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Utah Jazz Season Preview: Evaluating Utah’s bench depth ahead of the 2024-25 season

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Utah Jazz Season Preview: Evaluating Utah’s bench depth ahead of the 2024-25 season


Depth is an often overlooked detail when the conversation at your family dinner table inevitably strays towards the topic of tanking and developing basketball teams. I mean, who cares about the 10th man of a team that is actively trying to lose games, right?

Basketball maniacs like myself (and apparently my entire family when it’s supper-time), that’s who cares.

The Utah Jazz are one of those squads whose rebuilding efforts have left a bit to be desired now that we’re a few years removed from the initial “blow-up” that scattered Utah’s stars across the NBA. Winning too often and being too good have been problems for a team that many would like to see scrape the concrete floors of Adam Silver’s basement, and the unexpected sum of W’s has guided Utah into the middle of the pack (so I guess Silver’s bathroom?).

Too good to tank, too bad to compete. Though Ainge, Smith, and Co. have built up a war chest of draft assets, those draft picks have fallen to the back end of the lottery and deep into the first round on several occasions. But all is not lost, and we doomsday deniers have promising young talent to lean our faith upon in Keyonte George, Walker Kessler, Taylor Hendricks, Cody Williams, and more.

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Reading through the list of young players on Utah’s roster can feel like unfurling a mile-long scroll that rolls from the foot of Justin Zanik’s throne, through the golden doors of the Jazz front office, and all the way down to the ice rink of the Utah Hockey Club.

What I’m trying to say is that the Jazz have an embarrassment of young talent. With more developing players than available spots in the starting lineup, bench depth has suddenly become a highly relevant topic for the rebuilding team from Salt Lake City.

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Utah’s depth chart, according to ESPN.com
ESPN

So what does the depth chart look like in Utah, and what do these bench players have to offer the rebuilding Jazz?


Don’t Miss Tryouts

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2024 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot

Cody Williams is simply too fast for this photo to be more clear.
Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

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With Utah’s ridiculous accumulation of assets and a quota of roughly [crunches a few last-second calculations] one million losses this season in the hunt for the top draft pick, this season may be treated as a quasi-tryout for the fresh faces on the depth chart, as well as a few players who still need to prove they’re on pace to contribute once the rebuild heel-turns toward title contention, a-la Oklahoma City (though that’s probably wishful thinking). Who’s ready, and who will fall behind?

The backup unit is full of so many question marks, that I’m starting to wonder if Danny Ainge is secretly The Riddler. Can anybody send me a picture of those two in the same room??

Is Brice Sensabaugh ready to add a steady scoring option from the bench after shedding some baby fat from his rookie season? Who of the incoming rookie trio—Williams, Collier, and Filipowski—can emerge as a starting-caliber contributor? Will Walker Kessler earn his starting role, or is he doomed to be shipped away? Even Taylor Hendricks, who currently owns a starting role, has plenty to prove and could easily slide down the bench if he can’t meet expectations.

Players may rise, and they may fall, but if Utah is dedicated to rebuilding through the draft, it starts with positioning your young players to succeed. Collier and Filipowski both slid in the draft after previously being considered lottery selections; will they show the world why they were so highly regarded, or was their fall warranted? I expect to see Utah’s first and second years be allotted a healthy serving of in-game experience this year.

What’s the point of all those draft picks if you don’t believe in the players you picked, right?

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A Cozy Retirement in SLC

Boston Celtics v Miami Heat - Game Four

Be honest, how many of you knew that Mills played for the Heat last year?
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images
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In a move that no one expected, veteran point guard Patty Mills inked a one-year deal with the Utah Jazz. At the twilight of his career, this move was made with the hope of Mills being a great leader and veteran presence for Utah’s influx of baby-faced youngsters populating the roster.

At this point in his hooping journey, Mills’ retirement is coming any year now. After 15 years of pro hoops, Patty doesn’t quite play like he used to, but will still see floor time with his new team in Utah. Will he steal minutes from younger players like Collier? Possibly a few, but with Mills ready to force ghost and fade away into oblivion any year from now, I expect the Aussie to fill a mentorship role in limited playing time.

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Hopefully Patty Mills can help Keyonte George find his best self.

Clarkson is a similar case, though the flamethrower still has time before his fire dies out. With Utah, his skill set isn’t necessary for a team that doesn’t prioritize winning, and you may want to sit down for this, but Utah isn’t trying to reach the playoffs in April, nor should they.

