One-on-One With Utah Jazz Head Coach Will Hardy

All right.

Will Hardy is the head coach of the Utah Jazz who are a trendy pick to compete for the franchise's first playoff appearance since 2022.

This after several years of what I would imagine was a long and painful rebuild for the organization.

Uh, well, let's start there.

Can I get like a, a vibe check on , on what this training camp has been like?

Is the air a little cleaner, the food tastes a little better going into this season?

Yeah, I don't know about that.

I mean, I think every camp has a ton of excitement.

You know, it's been a long summer.

The guys have been working really hard.

We've seen a ton of improvement from our young players over the last couple of seasons, and this summer was, was no different.

Like the guys really just put their head down and did the work.

I think.

The team is, uh, is gelling together pretty well in camp right now , and there's definitely a ton of excitement.

I don't know if the, the food always tastes good out here in Utah.

You said a couple of times it'd be a long, it's been a long summer.

Kind of, what was this summer like for you?

Yeah, there's a lot of, you know, every offseason is .

is spent sort of in, in two pathways.

You're, you're looking back and trying to self-assess.

You know, everything.

It's, it's the individual players, it's the team, it's programmatic things, it's myself, my staff, things we can do better based on what has already happened.

And then there's obviously the, the sort of the pivot point in the summer, which is the draft where, Somebody new is joining your program and now things start to shake out from a roster standpoint through free agency and you have a little bit of a clearer picture of what may lie ahead.

And so then all of your thinking goes into, OK, how can we help this team and how can we help these individual players?

What are the priorities for everybody?

I think prioritizing is probably my biggest responsibility.

There's always a, A laundry list of things that need to be done, both as a team and individually.

You know, most people who love to give me their opinions on what should happen, usually my response is like, yeah, you're right, but we can't do everything in one day.

And so, I feel like a lot of my responsibility throughout the summer is trying to prioritize those things, um, so that we come into camp, we've got a, a pretty clear vision and the communication is organized.

Um, you know, our players, for them to learn best, we all need to be saying the same thing.

You know, rebuilds are always difficult and, and painful , and a lot of teams go through similar stuff.

For, for you, these last couple of years, like how hard did it get for you?

Like, was there ever a point where you're like, are we ever gonna dig our way out of this and get to the other side?

Sure, I think there's, you know, the, the intrusive thoughts of people's brains can be, uh.

Can be pretty wild, and there are certainly moments where doubt creeps in, um.

You know, I'm inherently hard on myself already, and there are certainly moments where you feel.

You, you feel the thoughts rushing in of like, oh my gosh, like, you know, I'm failing and We're not getting there as quick as we want and it doesn't feel how maybe I imagined it would feel in that moment, but.

My belief has never wavered in terms of our group here in Utah and our willingness, you know, from the top down to, To go through a lot of hard work to ultimately try to get to where we wanna go, um.

But you know, certainly there are moments where every individual.

Can have a A down day, you know, the, the thought can be, oh, man, is this gonna happen?

But I believe that my biggest responsibility.

To our organization and to our fan base is to instill that belief and to live it out every day that I'm willing to do the hard things just like our players are and our, our fans have been there with us through the, this entire process.

I don't want that to go unsaid.

Um, and the process is ongoing.

Like this is not over, we are still very much.

Becoming.

And that's been my message to our team all training camp that we are becoming and Every day we have to be willing to do the hard work to get the result that ultimately we want.

Not every day is gonna be pretty, not every game's gonna go our way.

Um, in no way is this.

This process of building a, you know, championship culture, it's, it's far from over, you know, you use the word becoming and you've also, I think, used the phrase next phase, uh, for this team.

What do you mean by that?

What is kind of the next phase for this group?

Well, I think we have a, a little bit of continuity in the sense of, you know, Lowry is the only player who has been here from my first day.

And throughout the process, there have been a bunch of people who have come in and out.

And I think right now we have A group of young players who have been through a lot together, um, a ton of shared experience, a ton of shared work, and this phase is about going out every night.

And seeing where we stack up.

Um, you know, I, I wish I had a crystal ball and I could say with certainty, hey, we'll be this level of team this year, but, 82 games can take on like 3 different lives and so we just need to try to attack.

You know, when I say next phase, I really mean like the 1st 20 games of this season.

And.

I want our team to approach it with.

flexible mindset of we're not exactly sure how it's gonna work in the end.

Um, you know, this team is still forming.

