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Utah Jazz: What did Juzang’s Summer League mean?

Mar 25, 2022; Philadelphia, PA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Johnny Juzang (3) reacts in the second half against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the semifinals of the East regional of the men's college basketball NCAA Tournament at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 25, 2022; Philadelphia, PA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Johnny Juzang (3) reacts in the second half against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the semifinals of the East regional of the men's college basketball NCAA Tournament at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

When the Utah Jazz signed undrafted free agent Johnny Juzang to a two-way deal, I was over the moon. In my time writing for the FanSided network, I have encouraged the Pistons and Spurs to draft Juzang after his 2021 March Madness heroics, but instead, he opted to return to school.

Then, days after I started writing for The J-Notes, Juzang was picked up by Utah. I’m not 100% sure he’ll pan out, but at least I get to keep covering my favorite prospect for the time being. I expected big things from him in Summer League play, hoping that he would earn a rotational spot with the Jazz instead of the Stars.

Well, it looks like I may have to keep waiting. Granted, he was playing with a concussion in the first few games, so I can’t entirely hold his underwhelming play against him, but the talent needed to break into the Association was not quite there.

Johnny Juzang had a poor Summer League outing

That’s not to say that he can’t become a real player eventually, but based on what I saw, it will be quite an arduous task. Juzang never had an elite scoring or defensive outing, which are really the two reasons Utah took a chance on him. I suggested that if he played with confidence, poor numbers could be overlooked, but I’m not sure he did that.

In his first game, against the Hawks, he shot 0/4 from deep and looked lost whenever he had the ball. Luckily, despite a poor first outing, he was able to shoot 36% from deep over the four games he played. After game one, he looked a lot better with the ball in his hands, so he could be a replacement for Bojan Bogdanovic if the time comes for that over the next several seasons.

The most glaring part of his game was his defense. Juzang is not a freak athlete, and he just looked slow. The worst part is, that NBA players are quicker and faster than Summer League players, so Juzang has a lot of work to do on that side of the ball.

His long wingspan and 6’7” frame were not enough to keep him in front of his man, so if he wants an NBA career he needs to work hard to put on speed, and strength, and play both sides of the ball at a high level.

The framework is there, but Juzang has a long road ahead of him. Per his contract, he can play 50 games for Utah this season but expect him to make minimal appearances and develop more in the G-League.

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