Game Thread Oct 24, 2025 08:00PM MT: Utah Jazz @ Sacramento Kings

[fishonjazz]

So three years ago when the jazz started 10-3 but ultimately finished as like the 8th worst team in the league were you happy that we got the 9th pick instead of a top 5 pick? Could’ve ended up with Amen. A top 5 pick this year could really set us up nicely for winning in the future. The name of the game is contending for a title. We’ve mainly been a pretender for 95% of the last 35 years. I’m kinda over it.

Do you think that finishing as the 8th worst team is a contender?

The post you quoted said that if this team without kessler and lauri is looking like an honest to goodness CONTENDER then we should just roll with it and be happy.

So my question to you: If we trade lauri and kessler and then win 60 games this season and go to the western conference finals would you be mad that we didn't tank?

If that happened (which is basically impossible so its a silly exercise anyways) then that would mean that we have a 20-22 year old nba MVP on our team right now. I would think that is pretty satisfactory and actually prefer it to getting a top 5 pick in the next draft.

 

[tksavis]

Finishing in the bottom 4 gives us a 100% chance of keeping our pick.
5th gives us a 99.4% chance of keeping it.
6th gives us a 96.2% chance of keeping it.
7th gives us an 85.8% chance of keeping it.

I'm not gonna lose sleep if we finish in the bottom 7.

The way our lottery luck goes we should not go below 99.4% of keeping the pick. We are cursed.

 

[framer]

ps. Clayton a traffic cone on perimeter D.

Sacramento's guard line has decades of NBA experience, not sure that being angry that a second game rookie couldn't contain them is fair.

 

[slc]

Who's the "very good player" we already have?

So you don't think Jazz already have even one very good player?
Maybe you are right If so Jazz are not very good

 

[Tremendous Upside]

So you don't think Jazz already have even one very good player?

Sure they do, but most fans seem eager to get rid of him.

 

[HadAnEffectHere]

The Jazz are probably going to have to trade Lauri to tank for real if Brice and Keyonte are willing and able to play defense this year.

Lauri for Steph Castle or Lauri for Ausar makes some sense value wise, but I don't think the Jazz even like those guys so we would need a third team AND I don't know if the Spurs or Pistons are that willing to take that big of a swing right now considering how young they are.

Outside of the Spurs and Pistons, landing spots are a little awkward for Lauri due to his salary.

The Jazz could instead pivot to try to make the play-in I guess.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

The Jazz could instead pivot to try to make the play-in I guess.

That's sacrilege in these parts!

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

Thoughts:

- I'll give Ace the benefit of the doubt because he's apparently been sick, but TBH... the kid looks nowhere near ready for real NBA games. A true project. He seems shocked by the speed and complexity of the game and the fact that he can't get to his middy spots easily anymore (and when he does, he keeps short-arming everything). Defensively, he tries, but he's a long way away from being able to bother people like LaVine 1-on-1 at the POA. He got absolutely killed.

- You know who IS ready for the NBA? WCJ. Love that kid. He does make some rookie mistakes, but they're few and far between. Always plays with his head up, at his own pace, refuses to be sped up. Doesn't get too high or too low. I cringed when Hardy made him stand in the corner while Key pounded the ball for no reason at the top. Should be the other way around. The sooner WCJ takes over the starting 1 spot, the better.

- Aaand just like that, Kessler looks like a $13 million/year player again. Total non-factor offensively, charmin soft on defense. The ball slipping through his butter fingers gave Sac the winning layup, which was a fitting conclusion. Just a terrible game, and he can't afford to have many terrible games if he wants to get his bag.

- Lauri. Just a professional scorer going about his business. The 3pt shot wasn't falling but he never looked rattled. It was an absolute travesty that he didn't get the final shot after carrying the team the whole game. This version of Markkanen will have suitors this season.

- Flip is settling nicely into his ideal glue guy role. Just fill in the blanks, make the open shots, and play hard. That's it. That's your 14 year NBA career. Hell, when Saric is still in the League, you know there's a place for Flip.

- Just as I was ready to give Keyonte his flowers for improving his body, effort and decision making, he turns in this masterpiece of dog **** (particularly the 2nd half). Walking the ball up, taking selfish shots, in general playing like he has no idea what he should be doing at the PG spot. Which is understandable because he's not a PG. I have no idea why the team refuses to admit it.

The Sac Kings’ defensive rotations were taking away some of Utah’s movement and passing lanes. It forced our guards to handle the ball more and create off the dribble. That’s why Keyonte forced more possessions and why Walker didn’t get touches near the basket. Another guy who couldn’t get looks was Hendricks. That’s what happens when half the guys in the floor can’t create anything for themselves.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

The Jazz are probably going to have to trade Lauri to tank for real if Brice and Keyonte are willing and able to play defense this year.

Lauri for Steph Castle or Lauri for Ausar makes some sense value wise, but I don't think the Jazz even like those guys so we would need a third team AND I don't know if the Spurs or Pistons are that willing to take that big of a swing right now considering how young they are.

Brice’s defense is iffy at best. He’s one of the reasons that Monk went off in the 2nd half.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

The Jazz are probably going to have to trade Lauri to tank for real if Brice and Keyonte are willing and able to play defense this year.

