Game Preview: Suns Host Jazz in Home Opener
The Phoenix Suns are preparing to play their home opener tonight against the scrappy Utah Jazz short-handed once again. Bradley Beal was listed as OUT last night, while Devin Booker was officially listed as out earlier today after being considered doubtful last night.
The Jazz are coming off of a big win against a healthy Los Angeles Clippers squad in a high-scoring game where we saw Lauri Markkanen arguably be the best player on a court shared with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
The Suns are coming off of a disappointing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers where the offense completely stalled in the fourth frame.
Since things are largely expected to stay the same for Phoenix carrying over from last game, what is to be expected of Utah tonight?
Lauri Markkanen's Brilliance
Lauri Markkanen was seen as little more than an average role player a little over a year ago- even to the point where he was just considered a throw-in when the Jazz traded Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland last September.
Markkanen had some impressive years in Chicago, but never truly progressed as the Bulls expected him to, and they let the Finnish forward go to Cleveland on a 4-year, $68 million dollar sign-and-trade transaction.
The University of Arizona product struggled quite a bit in his lone season in Cleveland, averaging just 15 points and 5 boards a game on average efficiency. As previously stated, Collin Sexton was initially seen as the centerpiece of the package Utah acquired in the Mitchell trade, but it was Markkanen who broke out and became Utah's franchise player.
The talented 7-footer finally put together the tantalizing talent that made him the seventh pick in the 2017 NBA Draft- to the tune of 25.6 PPG and 8.6 RPG on an absurd 49.9/39.2/87.5 shooting split, across a large sample of 66 games. He was also recognized as an all star for the first time.
But what makes him so good?
Markkanen continues the trend of 7-footers that play more like guards than bigs. He has a sweet handle, a consistently smooth and high release jumper that's difficult to block, and is extraordinarily good at creating space when getting shots off in an almost Dirk Nowitzki-esque fashion.
Markannen is also an under-appreciated athlete who uses subtle shiftiness and long arms to maneuver to the hoop and finish at a high rate.
He is certainly the point of focus for Phoenix when it comes to game-planning for Utah, but as covered next, this isn't a one-man team either.
Jazz Depth Could Test Suns
Utah isn't going to confuse anyone as a superteam or even a great team, but Danny Ainge has done a great job of accumulating talent in the post Mitchell/Gobert era.
As seen in their gutsy win against the Los Angeles Clippers last night, the Jazz usually are going to run 10-deep. While the rotation is guard-heavy, virtually every player that will see time is a threat to hit double figures any given night.
The most intriguing part of Utah's roster as a whole is very possibly the collection of guard talent off the bench. Collin Sexton is still a talented, young guard despite being polarizing among those in the league the last few seasons. Kris Dunn, a formerly highly-regarded prospect, has seemed to have revitalized his career and etched out a niche in the league.
Keyonte George and Ochai Agbaji are both promising young guards that haven't seen a lot of playing time early on, but have relatively high upsides and could easily earn larger roles as the season goes on, especially if Talen Horton-Tucker continues to struggle.
Will Hardy- What to Know About Jazz Head Coach
Utah hired Will Hardy in June 2022 after breaking up with longtime coach Quin Snyder. Hardy beat out current Suns' associate head coach Kevin Young for the gig.
Hardy was a little-known figure among casual audiences, and understandably so, having served behind both Gregg Popovich and his loaded coaching staffs in San Antonio, as well as Ime Udoka in Boston.
The youngest coach in the NBA was expected to take over a team that was still planning on keeping Donovan Mitchell long-term, but expectations subsided exponentially once top exec Danny Ainge decided to hit the reset button.
Hardy was in the coach of the year convo for much of 2022-23, as Utah went from being projected to be one of the very worst teams in the league, to competing for a play-in spot until the final games of the year. The Popovich/Danny Ainge blueprints are all over Hardy's coaching philosophies.
Utah runs a largely free-flowing motion offense, where ball movement is paramount, and the shot distribution among players is largely even.
Utah also loves running off-ball flare screens when running in transition, which sets up clean looks in a matter of seconds for their various deep-ball threats, particularly Markkanen.
This offense doesn't do anything exceptionally well outside of the off-ball action and the ability to space the floor, but Hardy's system coupled with players such as Jordan Clarkson that can catch fire in short order make the Jazz a team that can't be discounted.
The Suns and Jazz tip off tonight at 7:00 PM Arizona time. The game will be broadcast locally on AZ Family and nationally on NBA TV.
