BREAKTHROUGH: Utah Jazz Young Core SHINES as Kyle Filipowski and Isaiah Collier DEVELOP in Big Win
What if on one night every single young jazz player show development? It's next on Locked on Jazz. You are Locked on Jazz, your daily podcast on the Utah Jazz, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. >> How are you? I am David Lock, radio voice, Utah Jazz, Jazz MBA insider, and this is Locked on Jazz. It's your daily to be a Jazz fan each and every day. Thank you so much for making Lockdown Jazz your first listen and thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network. I've got a massive show today. Bunch of announcements, all sorts of cool stuff. Number one, Kevin Pelton of ESPN stats joins us for the second and third segments today. We'll talk about Keonte and Ace and then we'll do a little fun draft of non-Astars. It's pre-recorded. Um probably not perfect timing after last night's incredible win, but we can talk more about that tomorrow. Um the reason is because Kevin Pelton is joining me Friday on Jazz Pl or Saturday against Orlando on Jazz Plus and SCG Plus for a special alternate Statcast. So make sure if you're a member of Jazz Plus or SCG Plus, you watch Stackcast. Kevin Pelton. We're gonna have The Godfather Dean Oliver stop by. John Fensky from the Jazz staff. So, a very a stat centric uh broadcast for the Jazz and the Orlando Magic on Saturday. And that's uh so Kevin's going to join us uh here on the show. So, that's big announcement there. So excited for that. Plus, we'll talk about last night's game. Uh tonight's show or today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Uh, FanDuel, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com to place your NFL live bets all season long. Uh, quick note before I dig in. Last night was great. Uh, special welcome to Matt Larson, the latest in the Everydayer uh, All Access Club. I am loving this as a host. This is everything I hoped it would be. It gives me a group. I'm hoping to build a small inmate group of diehard jazz fans. I'll just share with you on my end. I'm sharing a lot. Uh yesterday, if you were part of the everyday or all access club, you got my my notes, uh my main note page, you got Dallas's shooting breakdown, you got Dallas's offense, defensive profile, all the stuff I do prep. What I love about it is I'm sending to a group that cares. We're on Twitter right now. You send it out there and who cares? So, I'm really loving this. If it's works for you, I'd love to have you be part of the all accessess everydayer club. Uh go to lockedonjazz.com supercast or locked onjazz.supcast.com uh to get that. That's locked onjazz.supcast.com. And uh also really excited about building up, it's going to take us a little time building up the uh Discord group um to get it so that you we have another jazz community that was fun like Twitter once was. Like honestly, that's what we're trying to rebuild. So um excited to have all of you aboard on that. Let's get to last night. I mean simply this night I'm I I'm prepping for today. I rewatched the fourth quarter and overtime last night as the everyday all access people got a bunch of notes. My takeaway was that nobody was exceptional. Everyone just played well. Like this was a little bit of what happens on a night in which the Utah Jazz do everything all their young players just play as they're supposed to. That's that's kind of what jumped out to me last night. Um, I I don't think that this was like I mean Keonte and Lowry are just really good right now. They're really really good and we cannot underestimate that and lose that focus in any way at all. Um, but I would say that the other aspect of this um is that when you look at everybody else that the young guys just all played well like Kyle Philpowski was really good last night. Cody Williams, Taylor Hendricks, Isaiah Collier, Bryce Sensa, not as much but played fine. Uh Wal Clayton not as much but was fine. Like of the seven young guys last night, five of them just played exceptionally well, which is super cool and what you're hoping to see. And those nights are really, really important in their development. There's going to be tough nights and rough nights where they're overwhelmed, but we're seeing a change in Kyle. Uh what what we're seeing to me and Kyle is a few things on the offensive end. We're seeing many more straight line drives. We saw both a straight line drive right-handed and a straight line drive left-handed last night. And in other words, like you're big and strong and physical. Kyle's problem is when he gets to the basket, he can't necessarily elevate over someone to get that shot. So then, okay, but if you're straight line driving and you've got the edge or you're overpowering or you're boguarding the crap out of Cooper Flag like you did last night, then you end up being able to make make plays at the rim better than you have in the past. It's still not great. He's also added a little bit of a floater, which are not the greatest in the realm of statistical shots, but it's a shot he needs with his skill set and who he is as a player. He's going to have to have that. The next one we're watching out of Kyle is the spin move comes only when necessary. And that was his go-to move if you recall when in his when he was at Duke and early on. But he is now only doing that spin move when he has to do it. His shooting is going to be the big question. Can he get to 36% on a shooting? He hit a big one last night. And then the other one that's happened with Kyle right now is he is defending fine. Last year Kyle Filiposki got put in 200 isolations and had a 1.075 defensive rating. And this year he's been put in 61 and he's a little bit better. 