After the Utah Jazz had perhaps their most miserable season ever, their youth movement has suddenly looked quite promising lately. Ace Bailey, Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Filipowski, Brice Sensabaugh, and even Cody Williams have ignited some excitement in Utah. With how good they've looked, Keyonte George has become an afterthought, which wasn't the case at this time last year.
Last summer, George was the prospect everyone believed was the Jazz's most promising player. Granted, the youth movement had only just begun, so there weren't many young Jazz players to choose from, but there was promise from George. He showed he could go off on any given night. It wasn't consistent, but it was exciting.
So it made every bit of sense that the Jazz wanted to see that through in Year 2 with George, and he didn't take advantage of it. George hasn't become forgotten only because the Jazz's youngsters have looked more exciting lately. His sophomore year simply leaving a lot to be desired also factored into why there isn't much buzz about him currently.
George's scoring and passing numbers appeared "better," but that was largely due to the increased opportunities he was given. His efficiency as a scorer - 39.1% from the field and 34.3% from three - and as a playmaker - 5.6 assists to 2.7 turnovers per game - were unimpressive, but worse, they weren't much of an improvement.
So, his underwhelming sophomore campaign led to the hype dying down, and seeing some of the other Jazz youngsters look like they will only get better hasn't necessarily led everyone to give up on George. However, it has made it so that George will enter training camp with a lot to prove.
That just might be the best thing to happen to him though.
George could use this to his advantage
A lot of players thrive when not much is expected from them. Look at Lauri Markkanen. When he became a Jazzman in 2022, nobody thought he was Utah's next star, but he used that to show everyone just what he was capable of, and now he's richly paid as the star he is when he's fully engaged.
George may not necessarily enter that level, but with Year 3 coming up, he has much lower expectations than he did when Year 2 started. It hasn't been confirmed whether the pressure got to him, but not having such a high bar to clear might be what George needs.
Best of all, this could help the Jazz period because, with many of their youngsters looking very exciting lately, if George can also show improvement next season, then their youth movement not only becomes even more tantalizing but also among the most promising in the entire NBA.