League-wide interest in JC has died down since his 6th Man of the Year campaign, and his trade value dwindles with every year he spends with the lowly Jazz. It’s starting to feel like a “now or never” situation for the score-first guard, and if he does stay in Utah, his contribution won’t be conducive to winning basketball games.

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Other more experienced players like Drew Eubanks and Svi Mykhailiuk will probably see the floor in fun-sized minutes but were likely signed to fill the roster, and not much else (Sorry, Svi, your championship in Boston is pretty cool, though).


From my outside perspective, I see Utah’s depth chart divided into two categories: the eager youth and the grateful dead.

With a young revolution in full swing, the Jazz should seek every opportunity to give their young talent plenty of real-game playing time this season (what’s the worst that could happen, they lose?), and allow them to learn under the tutelage of the veterans filling the Jazz roster.

The biggest issue facing Utah’s bench is a math problem, and I hate math. With only 48 minutes in the game, and so many players desperate to run, it’s impossible to perfectly share time across the board. Some will get left out, and some will see more floor time than they deserve. It’s a delicate balance, but one that I believe Will Hardy is capable of selecting.

So, the next time your family gathers around the table and starts arguing about why the Jazz didn’t fight to keep Nikeil Alexander-Walker, you should slam your fist on the wooden surface and shout from the depths of your soul: “I REALLY HOPE ISAIAH COLLIER IS GOOD AND GETS TO PLAY MEANINGFUL BASKETBALL THIS SEASON!”

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Utah’s bench is an exciting bunch, but nothing is certain for a team with many mouths to feed.



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22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide

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22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Officials have identified a 22-year-old man as the suspect in a Las Vegas homicide case that killed two people in a Southern Highlands neighborhood.

Detectives say 22-year-old Ziaire Ham was the suspect in the case. According to officials, Ham was located on Tuesday, March 3, by the Ogden City Police Department and the Utah Highway Patrol.

Ham was taken into custody and booked into the Weber County Jail. Las Vegas authorities said he will be charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and will be extradited back to the valley.

MORE ON FOX5: LVMPD corrections officer arrested on multiple felony charges

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The shooting occurred Monday night at the 11000 block of Victoria Medici Street, near Starr Ave and Dean Martin Drive.

According to police, officers were conducting a vehicle stop in the area when they heard gunfire. After searching nearby neighborhoods they found a car with bullet impacts with a woman and a toddler inside suffering from gunshot wounds.

The pair were transported to hospital where they later died. The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified them as Danaijha Robinson, 20, and 1-year-old Nhalani Hiner.



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Utah nonprofit creates events, experiences for disadvantaged children

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Utah nonprofit creates events, experiences for disadvantaged children


A simple moment watching a child laugh changed everything for Ivan Gonzalez.

Eight years ago, Gonzalez was working at the Ronald McDonald House when he had an idea to throw a birthday carnival for the kids staying there.

“Let’s do a carnival, birthday carnival for the kids,” he said.

MORE | Pay It Forward

What happened during that event stuck with him.

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“There I was watching this kid play whack-a-mole, just having a blast, laughing,” Gonzalez said. “And then I see his mom kind of with happy tears because he’s enjoying himself.”

That moment led to something bigger.

Gonzalez realized the experience shouldn’t stop with just one event or just one group of kids.

“I said, wait, we can do this not just for kids in the hospital,” he said with excitement.

So he started a nonprofit called Best Seat in the House, which creates events and experiences for children who often face difficult circumstances.

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“We provide events and experiences for disadvantaged kids,” Gonzalez said.

The organization serves children battling cancer and other medical conditions, refugee children, kids living in poverty, those in foster care and children with special needs.

“These kids grow up too fast,” Gonzalez said.

For Gonzalez, the mission is deeply personal.

“I grew up very poor,” he said.

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He remembers the people who stepped in for his family when they needed it most.

“The local church, we weren’t even a part of it,” he described. “My parents couldn’t afford Christmas gifts and I still remember the gifts they gave me. They didn’t even know me.”

Today, he hopes to create that same feeling for other children through his nonprofit.

“Kids live in poverty and they don’t know where the next meal is coming from, let alone going to a play or to a game,” Gonzalez said.

But for Gonzalez, the reward isn’t the events themselves, it’s the joy they create.

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“You can give me a billion dollars, all the money in the world,” he says as tears roll down his face. “I won’t trade these opportunitieskids just enjoying life.”