1.03. It's not great. But the thing that jumps out to me is that last night, and this is about the third time we've seen this, somebody went after Kyle early and then they stopped. It wasn't, you know, Will Hardy has said this before. You have to get to a point where your weaknesses are not so detrimental that we can't run a defense or run an offense. And if you can learn how to play around your weaknesses so that you they're not so detrimental, then we have a chance to use your strengths and play with all your best qualities. And and that's literally what we saw last night is that he played well enough. We didn't have any other choices. um he played well enough that you didn't have to pull him or have to do anything and they stopped going at him. Now, they didn't have all their guys and had Anthony Davis, it's probably a really different feeling, but they didn't have Anthony Davis, so let's just kind of go with that and understand that that's the case. And Kyle Filpowski was terrific last night. Isaiah Collier in the last two games has remembered what he needs to do to be able to be a solid NBA player. And that is simply that he needs to attack and get downhill and drive to the basket and kick out to shooters cuz he's not a shooter. He's going to have to take them. He went 0 for two last night on his threes. He's going to have to take them. But if he gets downhill and finds guys, he's got a speed and a power. And then the last thing that Isaiah Collier did last night that was just terrific is he was so tenacious defensively in the fourth quarter. Isaiah Collier's defense running around wrecking havoc digging in on Cooper flag getting out on a play here leaking out for a layup. He was outstanding. His activity level last night was as good as I've ever seen it. There wasn't an ounce of moping around or I mean he was just he was a powerhouse last night. and Flip played 38 minutes, had 25 points, nine rebounds. Isaiah played 31 minutes, had eight assists, no turnovers, and 10 points. We literally saw the night last night where like development happened for every player against a mediocre Dallas team. Fine. Like, we don't expect you to develop against Oklahoma City. Taylor Hendricks 11 minutes, four rebounds, two of them on the offensive glass, three of four from three. We don't expect you to shoot 75%. But a willingness to take the shot, a nice drive to the basket, and some offensive rebounds. And then Cody Williams had a jackhammer dunk, hit one of three from three, played some good defense, played the overtime, had, I thought, two really good passes in the overtime. drove downhill, kicked out to Kyle. Kyle then had an advantage on his man, drove to the basket, straight line, left hand, and finished, which I just don't like. That was a nice play. And then Cody was outright and just recognized what was going on and hit a skip pass over the top, a pass I like to refer to as a as a you know, a few guys removed. It wasn't the natural pass to Taylor Hendricks for three. So, what we saw last night was I mean, Keonte is sick and we'll continue. We'll talk about tomorrow. It's just incredible. And Lowry was a powerhouse last night. His rebounding was so forceful. But what we really saw last night was what happens if we begin to see all of these guys develop. You know, Bryce honestly didn't have a big impact. Um, something about Bryce's shot release to me is he's not getting it off when he usually does. That's what jumps out to me on that on Bryce is it his shooting window seems to need to be larger than it used to be. And Clayton is fine. He's a rookie. He had four rebounds in 14 minutes and two assists. It was fine. He just everybody else was playing so well. So no SV last night, no Kevin Love last night, no Yousef Nerkage other than the most awesome suit of all time. The youngsters all played and the youngsters all look great. So what happens on a given night if all of them play well? That was it. It was cool. All right, here's the plan. Kevin Pelton joins us uh for part one of our interview. Part two is going to go into the everydayer club as bonus content coming up here. So if you are a member of the all accessess everydayer club, you will get part two of the Kevin Pelton interview. If you'd like to be in the everydayer club, you for $5 a month, you get adree locked on sports today, access to our discord channel for the big shebang, which is $15 a month or $150 a year. You get one-on-one texting back and forth with me. You get a daily newsletter into your inbox after every show. You