The Keyonte George train is humming, and it doesn't appear to be stopping anytime soon! After a highly discouraging sophomore season, George has made it clear to the Utah Jazz that he is absolutely a building block for their future. Among those who admit that they were wrong about George were The Athletic's Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon.
On "The Game Theory Podcast," Simon acknowledged that both he and Vecenie underestimated George as a player after his ascension. Vecenie singled out what George has done in particular to reach a new level.
"The big thing he's doing is he's really attacking and getting paint touches and driving and getting foul attempts. He's averaging seven free throw attempts a game. I would have never guessed that that's something Keyonte George would do in the NBA. He has been outstanding getting to the line. He obviously makes his free throws, too. He's at 90%
"The passing ability as well. He's really embraced being a point guard, I think is the big answer here... I always thought he had the ability to make passing reads, but kind of got himself into trouble a little bit... but Keyonte this year has been awesome... I think his ability to get paint touches has been huge for them."
It hasn't translated into that many more wins for Utah this season, but George's improvement has factored into why the team has become infinitely more watchable this season. Ironic given that George failing to do last season played a part in how highly unwatchable the Jazz were last season.
So how high could George's ceiling be?
George sustaining this level of play for over a month shows it's no fluke. So, with him proving how good a point guard he is, he may just be good enough for the Jazz not to worry about acquiring a star at his position. That should only make fans wonder how good he could be in the long run.
His shot is starting to come around a little, and that, for the longest time, was a problem. So if he proves that he is a dependable shooter to his ability to draw fouls and drop dimes, that makes his ceiling as high as it is ambiguous.
The Jazz will really know for sure when they see what he, Lauri Markkanen, and Ace Bailey can do as a trio as time goes on. Utah probably won't see the playoffs, but how George does for the rest of the season should give the Jazz a better idea of the kind of player he is.
No matter how high it is, George has gotten everyone's attention again, which is a good thing. He made his skeptics eat their words, and the next step is rewarding the optimists for their faith.