There’s no sugarcoating it: the Utah Jazz’s season has started atrociously.
With a 1-9 record and a near dead-last offensive rating, this team continues to disappoint fans. Before the season started, hopes were high. Many media outlets, including The Lead SM, felt the Jazz built a competitive team. They added Darryn Peterson via the draft, re-signed Jusuf Nurkic, and traded for Josh Green.
With a star-studded core in Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, and Jaren Jackson Jr., many felt this team could make the playoffs. However, injuries and other mistakes dashed those hopes.
Injuries Gutted a Roster That Was Already Thin
Nobody plans for injuries. It ruins the team’s season, a player’s health, and fans’ hopes. The injuries to Jackson Jr. and Nurkic dealt a major blow to an already thin roster. With Walker Kessler in Los Angeles, Utah relies on Jaxson Hayes and Mo Bamba to pick up the slack. At times they’ve proven serviceable, but they’re not starting-caliber centers.
Another thing the front office can’t control is how poorly the bench continues to perform. Last season, Svi Mykhailiuk averaged 9.4 points per game and shot 40.8% from the arc. This year, he’s only averaged 3.9 points and shoots 28.6% from the three-point line. Isaiah Collier continues to experience the same phenomenon, averaging 7.4 points and is 0-for-8 from deep this season.
Will Hardy’s Offense Has Gotten Worse
To give coach Will Hardy some grace, it’s not easy to tape together a team after major injuries. It also doesn’t help that Utah’s front office allegedly asked him to lose games for years. It’s difficult to remedy a losing culture, especially if they want to start winning immediately.
That said, Hardy does share some of the blame for the Jazz’s horrendous start. While Utah’s defense improved this year, the offense has somehow gotten worse.
Hardy needs to find some balance in his offensive schemes. Markkanen needs more shots, and George can’t be the only player dealing out assists. It doesn’t help that other ball handlers on the team are struggling. But it’s a coach’s job to fix these problems, and so far he hasn’t.
So far, the Jazz shoot 75.8% from the free-throw line and 31.5% from the three-point line this season. While Nurkic’s absence might fuel this issue, the shooting numbers need to improve regardless of the reason.
The Pelicans Game Showed Hardy’s In-Game Problems
Besides offensive performance, his substitutions and timeouts also leave fans scratching their heads. This behavior showed itself in their recent game against the New Orleans Pelicans. In the third quarter, the Jazz took a 10-point lead. The game seemed under control until the fourth quarter started.
The Jazz gave up the lead. Rather than calling a timeout to calm the team earlier, Hardy waited until the 10-point lead got cut to two. Overtime brought similar results.
George hit two threes to put the Jazz up, then the Pelicans went on a 12-0 run. Zion Williamson and Derik Queen pulverized the Jazz in the paint. Putting Bamba in to help on the defense would be a simple solution, no? Nope, Hardy elected to bring in Josh Okogie and Green. Both are fine players, but the bigger Williamson and Queen overpowered the smaller defenders.
The Front Office Didn’t Prepare for the Problems It Should Have Seen Coming
Underperforming players and Hardy’s decision-making aren’t the only factors causing Utah problems. The front office built this team with too many flaws.
If they wanted this team to have a better chance at competing for the playoffs, they should’ve prepared differently for the Kessler trade. If the center showed any inclination to leave (which he did), then Utah needed to trade him earlier and acquire his replacement.
They could’ve offered a heavy one-to-two-year deal for Mitchell Robinson or entered the sweepstakes for Isaiah Stewart. They took a risk expecting an older Nurkic to stay healthy and just signing Hayes as the backup center. So far it’s blown up in their faces.
Fans could also argue they should’ve signed another locker room veteran. This team doesn’t have a leader that motivates the young players and helps them in crunch time. Mike Conley or Kevin Love would help this team immensely. Both previously brought positive leadership to Utah’s locker room.
Conley himself led a subpar Utah team to a 10-3 start. The front office built his team to lose, and that’s more wins than this current team can dream of.
Four Years of Rebuilding and This Is the Result
Ownership and the front office asked Jazz Nation to have patience with this rebuild. Ryan Smith himself exclaimed how the team needs to go through pain to win a championship. The front office started the rebuild in the summer of 2022, and now it’s 2026. That’s a long time, and the first year the Jazz are expected to compete, they give fans a team that ranks fourth in turnovers and nearly last in offensive rating.
Jazz fans endured back-to-back Finals losses, players constantly trashing their state, so many playoff series fumbles in the Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert era, and now a long rebuild.
They haven’t suffered through all that to watch their team regress and get even worse this year. If fans truly lose hope, that means money comes out of Smith’s pocket. So, the front office better start thinking of some solutions to make this team competitive.
Now this article isn’t a rallying cry for fans to turn against ownership or the team. Smith continues to prove he’s a great owner for the Utah Mammoth and will do the same for the Jazz. However, he might need to take a long look at the moves other personnel make and consider his options if this season continues downhill.
The fans will support the Jazz. However, they deserve a better team to watch.
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