get empty the noggin after every game in your inbox. You get 15% off in the merch store. You get the Discord channel, which we're going to build to be great, I promise, where you get the uh all access to uh lockdown sports today. You get ad free um you you get Leaf to Lean incredible draft content. Darren Peterson breakdown. He has another piece up there, bonus content. It's all available for you at locked onjazz.supcast.com. That's locked onjazz.supcast.com to jump aboard and be a part of the everyday club. Kevin Pelton joins us next on Locked on Jazz. Tuesday edition of Locked on Jazz is brought to you by Murdoch Hyundai located at 4646 South State Street. Also in Logan and in Lynen. The Murdoch's been in Utah for 90 plus years. And the Hyundai fabulous. I'm driving the Santa Hybrid right now. Absolutely love it. It has been super. I love when you fill up the tank. Can you get like 600 miles or something? I'm going to fill it up today. uh and head up to the canyons and get some skiing in even though it's not very good. Um absolutely love driving that car. Uh three rows of seats, fabulous. We have the Ionic 5 and the Ionic 6 in our house. Uh the Hyundai lineup of car is just fabulous. So, let's get you the VIP experience and have you uh stop by Murdoch Hyundai. Tell me which location you're going to. Email me at dlock09gmail.com so I can get you that VIP experience and have you set up for Murdoch Hyundai and get the experience you deserve by being a locked on every day over at Murdoch Hyundai 4646 South State Street in Logan and in Lynon. Today's show is also brought to you by FanDuel. NFL action is here. One big play and suddenly everything feels different on a Sunday. That's what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You're not watching the game, you're reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets on the as the action unfolds, every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot, a defense tightens up, or the momentum flips after a turnover. FanDuel lets you jump into the moment. Live spreads, money lines adjust instantly. Player props update as a guy heats up and you can bet the next touchdown scores, drives, results, totals, and more. It keeps you locked into every snap, every drive, every possibility. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast, so can you. lucky enough to be joined by Kevin Pelton and with a big announcement. The game against the Orlando Magic on the 20th, that is the Friday game against the Magic will be a Statcast. Kevin Pelton, myself, I think Michael Smith will join us. We're hoping to have some other special guests. will all be on a special broadcast available at Jazz Plus on SG+ that's a statcast. So pretty fired up about that. Um we've got a bunch of topics to talk about things of that sort. So we're going to allude to some of it here. We're going to save a lot of it. Here's what we're going to do today. We're going to talk about the Jazz for the first segment. The second segment is something that we'll then go prior to the Stackcast, which is we are doing a non-alltar draft. And the parameters around it are a little sketchy because I have to make sure I can draft the players I want to draft. Um, and we'll and we'll do we'll do that coming up here um in a second. So, it's kind of the rules are going to be someone who's not been an all-star and what not been a top 10 pick in the NBA. Is that and and is 20 is are you >> 25 and older not allstar is what I went with. >> All right. 25 and older non-allar. We can do that. All right. So, let's get started though. Keonte George has made a jump and I said after the game in Memphis like it's one thing to get better year two to year three. this is now getting into be into a point where like I'm not sure how many times I can find someone who's gotten this much better year two to year three. Um what do you see out of this jump by Keonte George? >> Yeah, I mean what's interesting to me first off looking at it is you know obviously the you start with big jumps in terms of both usage and his efficiency which don't usually happen in concert with each other. you know, when someone's usage ramps up as much as Keantes has in year two or in year three, uh, usually, you know, maybe there's a shortterm efficiency loss that eventually he makes that back up as he sort of gets used to that more leading role. He's managed to do it both at the same time. And then I think the second thing, you know, I'm inherently trained when I see those to look, oh, is this just three-point percentage? Is this, you know, just a fluky run? And it's not certainly with him. more about his two-point percentage and his his finishing than his three-point percentage. So, I think all of that is encouraging that, you know, suggestions that it is a legitimate leap. What is So, three-point shooting you all is big jumps jump out to you. His rim finishing has gone from 61% to 698% according to cleaning the glass. His rim frequency is the exact same as it was. his mid his mid-range game is at about I think 45 or 46% and his overall mid-range game he's actually taking many more