On Monday, the Utah Jazz will kick off their Summer League schedule that will run for two weeks and feature one of the most impressive Summer League rosters in recent memory.
Highlighted by third-year center Walker Kessler, second-year players Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks and Brice Sensabaugh, and rookies Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski, the Utah Jazz will play for three straight days in the Salt Lake City Summer League (July 8, 9 and 10) before heading to Las Vegas for the annual NBA summer showcase which runs from July 12 to July 22.
Here’s everything you need to know:
A stacked team
As mentioned above, the Jazz are fielding an exceptionally talented Summer League roster that includes a number of players with legitimate NBA experience and as many as 11 players that could be on the Jazz roster when the 2024-25 regular season begins (Kessler, the 2023 rookies, 2024 rookies, Kenneth Lofton Jr, Darius Bazley, and two-way players Taevion Kinsey and Jason Preston).
And it is not lost on the Jazz players that they have a chance to dominate the summer competition.
“Nah, I mean, we look crazy,” Hendricks said with a sly smile. “From top to bottom it’s crazy. It’s gonna be very fun to watch for sure.”
The team is led this year by Sean Sheldon, who was promoted to the front of the Jazz coaching bench this offseason. Sheldon mentioned that with so many players on the team who will definitely be getting playing time in the regular season, there will be some games during the Summer League schedule where not everyone will play each night.
So don’t expect to see all your favorite young Jazz players playing in every Summer League game. In order to give opportunity to everyone on the squad, the playing roster will rotate a bit, especially considering that during Salt Lake City Summer League the Jazz will have three games in three days.
“We don’t want to blow the guys out before we get to Vegas,” Sheldon said. “So there will be some nights where some of the Jazz guys take nights off and then we’ll get some of the (Exhibit-10) guys and two-ways into the games.”
The schedule
The Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies will take part in the SLC Summer League, which will feature two games per day. The Jazz will play the Grizzlies at 7 p.m. on Monday night, then face the Thunder at 7 p.m. Tuesday night and the Sixers at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. For a full schedule, click here.
In Las Vegas, the Jazz’s first game will be on Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks at 8:30 p.m. MDT and will be broadcast on NBA TV. The Jazz will then face the Sacramento Kings on July 15 at 8 p.m. MDT on ESPNU before taking on the Toronto Raptors on July 17 at 3 p.m. MDT on ESPN2 and finally playing against the Los Angeles Clippers on July 18 at 8 p.m. MDT on NBA TV. Subsequent games leading up to the Summer League championship will depend on the Jazz’s record through the four scheduled games.
For a full Las Vegas Summer League schedule, click here.
What to expect from the players
Summer League is going to be a feeling out process for the three 2024 rookies — Williams, Collier and Filipowski. There’s not a lot that is expected of them outside of maximum effort and to start to build chemistry with the rest of the Jazz players. But there will certainly some evaluating when it comes to their defensive acumen, their ability to pass and make quick decisions and how efficiently they can knock down shots.
For the Jazz’s second-year players, there are higher expectations. Hendricks has been working this summer to gain strength and to tighten up on the defensive end. It’s important that he’s able to guard the best players on the floor and handle them physically. George, who had the most NBA minutes of last year’s rookies, is looking forward to showing that his decision-making and his pace is better than ever.
“There were a lot of times last year where coming off the pick-and-roll, I was going too fast, not letting the reads develop, coming off and shooting a pull-up almost every time,” George said. “I’ve added a lot to my game...been really just simplifying my game — making it a lot easier and slowing down.”
Kessler, after an amazing rookie season and slightly disappointing second year with the Jazz, seems to have found a renewed thirst for knowledge heading into Summer League. Being around this year’s and last year’s rookies reminded him that he was playing at his best when he was trying to learn as much as possible and soak in everything.
“What made my rookie year successful, to me, was I went into it with the mentality of I’m just trying to learn as much as I can,” Kessler said. “I think when you look at it that way, even when you fall short, make mistakes, if you look at it as trying to learn, there’s no failures.”
The Jazz are also working to expand Kessler as a playmaker and will be running some of the actions with him that they had previously ran with Kelly Olynyk.
“We want to see how he passes it,” Sheldon said. “He’s been doing a really, really good job with it. So we’ll put him in some of those opportunities where he’s the passer, decision maker, and then defensively, we want to keep pushing him. He knows he’s a very good defender, but I try to remind him, the staff tries to remind him, that he can do even more.”