Keyonte George has been the Utah Jazz's most disappointing player this season - not named Cody Williams. George came into the season expected to make a leap in Season 2, but that leap has not come.
Some of George's numbers are technically higher than last season, but that is a result of the Jazz giving him more minutes. He's had his good stretches - good enough that he looked like the exact player the Jazz envisioned him being - but George has never found any consistency.
The problems are bad enough that whether George could be the player the Jazz want him to be is in question. Intel from The Deseret News' Sarah Todd following their loss to the Rockets last night only further fuels that skepticism.
George is not handling the Jazz's struggles well
Todd explained that George has not handled the Jazz's losing ways as well as he could. She detailed one instance last night when George didn't join in during a scuffle between Kyle Filipowski and Collin Sexton that inspired everyone to huddle up—including John Collins and Taylor Hendricks, who were in street clothes—to get on the same page.
Per Todd, George "sat at the end of the bench hunched over, not really paying attention to what was going on between Filipowski and Sexton. Then when head coach Will Hardy joined the huddle, George slowly walked around the corner of the court with a towel over his head."
It only gets worse.
"And this isn’t the first time that George has seemed disconnected or frustrated in a negative way," Todd wrote. "For a lot of this roadtrip, and at times throughout the last two years, George has seemed indignant, and it is painfully clear when he is upset. There’s a lot of finger pointing, a lot of eye rolling and even more sulking."
Todd acknowledged that George's frustration is understandable, but how he's handled all the losing compared to his teammates has made him stand out—and not in a good way. Todd noted why this can be a problem for the Jazz, writing that "frustration for professional athletes needs to be channeled toward something other than sulking or pouting or seething."
And this could be a problem for the Jazz as a team, as Todd noted that George's demeanor could lead to problems for both him and the team long-term.
"On the bench it’s one thing. But the carry over from the bench to the court is something different altogether. And in both instances, that kind of body language and behavior can bring other people down, it can create animosity, and it becomes representative of who you are."
George's struggles to evolve are one thing, as that happens with second-year players, but refusing to be unified with his Jazz teammates during a time like this is inarguably a red flag. It's a time for learning to develop winning habits for young players like him, and part of those winning habits is trying to be part of the team even through hard times.
Issues like these really cast doubt on George's long-term future with the Jazz. If he had shown progress this year but had these frustrations, then it would have made more sense, but he hasn't taken those steps.
The same goes for George if he hadn't shown much progress like he has, but at least showed that he wants to be part of this team. His lack of progress and current attitude about this could fuel a lot of trade speculation this offseason.
It's not a huge deal that he hasn't gotten much better, as he's young enough to take his time, but the Jazz should really have to think about how much longer they're willing to go with his development if he could be a problem for them internally.
Getting the rebuild right requires having players with the right attitude. As of now, George hasn't necessarily been disruptive, but info like this is not encouraging.