The Utah Jazz are all-in on Keyonte George, and it's important to consider what he did to earn that trust.
Keyonte George didn't enter his time with the Utah Jazz as a franchise guy.
As a high-volume, low-efficiency scorer in his one-and-done season with the Baylor Bears, George raised a number of red flags that scared most NBA front offices away from selecting him with their first-round picks. In fact, he tumbled out of the lottery entirely, sliding to the 16th overall pick, where the Utah Jazz picked him up.
He was a tragically poor defender, a bit of a black hole on offense, and in no-man's land positionally. He was slight, slender, and long, but at just 6'4", he wasn't the right size to play shooting guard in the NBA -- not the ideal size, at least. As a point guard, he could fit in very nicely in Utah's lineup, but he still had plenty left to prove as a ball handler and distributor.
As a team essentially starting over from scratch in the fallout of the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert detonation, Keyonte was a high-upside pick in the middle of the first round. The team needed a point guard of the future, and though the odds suggested they weren't going to find one outside of the lottery range (picks 1-14), the Jazz felt that George possessed untapped potential as a distributor and playmaker.
Plus, he was the player right behind ninth overall pick and the Jazz's earlier selection, Taylor Hendricks. In Utah's eyes, it was a miracle that they were able to pick up both players.
Today, Hendricks is no longer with the Jazz, included in a trade-deadline deal with the Memphis Grizzlies for Jaren Jackson Jr., and on the chopping block as he nears the expiration of his contract in a year.
George, on the other hand, just inked a 5-year, $157 million deal with the Jazz.
So how did he do it? Where did he succeed in ways that Hendricks could not?
Well, just as the Jazz projected, Keyonte has improved as a point guard year after year, averaging 6.1 assists per game in his third year.
He also averaged nearly 24 points per game last season, and on incredible efficiency for his standards. In college and as a rookie, Keyonte was a 40% field goal shooter on 33% three-point efficiency. Two years later, he averaged nearly 50% from the field with over 37% three-point shooting.
But his greatest improvement came in his personality. As a leader and a teammate, few have bought into Will Hardy's system more fully than George.
That's why we saw so many of his teammates in attendance for his contract extension press conference -- he's become a face of the Utah Jazz. And they expect him to grow even more next season.
So don't be surprised that the Jazz are all-in on Keyonte. If he continues his trajectory, he'll be undeniable soon enough.
