The Utah Jazz are entering next season with what is likely going to be a problem, a good problem. The core for the future is looking like the following six players: Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., Walker Kessler, and either AJ Dybantsa or Darryn Peterson. The issue the Jazz are going to run into is that you can only start five players, and at some point, you have to make a tough decision about the starting lineup.
As things appear to be going, Utah is likely going to draft
Darryn Peterson. With Peterson on the team, it’s hard to see him not starting. The level of talent will demand minutes. If Peterson starts, the starting lineup will probably look like this: Keyonte George, Darryn Peterson, Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Walker Kessler.
For Ace Bailey, I have no doubt this will be a hard pill to swallow. He had a fantastic attitude last year and improved game after game, showing the potential of what he could become. That potential is not something to take for granted, nor is it something that can’t be realized sooner than later. If I’m Ace Bailey, I’m going to be really frustrated if I’m not getting that starting spot. That said, I think the future for Ace Bailey is a big part of the Jazz, and that starting role might not be far away.
Now, this isn’t a for sure thing. It could be that Bailey takes a leap and earns that starting spot come training camp. Will Hardy has proven that he’s willing to make changes to the starting lineup when warranted. That said, I would be pretty surprised if the Jazz don’t have Lauri Markkanen starting at the three. He’s a proven all-star forward that should have a big season.
That is, he better. Over the last two seasons, Markkanen has been below league average from three-point range (League average is about 36.5%, while Markkanen has shot 34.6% and 35.5% in both seasons). The other issue is that Markkanen has been part of a Utah Jazz defense that has been one of the worst in the league for two of the last four seasons. That’s not all Markkanen’s fault, but he’s been a part of that problem. Bailey has a lot of learning to go on the defensive end, but he showed a lot of great signs that he could become a high-level defender. That ability could be the thing that gets him starter minutes sooner than anything. If Bailey can come into training camp having improved his consistency shooting the ball, and shows improvement defensively, he’ll start knocking on that door to starting sooner rather than later.
This also sets off a lot of potential scenarios the Jazz will have to consider, such as whether they need to make a consolidation trade at some point, but that’s not something they need to worry about yet.
The important thing to remember is that this is a great problem to have. Utah has a lot of young talent on the rise and two players in their prime. The depth for this team will be incredible. At all times, the Jazz will have Keyonte George and/or Darryn Peterson leading the offense with a mix of Lauri Markkanen, Ace Bailey, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Walker Kessler in the frontcourt. The golden age is officially here.