We're trying to figure out best lineup combinations and there's gonna be offensive tweaks and defensive tweaks and everything in between as we move through the first part of the season.

Um, and that's really our focus is just come in every day.

Do the work necessary and try to learn about our team.

You've talked, um, in the past, and Kante has talked about it as well, kind of the work that both sides have put in to get him to this kind of fringy all-star level that he was on last season.

Um, when you're drafting a Darren Peterson, another kind of lead guard type.

Was there any concern in your mind about how that, if that could adversarially affect someone like Kante and how have you kind of tried to, to, to focus on making that work, that pairing?

I think it was the opposite for me.

I think there's a ton of belief and excitement in it.

I think watching the playoffs.

There's so much to learn and I think one of the biggest takeaways was you need multiple ball handlers to get to the finish line.

Um, even the best, quote-unquote, lead guards in our, in our league.

They need secondary ball handlers.

It's a long road to the finish line and So my approach with them.

has been messaging just that, that you guys need each other.

And there's gonna be a lot made of who's the point guard and the answer is neither of you.

It doesn't matter, both of you, neither of you.

Um, You're both really good basketball players and you both have the ability to play on the ball and off the ball.

So the flexibility there is going to help both of them.

Every opponent is going to be different.

Each matchup that they draw could lead us to do different things offensively, and I think It's going to serve both of them well, you know, my.

My communication with them is, is to try to continue to have them not focus on what it all means.

You know, I think there's always this, This question of like, well, what does it mean?

You know, we draft Darren Peterson and we already have Keyonte.

What does that mean?

It means that Darren's a good player and we want him on our team and Keyonte, you're a good player and we need you both.

Um, it's not one or the other.

I don't want to pit them against each other because.

I think they have an opportunity moving forward to be a really dynamic backcourt, you know, that.

That term backcourt, I feel like it went out of style like 15 years ago and now it's point guard shooting guard where, you know, I have Danny Ainge remind me all the time that they were just called a backcourt when he was playing.

Um, and that's how I'm trying to visualize those two.

Yeah, and you're right, like the Spurs who come out of the West, 3 good ball handlers, great ball handlers, Fox, Harper, Castle, same thing with Oklahoma City from a year before.

It's, there's definitely a need for depth.

And when you watch them.

The play together.

Do you see their skills as complementary?

Kind of what do you see when you see them playing minutes together?

Yeah, I've seen both guys can dribble, pass and shoot.

Um, they both have the ability to play some pick and roll or some on-ball actions, and they're, they're both very skilled in off-ball actions, wide pins, flares, um, coming off of handoffs.

You know, I think for both of them, the areas that I'm going to continue to challenge them on are their individual defense and rebounding.

I think they're both capable.

Um, but they're gonna have to really hold their water in those areas because the, the offensive skill elements.

I think they sort of speak for themselves.

I think people that, that watch them, you know, Darren's young and he is a rookie and there's going to be some ups and downs throughout his rookie year, but I think if we're taking a longer view, I really don't worry about the offensive skill part with those two.

I want to make sure that their focus is on, The, the smaller, uglier parts of the game, um, that ultimately will impact winning.

You know, I, I'm very interested to see Darren play this season.

I mean watching him a little bit at the high school level and then all that happened last year, uh, at Kansas.

Did, did you have any questions about him coming into this experience after a lot of uncertainties publicly about what happened at Kansas and how quickly were those questions answered for you?

Yeah, I mean, I think any player that is in the draft, we're asking a ton of questions about.

You're trying to figure out.

What's real, what's not, what's true, what's not?

Where is this coming from?

Um, You know, I would, I would say to everybody, don't believe everything you read or hear.

There are two sides to every story.

There's a lot of context that goes into every situation.

You know, every team is doing research, not just on the, the players' previous season, but we're, we're going back to high school, middle school.

And trying to understand the, the person.

Like ultimately, these are human decisions.

This is a human being that we're taking a chance on and I think going through that process, my questions, our questions about Darren, his character, his competitiveness, his desire, those things were answered.

Relatively quickly.

Um, I think.

There can be situations that are unfortunate.

There can be injuries, there can be things that happen that are outside of everybody's control .

But if you look at how Darren has handled, All of those moments, if you look at how he has handled the scrutiny, I think it speaks to who he is.

Um, He's a, uh, he's got an old soul and he's a really tough kid.

He's polite, and we're just excited to have him in our program.

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Whenever Nurk is healthy, you're gonna have the ability to play really big if you want to with, with Jackson and with Lowry.

