INSIDER: Ace Bailey’s Year 1 Jazz IMPACT | Rookie Preview: Will Ace Bailey Live Up to the Hype?

INSIDER: Ace Bailey’s Year 1 Jazz IMPACT | Rookie Preview: Will Ace Bailey Live Up to the Hype?

Well, we saw two games of Ace Bailey. What should we expect for the next 82? Find out next on Locked on Jazz. You are Locked on Jazz, your daily podcast on the Utah Jazz, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome in to Locked on Jazz. My name is Leaf Tulene. I’m excited and honored to have the opportunity to fill in for David Lock once again on Locked on Jazz. As many of you guys know by now, I’m a lifelong Jazz fan, credentialed NBA draft analyst for Locked on NBA big board, attendee of the 2023 and 2024 NBA combine. Jazz broadcast assistant statistician for the past four seasons. Lover of college hoops. So, I’ll make sure you guys know what you need to know about the Jazz. And it’s a critical juncture. I say that before the draft often, but it is once again because the Jazz are rebuilding. And is this the last year of the rebuild? Who knows? Thank you guys for making Locked on Jazz your first listen each and every day. And remember, Locked on Jazz is free and available on all platforms, including lock including YouTube at locked on jazz where the best way to help us grow is comment anything below. And today’s question is, what do you think Ace Bailey will average in year one? If you want to just say points, that’s fine. I am hoping for points, rebounds, assists, and shooting splits. And uh maybe we can track back into this at the end of the year and see who’s the closest. I’ll give you mine and I’ll give you the expectations for Walter Clayton Jr. as well. Today’s episode’s brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. So today on the show, I’ll break down my expectations for this season’s crop of rookies with a he heavy emphasis on projections for Ace Bailey. Not just in the statistics, but also talking about the start to the finish in terms of how I see it unfolding from beginning of the year to the end of the year and how that is different for a rookie like Ace Bailey than it is for some other rookies in this class. And we’ll also touch on Walter Clayton Jr. and maybe can he become a starter by the end of next season. So we’ll let’s dive right in and get into that. So, first and foremost, I’m still delighted the Jazz got Ace Bailey. I I think Ace Bailey uh had all this negative buzz and you thought, well, maybe he’s going to fall to Washington. The Jazz should should be reluctant to take him. But really, if you were to look at the NBA draft and you said, you know, the Jazz are going to win 17 games and we come away with Ace Bailey. You’re going to say, oh man, we didn’t win the lottery because we didn’t get Cooper flag, but we either got second or third and the Jazz picked fifth. like you have to be happy having had what happened on May 12th on the lottery day itself go number five to get Ace Bailey you have to be excited ecstatic honestly like that’s how I feel about it I I think that there’s a part of me that I know I told you guys I really like Trey Johnson I had Trey Johnson 3A Ace Bailey 3B but there’s a part of me that was relieved that when we took Ace Bailey over Trey Johnson because though I love Trey Johnson I think offensively he’s fantastic I felt relieved because Ace Bailey has safety that you just can’t teach. He is tall. He can really shoot and that almost never fails firstly and also probably has the most likely probability to succeed and probably the highest potential to really hit it big too between archetypes. If you’re to look at like drive first wings, you don’t necessarily have a great amount of success. If you’re to look at uh great shooters that are slender, there’s at least a pathway for success. And I I’m not saying he’s Kevin Durant, but but that’s the archetype and that’s like the highest potential. Um, and that’s why Kevin Durant’s a a guy everyone’s compared to and no one lives up to. Well, let’s dive into what Ace Bailey can be and what are some fair expectations and what’s uh what’ll ring alarm bells. So, I felt like uh summer leaguewise uh he was good. I felt like he played two games and the first game he was frozen out of the game and it was frustrating because uh you you just know that Ace Bailey wants to score the ball and then when he got it in the second half he shot the ball but he was out of rhythm and I felt like he put a concerted effort to play in rhythm. So Ace Bailey uh was not like Cody in the sense that Cody was really good in Vegas last year in summer league. Ace didn’t play but in his games in Salt Lake, Ace was timid in a sense but I don’t think it was out of fear. I think it was because he was conscientious about getting other people the basketball because the knock on him was that he’s a ringer. He just shoots and he had moments of brilliance. Those offensive rebounds out of his area. Go up and grab it, slam it down, catch high, shoot high, three in the corner. Like that stuff’s really difficult to do. So, I don’t think summer league matters enormously, but I will say I was I was pleasantly uh I wouldn’t say surprised, but I I was pleasantly happy with how he played. I didn’t think he was amazing, but I thought it was frustrating that he didn’t get the ball much. So, that said, last year I did a rookie preview. Uh, and I I said Cody would start in the G-League, and I I said he should start in the G-League, just like Abahaji did, just like Hendrickx did. And they both looked better to close the year than what Cody ever looked in the season because they didn’t have their lack of confidence show up at numerous points and and caused them a a st a stunted growth. And it so happened that