ESPN Reveals 'What's Working' in Jazz's Rebuild

The Utah Jazz have embarked on a bumpy season, but there's still a few positives to note in the process.

Mar 17, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy watches from the sidelines during the first quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images / Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images

When taking a big-picture look at the Utah Jazz's season, a 16-54 record and landing within the bottom three of the NBA standings is far from appealing to the eye.

Yet, in the Jazz's extensive rebuild now sitting in its third year, it's hard to see this season as a total failure –– even when factoring in their lapses in the wins and losses column. Utah's rise to the top was known to be far from a one-step process, and that's extremely apparent through this campaign.

But even with those hangups, the Jazz have had some optimism to cling to through the struggles. In the eyes of ESPN analyst Tim Bontemps, there are two things Utah has going for them: their coach and their lottery odds.

"What's working for sure is that the Jazz have an elite coach in Will Hardy, widely regarded as one of the league's best young tacticians. And, like so many teams in this mix, all of this will look far different if Cooper Flagg winds up in Salt Lake City, as opposed to landing the fifth or sixth pick -- even in what is considered to be a very deep draft this year.

The Jazz have many steps to go to find their way near the top of the Western Conference, but not only will their premier odds in this year's draft provide them a strong foundation, head coach Will Hardy has as well.

Hardy made sure to make his mark on the Jazz during his first two seasons at the helm, consistently leading Utah to better results than expected in the first half of the year before the front office's trade frenzy would ensue at the deadline. Since then, his contract's been extended as the leader of this group for the foreseeable future, and has proven to have an elite mind among the young coaches in the game.

The start of this season hasn't quite had the same results as Hardy's two previous ones, but the expectations for what this year had in store were clear from the jump. Once Utah can get their hands on the aspired talent on the floor, perhaps with their top pick in this year's draft, things can get back to form for Hardy.

In the meantime, the road could be rough –– especially in these final 12 games as Utah tries to finish their season out, and with it, their long-winded tank. Still, the building blocks are there for the Jazz to soon turn the arrow in the right direction for this rebuild, it'll just require some patience in the process.

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