Ranking all 5 Utah Jazz players in the FIBA World Cup by importance
By Chad Porto
No. 4 C Walker Kessler – USA
Like with Kelly Olynyk, Walker Kessler’s impact on Team USA will also not be as prominent as the others on this list. They’re going to be more in line with the centerpieces of their respective team’s offense, if not both sides of the court. Kessler won’t be the featured player offensively, not with names like Paolo Banchero, Tyrese Haliburton, and Jalen Brunson hanging about. What Kessler will be, however, is the focus of the team’s defense.
It’d be fair to say that Kessler is either the best, or one of the two best defensive players on Team USA’s FIBA squad already, and he’s just in his second year as a pro. He’s already seen as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate by some and his impact on the defense will be important.
Not only that, but the team lacks significant bigs, at least of Kessler’s size, so the team will be running a lot of small ball units when he’s not in. Considering teams like Canada, Australia, Spain, and others are going to have some serious heft to their squads, Kessler will be very important to Team USA. He’s the only guy with the size needed to clear the paint.