Eric Walden: Remainder of Jazz’s season is about discovering some moments that matter

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SALT LAKE CITY — It is telling, is not it, that essentially the most memorable second from Monday evening’s Utah Jazz recreation technically got here after the sport?

Following one final missed shot by the Wizards within the waning seconds, Jordan Clarkson grabbed the rebound and heaved the ball downcourt to a cherry-picking Collin Sexton. As the ultimate horn sounded, the guard jogged into the paint, spiked the ball, leapt to catch it midair, put it between his legs, and rammed house a dunk that was equal elements vicious and fairly.

Every part earlier than that?

Let’s simply say the footage will not be making any classic-rewind appearances on NBA TV.

The raucous Delta Middle trustworthy continued to indicate out, even for a recreation that did not deserve their full-throated power, consideration, and affection. There have been some enjoyable Clarkson heroics down the stretch of what wound up being an all-too-rare-these-days 127-115 victory. So it was that the followers bought just a few belated moments of pleasure, and the Jazz bought to flee the ignominy and embarrassment that will have resulted from a defeat by the hands of an opponent that has now, as an alternative, misplaced 15 in a row.

However, man, was it tedious attending to that time.

And with 20 video games remaining within the 2023-24 season, what has turn out to be one more stretch-run slog is getting more and more troublesome to care about.

To that time: What precisely is there for the fan base to stay up for at this level past merely attending the video games which can be left within the season-ticket packages they’ve already paid for?

This matchup started with out each Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler, who had been shelved on account of accidents. Compelling rookie Keyonte George departed after simply 5 minutes and 46 seconds of motion, owing to sickness. Just lately-redeployed top-10 choose Taylor Hendricks was having a pleasant efficiency … earlier than exiting with a sprained large toe.

And nonetheless, the sport in some way went downhill from there.

There have been 9 turnovers mixed within the first 12 minutes. There was so little protection being performed that, at one level, Wizards guards Jordan Poole and Tyus Jones had been a mixed 19-for-22 from the sphere. And when the groups did in some way handle to overlook a shot, they did so in significantly heinous and egregious trend, with a number of makes an attempt caroming onerous off the backboard and avoiding the rim (to say nothing of the online) altogether.

In fact, this singular matchup is merely consultant of an even bigger drawback.

Within the aftermath of dealing Simone Fontecchio, Kelly Olynyk, and Ochai Agbaji at this 12 months’s commerce deadline, basic supervisor Justin Zanik infamously strained credulity by claiming that the entrance workplace was not trying to fabricate any explicit consequence for the group. Besides, y’know, that winding up within the lottery turns into considerably extra possible once you ship three rotation gamers out and get zero in return.

The choice-makers’ rationale for these strikes was fairly clear and simple — specifically, attempting to retain a uncommon top-10 draft choose. However the unlucky facet impact is that what stays of the group turned inevitably doomed to supply some less-than-compelling basketball.

At this second, the Jazz discover themselves in a very horrifying iteration of basketball purgatory — their 28-34 report has them nicely out of play-in match competition, however just isn’t fairly terrible sufficient to maintain that aforementioned choose from conveying to the Thunder this summer time. Because it stands now, Utah is the Eleventh-worst group within the NBA.

So, once more, why ought to anybody hassle with these 20 remaining video games past sheer behavior? Past the serenity of getting three-ish hours of your night accounted for a number of instances per week?

And what’s there for the gamers to care about, provided that their bosses have made it abundantly clear that it would be simply peachy if the group had been to lose as a lot of these video games as doable?

All that issues now could be discovering something that issues, something that is significant.

The primary-half protection Monday evening was abominable. And after head coach Will Hardy confirmed the gamers some video clips at halftime of their “unacceptable” and “obtrusive” miscues, their effort within the second half was … truly markedly improved?

Does that imply something within the grander scheme of issues? Who is aware of. However these are the straws we have now to understand at.

Can George proceed to develop his nascent floor-general abilities in order that his ceiling could turn out to be one thing extra worthwhile than a high-volume/low-efficiency scoring archetype à la Clarkson, Lou Williams, Jamal Crawford?

Will Hendricks keep away from weeks on the sideline? And if he does proceed to get thrown on the market, can he show some stage of hoops IQ that can increase and unlock his prodigious bodily instruments?

May Kessler present indicators of snapping his extended sophomore-season funk, discover some consistency, and as soon as once more carry the game-altering defensive acumen that made him so forceful and so enjoyable as a rookie?

Can John Collins amass sufficient two-way efficacy to revert from contractual albatross to asset as soon as once more? Will third-wheel first-year wing Brice Sensabaugh do sufficient past taking pictures the ball to turn out to be a viable rotation piece? May Johnny Juzang — glibly talked about by Zanik in his post-trade information convention as somebody he’d prefer to see extra of — go from near-zero afterthought to productive on-court presence when given a chance, as was the case in Monday’s “rock-solid 20 minutes,” as Hardy put it?

A possible postseason look was kneecapped by the Jazz’s high brass for a second consecutive 12 months. The ultimate quarter of this season is not going to be overflowing with dazzling shows of a well-oiled hoops machine.

However possibly there might be simply sufficient moments of brilliance, simply sufficient encouraging indicators to persuade these at risk of changing into agnostic to as an alternative preserve the religion, and to proceed worshiping on the altar of “subsequent 12 months.”

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