Intro
Welcome to Jabber Jazz | Fan-driven, Ad-free content on Utah Jazz basketball
Adam Bushman Twitter | @adam_bushman
Today:
- Season summary
- Handing out season grades
- Team
- Players
- Staff
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Season Summary
- How many questions did we have coming in?
- Jazz tanking or winning?
- What kind of a coach is Hardy?
- Who are the short and long term characters?
- Where will the picks end up?
- Approach to grades
- Relative scale to expectations
- C is passing, as in met expectations
- F is completely unmet expectations
- A is completely blowing away expectations
- Just players who logged more than 100 minutes
Team Grades
- Direction
- Wish-washed the entire season, compromising better draft position and legitimate playoff experience for a young core
- Ended just outside of the dreaded “middle ground”
- Grade: D
- Development
- Saw major strides across the entire team
- Development minutes were hard to find early; some inexplicable allocation
- Grade: A-
- Moves
- Went from limited picks and non-star valuable players to a host of both
- Rotated players with little to no long term potential for those with such
- Got ~90%+ of all they hoped for in deals
- Grade: B+
Player Grades
- Lauri Markkanen
- Went from roll player, starter to All-Star / All-NBA level
- Showed everything but self-creation
- Grade: A
- Jordan Clarkson
- Demonstrated improved awareness and instincts for passing
- Grade: C+
- Kelly Olynyk
- Had one of his best seasons; basically put it all together at a 5-10% overall
- Grade: B-
- Walker Kessler
- Everything we saw in college translated far above what was expected
- Haven’t yet seen anything new
- Grade: A-
- Malik Beasley
- Excellent shooter…below avg elsewhere
- Grade: C
- Talen Horton-Tucker
- Showed a lot more as a playmaker for others
- Grade: B-
- Mike Conley
- Thought he’d get injured again and was unsure about his interest in the direction
- Grade: B
- Jarred Vanderbilt
- Overrated 1-on-1 defender
- Doesn’t impact winning much
- Grade: D+
- Ochai Agbaji
- Thought he’d be more ready
- Saw some good stuff at the end of the year
- Expected a good, rotational player
- Grade: C+
- Collin Sexton
- Better shooter, better habits, etc.
- Grade: B-
- Rudy Gay
- Literally everything I expected, except that looking at the stats he got worse at everything
- Grade: D+
- Simone Fontecchio
- Thought he’d be more consistent
- Grade: C-
- Kris Dunn
- Not only is he an NBA, but a rotation PG
- His floater and passing prowess surprised me; always knew about the defense
- Grade: A
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker
- Was shooting better than I expected
- Grade: C+
- Udoka Azubuike
- Played more than I expected and stayed on the floor
- Grade: C+
- Juan Toscano-Anderson
- Was curious if he could get back to the impact and shooting he displayed for multiple years in GSW
- Grade: C-
- Damian Jones
- Showed he can play with another big and has a two-way game
- Grade: B-
- Johnny Juzang
- Showed some stuff but I thought he’d see more time and would shoot better
- Grade: D+
- Luka Samanic
- Has more of a handle and in between game than I thought he did
- Grade: B
Staff Grades
- Coaching Staff
- Only two returning members: Jensen and Skeeter
- Maximized production each night
- A lot of competitive games and close wins
- Some mistakes in rotations, challenges, timeouts, etc.
- Grade: B+
- Front Office
- Amazing trades over the offseason
- Tried to tip-toe two directions, have their cake and eat it too
- Mid-season trade didn’t yield a return they had hoped for, as good as it was
- Some nice pick ups and value rebuild guys like Dunn
- Grade: B+
- Ownership
- Pulled the plug on a cooked but really good team
- Executed a terrible rebrand
- Extended the ATTSN contract for another season, accentuating another terrible regional sports network
- Grade: C-
Close
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