Sorry Lauri Markkanen, but that is who the Utah Jazz are currently

The Utah Jazz are what they appear to be. The team is an incoherent mess at times, riddled with terrible defense, poor shot selection, and coaching that appears to be either non-existent or ineffective. This team is a mess right now. Sure, things can turn around, the play could get better and things could turn around. But right now they are 4-11 on the season and look worse today than they did at any point last season.

A season where there were fewer expectations and a less-impressive roster. Yet, despite the team adding three stellar-looking rookies and someone like John Collins to the starting rotation, the team has absolutely tanked this season. It's tanked so badly that even Lauri Markkanen is shocked by the execution or lack thereof of the team's play.

Speaking to the media after the Jazz's dreadful loss to the Lakers, Markkanen wanted evereyone to know that this isn't the best the Jazz can be, saying (via the Desert News);

“We know that’s not us. That’s not how we want to play.”

But isn't it? We've seen the offense get hot at times, especially when Keyonte George is having a great night passing the ball, but the sample size for his play is so small that many people think he's a key piece of the future. We have no idea if that's true, no one does. Not one way or the other. We don't know what George can be, that's just the fact of the situation.

And while George has helped the offense produce, part of the reason the last several games have looked so good was due to Jordan Clarkson hitting his shots, ill-advised or otherwise. The two of them helped make one another look good, but neither is so good they aren't replaceable should a better option come along.

The number of bad games this team has had this year far overshadow the good ones. This is a team that's had 15 games so far, and it's fair to say they are a bad squad. This isn't a team that's 4-11 and lost 10 games by 13 combined points. This is a team that can't stop anyone on defense, and whose offense is the definition of inconsistent.

So while we like Markkanen, we have to ask what season he's been a part of because we're not seeing this team play well enough to have a winning record, let alone make the playoffs.