Taylor Hendricks got injured and that elevated Cody Williams into the starting lineup very early. And that was a mistake. It it I liked it in the sec the the time like, hey, at least give him a shot. See what he’s got. But I felt like that stunted his growth. It stunted his belief. And I don’t feel that way about Ace. I think Ace should start every single game. Every game that Ace Bailey plays for the Utah Jazz. He should be a starter. That’s how I feel. I would start Ace every single game through goods, bads, and have him play the Tobias Harris role early in the season. What I mean by that is he will not be featured immediately, but he can factor into a game plan more than just a standstill 3 and D guy. Tobias Harris gets a lot of knocks for maybe not living up to a contract. That’s not fair. He’s been an all-star player. And I I may be giving to him a bit of an unintentional slight here, but what I mean by that is Tobias Harris can compliment a guy like Kate Cunningham. Tobias Harris compliments a guy like Joel Embiid. He’s not the guy, but you have to factor him into the equation. And he’s does more than just stand still and shoot threes. He can go downhill and he can attack off back cuts and he can come off pin down and shoot the ball and he can rebound the basketball and play competent defense. That’s what I mean by Ace Bailey. He’s not going to be the guy even though I’d love him to be. I think Lowry Markin’s still going to have the ball and be the primary uh option on offense and that’s the right thing to happen. You want Ace Bailey to supplement him well and that’s the that’s the reason I say I want him to start in the Tobias Harris role and like I said my takeaways from summer league that he can really shoot it and he was intentional in the sense of he wanted to defend and show he could rebound and that he would pass and that was the intentionality. He showed that he was unselfish at times sometimes to his detriment because that effort wasn’t reciprocated and he was frozen out of the game. I was disappointed in in Collier and that we’ll talk about more later when we talk about Walter Clayton Jr. But Ace Bailey will definitely need to show an immediate effort on intensity defensively and should he earn or naturally garner uh those looks offensively, I think it’ll be through defensive effort. Like I think there’s a reward system in place for how Will Hardy will groom uh Ace Bailey. I think Ace Bailey is going to get shots no matter what because that’s what he does and that’s why he’s here. But I think the intentionality is going to be on defense, passing, and rebounding. I I think Ace impressed regarding the rebounding. I actually want him to play the two and use that size and be a plus size guard and use that size to be a factor on the glass. I think Cody Williams could do that too at their length. And I think the NBA is getting bigger and bigger from the guards and maybe smaller at the center spot. So here are my expectations for Ace. I’ll give stats in the next segment, but my but minutes indicate trust. And that’s the number I’ll give you here before getting into his actual stats. But minutes indicate trust. That’s a big phrase for me in this. I I expect Ace to play 28 to 32 minutes. So around 30 minutes a game and have the liberty and the the the leash to take about 11 shots per game to start the season. I think that number could go up as the season goes along, but to start the season, I’m expecting him to have similar numbers to what rookie Keiante George had. For your reference, I dug those up. Kee, who had an advanced offensive role and an advanced offensive game in his rookie season, uh he had inefficiency, don’t get me wrong, but he at least had the weapons to create shots. And the runway was open for him midway through the year to have the ball a lot his rookie year, be the orchestrator of the offense. He shot 11 per game on 27 minutes per game and he played the more demanding rigorous position of point guard where he had to balance shooting and passing. I think Ace Bailey could shoot more than 11, but like I said, this is early in the season. He I think he’s going to shoot around 11 shots per game and he’s going to get the ball in spots to shoot. Not necessarily create for himself, but spots to shoot. Uh for reference further, if you want to talk about, well, what about another player who is a pass first guy? Isaiah Collier played 26 minutes per game, uh, shot eight shots per game, and he isn’t a score first option. So, my guess is probably on the conservative side, but like I said, this is early in the season. And if he doesn’t get the 30 does indeed get the 30 minutes per game, I estimate, I think he’ll be higher than that when the season closes because he’ll have more and more opportunities to finish the year when frankly the Jazz said they’re not going to manipulate to lose at more games. Uh, and but the Jazz are projected to win 17 games again or less. And and I think they’ll lo they’ll win fewer games than they did last year. And it may not be because they’re intentionally losing games, but it’s be going to be because Ace Bailey is going to play a prominently featured role at the end of the season. And he will be the guy when Lowry Marketing misses games, when Walker Kesler misses games. If that does happen, Ace Bailey is going to get every opportunity to shoot more. And that’s where his averages will go up, both in terms of points and in volume. So, coming up next, I’ll go through the statistical projections I’ve created for Ace Bailey, but more importantly, what I categorize as a success for Ace in year one. All that and more straight ahead on Locked on Jazz. See Ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center