either of those red flags or is that stuff usually maintain itself over now that we're over 25 25 games or so. >> So I would say it's all relative here like any any 25 game sample is going to be less reliable than a full 82 game sample. That's that's always the case, but those are things that tend to stabilize more quickly than three-point shooting does. And and also, you know, in terms of some of the the non finishing, you know, away from the rim two-point stuff, it's just not as big a impact as three-point shooting is going to have. So, you know, even if he's he's running like a little bit hot from flo range and is going to come down, you know, to to 46 47% whatever it is, you know, that's that's still an improvement for where he has been. and that's not going to like totally crater his efficiency. >> The thing that really has changed is he's gone from taking four free throws a game to taking eight. Um, is that that is something that I have seen a multiple multitude of times. Like actually James Harden did it the year before he got traded from Oklahoma City to Houston, which was kind of the indicator he was ready to be the man. Um, does that one jump out to you or is that just maturation in the NBA? >> Probably benefiting a little bit from the fact that Fal rate is up generally leaguewide. So, you know, that's one factor in it. But the the guy I often think back uh on in terms of this development is Derrick Rose, who, you know, maybe this was the start of his third year, year two in the league. The my ESPN predecessor, John Hollinger, now at the Athletic, wrote about, you know, how he was very rarely drawing shooting fouls. And it was both, you know, not getting the benefit of the free throws and having a harder time finishing because he was trying to kind of, you know, make the spectacular finish around plays. And then at some point it sort of clicked to him that, you know, no, I should need to be trying to draw and sell this contact and then try to finish. And that sort of helped fuel his jump in the league. So, you know, I think that is kind of a a common part of the evolution for young players is both, you know, getting the respect to draw fouls and then learning how to do it and also, you know, just understanding that that's an important thing because I do think a factor in this is if you're as athletic as these guys we're talking about are at lower levels, particularly, you know, at the high school level, if you're someone who played one year in college, you don't need to worry about like, oh, how do I finish a round of this rim protector? you're just going right through them or they're not even going to be there in the first place and then you get to the NBA and and the game is very different in that regard. So I think you know there that is something we see consistently improve over the course of players careers. >> All right. So what you have shown pro Kevin has the shown projection system which is probably the best system out there that kind of looks at a player and how they're projected out over the years. When the year started, where did you have kee >> and how different and how different is it today? And how is this? >> I'd have to go look it up to to see how different it is, but it it definitely has improved pretty dramatically over the course of this season. I mean, again, you know, as I was saying, the 82 game sample is going to even though there's, you know, kind of more weight on the most recent season in that projection system, that's still not enough to make up for 82 games versus, you know, 25. you know, that that sort of factor. This season is not still carrying as much weight as the previous two ones and particularly last season in the projections, but you know, he has improved to the point where we did our top 25 under 25 last week on ESPN as I'm sure you you talked about and uh you know, Jazz fans noticed that he was not on the list and I think he was a legitimate consideration. He was he was sort of one of my last cuts and even within the couple of weeks that it's been since we voted probably, you know, his his rise looks more sustainable, more legitimate over that time span. >> All right, let's look at Ace Bailey. We have a 25 game sample size. What's your thoughts on Ace Bailey? So, he was uh one of the few prospects in this year's draft I actually happened to see in person because they came to play the uh the University of Washington here and I got got to check him and Dylan Harper out and uh you know watching him in that game and and on TV other times the the big question as with a lot of you know really talented shot makers is was he going to rely so much on that shot making that his shot diet was going to be you know so inefficient that you know his shotmaking couldn't compensate for And that's why I think the most encouraging thing that we've seen from him so far, particularly since he moved into the starting lineup and, you know, had a chance to play against more alongside more talented players, is that his shot diet looks like you'd want it to look like, you know, many, many more times, many multiples more