Keyonte George Has Evolved into an NBA Point Guard

The Jazz rookie has morphed his game for the better.

When Keyonte George went from IMG Academy to Baylor, he carried the weight of a top-seven RSCI recruit. As he leaned into a more scoring-centric role in college, George slipped down draft boards a bit.

The appeal of a 6-foot-3 scoring guard pales in comparison to a 6-foot-3 point guard. These small bucket-getters often have trouble scaling up their impact, for they need another player to facilitate the offense. Primary facilitators are typically smaller guys, and teams hesitate to play two small defenders together.

Still, George performed so well as a scorer that he maintained first-round status. His combination of dynamite pull-up shooting, silky mid-range touch, and brute driving force made him a difficult matchup for Big 12 competition. Come draft night, the Utah Jazz spent the No. 16 overall pick on George after he averaged 15.3 points and 2.8 assists as a freshman.

As George made his summer league debut, his frame immediately drew attention. Akin to someone like Kyle Lowry, the Baylor Bear was previously a bigger guard who used his bulky frame to carve out drives. Now, he appeared far more slender, and his improved shape showed it’s worth during George’s explosive attacks to the rim—he hit gears of speed unseen during his time in Waco.

In three Las Vegas games, George scorched the nets, averaging 24.9 points and 6.3 assists EJ route to earning first-team All Summer League honors.

These past few weeks, George has introduced his game to the NBA world.

He completely shifted his mindset, adopting Jazz’s starting point guard spot. Instead of looking for his shot first before falling back on a pass, he’s taken up the responsibility of initiating offense for teammates.

He finds Lauri Markennan in the post, Jordan Clarkson off of pindowns, John Collins on rolls to the basket, and shooters in the corners—the 20-year-old runs offense well ahead of his years. He makes quick decisions, sees the whole court, and crafts creative deliveries. He consistently dots passes that he rarely thought about a year ago.

A large part of this is his slimmed-down frame and improved speed. He now dusts the first level of defense like never before, allowing him to set up teammates after forcing the defense into rotation.

George has led all rookies in assists thus far, averaging 8.3 since Coach Will Hardy inserted him into the starting lineup four games ago. His scoring still needs work at the NBA level, but George is already impacting games as Utah’s point guard of the future. 

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