Utah Jazz rookie flashes immense potential in open practice
Utah Jazz rookie Jared Butler has been widely regarded as the potential steal of the NBA Draft since the Jazz selected him with the 40th overall pick this summer. At a recently held open practice, he showed his newfound teammates and fans of the club alike exactly why.
In case you haven’t seen the clip, please redirect your attention here. Feel free to watch that clip up to one million times before proceeding with this article. Wipe the saliva from your chin, pinch yourself to confirm that you still exist in the same reality as before you witnessed this life-altering event; do whatever you need to do to recover.
That’s Utah Jazz rookie Jared Butler absolutely smoking Mike Conley Jr., a 14-year NBA veteran and generally solid defender, with a double hesitation crossover and then finishing in a lane patrolled by none-other than 3x Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. That is, frankly, not something any rookie is supposed to do, yet alone the 40th overall pick in the draft.
Of course, caveats apply. This is a practice. There is a pretty good chance that veterans like Conley and Gobert are just not as hungry to establish their value as a rookie like Butler. We’d expect Gobert in particular to defend that layup with a little more effort if it was coming from a Sacramento King in a regular season contest, for example.
We compel you, rational Utah Jazz fan, to disregard such obvious truths. The fact remains that this sequence from Butler can only be accurately described as absolutely nasty.
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Hopefully, Butler is able to bring this same level of heat on a consistent basis for Head Coach Quin Snyder throughout the 2021-22 season. If he can, he may force his way into his regular rotation more quickly than many might have expected.