three-pointers than long twos. And, you know, I think it it's going to take a while. the the on the sort of the negative side right now the the free throw element of it that we talked about with Deontay George is what's missing for him you know attempting under one a night and that that I'd like to see him develop particularly because you know is he's operating more one-on-one and you know he players are having a difficult time contesting his length his high release that you know they're going to have to foul him but uh I I think it's a good starting point particularly cons compared to what I was sort of expecting from his rookie season which was possibly highly inefficient one of the most inefficient players players in the league. >> I mean, it's crazy how different he is than what we expected and and I watch the same stuff, right? But he has not balloged at all. His passing skills are fabulous. His decision making in and around the basket when he's made decisions inside 8 ft have been really good. I I'm very surprised on a lot of these things, particularly I mean on the same level what you're talking about from what we watched prior. >> Yeah. And I I think his cutting has stood out to me as something that we didn't see a lot of really at Ruckers and that has had an opportunity with the spacing of the Jazz offense to get unlocked a little bit more. And you know, I like that. I I think sometimes with rookies there can be the sense of, you know, let's just go out there and let them entirely explore the studio space. I don't think that would have been the right approach with Ace Bailey. And I like that the Jazz have put him in this more defined role. You know, again, particularly if he's playing alongside Lowry Markin and Keonte George, it's hard for him to say, "I need the ball on every possession in the same way as if he's playing with the second unit." >> Do you have a um comp for him? >> So, the number one in my Sheny projection uh system, which by the way, it's to to show some love to our guy Russ Sheney, the the Sonics legend. It's it's Sheney, not Shy. >> Oh, my bad. My bad. My bad. >> Oh, Kevin. Kevin froze up here for a second. There we go. You froze up for one second. We didn't hear you after you corrected me. I sent the I sent the nasty people to you to Russ's people came and got me. Um, go go go ahead. >> Not to get Jazz fans too excited, but his number one comp in that is Jason Tatum. So, you know, the rest of the the top of the list isn't quite at that level. It's, you know, Tobias Harris and Aaron Gordon, very good players. Uh, one of whom might figure later on when we do this non-allar draft. uh you know that and that's typical that there's going to be a range in these young talents, but uh certainly you'll love to see Tatum be part of that mix. >> Well, that is uh that is interesting because Will Hardy studied how Seattle used shooting guard Kevin Durant and how Boston used Jason Tatum and has used a combination of the two for how he's really trying to use um Ace Bailey. So far this year, he's basically played him as a shooting guard as much as as you can in our in offball system. And then the second one is if you actually look at his usage in all of his stuff, it's almost identical to Jason Tatum right now. And the question will be whether I think Tatum's usage got up to 22 or 23% by the end of his rookie year. And the question is whether Ace Bailey will as well. >> And you know, with Austin there, they should have a pretty good resource in terms of how Boston developed Jason Tatum. And I think Tatum is someone who it's kind of easy to forget. Part of the reason he was the number three pick and didn't rate that well in my statbased projections is at Duke it was a lot of you know get in the bag jab step isolation long two and then he went to the Celtics and you know more extreme version of what I was talking about with Bailey like he's playing with one of the best teams in the league with Kyrie Irvine etc. Like he he didn't have a chance to do that. he had to fit in as a rule player right away and then sort of grow into that, you know, on ball creator that eventually he's become. So, you know, I think that there is a lot of merit to that is a way to develop players and that had Jason Tatum gone to another system or another situation, it's possible that, you know, he might not have developed quite the way that he did. Personally, I would say watching him in college, my comp for uh for Bailey was less Durant and more another player we're familiar with from our time in Seattle, Rashard Lewis in terms of his frame and chopping. And someone else who uh started at shooting guard a handful of games as a rookie when Paul Westfall threw him out there uh somewhat somewhat ill- fatedly over Hersy Hawkins, I I believe at the time, a respected veteran. But you know that same and I I was surprised I ran the Sheny numbers. Rashard didn't play enough as a rookie to even pick up his rookie season compared to Ace Bailey's. His year in two, year two and year three weren't as close as I thought they would be. But that is someone I've always had in mind in terms