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<\/a><\/p>\nAllow me to reintroduce the first steps to competitive basketball in Utah: Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr.<\/p>\n
Ace Bailey: Finally, some real upside<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the typical home-run swing from this era of the Utah Jazz, only this time, they have the benefit of vision. They didn\u2019t blindly swing at this guy (and no examples will be named). No, this is a player with obvious upside<\/a>. A player whose best traits will show up on the court from day one, and who possesses actual, tangible tools. Tools that fit in your hands. Make an imprint. Take a natural human motion and multiply its effectiveness. With Ace, there\u2019s no \u201cif it all works out\u201d or \u201cin theory, he could\u201d justifications \u2014 he\u2019ll gladly show you his workshop if you have your doubts. He was a star in high school, he was a star in college, and if his trajectory is to be believed, he\u2019ll excel in the NBA, too.<\/p>\n His weaknesses are present, of course, and I don\u2019t mean to suggest he doesn\u2019t hold the proverbial \u201cuntapped potential\u201d that most lottery teams have to dig for outside the top three (or the entire 2024 class, for that matter). Ace has been known to take regular shots that any non-Kobe or Jordan players likely don\u2019t have any business attempting, though he scores at a curiosity-inducing rate. Shot selection can easily be corrected with proper coaching and experience, though, so there\u2019s no need to side-eye the panic button.<\/p>\n Utah drafted him to be a scoring wing, though, and I don\u2019t subscribe to the narrative that all great players have to be all-world passers.<\/p>\n His vision can be shoddy, be it an unwillingness to pass or a blind confidence that any shot he takes is, in fact, the best-case scenario for his squad. But this year will be the first time Ace isn\u2019t the star player for his team (co-star, in Dylan Harper\u2019s case), and his shot attempts will almost certainly take a dip as he adapts to a higher level of hoops. Utah drafted him to be a scoring wing, though, and I don\u2019t subscribe to the narrative that all great players have to be all-world passers.<\/p>\n Sure, standing at six feet and ten inches (depending on who you ask) has its drawbacks. His dribble hasn\u2019t been particularly tight. It\u2019s like watching a hundred-year-old oak tree try to snatch your ankles \u2014 the ball just has to travel so far from his hand to the floor. He won\u2019t burn many defenders in a clean-cut, no-resistance dribble move, nor did he really need to. He\u2019s a tough player, though. Happy to assert his dominance physically and meet at the rim in a happy-birthday-I\u2019m-going-to-shove-this-entire-cake-down-your-throat type of way before assaulting the cylinder.<\/p>\n As seen in Summer League, Ace\u2019s 6\u201910\u201d frame was well-utilized for inhaling rebounds. Paired with exceptional athleticism, many of those boards were hand-delivered right back to the rim (if you could just sign here, sir). Tremendous lateral quickness, length, elasticity, and burst are not only critical qualities of a rubber band; these adjectives could just as easily describe why Bailey projects so well as a defender. His instincts are strong, and it shows on the stat sheet \u2014 1.0 steals and 1.3 blocks at Rutgers. As his frame matures and adds muscle, he could become an excellent switching defender capable of covering the perimeter while also deterring errant shot attempts.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all perfect, and there are reasons he slipped from the projected second pick at the beginning of the season down to Utah\u2019s awaiting arms in the fifth slot on draft night. Keep in mind, there is no such thing as a \u201csure-thing, can\u2019t-miss\u201d prospect in the NBA, but Ace is the best player Utah has selected since Donovan Mitchell, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll get much push-back from that statement.<\/p>\n Walter Clayton Jr: all killer, no filler<\/p>\n By the end of the season, you\u2019ll see his name crawling up the order in re-drafts, because he\u2019s ready to play right out of the box. The Final Four Most Outstanding Player for the national champion Florida Gators, Clayton went from an undersized point guard with Iona to the best player on the best team in the country.<\/p>\n He was an absolute necromancer in March Madness, breathing life into his team and resurfacing his brothers from the dead with inconceivable shotmaking in the clutch. I mean, the last four minutes of this video alone should convince you that this guy was probably the best shooter in all of college hoops, and I don\u2019t say that lightly.<\/p>\n The guy is a flat-out killer.<\/p>\n The NBA is finally beginning to heal from the idiotic \u201craw 19-year-old is more valuable than a proven winner\u201d phase of drafting. The Jazz traded up to grab Clayton because they saw the tape and drew a reasonable conclusion that Walt has a distinct and individual talent that should translate effortlessly to the NBA<\/a>. 3-point shooting is a valuable skill, especially for a point guard, and you can\u2019t deny that this kid from Florida has a rich taste for three-balls.<\/p>\n Walt looked just as capable in Summer League, outshining last season\u2019s starting point guard, Isaiah Collier, in the offseason. He hit shots. He handled the rock. He found his spots and scored like a veteran. He even flashed improved playmaking ability, a skill he popped as a senior, averaging his most dimes per game by a full assist per game. With the Gators, he dropped 18 points per game while knocking through over 38% of his three-pointers. Yes, even shooting bonkers shots like those you saw in the clip, he\u2019s not a heat-check guy \u2014 he\u2019s just pure heat.<\/p>\n \u2026he\u2019s not a heat-check guy \u2014 he\u2019s just pure heat.<\/p>\n Look at a player. Observe obvious talent. Draft player. It can be as simple as that, yet that hasn\u2019t been Utah\u2019s drafting philosophy before Austin Ainge took over<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keyonte George was taken with the hope that his inefficient scoring would be optimized and his playmaking would flourish. Cody Williams was snagged almost entirely based on hypotheticals and has yet to verify the Jazz\u2019s pre-draft faith in him. Isaiah Collier was picked with the hope that he could turn a stiff and broken jump shot into something reliable and hovering around league average.<\/p>\n It\u2019s still early, but all of these players\u2019 pre-draft concerns remain concerns now post-draft.<\/p>\n For the record, Kyle Filipowski has been awesome.<\/p>\n But Utah was deliberate in selecting this year\u2019s batch of hoopers. They knew who they wanted, and they got their guys. Ace sliding to fifth was a micro-miracle and best-case scenario. Walter Clayton was rumored to be Miami-bound before Utah swooped in. The Jazz have a strategy, and it\u2019s being enacted. Still miles from anything resembling contention, of course, but this year\u2019s class gives Jazz fans plenty of reason to rekindle their faith.<\/p>\n Calvin Barrett<\/a> is a writer, editor, and prolific Mario Kart racer located in Tokyo, Japan. He has covered the Utah Jazz<\/a> and BYU<\/a> athletics since 2024.<\/p>\n