Because of his work giving back, KUTV and Mountain America Credit Union surprised Gonzalez with a Pay it Forward gift to help him continue creating those moments for kids across Utah.

For more information on supporting Best Seat in the House, click here.

_____



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‘Don’t release him ever. Please.’ Family of slain Utah teen calls for justice at parole hearing

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‘Don’t release him ever. Please.’ Family of slain Utah teen calls for justice at parole hearing


SALT LAKE CITY — Francisco Daniel Aguilar says he’s sorry for shooting and killing his girlfriend, 16-year-old Jacqueline “Jacky” Nunez-Millan, a Piute High School sophomore, in 2023.

But just as he did when he was sentenced, he didn’t have much of an explanation on Tuesday as to why he shot her not once, but twice.

“It just kinda happened. I was mad. And I stepped out (of my truck) and started shooting,” he said. “When I saw her fall, I just kind of panicked, I just went and shot her again.”

But Jacky’s friends and family members say even before she was killed, Aguilar already had a history of violence, and they now want justice to be served.

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“You don’t accidentally take a gun, you don’t accidentally grab a knife … you don’t accidentally shoot someone, those are all choices,” a tearful Rosa Nunez, Jacky’s sister, said at Tuesday’s hearing. “Keep him where he needs to be.

“Don’t release him ever. Please.”

On Jan. 7, 2023, Aguilar, who was 17 at the time, got into a fight with his girlfriend, Jacky, shot her twice and left her body near a dirt road outside of Circleville, Piute County. He was convicted as an adult of aggravated murder and sentenced to a term of 25 years to up to life in prison.

Because of Aguilar’s age at the time of the offense, board member Greg Johnson explained Tuesday that the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole is required to hold a hearing much earlier than the 25-year mark, mainly to check on Aguilar and “see how things are going.” Aguilar, now 20, is currently being held in a juvenile secure care facility and will be transferred to the Utah State Prison when he turns 25 or earlier if he has discipline violations and is kicked out of the youth facility.

According to Aguilar’s sentencing guidelines, he will likely remain in custody until at least the year 2051.

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During Tuesday’s hearing, Aguilar told the board that he was feeling “stressed out” during his senior year of high school. He said he and Jacky would often have little arguments. But their bigger fight happened when he failed to get her a “promise ring” around Christmastime, he said.

On the night of the killing, the two were arguing about the promise ring and other items, Aguilar recalled. At one point, he grabbed a knife and then a gun because, he said, he wanted to “irritate” and “scare” Jacky. According to evidence presented in the preliminary hearing, Aguilar and his girlfriend had been “trying to make each other angry” when Aguilar took ammunition and a 9mm gun from his father’s room and then drove to the Black Hill area in his truck with Jacky.

Jacky’s friend, McKall Taylor, went looking for her that night and found her. But after Aguilar shot Jacky in the leg, he began shooting at Taylor, who had no choice but to run to her car to get away. Her car was hit multiple times by bullets. Aguilar then shot Jacky a second time as she lay on the ground and Taylor drove away.

On Tuesday, Taylor’s mother, Lori Taylor, read a statement to the board on her daughter’s behalf.

“My innocence and freedom was taken from me,” she said.

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McKall Taylor says the “horrifying events of that night will forever play in my head,” and the sounds of Jacky screaming and the gunshots as well as the sight of Jacky falling to the ground, will never go away.

“Francisco is a murderer who has zero remorse,” her letter states.

Likewise, Rosa Nunez told the board that for her and her family, “nothing in our world has felt safe since” that night as they all “continue to relive this horrific moment.”

After shooting Jacky and driving off, Aguilar says he called his father and “told him I was sorry for not being better, for not making good choices, I told him that I loved him. I was just planning on probably shooting myself, too.”

His father told him that although what he did wasn’t right, “he’d rather see me behind bars than in a casket,” and then told his son to “be a man about it. … This is where you have to change.”

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Aguilar was arrested after his tires were spiked by police.

“An apology won’t fix what I did. I’ll never be able to fix what I did. But I want to say I’m sorry,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t even know how to fix what I did. I’m hoping I’m on the right track now.”

Johnson noted that Aguilar has done well during his short time being incarcerated. But that doesn’t change the fact “the crime was horrific,” he said.

The full five-member board will now take a vote. The board could decide to schedule another parole hearing for sometime in the future or could order that Aguilar serve his entire life sentence. But even if that were to happen, Johnson says Aguilar could petition every so often for a redetermination hearing.

The board’s decision is expected in several weeks.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.



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