Utah Jazz Coach Will Hardy Just Exposed a Problem Getting Healthy Won't Solve

The Utah Jazz have plenty of reasons for their ugly 1-5 start. Injuries, inexperience, a roster still learning how to play together ... take your pick.

But there's one problem that should be driving Will Hardy absolutely crazy.

The Jazz are doing the hard part of playing offense, creating openings and putting defenders in difficult positions, only to make life harder on themselves moments later.

And no amount of talent returning from the injury report is guaranteed to fix that.

Utah fell to 1-5 following Saturday's 112-90 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, turning the ball over 20 times and handing Portland 20 points off those mistakes.

At one point in the third quarter, Portland forced four consecutive turnovers. It's difficult enough to overcome a significant deficit without repeatedly giving the opposition extra opportunities.

There are legitimate excuses. Jaren Jackson Jr. is sidelined with a torn MCL, while Jusuf Nurkic remains unavailable with a foot injury. Those are two important pieces missing from a team that was already going to need time to figure things out.

But injuries don't explain everything.

And Hardy's recent comments suggest he knows it.

"We got to play in straight lines; can't dance the ball," Hardy told The Salt Lake Tribune. "We need better screening, and when we do have the advantage, we can't give it back."

That's the problem right there.

Utah isn't always struggling to create opportunities. Sometimes, the Jazz are creating perfectly good ones ... and then deciding they'd rather make life difficult for themselves.

An extra dribble here. An unnecessary step-back there. A possession that should end with a quality look instead becomes another opportunity for the defense to recover.

It's not exactly a recipe for winning basketball.

Through six games, The Tribune reported that Utah ranked 27th in offensive rating, last in the NBA in frequency of shots at the rim and first in mid-range frequency.

Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with the mid-range game. Certain players thrive there, and not every possession needs to end with a dunk or a 3-pointer.

But there's a difference between taking what the defense gives you and settling for something worse than what you already had.

That's a distinction Utah has to start understanding.

Especially its young guards.

Keyonte George and Isaiah Collier are still figuring things out, and that's fine. George has shown encouraging flashes of offensive growth, while Collier's playmaking instincts remain one of the more intriguing elements of Utah's young core.

Nobody should expect either player to have everything figured out six games into the season.

But at some point, development has to become more than showing what you're capable of doing individually.

It has to translate into making the players around you better.

Getting Jackson and Nurkic back should help. Better screens, more options around the basket and a healthier frontcourt would make things considerably easier for Utah's guards.

But those returning players aren't going to make every decision for them.

They can't force someone to attack an opening instead of dribbling away from it. They can't prevent every unnecessary step-back or make the extra pass when the defense is already beaten.

Those are decisions the players on the floor have to make.

Nobody should be expecting the Jazz to have everything figured out six games into the season. Not with this roster, not with these injuries and certainly not with this many young players still learning what it takes to win consistently.

But patience can only explain so much.

There's a reason Hardy is emphasizing these mistakes. They're not always the result of Utah being outmatched or undermanned. Sometimes, the Jazz are simply getting in their own way.

And that's what makes this so frustrating.

Utah has spent years collecting talent, developing its young core and waiting for the pieces to come together. Eventually, that progress has to show up in more than individual performances and flashes of potential.

Jackson and Nurkic will return. The rotation will get healthier. Some of the problems making life difficult right now should become easier to manage.

But the Jazz can't keep waiting for the next player to come back, the next season to arrive or the next piece to fall into place before expecting more from themselves.

Getting healthy might raise this team's ceiling. Learning how to stop beating itself is what will determine how close it gets.