Keyonte George is hoping to make an impact this year for the Utah Jazz.
When the Utah Jazz drafted Keyonte George, many people expected him to compete for minutes this season, and somewhere down the line, become the team’s starter at point guard. However, due to the current situation at point guard, as there’s no clear starter, and the fact that George had a massive outing at the NBA Summer League, some are wondering if he’s ready to start now.
And while he had a good outing for the Jazz’s NBA Summer League, he only played against the younger, less tested players in the league. He didn’t play against the best there was to offer. How’s he going to do against some of the bigger NBA point guards or some of the faster NBA point guards?
Can he hang with De’Aaron Fox or Ja Morant? What about his shooting when the guys can close faster? There are obviously still some challenges he has to overcome going forward.
Not only that but beyond proving his own against the NBA’s best, he’s gotta prove he’s the better option regarding his own roster. While it’d be fair to say he’s a better option to start over Talen Horton-Tucker, who’s a low-efficiency scorer, he may not be better than the other options on the team, so what does he need to do to prove he’s worth starting over guys like Kris Dunn, Jordan Clarkson, and Collin Sexton?
Can he pass better than Kris Dunn?
The Utah Jazz have arguably just one very good passer in point guard Kris Dunn. Dunn, who is closer to Talen Horton-Tucker levels mediocre production levels than he is anyone else, is the team’s best passer by far at the moment. He’s also the team’s best perimeter defender. If Keyonte George wants to start for the Jazz, he’s got to prove he’s a better passer than Dunn.
While you’d hope that he could rival the defensive skills of Dunn, that’s a tall order as Dunn is a very good, maybe very great, perimeter defender. If George hustles on defense, he’ll be the second-best perimeter defender on the team and that’d be good enough, considering others on the team are a turn style of defensive limitations.
But for George to edge out Dunn, he’s got to be smart with the ball and distribute it to his teammates effectively, otherwise, he’s going to be just as much of a liability on the court as everyone else.
That said, it’d be fair to say that Dunn is in the lead to start, at least when you consider what the team has around Dunn at this time on offense. He’s the best compliment, so for George to start, he’s got to realize he’s not the best scorer on the court and pass the ball more.
Can he play defense better than Jordan Clarkson?
So admittedly, Jordan Clarkson shouldn’t be seen as a real contender to start for the Utah Jazz, only due to the fact that Clarkson should be viewed as the team’s starting shooting guard, or their sixth-man who plays 30+ minutes a night. Clarkson is not a good point guard in the sense that he values distribution over scoring.
Clarkson will get to show some of that off in the FIBA World Cup, but for the most part, he’s always been known as a shooter.
He’s going to try and score first and foremost, that’s what his job is wherever he’s gone. So if he’s going to be a long-term option for the Jazz going forward, that’ll likely be his job. But, let’s say the rumors of Clarkson being in the running are true, what does Keyonte George need to do better than Clarkson?
He won’t be a better scorer from the jump, he’ll need some time, but from day one, George can lean into his aggressive mentality on defense. Glimpses of that were shown in the NBA Summer League, and if he can keep that desire to chase the ball down regardless of the side of the court he’s on, he may just find himself in the starting lineup sooner rather than later.
Can he shoot and make more threes than Collin Sexton?
Collin Sexton is someone that the Utah Jazz should really consider keeping. He and Jordan Clarkson play very similarly to one another, and both work very well close to the rim. They’re so close to one another in skills and play-styles, that keeping both men would actually hinder the team. Someone has to be a pass-first guy, and that has been a role that neither wants to claim.
But Sexton and Clarkson are both great scorers. So it’d make sense you’d end up trading one eventually.
It’s because of his high efficiency at scoring that Sexton has a shot to start, but the one thing he lacks as a scorer is a natural desire to shoot threes. He’s very effective in limited action from three, but if Keyonte George wants to start, he’s got to show that he can shoot more threes and make more threes than Sexton.
Sexton doesn’t pass a lot and his defense is, shall we say, “bad”. And so if George can prove he can shoot from three more often, then he can give the Utah Jazz another player who can stretch the court; opening up the center for guys to try and score around the rim.