The Utah Jazz’s odd-man out should be Keyonte George, at least to start the season

The Utah Jazz may not see much of Keyonte George if they stick to a nine-man rotation.

The Utah Jazz under Will Hardy are a team that seems to want a nine-man rotation. The squad is pretty deep a number of spots, and minutes are going to be scarce. There are a lot of good players who may not see any minutes for a while with the Jazz, and others who may be trade candidates to try and free up some room.

And while the Jazz have had a 10-man rotation at times, even Hardy knows it’s too much, telling the media (via KSL.com);

"I think 10 players is hard, 11 is almost impossible — unless you’re playing people 23 minutes a game."

Based on the lineup from the Portland Trail Blazers game, the lineup would be Talen Horton-Tucker, Jordan Clarkson, Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, and Walker Kessler at spots 1-5. Currently, the bench players are Kelly Olynyk, Collin Sexton, and Ochai Agbaji. Those three seem pretty locked in, assuming Sexton doesn’t get traded.

After that, the other two names who have been getting minutes are rookie Keyonte George and defensive dynamo Kris Dunn. And after watching George play in the preseason, it shouldn’t be Dunn who has his minutes clipped.

George is struggling to shoot the ball, shooting well under 40% from the floor. Admittedly, it’s only three games, but this isn’t a new problem for George, who at times struggled during the Summer League. The rookie has inconsistency issues, which is pretty standard fair for a kid straight out of college, but that doesn’t mean he should get minutes if he isn’t playing the best.

Dunn is shooting, and this isn’t a typo, 92.9% from the floor. As with George, who’s numbers will stabilize over time, Dunn’s numbers will fall. But Dunn has shown a step with the Utah Jazz he didn’t seem to have with the Chicago Bulls. And no one should think that Dunn, at 29, will somehow break out into an MVP candidate, but Dunn has the ability to be a defensive playmaker for the Jazz.

George, maybe not. At least not today. It makes little sense to play 10 guys per game, and if someone has to sit off the 10 players we’ve seen a lot of so far, it should be George.

Now, that said, Sexton getting traded resolves a lot of issues, and may make the team better; depending on what comes back for him.