of that frame and shot making. >> The other one I throw out there is Trace McGrady. Now I mean I understand that's a Hall of Famer, but like if you also look at McGrady's rookie year was in first two years were pretty limited in Toronto. Like they did they did not play him a lot. They kept him in a little bit of a box before they let him go in year three. So, um, that was that's a little bit. All right, Kevin Pelton, Statcast, Orlando game, Friday, Jazz Plus, SCG Plus, special broadcast. Going to be awesome. We come back, we draft our nonall-star draft, so can't over 25. Haven't played an All-Star game. I get the first pick, he gets the second and third. We're going to be able to snake it. I I can handle this. We'll see. I'm going to have some surprise picks because I'm going to use my points gain system for the basis of most of my picks. He's going to use his system for the basis of most of his picks. His system's better than mine, but don't tell him I said that. It is Locked on Jazz. Back with Kevin Pelton for more here in just one minute. Unlocked on Jazz. Today's show is brought to you by Skiims. That's right. Skiims for men is available for you as well. And we have been very fortunate. 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Um I just realized that one of my players is under the age of 25. So, I have a problem. Um but he's not an all-star, is he? How old is he? Uh he's too young. All right, I'm have to figure I'm have to scramble here. >> Well, you got to tell me who he is now. you. >> Oh, Jaylen Duran was my Jaylen Dur was my center, >> but he's only 22 cuz he's was like 12 when he entered the league. >> All right, points gained number three player in the NBA right now behind the two players who are having truly two of the greatest years ever in the NBA and Nicole Joic and Shay Gilis Alexander is Austin Reeves who is also I believe the number like one or two pick and roll guard in the NBA for the second time in three years. So, my first pick of our non-allar draft is one Austin Reeves, who by the way, I also will point out is a free agent. And I can't think of who has max money. Oh, I can't. Okay, just a thought. >> Well, unfortunately, the Lakers may also have max money. So, >> why would you want to go sit and be second fiddle to Luca when you could have your team and score 35 every night? Just a thought. >> I I I heard Kee George is doing quite well in that role right now. >> Be a good back, wouldn't it? He I had Austin Reeves number two on my draft board. So I think it worked out for the the snake purposes for me to have the number two pick. Obviously to have an awesome season and I think very likely will be an all-star uh by February and therefore not eligible for this. someone at my number one pick, my number two overall is someone who I think that's also true of because he's having his best regular season. And we've already seen him do it at an extraordinarily high level repeatedly in the playoffs in a way that quite frankly we haven't yet seen from Austin Reeves, so it'll be interesting this year. And that's Jamal Murray is my number one pick. >> He's just such an easy pick because he's But he should be an all-star this year, don't you think? Also, >> yeah, I I think he I think both of them have an excellent >> chance. I mean, Jamal Murray is kind of the one that's out there that is just still he he has the Darren Williams title where Darren Williams was not an all-star for that extended stretch. The Mike Connley title as well. All right. Who is your next nonall-star? >> Okay, so Austin Reeves, even though he was number two on my board, what is number six in my Windsor brother replacement player metric in the league thus far. So, not far off where he is in points uh gained. Uh but my number seven I may not be quite as high for you since more relatively more of his value at the defensive is comes at the defensive end and that's male Bridges who is quietly having an awesome season for the Knicks and you know is going to to help anchor my defense on the wing as well. >> So you actually going to play defense? >> That is the hope. I don't think I was gonna play a lot of defense on my team. Um, since I'm using an offensive metric to form it. Um, I then think I'm going to have to go to one of Jamal Murray's teammates for my next pick and go with Aaron Gordon. Um, though I I find something very interesting about Aaron Gordon. I find it also very interesting on DeAndre Eaton on my list. Um and that is how much teammates actually impact efficiency. I generally don't believe in many times that actually an individual's efficiency is changes when they move teams and they move teammates. But there are a few of these guys and Nicole Yokic is one of them who dramatically changes the efficiency of a player. And so I will admit that I'm a little cautious on this one with Aaron Gordon because of the fact that I think his efficiency changes a little bit. Uh when I was telling that story earlier about Ace Bailey and looking around and seeing you know I shouldn't be the number one option here. One of the guys I think back on is you know Aaron