Turnovers Follow Utah Through Summer League

After last year’s uninspiring 31-51 finish for the Utah Jazz, fans were ready to take a break from the Jazz and the things that made them one of the worst products the NBA could put out the last half of the season.

A quick sabbatical from heavy losing streaks, the worst defensive rating in the NBA, a bottom five team in giving up 2^nd chance points, and a team that was the worst in the association at stopping the fast break.

Without singling out the defense alone, the offense was not without fault.

Particularly in regards to taking care of the basketball.

The Jazz handed out 15.7 turnovers per game, the best team in the NBA when it comes to coughing up the basketball.

Opponents would gain an additional 19.3 points per game off of Utah’s turnovers which could be quite maddening to witness in real time.

Enter the off season, where the defensive struggles and offensive woes should no longer be able to haunt Jazz fans.

Enjoy the draft, argue about free agents, scour the trade rumor mill for the latest piece of juicy gossip and watch the young prospects in summer league was all that was on the agenda.

Sounds refreshing, right?

Midway through summer league Jazz fans have had some fun witnessing Keyonte George put up 61 points in two games, or seeing a slimmed down Brice Sensabaugh score effectively with some impressive moments from Cody Williams.

But as fans stay locked into every Isaiah Collier move or Taylor Hendricks possession, one familiar glaring issue still looms over the summer edition of the Utah Jazz.

Turnovers. Its turnovers, the Jazz are still really really bad at protecting the basketball.

Take last night’s 82-70 loss to Sacramento, the one that gave Utah a 1-1 record in Las Vegas.

Diminishing another solid Cody Williams performance, a Kyle Filipowski sighting and a 45-34 second half advantage was the fact that Utah trailed 48-25 at half and looked largely outmatched due to… you guessed it, turnovers.

The Jazz tallied 26 turnovers, a whopping ten more than the Kings.

Collier had 7, with the starting lineup of Collier, Filipowski, Hendricks, Williams and Taevion Kinsey combining for 16 turnovers.

Kinsey was the only Jazz player without a turnover in this game and 7 of the 9 Jazz players who saw the floor had a minimum of at least three turnovers.

Not only is the turnover bug still pestering Utah, its only gotten worse with the inexperience of the younger, more raw summer league squad.

That may be expected, but it doesn’t make it any easier to watch.

Dating back to the Salt Lake City summer league super slamming showcase, the Jazz recorded the following turnover totals and differentials:

VS MEMPHIS: 22 TURNOVERS (+2)

VS OKLAHOMA CITY: 14 TURNOVERS (SAME)

VS PHILADELPHIA: 20 TURNOVERS (+10)

Now the results two games into the NBA 2K25 summer league in Las Vegas:

DALLAS: 15 TURNOVERS (+5)

SACRAMENTO: 26 TURNOVERS (+10)

Some quick math would show that Utah has 97 turnovers in 5 games, also known as 19.4 turnovers a game.

They have yet to turn it over less than an opponent and have a turnover differential of +27.

There is little reason to nitpick a stat like this in summer league, literally a place designed for development and growth, but I find it ironic that Utah’s turnover woes run as deep as they do.

Especially when taking into account that multiple players who have appeared in a summer league game this offseason could be primed to see heavy regular season rotation minutes.

It is what it is, especially in summer league, but hopefully the upward trend stops dead in its tracks come the start of the season, because although fans of a rebuilding team should be ok with defeat, they shouldn’t be ok with handing the game away on a platter.