. And but and don’t tell me Walker Kesler changes that because we had Walker Kesler the last two three the last two seasons before this playing a lot of games and Utah was worse than they are now. Cognitive dissonance there. Uh see maybe that’s it. It’s just kind of to me it’s just disappointing that the Jazz have wasted two years of our time. Last year they didn’t and we got Ace Bailey for it. Um, I also want to also mention the fact that like Ace Bailey is just not getting featured at all, like at all. Ace Bailey actually made some winning plays for the Jazz. He had two incredible blocks. And let’s, in fact, let’s watch them. One of the only guys that actually, you know, one of the probably arguably the best defender on the Jazz. Look at that. That was a really incredible one against this one. Won the game. No one’s talking about it. has it. This was transition. Watch this. Save the game. I thought there was one later in the game. Oh, they didn’t give him a block for his thing against Jaw. All right, we’re going to watch that because I want to show this. That’s That’s actually bull crap. All right, let’s see. Bailey driving but not finishing. Tip rebound ends up in the hands of driving layup shot missed. I think it’s this one. A pseudo timeout to get a play called splits the defense goes to the cup. No, that’s a block shot. A three rim. No, they were having to get a pseudo timeout to get a play called recovery. Yeah, unless they gave that to Nerk, but that’s a game-saving play on defense by by Ace Bailey. He has been nothing. I just can’t say enough good things about Ace Bailey’s attitude and willingness to learn and growth and he’s not really being rewarded for it. Like I watch SI Mcky and he gets more preferential treatment than anyone and I don’t know what’s earned S Mik that right like I don’t see S Mik making those plays that he took five shots tonight that’s it really not much else. Ace Bailey just sits in the corner the whole I don’t know man that’s one of the things that’s driving me crazy is if you’re gonna keep marketing then you need to figure out how to like trade guys like Sie Mik and Ysef Nerkich and Kevin Love and George Nyang and these types and Kyle Anderson and play Taylor Hendris and play Cody Williams so you can lose these games so that next year when the Jazz don’t owe their pick to anyone then guess what try all you want. I’ll be fine rooting for them. And if the Jazz lose, it sucks. And if they win, I’ll be happy. But you’ve got to fix this right now. Utah, fix it right now. The thing, it’s dire. I’ll be honest. Sacramento sucks. Brooklyn sucks. Charlotte I maybe they overcome the Jazz, but Utah keeps winning. Utah is three games back of Charlotte now in these standings. And Utah is like no closer. Let’s see where they are playingwise. Utah’s still in this spot. They’re actually in trouble of having the Blazers get a better pick than them than they will, but Dallas has already overtaken Utah. Yes, they beat Memphis tonight, but even if they were trying to catch Memphis, they’re two games back. Utah is just really screwing this up. And the other thing that I had to just be honest about is that like I’ve tried to say that Utah has a good front office. They don’t. We have an owner that meddles too much. He thinks he knows what basketball strategy they should do and he doesn’t. He doesn’t get it. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He doesn’t understand how this works. He wasted two of our seasons for what is it? because he wants to sell a few more tickets. I don’t know. Is it cuz he’s frustrated that the Jazz aren’t good right away? Lowry Markin is is a fine third option on a really good basketball team, but the owner seems dead set on being a team surrounding like focused on Lowry Markin and being the guy. And this is what that gets you. We now know, although I could have told you this two, three seasons ago, like really nice player. He can’t he can’t initiate offense. He can’t hit pull up threes. He’s not a good defender. He can do catch and shoot threes, great. He’s a good cutter. He can get in the post eight, seven, eight feet from the basket and shoot over smaller players. Yes, he’s good at those things. He is not Kevin Durant. He is not Dirk Nitzky. Stop telling me that he’s Dirk Nitzky when he’s being guarded by Cam Spencer. Okay, stop. That’s not real. That’s not reality. And even tonight shoots just nine for 22. Come on. Three for 10 from three. By the way, let’s just look at something fun here. Lowry Markin from three this season is now at 36.1. It’s been dipping again. And then you look at Ace Bailey three-point percentage. Ace Bailey is shooting better from three than Lowry Markin and gets half the like not even close to the amount of shots. Why is he not being focused on more? Why is the focal point on a player that is shooting 40% and 30% tonight? I love that Keonte George went absolutely off. Just truly won this game. Superstar stuff. And I guess that’s the one thing I got to like just appreciate is how good Kee George is. He just might be too good. Utah’s got to figure something out. But the