3 Utah Jazz Storylines to Watch During Second Week of NBA Season

After a 1-1 start to the new NBA season, the Utah Jazz have an intriguing second week of action on the schedule ahead with a bundle of eye-catching storylines bound to unravel.

Here’s three of the top Utah Jazz storylines to watch for the week ahead:

After an outstanding preseason where he looked like not only one of the best rookies in the class, but one of the best players on the Jazz, Ace Bailey‘s first two regular-season games did not go as expected.

This comes in large part due to a poorly timed sickness that put the 19-year-old’s status for the season opener in serious doubt.

Bailey played just 17 minutes per game, largely because he’s been on a minutes restriction while recovering from the illness, a far cry from the 35 minutes per night he got in the two preseason games where he was healthy.

In those healthy preseason games, Bailey averaged 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2 assists per game on 65.5% from the floor and 40% from three-point range. In the regular season, those numbers are 1.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game.

He’s hit just 1/10 shots, with the vast majority of his misses coming up short. On top of that, you can see him laboring when he’s on the court, a far cry from where he’s been physically.

Regardless, I think we’ll see the Ace Bailey breakout sooner rather than later. Once he gets his sea legs back under him, I’d expect him back in the starting lineup and playing a big role for the Jazz. His talent is undeniable, and he’s a perfect fit for Will Hardy’s schemes on both ends of the court.

asWalker Kessleri was the star of Utah’s opening night victory, where he scored 22 points on a perfect 7/7 shooting (including 2 three pointers), grabbed 9 rebounds, dished out 4 assists, blocked 4 shots, and recorded 2 steals. Talk about stuffing the stat sheet.

He followed that up, however, by scoring just 3 points and turning the ball over 6 times. He still made a positive impact while on the court, but far less than on opening night. Most notably, there was 1 rebound that he couldn’t squeeze that was costly.

All in all, Kessler is in for a massive fourth season with the Jazz. If he can consistently play closer to how he did on night one, the team will be highly competitive this year.

Jazz fans have shown their distaste that Svi Mykhailiuk, who’s actually been quite good so far, is in the starting lineup over some of the younger options. However, it’s clear that Hardy is using this starting lineup because of Bailey’s minute restriction, and it is not a permanent solution.

Some other rotation decisions will arise when Isaiah Collier and Georges Niang, both of whom have missed the entirety of the preseason and the first week due to injury, return.

Collier, who started games for the Jazz at PG last season down the stretch, has watched both Keyonte George and Walter Clayton Jr. play well thus far.

Fortunately, both George and Clayton are skilled shooters who can play off the ball with other ball handlers. I’d expect we see a second unit consisting of both Collier and Clayton when the USC product’s hamstring is healed.

As for Niang, his spot in the rotation is murkier. So far, only Mykhailiuk and Jusuf Nurkic have gotten consistent rotation minutes, with the former’s likely to fade almost entirely soon.

Does Niang push out a young player? Does Will Hardy expand his rotation to 11 guys? I think both of those are unlikely; however, there could be matchups where the Jazz opt to go small and play Niang instead of Nurkic.

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