Utah’s Keyonte George Named to Rising Stars Roster

The Utah Jazz, losers of six consecutive games by an average of about 11 points a game, and sole holders of last place in the Western Conference haven’t had a great season in terms of wins.

But that was to be expected, as a team entrenched within the third year of a rebuild.

This year was all about the youth of the past two off-seasons, AKA Utah’s very own draft selections, getting time to shine and flex their newly developed skills while providing Jazz fans a promising look at what the future holds when the team actually tries to win.

Utah has hand picked six players within a two year span, accounting for:

Three Sophomore’s: Taylor Hendricks (9^th overall), Keyonte George (16^th overall) and Brice Sensabaugh (28^th overall)

Three Rookie’s: Cody Williams (10^th overall), Isaiah Collier (29^th overall), and Kyle Filipowski (32^nd overall).

That equates to 5 first round draft picks, two of which were tail end lottery selections and one early 2^nd round draft pick.

All have had their moments this year, displaying the good, the bad, the promising, the disappointing, the upside, the downside.

The evaluation process is still very much in progress with Cody Williams who has averaged about 4 points a night on 30 percent shooting in the 26 appearances he has made, as he has gone back and forth between the Jazz and Salt Lake City Stars.

Filipowski has emerged as a major rebounding threat grabbing 34 boards in the last 5 games for Utah, if his shot develops consistency he could be a lot of fun moving forward.

Isaiah Collier has outplayed his draft standing by becoming a true floor general, demanding a spot in the starting lineup while averaging about 5 assist per game, the most in the NBA for any player averaging under 25 minutes a night.

Collier’s downhill speed and power have made him a highlight of recent Jazz losses.

For the sophomores, Taylor Hendricks literally fractured his right fibula and dislocated his ankle not even a week into the season, making us hope for a strong recovery and pausing on the evaluation process.

Brice Sensabaugh has turned into a microwave scorer for this team putting up 10.1 points a night on 18 minutes while shooting 46 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep.

With all this young talent, one would expect Utah to have a couple names announced for the annual Rising Stars game that showcases the best young talent in the association during the all-star break.

One “would” expect it but they shouldn’t, as Keyonte George, the 2^nd year guard out of Baylor was the single choice to represent Utah on February 14^th.

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Utah and George seem to still be figuring each other out evident by George now coming off the bench after starting the first 32 games he appeared in.

George is a stylish player who provides exciting plays and big time buckets evident by him breaking through as Utah’s premier rookie last season.

His biggest weaknesses have been turnovers (leads the team with 2.9, barely more than Collier’s 2.7) and shooting consistency (38 percent from the field and 34 percent from deep.)

All things that are very fixable with experience and familiarity with the system and teammates.

He’s been the 4^th leading scorer on this team at 16.2 PPG and averages almost as many minutes a night as Lauri Markkanen north of the 31 minute mark.

Given the green light, George puts up as many shots as anyone not named Lauri Markkanen at 14 tries a night and leads the team in distribution with 5.8 assists per game.

George is clearly deserving, and fans are excited to see his future role ironed out moving forward as Utah continues to entrust him with a bulk of the work, whether off the bench or not.

Keyonte and the Jazz visit the Golden State Warriors tonight with an 8:00 tipoff.