You're talking like basically 3 7-footers on that front line.

Like , what's your, your philosophy on that?

Do you believe in, in today's NBA, the way the game is played, that you can have success playing basically triple big in that lineup, or I mean just kind of talk me through kind of what your mindset is there.

Uh, my job as a coach is to, Come home, open the fridge, see what's in there and make dinner.

And this is who's on our team.

We've got some good players and I think sometimes the, the combinations can lead people to say, oh, well, that will hurt them in this area, but there's also areas that it can help us.

Um, 48 minutes is how I look at our lineups.

People make a lot of who starts.

Um, I'm more interested in 48 minutes functioning well.

And I think that Lowry is really the X factor in the ability to play that way.

Um, because when you say 3 7-footers, Yes, that, that is true if we're just measuring them against the wall, but I don't think Lowry plays like a lot of seven-footers.

Um, He is a great mover without the ball.

He's an elite shooter, um, He's not like a back to the basket big.

So he sort of provides some things that people would say like, oh, this is what some small forwards do, but he's just doing it in a little bit bigger frame.

Um, He gives us great flexibility to try some of these things, um, I don't think that we would be doing it if it weren't for him.

But we're trying to play our best guys and there are moments where you'd like the other team to try to adjust to you in certain moments.

Um, But like I said in the beginning, I, I just, I try to look at our team.

And I really try to take them for what.

What do they do?

I think we can, we can all pick players apart and say, this guy can't do that and that guy can't do that.

But that doesn't help me very much.

Um, I'm trying to focus on what each guy brings to the table and then trying to put those things together in some different combinations.

To hopefully produce winning basketball.

So Ace is another guy that you have high talent guy you got high in the lottery.

Um, how do you see him kind of fitting into this sort of new group?

I think AC is a massive, massive part of our program right now.

Um.

I have so much belief in him.

His summer has been outstanding.

I'm.

Excited for the league to really get to watch him this year.

Because I think you're gonna see.

Uh, I A young man who's really improved, um, on both sides of the ball.

And the most exciting part for me is his defense.

I mean, he is He's turning himself into a good perimeter defender and What that can do for us going forward is, is very impactful.

Um, Ace is incredibly young.

And he's got a lot of runway ahead of him to improve, but what I've seen in 365 days gives me a ton of belief in, in him.

Um, he's a huge part of what we're doing.

So what was your message to him after last season because he did have a pretty productive rookie year, like 13-ish points, mid-40s from the floor, mid-30s from three-point range.

Um, you talked about the defense, but what else was kind of your, You mess to him in the offseason about what more you needed.

Oh, we, we needed him to focus on his body.

Um, bridging the gap physically is usually one of the.

Biggest things that a young player needs to do , you know, before we talk about skills and skills are very important, but when you're 19 years old playing against 28-year-olds, a lot of times the biggest gap is physical strength, um, And so it was about his body and really it was about his conditioning.

Um, hey, while you're still trying to bridge the gap from a strength standpoint, We should be trying to make conditioning a superpower.

But my biggest message to Ace was, hey, you've now seen an NBA season.

You've seen how long it is, you've seen the toll it takes on your body, on your mind, your emotions, all those things.

You know, I, I want you to, To really be honest with yourself and think about as you go into the summer, what type of work is needed to prepare for that.

And to Ace his credit, he put his head down and worked all summer.

Um, He doesn't take a lot of, uh, attention from the staff to push him along.

He loves it.

He comes in every day, big smile on his face, a ton of energy.

Um, we're really fortunate to have Ace in our program.

He didn't get a chance to coach, uh, Jaren last season, uh, after the deal because of the injury, but With, with him, are you trying to kind of just unlock kind of the, the best of what he was in Memphis?

Do you, I mean, there's a lot of talk about whether or not he's better suited for power forward or center.

Maybe that doesn't matter all that much to you, but like, what are you trying to bring out of Jaren with this group?

Yeah, my message to Jaren is you're a good basketball player and we're not going to overly focus on which position he is because I believe that he can be both and we're going to need both.

But, you know, we're, we're putting him in.

Some spots and maybe a few actions that he hasn't done in the past and that's not.

That's not to say that we're doing it better than anybody else.

It's just our team is built differently.

And so I think there's an adjustment period for Jeren with that.

I think he's far more comfortable now than he was two weeks ago.

And I expect that to continue to, to have its ups and downs, but to, but to progress through the first part of the season.

