PORTLAND — The Utah Jazz currently have the worst defensive rating in the NBA (122). If they finish the season that way, it would be the third straight year with the dishonor of having the worst defense in the league.

Of course, there are some caveats that are necessary to point out. Like the fact that this team has been bad by design and built, in large part, to lose games. And, there has been an emphasis on getting offensively gifted players and fostering their development.

It’s also important to point out the lack of Walker Kessler this season and the amount that the Jazz have to try to cover up for what he provides on defense. But even with Kessler, a good defensive player, the last couple of years the Jazz’s overall defense has been very bad.

On offense, the team is generally trending in the right direction — the Jazz had the 7th best offensive rating for games played in December. The emergence of Keyonte George as a massive scoring threat helps that.

“It’s crazy, for how good our offense has been, how little we actually talk about it as a group,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “Defense is what we’re attacking every day, and it’s what we’ll continue to attack until we get it right.”

Personnel

It’s not like the Jazz players haven’t been continuously told that they need to be better on that side of the ball. They know where they’ve ranked and they know where they are now compared to the other 29 teams.

But, do the Jazz actually have the personnel to play good defense in the NBA?

“I think any group of people can perform to a certain level,” Hardy said when asked that question. “I don’t want to put a limitation on our group at all on that side of the ball. If I didn’t believe in the ability for a group of people to outperform the sum of their parts, or if I didn’t believe in the ability for individuals to grow and get better, then this would be a horrible profession for me. I go to bed with that belief. I wake up with that belief.”

You’ll notice that wasn’t a “yes.”

The Jazz’s point-of-attack defense has been abysmal throughout the rebuild. George has improved this season, but not to the point that he has been a good defender. Statistically he’s still been a negative defender, along with Isaiah Collier, Brice Sensabaugh, Cody Williams and Kyle Filipowski.

The Jazz are hopeful that Ace Bailey can become a positive defender, but he’s still so young and is still trying to adjust to being in the NBA. His growth on defense is something to worry about in the years to come. There’s some grace that Filipowski deserves considering how much he’s been playing the five this season, where he is known to have deficiencies as a defender.

There’s a lot of hope riding on Hendricks, who was drafted in large part because of his defense, but lost last year to injury and has yet to recover the reaction time or quickness required to be the kind of defender the Jazz need at his position.

Some of the Jazz’s best defenders this season (and that’s not saying much) have been Svi Mykhailiuk, Kyle Anderson and Jusuf Nurkić, and those are not the players that the Jazz desperately need to see defensive improvement from.

The future

At some point in the near future, the Utah Jazz are going to have to face the fact that they have a major problem on defense.

“Defense is tiring. Defense is not fun,” Hardy said. “But defense is what gives you the opportunity to win. We can’t show up to the games thinking that we’re just going to outscore everybody. That’s an unsustainable approach. And right now, where we are as a team and as a program, we’re trying to build sustainable habits, a sustainable approach for long term success. Our focus on the defensive side of the ball, individually, has to go up.”

It’s not like the Jazz’s defense needs to be better to win games this season. We all know that’s not the ultimate goal of the front office. But if they were to try to win games next season with this exact roster, the defense would be a problem.

And there’s blame to go around. The Jazz front office has not drafted defensively sound players, Hardy has not been head coach of a good defensive team, and the players on the team have not shown that they care enough on that side of the ball or that they can improve to a reasonable level.

It’s possible that with winning being the goal, the players would care more, that Hardy would coach differently, that players would buy in, etc. But that’s not concrete evidence for us to work with right now.

On Monday night they gave up 137 points to the Portland Trail Blazers, a bottom-10 offensive team. It was just the latest, in a multi-year string of poor defensive outings. The Jazz’s defensive issues are not going away anytime soon. So something has to change if the Jazz want to be a good team in the future.

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A manager of a Salt Lake City grocery store was arrested for allegedly stealing $40,000 over the course of a year.

Yasmin Castellanos, 47, was the manager of the Smith’s located near 1100 W 600 N in the Rose Park neighborhood until just before her arrest on Sunday, according to police. She is facing a second-degree felony charge of theft.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Smith’s officials started documenting missing cash starting in February 2025 through late December of that year.

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Police said approximately $40,000 is believed to have been stolen during that time.

The highest amount of cash missing in a day was documented on Dec. 27, with officials saying over $14,760 was gone.

Castellanos was taken into custody and interviewed by investigators.

They said she explained that, as part of her job, she would collect bags of cash from the registers and place the cash into a collection machine. This included cash from pharmacy registers.

Castellanos allegedly admitted to theft, saying she would pocket some of the cash from the bags and use it to pay loans, rent, food and medical bills.

Police said she admitted to taking about $40,000. The money has not yet been found.

Castellanos was booked in the Salt Lake County Jail on Sunday evening.

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LINDON — A Ukrainian family now living in Lindon that fled the violent war in the European nation now potentially faces separation, with two family members fearing deportation.