where you can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. If you’ve ever wished to have all your accounts and spending in one place, Monarch makes that wish a reality. So, take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchoney.com/codelockedonba for half off your first year. Also, let me tell you all about Murdoch and and these guys are fantastic. I’m going to tell you about Murdoch Chevy and they’ve been in Utah for over 80 years. Talk about longevity, longevity, dependability, and reliability. Chevy Chevy’s also as American as it gets. It’s an American brand. It’s located in Woodscross and in Logan. Uh you get the great lineup of Chevy trucks featuring the Colorado and the Silverado. And maybe you’re not feeling a truck and you want an a SUV. Well, they’ve got versatility that all NBA lineups depend upon. They’ve got an amazing lineup of SUVs that has that same versatility. The Tahoe, the Suburban, the Blazer, the Equinox, and the Tracks all get rave reviews. And so many people have talked to us about the Murdoch Chevys. fantastic reliability because you go you can go to the website and see the latest deals and the latest inventory and it’s up todate up to the second and the people there are fantastic. They’ll take great care of you. So go into Murdoch Chevy today and get yourself a new car. Welcome back to Locked on Jazz. I’m Leaf Tulene with you here and we talked about Ace Bailey and the everydayers and everyone else that tuned in. Thank you and I want to hear your picks for AC’s stats. So please comment that on the YouTube below. And here without further ado are my projections for Ace Bailey. I anticipate by the end of the season him scoring 14 points per game, five and a half rebounds, a little over an assist per game, 43% from the field, 36 from three, and 78 from the free throw line as his shooting splits. So a pretty good season. If he has these numbers, I anticipate that he will be an all rookie team member. Whether it’s first or second team, I think he will be in the top 10. And you say, well, he’s picked five. that should be a success. Not all of them do this. So, I do anticipate these numbers inflate later in the season as I alluded to in the in the prior segment. And maybe he won’t be this good to start, but I also think you need to recognize that the alarm bell shouldn’t ring if he struggles uh in terms of efficiency early because if you’re 19 years old in the NBA and just he’s not even 19 yet as the day as the moment I’m recording this, it’s probably going to be difficult to play grown men who also play professionally at your sport. So few are able to physically make that transition and actually carry over efficiency, much less the and live up to the expectation of a guy like Ace Bailey and what he’s supposed to be that. So I want I want alarm bells not to ring instantaneously if he has a bad game. That said, I hope he has a fantastic game. Secondly, I think that he’ll have some big games and some really bad games, but eventually the shooting number, and this is in terms of shooting uh efficiency, not not in terms of volume. I think that’s going to be the case of any rookie. But I think the shooting games, there’s going to be games where he goes two of 13 and then there’s going to be a game where he goes 11 of 17. Like he’s a streak shooter. When he sees the rim and he makes a few, it looks like a hula hoop to him. You watched him play Northwestern. You watched him play Indiana. He’s worth 39 37 points on tremendous efficiency with a team devoid of talent. Couple games without Dylan Harper who went number two to the Spurs. He averaged well over 20 per game as the only person that you had to worry about on the other team. and he can create shots out of nothing. Now, he plays with NBA players, established NBA players, isn’t number one on the scouting report of the opposition and he’s going to be the beneficiary of actions drawn up to him by a guy who’s very good at offensively scheming in Will Hardy. You saw Lowry marketing in year one with the Jazz when he wasn’t the top of the scouting report immediately and he averaged 26 per game prior to the All-Star break. I’m not saying Ace will do that, but he will be a beneficiary will already scheming things up and not being number one on the scouting report for the defense. So, uh, the one thing I want to point out is you you’ll I think some people say, “Well, you were high on Cody.” I was. I still think Cody can be solid. I don’t see the future that I saw for him then, though. And even then, I I said Cody’s peak is going to be a 14, five, and five guy. Right now, I’m expecting 14 and five from AC’s rookie year. And that’s a totally different ballpark because I feel like that’s conservative. Ace could be even better. Uh the difference between these two is Ace has a shooting proclivity and proficiency that a that Cody Williams never touched and never will touch. Ace Bailey can create a shot out of thin air, but also if you give him an open shot. I know that statistics would say, “Oh, he missed a fair amount of those, but his three-point percentage and his catch and shoot stuff was really good in college.” And Cody couldn’t shoot it to start the year. He he struggled and his confidence waned and it showed. Ace will not have that issue both in the sense of he’s a far more talented shooter can shoot it in more different ways as a natural release and he looks easy coming out of his hands and his confidence is unwavering not in a bad way it can be frustrating at times but he has this tremendous self-belief that he can shoot the ball at in all these impossible times you simplify he’ll be a really good shooter in the NBA it’ll be more than shoot early um I I think his role like I