What can we learn from the Jazz's first preseason game?

Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz's 116-87 win over the New Zealand Breakers from Salt Lake Tribune, Utah Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. A first look at a possible rotation

Will Hardy has made it clear: He will use this preseason to experiment with rotation options. So what we saw Friday night shouldn't be taken as gospel for the upcoming regular season, but rather as an experiment that the Jazz coaching staff wanted to evaluate.

On that note: The Jazz started Keyonte George, Collin Sexton, Taylor Hendricks, Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler against New Zealand, with Cody Williams and John Collins the first two players off the bench. Jordan Clarkson was the team's eighth man, followed by Brice Sensabaugh and Isaiah Collier.

How did the experiment go? I asked Hardy.

“If we just look at the backcourt, Keyonte and Collin obviously have a lot of experience together – or, I guess, a lot of experience compared to the rest of our team combined – and so they're pretty comfortable together,” Hardy said. “I liked Isaiah and JC together. I think Isaiah has speed and a willingness to get off the ball early and put a little pressure on the rim, which fits well with JC.”

That's a good sign for those who are Hardy's favorite looks from last season, although of course there's still time for further experimentation. There is significant overlap between the skills of these four players, with all of them finding it much easier to shoot the ball than to defend the ball. But playing George with Sexton tends to help both players not put too much of a playing burden on each other that they can struggle with a bit.

Hardy continued, explaining why he wanted to take a look at Hendricks, who started alongside Markkanen.

“I also thought the combination of Taylor and Lauri felt pretty good for the time they spent out there. This allowed Lauri to guard more of the four and Taylor to guard more of a perimeter player. I thought they fit well offensively, but we’ll have to keep an eye on that as we continue to prepare for the season.”

I tend to agree that Hendricks is a better perimeter defender than a center defender right now – but if you play him on the perimeter defensively, you lose one of his best college skills, weak-side blocking.

On offense, however, playing with starters makes things a lot easier for Hendricks: He shouldn't ever have to come off the dribble, just hit open threes, attack closeouts and run in transition. However, this also applies to the rookie Williams, who I would also like to see alongside Markkanen and Kessler.

2. Further comments on youth

Given the lower level of competition and the fact that it was the Jazz's first game, I don't know if there was much to be learned from this contest overall. However, as this was our first chance to see the young players play live since the Summer League, a few points are worth mentioning:

• At the end of the game, the Jazz tried Brice Sensabaugh at point guard… and it didn't go very well. Hardy talked after the game about how the look could give Sensabaugh access to smaller defenders he could bully a little, but the grip was pretty loose. Sensabaugh is a very good shooter, but the big question is how to make him look consistent.

• Isaiah Collier had his ups and downs in the first game: six assists and five turnovers in 19 minutes basically tell the story. I've probably written this dozens of times in the last decade regarding young Jazz point guards, but: If they try to attack the rim and then make the pass once they're choked up, it's too late. The key is to pass right at the free throw line, if not earlier, to take advantage of the shifting defense.

• Cody Williams had the highlight of the game:

Williams doesn't have a quick first step. But he's pretty consistently talented at spotting imbalances in his opponents and then exploiting them, just like he does above. Honestly, in today's NBA, I'll prefer the latter skill over the former.

However, when this imbalance does not occur, he is quite passive. He needs to develop more ball-handling strength and skill to be able to use this skill more often.

• Keyonte George played a really good point guard tonight, made most of his shots and was very dangerous offensively. Defensively, he was beaten multiple times by Parker Jackson-Cartwright. He just needs to be better at keeping his opponent in front of him consistently, although it's so hard to tell if that's a real lack of effort or a lack of effort in the preseason.

3. Karim Lopez, future NBA star?

The New Zealand Breakers' most interesting player, with all apologies to Tacko Fall, is Karim Lopez. At just 17 years old, he'll be playing his next two seasons in Australia's National Basketball League against adult professional competition – and he's already performing at a pretty high level.

Against the Jazz, he scored 13 points on 5-8 shooting, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block. Honestly, it looked like he already belonged at the NBA level, at least that night.

When you watch him, you can see why: at 6-8, he has great size for a small forward position; He has a much more professional body than, say, Cody Williams. He also uses this size effectively, disrupting passing lanes, defending well on the perimeter and finishing at the basket with impressive ease. Basketball IQ was quite high as he made well-timed cuts and spaced the floor when needed. He looked as good or better than some of the young Jazz players (again on this particular night).

Nine NBA scouts had qualifications for tonight's game, and while it's possible they were there to see the Jazz's young players, the rare chance to see Lopez in the United States likely took priority. He has a cool story because he wants to become only the sixth player to make it to the NBA and represent Mexico (no one currently plays in the NBA), and his father Jesus was a star in the Mexican League.

It's still two years away and so much can still change. But he's currently considered perhaps the best international prospect of 2026 – NBADraft.net projects him to be picked at No. 10, while NBADraftRoom has him at No. 14.

So, yes, the chance that he will become a jazz musician later is not zero. If he can do that, Friday's preseason game will be an entertaining part of Lopez's NBA history.

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