Simone Fontecchio may have played himself into more minutes for the Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz need to play fewer guards and more forward and Simone Fontecchio may have just made a case for his involvement.

The Utah Jazz are playing a 10-man rotation right now, with a heavy focus on the guard play for the team. Through the the first three games, the Jazz have played five or six guards in all three games, giving them sizeable minutes. It’s not worked all that well and the team’s defense has suffered. While the focus is still on a poorly advised 10-man rotation, the Jazz did give another forward more time on Saturday against the Phoenix Suns.

The Jazz tapped Simone Fontecchio to get some minutes and he made the most of those minutes; playing 18 of them, while having a great night of shooting. Fontecchio went 5-8 from the floor (3-6 from three) while scoring 13 points and bringing in three rebounds. All while posting a BPM of +6; the highest on the Jazz out of anyone.

It was a good game against one of the West’s very best, the Phoenix Suns. The Suns are a tough team with some solid wing-defenders, so to see Fontecchio play as well as he did should give the fandom hope that he can get warranted minutes.

Simone Fontecchio should get more minutes for the Utah Jazz just to help with the lack of size

The Utah Jazz need size on the wings; watching a group of guards who are all closer to 5’11 than they are 6’6 try and guard longer, more established wing players has been brutal. The teams’ defense is the worst in the league and guys like Walker Kessler and Kris Dunn are being exploited due to the lack of team defense around them.

Guys like Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, and even Talen Hoton-Tucker are not helping this team stop guys and all three have had some scoring fits as well. Clarkson could bounce back, but the team needs to worry about finding guys who can hit their shots consistently, which is a hard task right now. After all, it’s not just that they’re not hitting their shots, it’s also that they’re not playing good defense either.

Each man may be able to bring something to the table but each of the three lacks a major element of their game that is holding back the team. Fontecchio may also suffer from the lack of a certain skillset, but right now he’s the best option the team has for a quick fix to not only their defense but their three-point shooting woes.

So Fontecchio should be given more minutes to see if he can help the squad.