Um, You know, it's about him learning how he can help our group.

And, hey, here's things you and Lowry can do together.

Here's things you and Keyonte can do together and Darren and Ace and, um, He's been great.

Like Jaren is really curious.

He's a worrier in a good way.

Like he really deeply cares about himself, his performance, his approach, making sure that he has all the details right.

Um, And so he asked a ton of questions, but.

You know, what are we trying to unlock?

I don't know if it's, it's not necessarily like the best of what he was in Memphis.

You know, I think, Jaren and I have spoken about, nobody can take away from you what.

What your time in Memphis was, the accolades you got, the success that you had, like, no one's taking that away from you.

It will be in the trophy case forever.

That chapter is closed.

This is a new thing.

And I want him to approach this as a totally different chapter of his career.

We're not looking back and trying to repeat something that he's already done.

I want him to just come in every day, be a vocal leader on our team, play really hard on both sides of the ball, and, um, you know, give his coach a little bit of grace as we try to, to put him in some different things.

When you say he's a worrier, what does that mean?

He wants to make sure that he's doing it perfect.

And He is concerned constantly about, does he know all of the plays?

Does he know all the communication and terminology?

Is he saying it right?

Is that what I was supposed to say on that?

Um, You know, worrier maybe comes across the wrong way , but he is concerned about whether he is doing it right.

And whether it's meeting the standard that we have for him.

Um, some people.

In our world will just kind of blow through the day and they just assume that if they do it wrong, somebody will tell them.

Jaren operates on the other side where he, he wants to make sure that the things that he's doing are, are being done the right way.

We're pleased with it.

Um, And so it's been fun.

It's not what I expected.

I didn't know what to expect with Jaren, but Usually guys that are a little further along in their career, sometimes they can have an arrogance about them like they already know.

Oh, yeah, I know that.

Oh, yeah, I know that.

And Jaren has really come in.

Eyes wide open from the first day, very, very receptive and coachable.

Um, He sets a great example for our young guys.

You know, we had talked, um, early last season about Lowry and, and one of the things we discussed, if I remember correctly, was kind of how the, the losing had sort of gotten to him, you know, over the last couple of seasons, just kind of sort of wore him down a little bit.

Um, what have you seen from him now?

Like this, he's been through trade rumors over the years.

He's dealt with losing, but now he's entering a situation where he clearly is.

Uh, I mean, you guys might have considered him the, a big part of what you're doing all along, but like publicly, you, there's not a lot of trade talk around him anymore.

This team is in a position where there are much higher expectations that have been in years past.

Has that brought anything maybe new out of him in this training camp?

First of all, trade talk can be started by anybody, and A lot of the trade rumors around Lowry were because a lot of people want him, and I, I understand why.

Uh, he's, He's an elite player.

And one of his best traits is that he can play with anybody.

He can truly play with.

With anyone.

The style doesn't necessarily matter because of his skill set.

Um, but Lowry's a warrior.

He's tough.

He's, He's tough mentally.

And I know the last couple of years haven't been maybe what he has envisioned from a team standpoint, but he's never wavered in his work ethic.

He's never wavered in his commitment to the organization.

He's never wavered in his presence with his teammates.

Like he never checked out and just sort of stopped caring and talking.

I mean, he's deeply invested in our young players, their development, um, So I think that, you know, like anybody, he, he's probably had some moments the last couple of years where doubt has crept in, but he doesn't show it.

Um, and he's been great during camp.

This season, you know, we went over to Finland to see him this summer and he's been in, he's in great shape.

He's been in great spirits.

His family's doing well.

I mean , he's, He's really come into his own here in Utah.

You said he can play with everyone and that's, that's proven out over the years.

Different stops, uh, along the way, different versions of your team.

When you're talking to him this summer or in training camp, um, how receptive is he to kind of playing more and more at that small forward spot?

And do you think that's gonna bring something out of him?

You know, he, he understands that.

That spot doesn't necessarily change the types of actions that we will put him in.

The biggest thing it might change is who's guarding him.

And That's the part right now that he's gonna have the, the biggest learning curve on is if I'm being guarded by a different group of people than maybe I have been in the past because I have someone like Jaren next to me.

That makes my reads different.

That makes, um, sort of my, my progression and checklist in all these things a little bit different.

And so I think that's where he'll have the learning curve is, is, he may not see different coverages necessarily, but they'll be executed differently because he's being guarded by different people.

