Jazz Find Continued Success Despite Will Hardy’s Peculiar Lineup Choice
Across their most recent road stretch, the Utah Jazz have begun to catch some newfound fire. They have come out on top of four of their last six games, turning the page on their early season road struggles.
However, it comes with intriguing situations attached. Specifically concerning the lineup and rotational decisions head Will Hardy has made.
When considering how well this team has performed most recently, it’s difficult to complain about the outcome, but it is fair to bring a few questions to light. Most notably, the status of second-year defensive anchor Walker Kessler.
After getting injured early on in his 2023-24 campaign, it’s been rare to see Kessler enter the Jazz starting lineup. Despite maintaining a consistent role as a member of this team’s first five during his rookie season, he has now come to have only started in three of his last fourteen games played.
At first, this lineup shift could have been attributed to Will Hardy potentially being cautious after Kessler’s UCL sprain. However, now it's been over a month since Walker has been back in the lineup, and his spot as this team’s starting center has failed to stay steady. Instead, we have seen several combinations involving Kelly Olynyk, John Collins, and even Omer Yurtseven get the nod at the five over him.
Kessler had small stints where he’s been in and out of the starting five, but nothing with true staying power. It effectively leads to two questions: why isn’t Kessler getting the start, and why does this team look more improved when he's not?
When taking a step back, you see that the Jazz have seen the most success with their newest five-man lineup, who are currently on a three-game win streak. Instead of Kessler arming the middle, we’ve seen Olynyk be the one to kick things off at that big-man position next to Collins and Lauri Markkanen.
While Kessler can provide a much more impactful defensive effort than Olynyk, Kelly has a steep edge as a playmaker and shooter, also holding more lineup versatility.
Through Olynyk's 29 games this year, he has averaged 7.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.6 assists on an extremely efficient 54.0/41.4/89.4 clip. His shot attempts have taken a slight decrease from his 2022-23 season, but it’s resulting in Kelly finding a better shot selection and finding his teammates more. This is the type of play the Jazz have needed.
Due to the sputtering offense we saw from Utah spanning back a couple of weeks ago, it was clear an adjustment needed to be made. So, Kelly got a bit of a boost in opportunity and has made a substantial difference.
Olynyk has been the cog Utah has needed to make this offense flow. By looking at this team’s top ten most prominently played three-man lineups, you will notice Kelly is the common component in this team’s most effective offenses. He’s earned a rating over 114 with three separate groups, which happens to be the first, second, and third best of the bunch.
Stats via NBA.com.
Before the season started, Hardy was very set on finding what combinations of players worked best in unison with his rotations. Up to this point, the combo of Olynyk, Collins, and Lauri Markkanen in the starting frontcourt has found success, so if it isn’t broken, it’s hard to fix it.
Having a positive shooter and facilitator like Kelly next to other shot-makers like Markkanen and Collin Sexton makes their jobs a whole lot easier. As seen from their recent offensive performances, the evidence is there.
Bottom Line:
Kessler will soon find his way back into a more carved-out role in this rotation and back into the starting five, but his opportunity may be dependent on his development on the offensive end. Without a reliable outside shot or comparable playmaking ability like Olynyk possesses, it in turn limits how effective this unit can be as a whole.
It may be possible we soon see a trade or two down the line to open up some more minutes for Kessler, but for now, the Jazz are finally playing winning basketball. They’ll have the chance to earn their fourth-straight win on the final leg of their road trip against the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday.
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