The turn of events — not the first time the family has contended with uncertainty — represents another twist in implementation of immigration policy under President Donald Trump and his crackdown on immigrants in the country.

Indeed, the Lindon family isn’t alone — other Ukrainian immigrants are contending with similar issues, according to representatives from Utah groups that aid Ukrainians.

“We can’t understand why because we didn’t break any laws,” said Yurii Ahieiev, facing deportation along with his 7-year-old daughter, Viktoriia Ahieieva. While the man’s wife and two older sons successfully applied for permission to remain in the country, at least for now, he and his daughter, instead, face deportation, he said, “and I don’t know why we have these issues.”

Several families in Lindon joined together in sponsoring the Ukrainian family’s relocation to the Utah County city in 2023 under the Uniting for Ukraine program, launched in 2022 under President Joe Biden to aid Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia. On starting his second term as president earlier this year, however, Trump paused the program, though his administration later launched a process allowing eligible Ukrainians to apply for “re-parole” to extend their stay in the country.

At any rate, Ahieiev and his daughter, supported by their Lindon neighbors, are now scrambling to figure out their next steps after the apparent rejection, without explanation, of their applications to stay in the United States. Ahieiev and his wife Valentyna Ahieieva run a small accounting business while their two sons, ages 17 and 16, and daughter attend Lindon-area schools.

“We like it here, we like the U.S., like this country. But we don’t like what’s happening now in the immigration system,” Valentyna Ahieieva said. “Hopefully it changes.”

A hearing for Ahieiev is scheduled for July while his daughter is to appear before immigration authorities in February, when they and their backers fear they could be detained for deportation, said Jared Oates, one of the Lindon sponsors.

“Why would you separate a family?” he asked.

In response to a KSL.com query, a rep from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security asked for additional identifying information about Yurii Ahieiev and his daughter. Supplied the information, the department didn’t provide any comment, nor did reps from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But the transplants to Lindon apparently have plenty of company. Despite the ongoing war in the Ukraine and prior moves to welcome at least some Ukrainians fleeing the conflict into the United States, the situation for many Ukrainians here remains tenuous.

“This is absolutely a major issue right now for both Ukrainians who came here for refuge, as well as for the Americans who sponsored them and those who have become their friends, neighbors, co-workers, employers, etc. It is devastating and heartbreaking to see the decisions and challenges that are being added to these people who have already gone through so much,” said Mindie Packer.

Packer is co-founder of Hope Across Borders, a Utah-based group that offers humanitarian aid in conflict zones around the world, including Ukraine.

Packer has heard many stories of Ukrainians in uncertain migratory situations, fearful they may be targeted by immigration agents. One Ukrainian family Hope Across Borders sponsored had to move to Slovenia because their permission to remain in the United States expired.

“We know many people who came legally and applied for renewal/extension of their status, paid their fees and have not heard anything back. They were not denied or accepted, but now their status is expired and they don’t know what to do,” Packer said.

Anne Perkins of Lifting Hands International, a Utah-based nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid to Ukraine, knows of one Ukrainian family in Utah that moved to Spain. The work visa of the head of the family ran out and he was unable to renew it, prompting the departure. Fees to seek extensions to remain in the country have increased, adding to the difficulties.

“Still, most of the families I’ve talked to are motivated to do whatever it takes to stay,” Perkins said.

Human Rights First, an American human rights organization, says around 50 Ukrainians were deported last November from the United States.

Shining a light on the situation

Given the current climate toward immigration under Trump, it’s unclear “whether immigrants, period, are welcome in the United States right now,” Oates said. “It’s just a very difficult time.”

That said, he and the others who first sponsored the Ahieiev family say they have made strides in transitioning to life here and stand behind them. They’re self-reliant with their accounting business, and the kids, whose English has improved greatly, are thriving in school.

“They’ve been remarkable,” Oates said.

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Their Lindon backers have consulted with immigration attorneys, who haven’t been able to offer any solutions. They’ve also reached out to U.S. Rep. Mike Kennedy, their congressional representative, for help in navigating the U.S. bureaucracy for answers.

Kennedy wouldn’t comment on specifics of the Ahieiev family’s situation due to privacy considerations. But he said his office is available to help.

“My office and I are committed to helping constituents of Utah’s 3rd Congressional District resolve issues with federal agencies to the best of our ability,” he said in a statement.

At this stage, Oates thinks the main means of helping the family might be shining the light on their situation in a bid to muster public support.

“The only thing that would change the calculus, as far as we can see, would be changing the political consequences of deporting (Viktoriia) and separating a family,” he said.

As for a possible return to Ukraine, Ahieiev and his wife shudder at the possibility. They lived in the Odessa region, which has faced some of the fiercest and sustained attacks from Russian forces.

“Our parents now still live in this region, but it’s really dangerous,” Yurii Ahiehiev said. “Very often there’s no electricity, no heating.”