The season hasn't started yet, and the Utah Jazz are already dealing with annoying injuries. Chris Haynes revealed that Jusuf Nurkic will be sidelined for four weeks because of a partial plantar plate tear in his second toe in his right foot. Sounds simple enough...
All jokes aside, this throws a curveball into the Jazz's season, even if they knew injuries come with the territory of trying to be a winner. Nurkic was their Walker Kessler replacement (for the time being), as it seemed pretty clear he would be their starting center at their full strength.
But now that he's out, even if it won't be for too long into the regular season, Utah is faced with the choice: either insert Jaxon Hayes, Kyle Filipowski, or Mo Bamba into the starting lineup, or insert Ace Bailey in the starting lineup and move Jaren Jackson Jr. into the starting center position.
But why would either be a problem?
Jazz may not want to show their cards just yet
Inserting Bailey into their starting lineup is not a bad thing. In fact, it's very likely that Utah's best lineup will feature Bailey next to JJJ, Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, and Darryn Peterson, but the Jazz may want to keep that under wraps as much as they can until opponents know to gameplan for it.
That is their most talented lineup, as Bailey will basically be their super sub with the potential to give them two-way play that could come quite in handy in crunchtime. Even if Bailey is coming off the bench this season, he's not going to be sixth in their pecking order so to speak.
To reveal that quickly may go against Utah's plans of trying to keep it on the down low. Granted, opponents were going to see that anyway, but the Jazz likely wouldn't have wanted to give it away so quickly to start.
The Jazz's other options aren't great
While Filipowski could actually be better than people are giving him credit for, again, the Jazz may want to save him for second units, as his offensive multi-facetedness could come in handy against bench units. What he does may be best off not in the starting lineup.
Jaxon Hayes has come along nicely over the years, but there's a reason why he signed with Utah to be their backup: it's what he's best at. Bamba is currently competing for a spot on the Jazz's roster. Granted, this is probably the break he was looking for, but there's a reason why his career has come to this.
Nurkic was a good placeholder for what the Jazz want to do until they figure out who their best option is at starting center long-term. Even if this isn't what they wanted, it at least give them, a team with playoff aspirations, a challenge to start.
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