My bad; I underestimated the prowess of Jazz’s Keyonte George

My bad; I underestimated the prowess of Jazz’s Keyonte George

Glad the Jazz didn’t take my advice. Lake Hale is a staff writer for SLC Dunk, covering the Utah Jazz since 2022. He currently is a communications major at Utah Valley University and has been watching Jazz games since he was 9 years old

Right around this time last year I was assigned my first big writing assignment, I was writing a draft profile on the prolific freshman guard out of Baylor, Keyonte George. I took this assignment way too serious; I would go to the gym and watch hours of Keyonte tape while hitting the elliptical. I watched his high school tape, watched his shooting mechanics, and compared it to the best shooters in the league, I even watched his interviews to see if his character was right for the NBA. After 6 weeks of research, I sat down to write my article and wrote: “If the lottery gods give us the 9th pick, I’m not convinced Keyonte George is the player the Jazz should draft.” To be fair I did go on to say I’d consider him with our mid teens Minnesota pick but ultimately was pretty out on Keyonte.

The second I submitted my article the NBA gods used their sick and twisted humor to force the Jazz to draft the one player I was completely out on. Since then the NBA gods have made the joke even more cruel, not only did the Jazz draft him. 6 weeks of hard evaluating went straight down the drain, cause my conclusion was 100% wrong. How did this happen? Do I just not know how to evaluate talent? Is Keyonte just a different player? These past few months I’ve had the opportunity to eat a slice of humble pie and figure out how he proved me wrong. Let’s dig into why Keyonte George has been our brightest prospect since 2017.

Excuse #1

College ball is a shell of what NBA basketball actually is:

Keyonte played in a Baylor system that legit started 3 guards and 2 half-center/forward combo players. He was essentially the starting small forward after playing point guard in high school, he bulked up his weight to around 215 in order to guard bigger players. This nasty system absolutely bottled up the playmaking Keyonte immediately showed. Keyonte went from just 2.8 assists in college to 4.4 assists in the NBA and now that he’s an established starter those assist totals will grow exponentially. He’s currently averaging 8.3 assists per 100 possessions according to Basketball Reference. Playmaking wasn’t the only thing held back by the terrible college ball spacing, Keyonte shot 37% from 2, 33% from 3, and 79% from the free throw line. That reeks of an inefficient shot chucker, but now Keyonte shoots just under 40% from 2, 36% from 3, and 82% from the line. These numbers might seem marginal but they’ve all increased dramatically as he’s gotten more playing time, I would all but guarantee those numbers will be even better in the coming seasons.

Excuse #2

Jazz development staff is real:

The Jazz consistently develop later picks into solid players, and the coaching staff is one of the best in the leagues. Not to take away from Keyonte and the work he’s put in himself but the growth from week 1 to now is obviously a solid mix of both. Increasing all of his stats from college was one thing, but he’s taken another leap since the all-star break.

Excuse #3

He’s changed his body:

Keyonte cutting down about 20 pounds has played a big part in his success. No longer worrying about guarding bigger guards he can now focus on what might be the most important attribute for his game, stamina. Keyonte has had multiple games recently where he’s had great 4th quarters, that’s a direct correlation to his stamina and his ability to finish games. Steph, Kawhi, Jokic all know how to turn it on in the 4th quarter due to their stamina.