When the Utah Jazz originally drafted Ace Bailey, he was considered a high-risk, high-reward prospect after an iffy season at Rutgers. Three preseason games into his tenure with the Jazz, it's clear that he is in the best place for his NBA career as a Jazzman, and a lot of that has to do with the influence of Will Hardy.
Sam Vecenie praised Bailey while singling out Hardy's part in why the Jazz's golden pick has played as well as he has in these NBA exhibitions.
"In Utah, they're running Ace out of a ton of actions. They're minimizing the handle, right? The reason that I loved Ace in Utah... (is) because Will Hardy has a proof of concept on these guys that he really knows how to deal with play finishers who can shoot the (expletive) out of the ball. He is unbelievable (at) creating actions, creating flowing offense to be able to create positive infrastructures for a player like Ace Bailey to be able to score," Vecenie said.
Even if Utah hasn't made the playoffs since Hardy took the reins in 2022, he has made lemonade out of the lemons the Jazz have given him. Before he came to Utah, Lauri Markkanen showed he had the talent of a star but never quite put it all together. One year under Hardy, and he became an unquestionable All-Star and the NBA's Most Improved Player.
Now he's got Bailey, someone who also has the talent to be a franchise player if all goes well, and the returns on him thus far have been downright phenomenal. It's one thing to have the talent to be something special, but with the right tutelage, that special talent can turn Bailey into the player both he and the Jazz want him to be.
With Hardy putting him the right spots to succeed, there's a good chance Bailey will make the teams who passed on him rue the day they did as such.
Don't be surprised if Bailey makes a run at ROTY
Bailey has some stiff competition for Rookie of the Year, but if Hardy and co. decide to start him from the jump - from the looks of things, that appears likely they will - Bailey will have the opportunity to make the best campaign a rookie has ever had for Rookie of the Year since Donovan Mitchell.
For everything that Hardy has done right to get Bailey to live up to his potential, the Jazz pick also deserves props for absorbing what Hardy has to teach him and using it when he takes the floor. He also has a chip on his shoulder, as he will likely want to prove plenty of teams wrong for doubting him.
Hardy's connection with Bailey could be the main ingredient to getting the Jazz back to prominence. As long as the two are on the same page, the sky is the limit for what this duo could do!