Hours prior to the November 8th matchup between the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers, Jazz coach Will Hardy made the somewhat shocking announcement of inserting rookie guard Keyonte George into the starting lineup amidst the early season struggles for the team as well as a UCL injury to Walker Kessler.
In George’s first three appearances as a starter for the Jazz, it has been a relatively mixed bag as the team has gone 2-1 over the stretch but the raw numbers are a bit underwhelming. His 9.7/3.0/9.0 slash line on 31%/25%/100% shooting over the three game span is not overly impressive, 9.0 assists per game are surely what stick out the most. It’s rather apparent that the processing for George has been there, which is a component that Will Hardy and the Jazz have desperately been lacking within the guard rotation. Before November 8th, the Jazz turned the ball over 17.8 times per game, the most in the NBA, as well as only manifesting 2.0 secondary assists per contest. These numbers plainly indicate the passing struggles for the Jazz and the dire need to incorporate more connectivity within the flow of their offense, specifically within a half court context.
Enter Keyonte George, who has very much understood the assignment as a starter to fill Utah’s empty void of a traditional offensive facilitator that has failed to be properly filled by Talen Horton-Tucker, whom George essentially replaced in the lineup. Let’s look into what factors have empowered George to truly shine as a passer and fortify himself as an essential supplementation the the starting lineup for the Jazz.
Based on his draft profile, George was immensely praised for his ability to score off the dribble and utilize impressive craft to weave around the court to manifest the shot he wanted. This threat was evident especially when operating as a pick-and-roll ball handler, where many scouts were encouraged by this ability to grow in the NBA.
Here we see a pick-and-roll with George and Lauri Markkanen, and George exhibits excellent pace as he sets his defender, Jacob Gilyard, up well to use the screen and comes off the screen extremely tight. The minimal space between the three players involved at the point of contact in the screen (George, Markkanen, Gilyard) makes it extremely challenging for the defender to navigate through the screen and is caught on George’s backside. This allows George to shift his focus to Markkanen’s defender, Jaren Jackson Jr., who is playing towards the level of the screen and has to pick up Keyonte until Gilyard can recover from the screen. George is able to recognize Jackson’s commitment which leaves Markkanen, currently nailing 42.6% of his three-pointers, wide open on the fade. The important aspect to note here is not only the adeptness of George’s movement around the screen, but his threat as a pull-up shooter which most likely contributed to the Memphis screen coverage here. The maturity to process all this as a rookie is very impressive on behalf of George.
To bounce off the concepts of maturity, pace and processing, George has shown an ability to operate in those manners in transition play as well. Utah wants to play fast and constantly pressure defenses with highly efficient and productive looks, which is even more crucial as Utah figures out it’s defensive miscues (that’s a conversation for another day).
There is nothing super flashy here, but that is what is really important in terms of comprehending George’s innate value in his expanded role. The early season dysfunctionality for Utah’s offense, specifically the high turnover rate, was based on playing a bit too out of control and getting caught in uncomfortable positions encircled by congested defenses. In this sequence, George pushes the ball following the steal, but recognizes his inability immediately shake the on-ball defender responsible for stopping the fast break. Being aware of the other players on the court, he doesn’t panic and try to reset the offense by dribbling out towards the three-point line and instead maintains the Jazz’s advantage by pushing towards the middle of the court, and flipping the ball to an attacking cutter for an easy basket. This play displays George’s aptitude to accept defensive presentations, and refuse to overcomplicate things for himself and the team.
This play reemphasizes this capability as the Blazers defend the pick-and-roll pretty well, but George maintains his dribble to allow Jordan Clarkson to relocate into space as his defender sags off and hit an open three pointer. Keyonte keeps the advantage and understands he needs to get the ball out quick, and fires an excellent one-handed dish off his live dribble to maximize the amount of open space Clarkson has to sufficiently increase the probability of making the shot.
Not everything is going to go 100% smooth on a basketball court, particularly for rookies, but it’s imperative to immediately correct those errors and the most advanced players in the world implement those adjustments on the fly.
Returning to the Memphis game, we get an awkward sequence coming off a high pick-and-roll with John Collins as the screener and roll man. Collins’ defender, Bismack Biyombo, is in a relatively deep drop coverage but Keyonte is able to force his hips open facing him giving Collins a quality lane to dive towards the basket. George’s focus then shifts to the third defender involved often known as the “tag-man”, who happens to be Jaren Jackson Jr. again. Jackson’s assignment is to rotate over in help and simply make some contact to disrupt Collins’ path to the rim and allow his teammate to recover over back onto Collins, but JJJ is a bit late which makes the alley-oop to the high-flying Collins a viable option for George. Maybe it is because Jackson is the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year or the physical presence of a hulking Biyombo or even a lack of chemistry with John Collins, but George is initially hesitant to make the pass then becomes indecisive between throwing the lob and heaving a floater over Biyombo. As a result, we get the ugly outcome that transpired above.
Later on in the same game, we see the important adjustment made by Keyonte to make make passes with anticipation and decisiveness. While this sequence is instead an empty side pick-and-roll with no strong presence of an initial “tag man”, George is faced with the same two man coverage where the lob to Collins is extremely feasible. This type of in-game growth is imperative for young guards to actively respond to the complexities of modern NBA defensive schemes, and it shows how advanced George is as a lead playmaker.
As evidenced by the on-court production, Keyonte George brings forth a passing propensity unmatched by Utah’s other guards and has elevated the potential of this Jazz offensive attack. It has been tremendously enjoyable to witness how he has fared through his first handful of starts characterized by some high assist totals. The fact that a rookie is able to put up numbers that mirror the likes of prime Chris Paul is what should have Utah excited to monitor his development throughout the season. While it is unreasonable to Jazz fans, Keyonte, or even the Point God himself to expect a rookie to sustain these phenomenal passing performances consistently throughout the rest of the season, they are flashes that truly highlight George’s potential to flawlessly vacate the Jazz’s lead guard position for the 2023-24 campaign and beyond.
West Coast Hoops 