reality is is that Lowry Markin should have been traded a while ago, but Utah could have gotten better picks and that they could get better pick this year. While also Keonte George turning into a star regardless, it is not because of Lowry Markin that Kee George is playing great. Lowry Markin is playing at this level because of Keonte George. It’s the other way around. Keonte George is turning into an absolute star guard for the Jazz. And at some point the NBA will recognize that. But Keonte George is awesome and will just continue to get more consistently better at some point. But what Larry Markin is producing, those minutes should be going to Ace Bailey because the upside is that much better because we just saw in those blocked shots what Ace Bailey can bring on both ends of the floor. And then that’s hasn’t even taken into account if Utah can develop him and Key and also get a top three pick when you see someone like AJ Debonsa looking like a better version of Tracy McGrady when he gets into the NBA and Utah just doesn’t seem interested. And you would think Ryan Smith who’s obviously doing some sort of booster payments to help uh Ace Bailey or not Ace Bailey H AJ Debansa go to BYU. You would think he’d be interested. You would think. It’s so weird, guys. It’s so weird. Does Does Ryan Smith know that free agency isn’t the same as it was 15 years ago? Does he know that free agency doesn’t even really exist for anyone? When’s the last big-time free agency signing for anyone? Like Kevin Durant went to the Houston Rockets because of a trade, not because of free agency. Like the biggest free agency move I guess was Paul George to the 76ers. And how did that work out? He walked because the Clippers didn’t think he had anything left in the tank and they were right. And all the rumors, what’s makes that funny is that I r Ryan Smith was going to try to trade for Male Bridges and bring over Paul George. What a disaster that would have been. What are we doing? What are we doing? So, I don’t know, guys. I think that’s going to be it for tonight. Sorry it’s not the most uplifting one, but Keonte George is awesome. I got to start and end with that. I’m really happy he’s turning into something great. One thing that’s not great is this Utah Jazz front office who doesn’t seem to get it. Like I guess they’re okay just becoming the Sacramento Kings. I don’t know. I don’t know. All right, guys. That’s it. Uh we’ll see what happens uh on the next game. Like the video, subscribe to the channel. Oh, we got to give a shout out to our allstars at least. Um I think I’m just not interested in watching us lose the lottery again. Let’s give a shout out to our all-stars tonight, guys. I really appreciate you being with me, even on these nights where I’m just frustrated as heck. Uh, let’s give a shout out to Steve Aino, Stewer, let him cook, sturdy pots, Ezekiel Ricebe, the man from down under, Tyson Price, the Price is Right. Seo, Lexator, Jordan the goat, best roll, Christian house money to hos Ryan, Robert Hall of Fame, Arcs Poetica, I believe in Steve Jazz exile, Austin Grant, editor extraordinaire, Kef for three at PG the OG, and Patrick Aubo the connoisseur. Like I said guys, like the video, subs
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Keyonte George led the Utah Jazz to a big win over the Memphis Grizzlies and Ja Morant
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25 comments
Video starts at 1:30.
You are 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣% Right. Jazz Management is not very good or it's ownership. I'm not an expert but I'm not an idiot either. It's so obvious the Jazz need to completely bottom out starting after this game and not win another game ALL YEAR😫😖 and not be clown's 🤡 with all this "were not tanking" this year BullSh*t! Why, WHYYYY" would the Utah Jazz not be tanking this year "Austin Ainge?" Ryan Smith' ??? When tanking for a #1 option is ALL THAT SHOULD MATTER, none of this other BullSh*t matters if you don't have you Shai Alexander, or your Joker or someone like that that helps you win games in the playoffs and finals. Their hasn't been a team that played as a team and didn't have a top ten player on the team win the finals in my lifetime and I was around when Stockton passed it to Malone and Jordan stomped our heads in in two seperate finals
great job keyonte…….way to cost yourself your own future star running-mte! Wooo! This and the Bulls game! Key sets the franchise back another 5 years! LFG!!!😂😂😂😅😅😅😢😢
Everything that happened to Keyonte George his first year on the Jazz is happening to Ace Bailey right now and even when Ace is on the floor they're not running place through him at all or they're freezing him out leaving him in the coffin corners And so it appears like he is not playing as well as the other rookies in his rookie class but the difference is those rookies are being allowed to play with their teams and being a big part of those teams and Ace isn't
I always knew Keyonte was going to be good. And I have receipts
cog·ni·tive dis·so·nance
Example: See the Utah Jazz Franchise seasons 20212022,2023,2025.
