After all the moves the Utah Jazz have made, it's unclear what their opening night starting lineup will be. While it's an absolute certainty that Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler will start, others are more up in the air. Recently, The Deseret News' Sarah Todd projected what she believes will be the Jazz's starting lineup and there was one surprise omission: Ace Bailey.
Todd recently hosted a Jazz mailbag, where she answered multiple questions centered around the team. Among the questions was who she thought would be in the starting lineup. Todd made it clear that it's ambiguous as of now who will be a starter, but revealed which five players she thinks will get the nod.
"More than any other season, I think training camp is going to play a big part in who gets the opening night nod. But, I definitely have my suspicions and opinions. Right now, it’s easy to say Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler will be starters, and I think there’s a good chance that Kyle Filipowski could start at the four on opening night. If I had to make a prediction today on the backcourt, I’d probably say Isaiah Collier and Brice Sensabaugh," Todd wrote.
Todd also followed that up by writing that anything could happen between now and opening night and that things can change even when the regular season commences.
"There are a lot of things that could change between now and opening night. And there are even more things that could change after opening night. I’m going to be very, very interested in how Walter Clayton Jr. fares, especially as it pertains to the point guard position, which is in no way spoken for in any permanent way. And, I wouldn’t be shocked if there was some experimentation with Ace Bailey at point, which I would be in favor of seeing."
It is surprising because Bailey is the Jazz's prized lottery pick, and the Jazz have thrown players with similar expectations to the wolves. They did that with Cody Williams last season. Even when he wasn't showing progress, they still had him start plenty of games for them.
The same thing happened with Dante Exum. Like Williams, he didn't start in all of their games his rookie year, but they really wanted to see what he was made of, so he started in half of their games. Now, just because Bailey might not start right away does not mean he won't as time progresses, which Todd acknowledges.
The other notable projection is Filipowski starting. This is not the first time this idea has been floated, and for good reason. Filipowski is coming off a promising rookie season and just finished a dominant performance in the Summer League. There's no reason to keep someone like him on the bench, but it would be interesting if the Jazz see through what they have in Filipowski right away and not Bailey.
If this happens, the Jazz would send a message to Bailey
If Bailey starts his rookie season coming off the bench, Utah would be sending the message that if he wants to start, he would have to earn it. Bailey is the most talented prospect the Jazz have had in some time, but like any other team would, they want to develop him the right way. If they think the best way to do that is to have him work his way up, that's not the worst idea.
It's very possible he will be a starter from the get-go, but if they think he's not ready for that to start and has to prove himself, that's a sound strategy.
No matter what happens come training camp, this is the most exciting the Jazz have been in quite some time, even if they are still going to be pretty darn bad.