With the NBA still very much in the thick of the offseason, Utah Jazz star currently has his mind on the upcoming EuroBasket tournament. Markkanen is the only Finnish player in the NBA, so he will be one of his home country's marquee players. While of course Markkanen wants to be the example as the leader, the Jazz should be very encouraged by his mindset with the season they're about to have.
Markkanen made it very clear what Finland's intentions are when they play in the EuroBasket tournament.
“We are going to aim for the medal games,” Markkanen told the media, per Eurohoops' Johnny Askounis, “That is a demanding task. That is how it should be, in my opinion.”
Not only that, but Markkanen made it clear that team unity is the key to how far they will go and who confident he is that they will have just that.
“We need to be as united as possible,” the Jazz star said, “Everyone needs to give their all to this team so we can achieve our high goals. Anything can happen in the tournament, and we need to be well prepared to avoid any falter of the team spirit. I am sure this will not happen.”
While the EuroBasket has no bearing on what happens to the Jazz this coming season, it's cool to see that Markkanen truly embraces that role as leader. He will have a similar mindset when the Jazz enter the next season, which is great even if they are largely expected to be one of the NBA's worst teams yet again. More than that, they're expected to be worse.
But what helps a team's long-term chances is having the designated leader act like one. That's exactly what Markkanen is doing with Finland, and there's no reason to think he won't do the same with Utah. Because the Jazz have promised not to repeat their actions from last season, Markkanen's mindset might be the first step toward the bright future they want.
Just because the Jazz will be bad doesn't mean they won't be fun
Last season went so terribly for Utah that everyone was begging for it all to end not too long after the season started. When Utah started benching their veterans who got in the way of their tank, watching them became unbearable.
Somehow though, even though everyone knows it's probably going to be more of the same in terms of how many games they will lose, the Jazz can be more enjoyable while they're at it. It may not be fun to watch constant losing, but if Utah goes into their games with the intentions of trying, there can at least be a fun product on the floor.
That starts with their best players being the example the Jazz want him to be. With his right mindset heading into EuroBasket, that has to be encouraging to some degree for Utah.