Gordon and his times in Orlando like you look at the other players on that team you know certainly some good offensive players in Ivon Forier and and Nicolola Vuchovic who you know was an all-star at that period of time but like I understand why he would be there and think hey I should have the ball. I should have an opportunity to create. When he got to Denver and played with Joic, part of what I think clicked is he went to the role he always should have been in in terms of this, you know, role player focusing on making threes and getting out in transition. Uh, I do think there are some other interesting examples that Jokic effect that we may talk about later in this draft. I don't know how many players are we taking per team. >> I thought five each is all but >> okay. >> We probably then we probably won't get to Michael Porter Jr. or Cam Johnson, but it is interesting. >> Get to Michael Jr. >> All right. Yeah. Okay. >> Um I would have like um to make a I this under 25 thing is causing me a little problem cuz another one of my players I thought was over 25. Um and he will be on January 4th. So can I apply a um >> Yeah, I'll give it to you. I used >> to the rule that if you spend the majority of this season over the age of 25, I'm allowed to add you to my team. >> Yeah. I mean, that's the basketball reference cutoff would would list him as a 25-year-old for this season. So, I suppose for >> Denny Advida is my next of the of the draft. And so, I now have Denny Advida, Aaron Gordon, and Austin Reeves on my non-allar team. And I'm pretty pleased with my roster. >> I'm going to be really small though when I make my next pick. But that's all right. You get two. Well, I mean, I think that's one of the interesting takeaways from this draft is the the talent is really heavily concentrated on the perimeter for whatever reason on this under 25 team. So, I I may have to think about that and draft accordingly on my next two picks here, I would say. Um, yeah, I mean, Denny would have been very high. Another player who I think has a great chance of being an all-star this year. Uh, my next pick I I thought, you know, had a decent chance and all-star. this team is playing well enough. He necessarily hasn't necessarily been as big a factor in as as I was expecting, although he's played much better lately. And that's that's Derek White, who uh, you know, has consistently been a key cog in these contending Celtics teams. >> I think, you know, it's interesting. I kind of had this conversation with a scout the other day and we decided that Derek White was kind of the captain of this team. >> Um, like that Derrick White probably is the perfect perfect player for this team. Um, a little bit. Um, all right. And your next pick after Derek White. So your team is now Jamal Murray, Derek White, and Mikuel Bridges. Okay. >> Light on size. So I'm gonna need to go to center where I think thought there was a clear number one on the board. And he's not having as good of a season as last year when I voted him all NBA. That's Vita Zubots. >> Oh, interesting. You went to Zubots. >> Okay. Now I'm curious who your your player is because I didn't think there was a very deep center field. But maybe uh >> um maybe I just was want to stay away from anything that's been tainted by the Cleveland this year. >> All right, so I have >> not so good. >> I have Austin Reeves and I have Denny Avid and I have Aaron Gordon. And so I um I have two guys that are really good penetrators. And because I'm an offensiveminded um person and I wanted to be a little different and I think there's the newest version of Kyle Corver who was the most underrated player in NBA history is out there. AJ Green just made my roster now. I understand the defensive liability but I have so many defensive liabilities that it might not matter. And if I have a guy who can shoot 49% from three, I want him. >> I mean, on this team, he's going to be able to play that role and be very effective. I I still, you know, would I He did was not in my top 20 for this list. I got >> But I, you know, I had to do something a little different. >> Okay. >> All right. I need a center for my final pick. Um, and so I'm actually go surprise maybe surprisingly with Isaiah Harkinstein. >> No, not a terrible surprise. He was number two on my board among centers. I mean that that I think was one of the interesting things. Uh you've got Miles Turner and Daniel Gaffford, you know, maybe if you're going down a level lower, Nick Claxton and Naka, a Congu, but there's not I it sent me down a rabbit hole of searching whether like centers are unusually young. And it's not true. As it turns out, it's but the players who are playing at an all-star level uh tend to either be young or have been allstars been established allstars in the past. I have a player I would have drafted had I not just wanted to take AJ Green to point out the still value of a 49% three-point shooter who's a much better player than AJ Green and probably be on my team otherwise. But I'll leave him for you to take a 10th if you're going to do it. >> Well, I mean I I need uh you know a little more