The Utah Jazz continue to have lingering questions that are only getting more peculiar.
The Utah Jazz are heading into the Minnesota Timberwolves game with a record of 2-4, and are quickly finding out that the team is entering into “must-win” game territory while in the first month of the season. The team is looking like it could quickly spiral out of control with its record and if that happens, then who knows what happens next.
Lauri Markkanen is a gem but if the team is 5-15, what’s the point of keeping him if a fire sale happens? He’s young, but he’s not young enough to feature as the centerpiece of a full tear-down and rebuild. By the time the team is ready to win, he’ll be a year or two away from 30, and wasting his prime on a losing team.
So it’s imperative that the team figures out its issues and with each passing game we have more questions that keep needing to be answered. So ahead of the showdown with the Timberwolves on Saturday, these are the three questions that are lingering the most with us.
How much longer can the Utah Jazz put out this starting five before changes are made?
The Utah Jazz didn’t go out and get John Collins to pair with Lauri Markkanen to be a losing basketball team. They’re a bad team but the issues aren’t on one player. Collins is playing terrible defense, Jordan Clarkson can’t seem to string together two good games and Talen Horton-Tucker is just good enough to keep better players from getting minutes. Eventually Jazz head coach Will Hardy will need to make changes to the starting lineup because it’s not a good one and the team is struggling with those five players on the court at the same time.
Will Mike Conley make the Utah Jazz feel regret about trading him?
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the minute the Jazz traded Conley, the team started struggling. It’s not surprising at all either, Conley was great for the Jazz. A stable hand that allowed his teammates to excel around him. And it feels very likely that he’ll inflict damage on the team in this upcoming game.
Can Jordan Clarkson rebound?
We wrote recently that Clarkson was becoming unplayable, and the very next game he came out and shot 8-13, scoring 20 points. Shut us up, right? Nope, because even though he had 21 points the following game, he shot just 5-20 and had as many turnovers (6) as assists (6). He’s his own worst enemy and he’s not as good as he thinks he is. He’s taking shots away from better players and if he continues to be this inconsistent, especially while the team is losing, in part due to his play, then the team has to make moves to rectify the issue. There’s no reason to hold onto a player who is actively holding you back.