Jazz HC Makes Curious Talen Horton-Tucker Comment After Hornets Win
On a night when the Utah Jazz's leading scorer was in a brutal slump, if the team was going to pull out a win on the road vs. the Charlotte Hornets, someone else would have to step up.
Talen Horton-Tucker answered that bell. Utah All-Star Lauri Markkanen shot a measly 3-of-22 (13.6%) from the field, but Horton-Tucker's 37 points put the team in position to defeat the Hornets, 119-111.
'THT' came tantalizingly close to notching a triple-double, finishing the night with 10 assists and eight rebounds to go along with his scoring outburst. With Collin Sexton missing his ninth straight game, and Jordan Clarkson still nursing his injured thumb, the 22-year-old THT produced easily the best performance of his young NBA career.
Adding to the young point forward's success was Horton-Tucker stringing together two great performances in a row after starting Utah's six-game road trip on less-than-solid footing. After the game, Jazz head coach Will Hardy spoke to THT's resilience and what allowed him to turn the ship around on an individual level so that the team could have collective success.
“He understands what’s real and what’s not," Hardy said post-game Saturday night. "He understands that so far to date in the NBA, he hasn’t necessarily gotten what he’s wanted. He wants to play more. He wants to be in the rotation. He wants to be a key player and he’s just tried to control the parts that he can control. But yeah, at that age, to have that level of maturity, to understand that you might not always get what you want and you have to keep working, that’s [a] credit to Talen. When he got here, he had that maturity. He’s got a little bit of an ‘old soul’ vibe to him. He doesn’t always seem like he’s 22... He’s a wonderful kid. I’m really happy for him.”
Indeed, despite his "old soul" comportment, Horton-Tucker is still just a baby, especially when it comes to the NBA. The Orlando Magic drafted the Iowa State product at just 18 years old before promptly trading him to the Los Angeles Lakers.
THT was stuck in a bench rotation in L.A., starting just 24 games over his three years in the league. When the Jazz acquired him via trade last summer, Horton-Tucker arrived with a career average of 8.2 points per game.
As most Jast fans observed, THT's tenure in Salt Lake City started off on a similar footing as it did in L.A. Utah had an embarrassment of ball-handling riches that included the aforementioned Sexton and Clarkson, as well as Mike Conley and Malik Beasley.
But when Conley and Beasley, as well as Jarred Vanderbilt and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, were dealt away at the NBA trade deadline, THT began to see a steady increase in minutes. And Hardy has had to rely on THT even more so on this road trip due to injuries stacking up.
All told, the Jazz are 2-3 since departing Salt Lake City, but the team would probably find itself winless on this road trip were it not for THT's impact. Jazz fans should also tip their cap to Kris Dunn for helping to stop the backcourt bleeding and bringing top-shelf defensive play to the court.
Again, though, Hardy has been impressed by Horton-Tucker's resilience and mature mindset of controlling the controllables.
"He’s just put his head down and kept working," Hardy said. "He’s obviously been put into this starting role lately after the trades and some injuries, so it’s a little bit new in that way but Talen’s a hell of a basketball player and again, he just turned 22. So he has a lot of room to grow. I know we’ve talked about that a lot with some guys on our team, but he hasn’t overreacted to when he’s had tough moments. He’s just looked at and said, ‘Hey, here’s the things that I can control. Here’s the areas that I can try to improve in my decision making,’ and he’s gone out and just tried to do that every night. It’s nice to see him string two good games together."
If THT sustains this level of play, he's going to make himself a very valuable commodity around the NBA. At this stage, the Jazz have to be holding their breath that THT won't opt out of his contract in the offseason and sticks around.
"Consistency is so key in this league if you want to be a top player," Hardy said of Horton-Tucker. "He gets all the credit. Our job as coaches is to try to help him, try to support him, try to put him in spots where he can be successful, let him know that we have belief in him, but he’s the that’s one who’s doing the hard work and he’s the one that’s making it happen out there on the court. So the credit goes to Talen.”
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