– Notice how I left out 2024.
Lauri Markkanen would be a good piece on the Jazz as a Luxury piece, but he would not be a top #1 or #2 primary option player on a playoff team that already had their star #1 or #2 players already established…he would be a great #3 Luxury player
Svi and Wills girlfriends are gal pal's
Quotes to Remember when watching or discussing the Utah Jazz this Year ..
"The wheel is spinning but the hamster's dead."
– True Jazz fan's
People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do."
– Myself & (HoopsNerd)…
"Is it hot in here, or is it just my simmering rage?"
– Anonymous Jazz fan.
"On the Brightside, we are not addicted to fentanyl "
– Anonymous.
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, yet it remains the funniest "
– Me
"When running a NBA Franchise. Instead of having the smartest person in the room, we need to have the smartest person in the NBA"
– Sam Presti
Doesn’t matter how many games the jazz win this year. Adam silver has already agreed to gift us a top 4 pick. Remember this comment.
Had the thought today that Donovans ceiling is probably higher than Keys, but Keys consistency will make him better than donovan. Key is competitive all the time where donovan had to find it mid game.
Lol, the jazz will make the playoffs
we definitely need walker back tho
If Utah had played Keyonte more earlier seasons tanking now would be even harder. Markkanen plays Utah wins and you are dissing Markkanen for not being good enough and Jazz for being too good. 😂 Let's go Jazz!
Ace is getting the same treatment Cody got last year. Stands in corner 3 with no chance of developing confidence
Svi?
Are we finally willing to admit that Dennis Lindsay is/was better than the Ainge era? That era gave our team a chance, Ainge has done nothing except for trade good players away for worse players….We suck and the FO sucks and Ainge sucks.
I'm sure all the tankers are going to say the jazz win a game they needed to lose. Had they not played love and nurkic they could've lost. Smh who was going to play center if those 2 aren't playing? While Terry but contributed big time to utahs win. It was the play of our budding star George that won the game the game. The jazz closed the game with george, collier & ace. So it's not like the jazz were out there with all of their vets to try and win the game. This is exactly how u develop players. U tankers ought to be happy to see that trio of young guys playing so well abs being trusted by the staff to play down the stretch as well as being a big part of why the jazz won tonight.
Man key is so awesome in his three years he has led the team to last place in the west and last year he led us to the worst record in the nba
Keyonte is ruining the tank. he shot us out of so many games last year!
The only good thing about the Jazz winning is free Swig!
I said from day 1 KG was gonna be good. He regressed last year. But has come back this third year playing his best pro ball of his career.
But I am not sure I can go as far as to say he will be better than Mitchell. Mitchell never became a great passer or defender. But by year three with the Jazz, he was a very dependable team scoring leader.
I am not sold on any of the other recent Jazz pics. Including Bailey, who so many people were just raving about before he ever stepped out on a Jazz court.
We are 9-15. What is that, roughly 38-40%? We cannot defend to save our lives. We have a LONG ways to go. Terrible defensibly. And mediocre AT BEST offensively.
Long, long ways to go for the Jazz to ever resemble a team that competes day in and day out. Let alone a team with a shot to make the playoffs. 🤷
James – I’m a fan of the pod and also a sicko that for some reason needs daily Jazz content… but this pod is just 100% negative these days. Give Ryan and the FO a break.
I hate to join this crowd but Ryan Smith OUT. At least that's what the message should be. The front office needs to hear from the fans of what an ATROCIOUS job they are doing.
Great video, James. Hope you’ve been well buddy