Monday, October 26th was a disastrous day for Utah Jazz big men. Before gametime, Jaxson Hayes was ruled out due to right shoulder soreness. In the first quarter, Lauri Markkanen suffered a nasty wrist injury on his shooting hand, and he staggered back towards the locker room. Not too long after that, Jaren Jackson Jr. sustained a right knee injury after Ty Jerome stumbled into his leg – if the tweet found below correctly reads coach Hardy’s lips, this could keep Trip out for a long time.
So, with 4 separate 7 footers now riding the bench with injury (Nurkic was looking classy as usual), where does the coaching staff turn for big man production? Surely, surely this would be the time for Kyle Filipowski, 3 year Jazzman with thousands of prime developmental minutes under his belt, to step up and show that all of the priority placed on his improvement since the 2024 draft was wisely spent. This would be that magical moment where Flip proves to all that his stats were not empty and his skills not gimmicky. In the face of necessity, Filipowski stands ready.
Instead, this quickly became the Mo Bamba game. And it was fun! He blocked shots, ran the court hard, and climbed Mount Edey in a way I’ve never before seen. Our defense was struggling, so I get it – Hardy wanted an anchor down low, and Bamba fits that archetype better than Filipowski does. However, Bamba was not the only bench big to get the call-up in the second half; Tony Bradley also reacquainted himself with Jazz fans, to the tune of one of the worst 5 minute stretches of basketball I can remember.
Ultimately, in a game where the Jazz were lacking some serious size in the frontcourt, Kyle Filipowski only played 8 minutes. Last season, he started half of the season’s games, and played nearly half of the 48 minutes of each game. And he showed us something! He was a really solid defensive rebounder, and his passing from the top-of-the-key was the perfect fit for Hardy’s offense. Of the bench youngsters at the end of last season (Collier, Flip, Cody, and Brice), Filipowski was the one that I was most confident would be a winning NBA player in our first non-tanking season (even if I preferred Brice in the long run). He needed to be able to eat minutes for our bench lineups to make sense.
Throughout the first 4 games, however, we have not been so lucky. Filipowski has flashed nothing so far. The rim protection has not taken the leap that many were (perhaps irrationally) hoping, and it seems that some added weight over the offseason has prevented Flip from playing any meaningful minutes at the power forward spot. On offense, he has been completely invisible. He is shooting 1 for 6 from the field across 3 games (DNP against the Lakers), with zero assists and zero offensive rebounds. On both ends of the court, he has been floating, and it seems that Hardy has noticed and cut his playing time accordingly.
Now, I want to give Filipowski the benefit of the doubt and offer an alternative theory. While training during the Summer, Flip suffered a herniated disk in his back which kept him out of most of the Jazz’s preseason contests. Could this disappointment be attributed to rust or justifiably poor conditioning? Has his flexibility been hampered by the remaining effects of his injury? Will Flip be playing more minutes, more effectively in a few weeks when he is completely recovered? I do not know the answer to any of these questions, but the uncertain nature of his injury leaves room for Filipowski to be an unfortunate victim of circumstance.
The insult to this injury is just how well an actualized Filipowski would fit with this team. The Jazz are currently lacking playmaking, especially in the frontcourt with Jusuf Nurkic out. If we could go back to a dribble hand off, top of the key offense, we’d take some of the pressure off of Isaiah Collier which has led to him being one of the worst watches in the league so far. Flip has been able to function this way his entire basketball career up until this season, and he chose the wrong time to lose this superpower. Additionally, one of the lineups I was most looking forward to were the JJJ+Flip combos – their strengths and weaknesses complement each other in a way that I thought would unlock the funkiness of Kyle’s game. However, if Flip has meaningfully lost aggression/flexibility/touch, then even that synergy with Jaren isn’t enough to get him consistently onto the court. In an ideal world, that doesn’t seem to me to be too unrealistic, this very well could’ve been the best year of Filipowski’s career.
So, what should we be looking for as we track Flip’s journey back up to his old production? First, he needs to understand his role in Hardy’s offense. Currently, it seems that no one really understands their role in Hardy’s offense, so this may come in time. But, even if confusion persists and Flip doesn’t become a top-of-the-key playmaking hub, he still must find ways to make his presence felt on offense. Crashing the glass, setting hard screens, quick decision making: every scheme requires these things, and even if Hardy’s isn’t quite getting implemented right now, Flip would certainly be a much more beneficial offensive player if he solidified the little things. Additionally, picking up his defensive rebounding would be a huge sign of life for the young big man. He’s snagged 2 rebounds in 3 games, and for a team lacking consistent boardmen, this is unacceptable. Flip is not only a good rebounder, but he’s a good passer too – some of our offensive struggles in the first few games could be mitigated with more semi-transition attempts, which may be borne with some solid outlet passing. These are not big changes that Flip needs to make, but they provide a base level of value, even if the shot isn’t falling.
Jaren may be out for a long time, and who knows how long Lauri will be sitting on the bench next to him. Hayes will come back soon, and Nurkic won’t be too far behind, but as long as 7 footers are healing up, there is a hole that Filipowski can fill. More than ever, this team needs Kyle to prove that the last two years weren’t flukes, or the product of tanking teams, because if he doesn’t, Tony Bradley might just end up bear-hugging opposing defenders again, for no discernible reason. The Utah Jazz need Kyle Filipowski to play well, and as Kyle nears second contract negotiation time, he may very well need that too, if his goal is to stick around the league for more than a cup of coffee.
How have you felt watching Filipowski thus far? Sound off below!
