Three thoughts on the week in Jazz basketball from The Salt Lake Tribune’s beat writer, Andy Larsen.
1. What defense would you play with this center rotation?
Walker Kessler is out for the year. That leaves Jusuf Nurkic as your starting center. Kevin Love is ostensibly the backup center, but he needs to rest sometimes due to old age, as he did on Monday against the Warriors.
Kyle Filipowski is capable of playing some backup five, as is Lauri Markkanen, but the Jazz absolutely have bled points when they do that: Filipowski has a minus-20 net rating when he’s at center, per CleaningTheGlass. Markkanen’s sample size is tiny, but his net rating for the year at center is negative 94.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) and Utah Jazz center Jusuf Nurkic (30) battle for a rebound as the Utah Jazz host the Phoenix Suns.
Let’s start here: Nurkic is a rough watch as a defensive center, but the metrics aren’t terrible. Except for the beginning of last season with the Suns, he’s actually been a plus-defender for his teams. The biggest reason seems to be that he’s an absolutely dominant defensive rebounder: He’s been in the 97th percentile or better in terms of on-court/off-court rebounding for five of the last six seasons. Wow.
Probably the best move with Nurkic is drop-big defense. I get that Will Hardy wants his team to show aggression, but keeping Nurkic near the basket for his rebounding seems wise, and Nurkic has found success playing that way at most of his previous stops. Sometimes, that will result in a runway for the opposition towards the rim … but it’s not like Nurkic in space is ideal, either.
I don’t really know that there’s an answer at backup center. Love has been washed defensively for the last half-decade, unfortunately. You can’t have him near the rim at all, because he just doesn’t provide any resistance. Probably the best you can do is shift heavily toward the ball carrier with all five defenders, and hope the athleticism of Love’s young teammates can get some steals or something. The Jazz have a 138 defensive rating with Love in the game, and it’s no accident.
Filipowski and Markkanen would be better options at center if they, or their teammates, were more consistent perimeter defenders. Both of them — and the rest of the Jazz’s perimeter defenders — are predisposed to lapses in focus, the kind of which the Warriors took advantage of over and over again. The Warriors are obviously a uniquely good off-ball movement team, but anyone with any amount of whirlybird has basically found out that if you just run enough actions off the ball, or backdoor cuts, or whatever, on Utah, eventually someone will mess up and an open 3 or layup can be had.
Regardless, it is a bleak scenario. It feels like it’s been so, so long since the Jazz were even passable defensively — really, since the Rudy Gobert trade.
2. The good and the bad with the Jazz and the Stars
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks as the Utah Jazz host the Portland Trail Blazers, NBA basketball in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.
The G League’s SLC Stars season is underway, and with it, the opportunity to give some of the Jazz’s young players more experience than they’re receiving in the NBA.
On Saturday, the Jazz made good use of it, sending Taylor Hendricks and Walter Clayton Jr. to the Stars to get some run. This makes sense: Both of them were just off the fringes of the Jazz rotation, getting DNP-CDs unless stuff went wrong.
The Jazz are still worried about Hendricks’ minutes and overall workload as he returns to play from the broken ankle he suffered last year. He also suffered a hamstring strain two weeks ago that cost him some time and familiarity, and the G League is the perfect place to have Hendricks ramp back into shape.
Clayton is healthy, but has basically struggled to find a foothold in the NBA. He can hang, but it’s not exactly clear what he does at an above-average level at this point. It makes sense to give him the ball with the Stars to run a whole bunch of pick and rolls, for example, something the Jazz rarely do when Clayton’s in the game as the fifth offensive option.
Then on Monday, Hendricks played with the Stars, while Clayton was called up to the Jazz. The latter played 17 minutes against Steph Curry and the Warriors. Terrific experience. All of this tracks extremely well.
So: What in the world are the Jazz doing with Cody Williams?
Let’s start here: He’s regressed again so far this season, with a 0.6 PER that ranks last in the NBA among players with 30 minutes or more (Williams has played 141 minutes). He looks completely broken and lost out there. He is shooting 11% from 3, has more fouls than rebounds and assists combined, and he’s averaging 2.3 points per game. As promising as Keyonte George has been this season, Williams has been the exact opposite.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) goes to the hoop, as Utah Jazz forward Cody Williams (5) defends earlier this season.
In my time covering the Jazz, there has never been a player more obviously in need of the G League. Not just from a talent level point of view (though, yes), but also from a mental point of view. He needs to be force-fed possessions and opportunities to make an impact in order to get over this rut.
Instead, the Jazz played him 3 minutes against the Lakers and a DNP-CD against the Warriors. Even as the Jazz were in clear garbage time, Williams rode the pine so Kyle Anderson could play.
I care about this guy! The Jazz put their fans through a half-season of tanking for this guy! I get that the early returns have been awful, but the Jazz can’t just staple him to their bench, either. And if that was going to be the plan, then picking up his third-year option just one month ago was a mistake.
3. Ace Bailey’s passing
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz forward Ace Bailey (19) looks to pass as Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo (0) defends him.
Whew, well, that was a couple of depressing Triple Team points.
Let’s finish it off with the bright side of things: The Jazz clearly have three building blocks now. Lauri Markkanen is still terrific, and Keyonte George has really established himself brightly.
And Ace Bailey looks like he belongs, and is getting 10% better every week.
In tune with his development philosophy, Hardy started the season by calling essentially no plays for Bailey, and has given him more and more opportunities slowly. Now, he’s in the starting lineup, and Hardy says they’re trying to get a few more pick-and-rolls for him. Early returns are good; he’s scored in double-figures in eight of the last nine games, and had 21 points against the Warriors to tie his career high.
There was one relatively boring pass that caught the eye of the Warriors’ broadcasters:
Why? Because most young players don’t make that pass so quickly, instead trying to probe the paint looking for their own shot first. Bailey takes just one step before delivering it to Nurkic for the basket. (The early pass was one George had to learn as well, and he picks up the hockey assist on the play above thanks to it.)
And here’s one that caught the eye of everyone:
Another baseline pass, but this one took some real creativity to get it to the open man behind him.
The most exciting thing about Bailey to me is that he has flashes across the whole spectrum of skills, without looking particularly weak in any.
In his first month with the Jazz, he’s shown off the ability to make tough shots, get himself easy ones, find his open teammates, crash the glass, make one-on-one defensive plays, and make an impact in help defense. That’s all of the basketball categories!
Now, he just needs to do them more often. It’s been a great start.
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