Lauri for Steph Castle or Lauri for Ausar makes some sense value wise, but I don't think the Jazz even like those guys so we would need a third team AND I don't know if the Spurs or Pistons are that willing to take that big of a swing right now considering how young they are.

Outside of the Spurs and Pistons, landing spots are a little awkward for Lauri due to his salary.

The Jazz could instead pivot to try to make the play-in I guess.

The Jazz would love to have Castle. He probably would have been the #1 pick if the Jazz won the lottery that year.

 

[KqWIN]

No way DET or SAS is giving up Ausar or Castle at this point.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

It's getting pretty easy to see a route to the playoffs for the Jazz's core. It's really encouraging that basically every Jazz rookie contract player seems like they have a future in the NBA outside of Cody. I think everyone should have some sort of trade value outside of Cody when the Jazz want to consolidate a bit.

Luckily the Jazz are in the West so they can be a pretty solid team and still lose a ton of games.

I'm guessing there will be a big difference in road vs home games this year (as there pretty much always is).

Jazz ran good offense against the Kings, just couldn't really make their 3pt shots. Everyone got tired and stiffened up in crunch time. The offense lost the flow and too much fell on Keyonte.

I like the experiments of giving Walker more responsibility as a hub. Looked good vs the Clips, looked horrendous vs the Kings. It's going to be a learning process. Walker has to learn this stuff to be a great player as more and more teams in the league are adopting this style of offense and going away (not completely away, but less) from previous trend of dominant ball-handler spamming PNR with a spaced floor.

And the defense looks so much better. I think the Jazz might be able to finish in the top 25 defensively. Keyonte has actually had some great defensive moments and has had far less pathetic moments (if any at all). Brice hasnt gotten brutally exposed. Walt has had some great defensive moments too, and has so much activity off-ball cleaning up the glass and getting deflections. Even Svi has looked good on defense. Jazz just need Hendricks to rapidly improve his IQ as he was the weak link in the Kings game with bad communication and defensive lapses (along with Ace who has had a brutal start).

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Also kind of shocked Kyle Anderson isnt in the rotation at all. Really curious if Niang even gets minutes when he's healthy.

 

[KqWIN]

Also kind of shocked Kyle Anderson isnt in the rotation at all. Really curious if Niang even gets minutes when he's healthy.

These two are a reason why I think the tank is at some risk. We actually have some depth on this team. Niang and Anderson aren’t great players or anything, but they’re not going to be tank commanders in the same way that Cody or Collier were last season.

To really tank you have to have lots of minutes who can only get minutes in a tanking situation, usually young guys. It’s not a 22/23 situation where the roster is loaded with vets who can still play….but a lot of the young players have graduated into becoming real, NBA rotation caliber players.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Forgot to mention in my game thoughts that Nurk (at least the Jazz version of him) is one of the most unserious players I've ever seen. I mean the dude has apparently decided that he's not going to jump whatever happens. He's just kinda reaching for rebounds as if he's glued to the floor. "FU, I'm not gonna jump." LOL

It's obvious he's not motivated, to say the least. Probably knows his time in Utah won't be long.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Forgot to mention in my game thoughts that Nurk (at least the Jazz version of him) is one of the most unserious players I've ever seen. I mean the dude has apparently decided that he's not going to jump whatever happens. He's just kinda reaching for rebounds as if he's glued to the floor. "FU, I'm not gonna jump." LOL

It's obvious he's not motivated, to say the least. Probably knows his time in Utah won't be long.

He got 11 rebounds in 18 minutes....

And yeah, he's a 290 lb big man. He is glued to the floor.

 

[HadAnEffectHere]

The Jazz would love to have Castle. He probably would have been the #1 pick if the Jazz won the lottery that year.

Probably not, it probably would have been Cody, lol.

But Castle sucks as a prospect in general (non-shooting guards are not valuable) and doesn't fit the Jazz's focus on bombing threes either. I don't think Ainge or Hardy have ever expressed much interest in offensive limited players.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Probably not, it probably would have been Cody, lol.

But Castle sucks as a prospect in general (non-shooting guards are not valuable) and doesn't fit the Jazz's focus on bombing threes either. I don't think Ainge or Hardy have ever expressed much interest in offensive limited players.

Castle is a great defender and is definitely not offensively limited. Yeah, he's not a great shooter, but he's not a hopeless shooter. He's been great the first two games of the season. If the Jazz could get him and some picks for Lauri, it would be very tough to pass up.

 

[HadAnEffectHere]

Castle is a great defender and is definitely not offensively limited. Yeah, he's not a great shooter, but he's not a hopeless shooter. He's been great the first two games of the season. If the Jazz could get him and some picks for Lauri, it would be very tough to pass up.

Obviously we're not going to get picks in addition to Castle or Ausar.

(The trades are very unlikely as I doubt the Jazz like Castle or Ausar and I doubt the Spurs or Pistons want to give them up without winning a playoff series)

I do wonder if the Jazz could trade future picks to try to get a real SG to try to make the play-in if the Spurs and Pistons refuse to trade much for Lauri. Not really any teams that make sense other than them.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

He got 11 rebounds in 18 minutes....

I know he did, but he didn't win any battles. If you're that massive, you're gonna pick up a ton of uncontested defensive boards by just existing and refusing to move from under the rim.

It's just weird. Nurk's #1 priority on the court is obviously conserving energy. Maybe he has hobbies where he needs it.