So I said at the top, like, this team is a, a trendy pick to, to compete for a playoff spot, to compete through the play-in, uh, however you want to frame it.

Like, do you have those kind of expectations for this team?

I know you're not gonna say like we're, we're, it's, you know, five-seat or bust, six-seat or bust, but do you believe this team should be competing for one of those playoff spots?

I mean, I, I'm never going to put a cap on our group at all.

Um.

And I believe we should be competing every day, like what that turns into.

We're gonna find out, but.

I believe in our team's work ethic.

I believe in their ability to learn and You know, we've, there, there's a group of us that have been through some hard moments together.

And so I think being able to navigate whatever comes our way in terms of, you lose a game, you lose a couple in a row, you know, the injuries, whatever happens in an NBA season, the adversity that shows itself, this group has shown, The ability to, to navigate those things together.

Um, But I'm excited because I, I think we've have, we have a really hungry team.

Um, And I have really high expectations for them every day.

It's, it's hard for me to, to look off in the distance and say I expect.

This at the end of the year, but I do expect and demand, you know, a really high standard of our players.

Each and every day and.

You know, the hope is that those standards every day and that work every day will ultimately lead to some good results.

But, um, you know, training camp is short in the NBA.

Everybody feels really good right now .

We start up, um, in a couple of days and, and then we'll really be able to have a better understanding as we go.

But we're gonna have to learn about our own team.

Uh, I think that's probably a huge part of my job this year is really to be, To be paying such really close attention and, and try to understand what's true, not what I want to be true about our team, um, so we can solve those problems.

Do you wish training camps were longer?

Um, I don't know if there's a correlation, but that's not what I said.

So that's not what I said.

I wish they were longer.

I'm asking, I'm asking, do you wish they were, were longer, because, I mean, I think that's such a good question.

I think if you ask a lot of the coaches, I'm not gonna speak for my, my fellow coaches, excuse me, um.

I think from an organization standpoint, there is a desire to maybe have a little more practice.

I think everybody feels.

Oh, man, like, it's coming up quick and we only have 10 amount of days to get all these things in.

Um, But a longer training camp, meaning more preseason games.

I'm not sure because I think those games are.

Um, They're nerve-wracking.

Cause you're learning about your team.

But there's also the , the physical piece of, you know, how in shape are they for a game right now.

We have a week of practice.

They're a little banged up.

We don't, obviously don't want to hurt anybody.

I mean, I feel like I'm doing my taxes during the games.

Like I'm trying to figure out how many minutes each guy is supposed to, this is gonna play with this guy, but not him, and he's done it 17 minutes and then we're gonna play him another shift and, The whole time you're worried that someone's gonna sprain their ankle, you know, it's, it's normal stuff, but.

I do think the practices are really impactful.

The players would probably tell you like, no, man, we don't want any more training camp practices.

But from an organization standpoint, I think, I always feel rushed.

Um, I feel like that first real game comes up fast and You have a very stripped down thing you're going into it with.

I mean, it's like 3 weeks, right?

Like between media day and that season opens.

That is a very condensed amount of time.

I get that.

Um, last question for you.

Uh, you did have a busy summer, but you did have time to check out the Conor McGregor, uh, fight in Vegas.

Uh, did that sour you on combat sports forever, and did you get a refund for that performance?

It did not sour me on combat sports.

Um, my introduction to combat sports was UFC here in Salt Lake when I first moved out here.

I'd never seen it in person.

Um, I went and became addicted.

It's an incredible.

Incredible event, like the athletes, the, the entire production of it all is pretty crazy.

Um, I also don't get to be a fan very often.

Um, I'm a fan of the University of Tennessee's football team.

I'm a fan of the Washington Commanders, and, Besides that, it's, you know, uh, my entire world is of sports is our team, so.

To be able to go and watch something that you really don't know that much about, um, also has become, You know , something that's fun to do.

I guess I have to say I'm also a fan of the, the Utah Mammoth .

I go to a lot of their games.

I love those guys.

Um, But yeah, it hadn't soured me forever.

You know, I recognize that there was probably a lot of discussion about that fight, but, um, That's all way outside of my scope of knowledge.

Gotta at least ask for like free tickets to the next one or something, you know.

Yeah, I'll send an email.

Come on, man.

Uh, well, I appreciate it, man.

Uh, excited to see what you guys do this season.

Excited to see everything you've got going on out there in Utah.

Always appreciate catching up with you.

Thanks, bro.

Appreciate it.