Will Hardy should absolutely be on the hot seat after a disastrous start for the Utah Jazz

Will Hardy’s job should be on the line after a horrid start to the season.

When a team struggles, the first inclination is to yell at the coach and blame them for the struggles the team is going through. Usually, they’re the scapegoat, fired by a team to appease an unhappy superstar or because it’s simply easier than tearing down the entire team to start the season. Other times, more rare than we like to admit, it’s absolutely the fault of the head coach. For the Utah Jazz, that’s one of those times.

The Jazz are 2-6 and look awful. It’d be one thing if the team lost by a combined 20 points in the collective six games, but that’s not what’s happening. No, the Jazz are getting blown out and it’s not even close most nights. The team is horrid on defense and the offense is being powered by one man; Lauri Markkanen.

Markkanen is every bit as good this season as last, yet it seems as though Hardy would still rather let guys like Talen Horton-Tucker and Jordan Clarkson run the offense. That decision has led to the Jazz being the worst team in the league in turnovers. Maybe even worse, Clarkson’s increased role as a ball-handler has seen his play drop off substantially.

One would think that a coach the supposed caliber of Hardy would see that things aren’t working, even a little, and opt to make dramatic changes in the hopes of salvaging the season. But that’s not what’s happening.

Instead, we keep getting more of the same. More Clarkson running point, more Markkanen getting squeezed out of shots. More Walker Kessler on the bench. More garbage minutes for Collin Sexton and Kris Dunn. It’s gotten to a point where the fandom is screaming at Hardy to make the obvious decisions.

Instead, Hardy keeps ignoring the red flags. This was a team with playoff aspirations, and now the Jazz are screaming towards the lottery of the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft. If the Jazz fall apart this season, and it’s possible they do, then the team has to fire Hardy.

Hardy may be ruining a team that had genuine playoff aspirations, so if the team can’t be fixed and Hardy continues to run the club into the ground, then the Jazz would have to admit that Hardy isn’t the right coach after all. But Hardy has some time to still turn this around.

He just doesn’t have that much time.