The Utah Jazz will enter the season with bigger aspirations, but they'll also have the elephant in the room that Keyonte George will hit restricted free agency next summer. Utah didn't extend George this summer not necessarily because they don't want him long-term, but because giving young players like him max extensions isn't as straightforward as it used to be.
Another factor is defense. Even after trading Walker Kessler, Utah has shored up their defense over the past several months, adding Jaren Jackson Jr., Josh Okogie, and Josh Green, but because they want teams to take themselves more seriously, those teams are going to exploit any and every hole they can. Sadly, George's defense is one of those holes.
It's no secret that George's defense needs work, but doing a little more digging on the matter shows a concern the Jazz can't sweep under the rug. Basketball University laid out the poorest stretches of defensive true shooting value added over the past three years. Who came up No. 1? Keyonte George.
His was at a negative-2.5, behind the likes of Trae Young, Jalen Brunson, and old friend Collin Sexton.
George has a defense for this. Utah was trying to be bad during this stretch - they were tanking, didn't you know? - and at the heart of their struggles was their extremely poor defense. One could argue George wasn't motivated on that end of the floor.
That's fair, but now he has no excuse.
His defense will determine a lot
George doesn't suddenly have to morph into Alex Caruso or Derrick White to prove himself. He just has to hold up his end. In other words, be a neutral on defense. It will be tough because of his small stature, but now that the shackles are coming off, hopefully he can prove these last three years more reflected on the Jazz themselves rather than on him.
His improvement on defense will factor into a lot. It will factor in how far Utah will be able to go. If it's still a weakness, that will definitely hurt their ceiling, but if it's not, their ceiling is much higher. Also, how he does on that end will determine the price tag on his next deal.
If George's defense isn't a problem, the Jazz will be all the more motivated to get a deal done and name his price (strictly speaking). If it doesn't, that may complicate things. Granted, all indications suggest George wants to be a Jazzman moving forward, but it takes two to tango.
In summation, it's a win-win for him and the Jazz if he ascends as a defender as a season. It's lose-lose it it goes in the opposite direction.
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