Granny always cautioned me: if you go on enough rides with the devil, eventually he’s going to drive. That’s what happened the second time Denver took Utah’s hand and led her to the dance floor.
The final leg of Utah’s double-date with the Denver Nuggets was much less friendly as the Western Conference contenders wrestled away the series lead in the Delta Center from the rising Jazz. Yes, Utah’s starters took an early lead once again in the rematch — even without the services of Lauri Markkanen or
Jusuf Nurkic — but a dominant second quarter gave way to a double-digit lead Denver maintained through each layer of the depth chart.
But this is still the preseason. Win or lose, we really shouldn’t take too much stock of what we see on the court before the results matter.
Unless, of course, what we see on the court makes us clasp our hands together and shout: “Let ‘em know, DP!” without a living soul in earshot. In that case, shout your observations from the rooftops.
Here I sit upon my digital shingles. Notebook in hand, illegible scribbles lining the pages, I’ve got some takeaways from Utah’s first two preseason appearances. For once and only once, I’m sharing a private diary entry for anyone with internet access to read.
This had better not come back to haunt me.
4 notes from the Utah Jazz’s first 2 preseason games
Peterson is assembling the shelf
We’ve all been there. Handiwork to complete, grown adult human in the home, just finished googling the difference between a socket and an Allen wrench. Before you sits the box of disassembled parts that Ikea sold to you at a premium. Free labor; free money. Now the onus is on you; you possess the wherewithal to construct your home’s furniture. You, the competent human person who can read and understand an instruction manual and does not need to pester the YouTube search bar to complete this elementary task.
Before assembling an Ikea shelf, you’ve got to take a second to assess the situation — take a quick scan, gather your temporary tools, and focus on getting the simple steps completed first. Just like when you built the 9,000-piece LEGO Death Star, you’ve got to start brick by brick.
Darryn Peterson spent his first preseason game reading the room. Scanning, deliberating, he wasn’t especially aggressive in his first 19 minutes, scoring 3 points on 5 shots, but that was the recon mission — game 2 was the real deal. For Peterson, assembling the shelf begins via searching for rhythm in the midrange first, and letting the ink bleed into the corners of his stat sheet.
And there ain’t nothing broken about his midrange jumper, that’s for certain. The midrange is making a comeback despite the 3-point revolution’s bloodlust to demolish an institution in the game of basketball. Though these player comparisons are still very premature, Peterson hunts midrange jumpers much like the great shooting guards of old (MJ, Kobe, etc.), and he had his way with the Denver defense there.
He still needs to see more three-pointers fall through the cylinder (he’s 1-8 from 3 through two preseason games), but Darryn Peterson is already acclimating to the cadence of the NBA game. And while his rim pressure leaves some room for improvement, Peterson’s shot-making gift is translating gloriously to the Utah Jazz. He finds and reaches his spots with ease, gingerly flicking his wrist and floating the ball through the nylon irrespective of any contesting hands in the vicinity.
23 points on 10-for-18 shooting is stunning for a player with Peterson’s shot diet, and even more so when considering he was just 1-for-6 from distance. His three-point shooting will recover — most misses seem to be more of a mental block, as he’s still visibly thinking about each attempt as he loads up — I’m confident he’ll recapture his mojo from beyond the arc. He appeared very comfortable knocking through his first successful attempt behind the arc after opening the game 0-5 from distance.
Keep it clean, Key
Keyonte George has gotten even better over the offseason, which is a massive development for those keeping stock in his All-Star candidacy. Confident, steady, mature, Keyonte didn’t force the issue in either of his first two games against Denver and shot the ball with trademark confidence, hitting 3 of his 5 looks from beyond the arc.
Keyonte’s extension was a sign of confidence that the Jazz believed their young point guard would be a foundational piece of their future, and he’s reaffirming their belief. It’s a beautiful thing.
And he’s clearly putting much more attention into evolving as a defender. He addressed his own shortcomings during Media Day, and it’s obvious that he values being an asset, not a liability.
But more effort on the defensive end has created a new problem: foul magnetism.
George collected 4 fouls in 21 minutes in Boulder.
Then 5 fouls in just 13 minutes in the Delta Center.
Utah’s budding star is no good to the team if he’s bound to the bench with foul trouble, and I’m certain Utah’s staff is addressing this issue as we speak.
Ace to the hole
Ace Bailey is primed to make a leap in his second season, thanks in no small part to his effort as a defender. The intangibles and non-stat-stuffing aspects of his game drew immense praise from Will Hardy, who insisted that the first game against Denver was Bailey’s best in a Jazz uniform.
Agree to disagree, with his 37-point eruption in mind, but I understand what his coach is getting at. Praise players for doing the little things, because they pay hefty dividends.
Bailey put on some muscle over the offseason and is playing with immense confidence as the team’s 6th man.
Have we ever seen a player so poorly evaluated in the pre-draft period as Ace Bailey? He dropped from the projected 2nd pick and was projected to plummet even further than 5, where the Jazz picked him up. The reasons for his fall? Selfishness, ego, stubbornness, poor shot selection, and that’s just scratching the surface. Misled media cycles perpetuated the notion that Bailey did not want to play in Utah, and the narrative quickly became that he could never be happy with the Jazz.
They couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Blame his representation, which he’s since severed ties with, because the Jazz and Ace have been a match made in heaven, and I’m very optimistic about his developmental trajectory.
Hayes fever
Jaxson Hayes has been more than serviceable at the center spot. As a rim protector, he’s been exceptional.
He’s blocked four shots through two games — a big need for this team in the vacuum left by Kessler — and has been poised and confident in his role with a new team. Some chemistry wrinkles still need to be ironed out when it comes to timing in the pick-and-roll with his guards, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see how well he’s played through two games.
And he’ll see plenty more minutes in the early season.
Will Hardy has made it fairly clear through his lineup constructions that he views JJJ as a power forward, not a center. Now with Jusuf Nurkic out with a toe injury for the next month or so, that means Hayes will see plenty of reps as the starting 5, with apologies to my Mo Bamba truthers out there (Mo Bamba, no problems).
Calvin Barrett is the Associate Editor for SLC Dunk. Originally from Springville, Utah, he currently lives in Japan and has covered the NBA and college athletics since 2024.