size. So my last pick here I'm it comes down to Trey Murphy the third or OG and Anobi I would say are my two contenders to to play for for me. But, you know, I've already got Male Bridges. As impressed as I've been with Trey Murphy the third this year, I'm going to continue having the much better defense than you and take OJ and Anovi to to complete my group. >> By the way, Norman Powell has passed, >> but he was notar, >> huh? >> He might be an all-star this year, >> right? I mean, the fact that we just like Norman Powell on my offensive metric right now, I probably should have just drafted him. is the Nicole Jokic, Steven Al, excuse me, Shay Gildas, Alexander, Austin Reeds, Giannis, Jaylen Dur, DeAndre Eaton, Norman Powell. >> So, I probably should have drafted Norman Powell over Denny Adva, but I needed someone who could actually dribble. >> The thing I wonder about with Norman Powell is how much of it he's really benefiting from this Miami system and and how quickly they're playing and the kind of shots he's getting. I I had him behind uh fellow Florida newcomer non-allar shooting guard Desmond Bane who is off to a relatively slow start but I I think before this season you would have put ahead of that of Norman Pal for sure which you look at what the two players were traded for. >> We really should have done our non-allers so we could draft like the five players that are much worse than everyone realizes and how negative they are. >> You know it's the holiday season. I don't think we need to be in in that dow mood. We don't need to be, you know, sending coal down people's stockings. >> He is Kevin Pelton. He's much happier, friendlier, and nice than I am. That's because somebody hit a 63 yard field goal on Sunday that saved the worst loss his team could have imagined or whatever that was. Uh, as he has his Seahawk gear on. All right, Kevin Pelton will be with us this Friday night. Jazz Plus, SEG Plus. Thank you very much, Kevin. We'll have another episode with Kevin. I'm just not entirely sure where I'm putting it yet. That's coming up. That's still coming. So, there's more Pelton this week. It either is inside the Everydayer Club or it's going to be on the show. I haven't totally decided entirely yet. So, just so you all have that know it's coming. Uh, this has been Locked on Jazz, your daily podcast on the Utah Jazz. If you want to sign up for the Everyday Club, locked onodcast.com everydayer or locked onjazz.com. Locked onjazz.simplecast.com. Uh, please love to have you aboard on that. This has been locked on jazz. We now send you the first ever 247 national channel on YouTube. Locked on NBA or check out Locked on NBA every day, every game with NBA game night on audio.
Utah Jazz’s young core shines as every up-and-comer flashes serious development in a pivotal win against the Dallas Mavericks. Host David Locke spotlights the breakout nights of Keyonte George and LauriMarkkanen, plus advanced insights into Kyle Filipowski, Cody Williams, Taylor Hendricks, Isaiah Collier, and Brice Sensabaugh’s impact. How does a game look when all the Jazz prospects play to their potential—and what does this mean for Utah’s rebuilding timeline?
Special guest Kevin Pelton of ESPN joins to break down Keonte George’s meteoric efficiency jump and Ace Bailey’s surprising trajectory—comparing Bailey to stars like Jayson Tatum and Rashard Lewis. The conversation also features a draft of overlooked NBA talents, debates three-point shooting sustainability, and explores the influence of coaches and team dynamics on player development. Don’t miss this stat-packed analysis and exclusive announcements on upcoming Jazz broadcasts.
0:00 – Jazz Youngsters Show Growth
14:10 – Kevin Pelton joins the show
15:00: Keonte George’s Breakout Analysis
23:00: Ace Bailey comps
29:30: Non All-Stars Draft
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11 comments
Locke there’s no hope keeping that pick! The kids especially George are too good already!! No tanking this year
How much will the Key extension cost this summer?
37 points are not exceptional?
Love Peyton! He is like a cute computer talking to you😊
Did the front office bench all the "seniors" in the hope of tanking?
Nurkic, Love, and Svi did not play. The "Juniors" pulled it out anyway. Cody had "micro-explosion!" Good job Juniors!
I’m just readying myself for us to become the new Kings or Hornets when we hand off that pick to OKC. Not good enough to compete, not bad enough to draft talent, not interesting enough to trade/sign any one of consequence. Just hoping to strike gold in the late lottery or the second round. It worked for Denver and Milwaukee!
The coach is destroying the Jazz.
LOCKE you still don't have the intro downLOL?
Utah fans are the most spoiled and realistic whiners that there are almost as bad as New York City Jets fans
Video starts at 3:30
What I have noticed thus far about Ace is his effortless movements on the court, and yes, Tatum has those same qualities. I always said Tatum had the perfect body for basketball: long lean, and very fluid movements. If Ace turned into him, we would have enough right now.