said it’ll be more than just shoot open early threes in transition but I do think he’ll he will be the beneficiary more often than he is the individual creator. Uh and then the three things I’m looking for from Ace that I think are more tangible than some of the these things I’m mentioning to begin are can he do anything on offense but shoot those open threes as his midies won’t be a staple of the offense and he won’t be the top guy so those shots probably won’t be tolerated. So, what does his shot diet look like when it is him creating when it is him uh being the guy in in moments when Lowry’s out of the game in moments where Philipski is not handling the basketball? Secondly, I I I want to see activity from him. I was encouraged by his activity on the glass and those dunks in summer league that he earned by himself. He ran the floor well. I want to see activity. And the third one would be I think Ace will have growing pains. Many rookies do. And I’m specifically on defense, but can he you I’ll be watching this very very closely from the get-go. Can he use the size that he has, the length that he has, and the positional size that he has? Like people are complaining that he’s not 6’10, but he’s still a big dude. Um, can he make himself passable as a rookie defender? Meaning, in time, will he be good? Because all rookies come in are pretty poor on defense with very few exceptions. And I’m hoping to see him provide that secondary rim protector that the Jazz have needed for so long. Like alongside Goar, the Jazz had a 6-4 power forward in Royce O’Neal. And I was begging for them to take Jade McDaniels. Jade McDaniels goes up and blocks it on the other side. Can Ace Bailey do something like that? I’m not expecting him to be McDaniel’s defender, but that’s the analogy. The Jazz have lacked one forever. Hris provided some of that. He will provide some this year hopefully as well. And the last thing that I think is a goal that you can look for is does Ace Bailey play team basketball and is his upbeat personality you see on the bench in summer league and in those interviews that’s uh immature that’s almost jovial in a juvenile sense uh does that personality persist through the NBA season? We we’ve seen players get down on themselves because of bad games. There’s going to be ups and downs in his NBA career and he won’t always have the ball for the first time in his career. So, will he play team first basketball like he was so intentional in doing in the summer league? And how long is he able to maintain positivity like he does so well uh for the first time without having the ball guaranteed to come back to him where he can make the hey, I’m better than you. I’m going to score the basketball like he and in games where he struggled at Ruckers, he would often find the basketball, get to the free throw line. It’s not going to be so easy in the NBA. And when I say get to the free throw line, it’s not going to the rack. It’s like he draws a foul, gets a one and one, and he makes free throws and all a sudden it’s like, well, if I shoot a bad if I have a bad day shooting, I’ll be a better player than than the other players with the exception of Dylan Harper. So, still give me the ball. The NBA, there’s going to be growing pains and there’s going to be days where Bryce Sensible shoots the cover off the basketball and Ace Bailey plays more on the bench. And I think he’s going to have to uh expect that to be a norm, but make it an intentional thing for him to be upbeat and play through it. That’s something I’ll be watching him because I felt like Cody Williams played timidly. They’re different players. I don’t think he’ll ever play timidly, Ace Bailey. But I do wonder if the weight of expectation that hurt Cody so much can seep in and cause Ace Bailey trouble or if he thrives right away, which would be great for us. So, in some I expect an all rookie campaign, 14 five and a half boards and pretty good shooting splits, but maybe not the best rookie in the NBA as that’s likely going to be Cooper Flag may not even be the second best. But how often is a rookie in the class actually the best player throughout from from day one to the end? The the guys that have been like have been LeBron James. You can make an argument even Carmemelllo Anthony was better in that year. And you look at uh the the wing that’s I think the best of this generation is Jason Tatum in terms of wings and Donovan Mitchell and Ben Simmons had better 2017s than him. I know Simmons was a sophomore and they were better than Tatum that year. Paul George who is another comparison didn’t threaten for rookie of the year and even recently though these are different players all al all together didn’t win rookie of the year Cade didn’t win rookie of the year so I think Ace will be a success if he finishes top five in rookie of the year I think that should be looked at as a short-term success but I think rookie seasons tend to be more kind to rookies with NBA bodies and Ace is young and thin and I believe he can be a valuable player on an on an NBA team right away by being spot-up shooter, but that’s not what makes Ace special. What makes Ace special is his ability to potentially be the NBA scoring champion. It’s it’s what makes him special is that the Jazz could eventually have a guy who could score 27 a game and play two ways on the basketball. And he’s not going to get to demonstrate that early enough. So, I don’t expect him to win the rookie of the year. I don’t expect him to uh necessarily flourish as much at the end of the season in comparison to the way that Hendricks or Agaji did either though. Like those guys were in the G-League for a reason and then developed and they’re guys that are uh ancillary pieces. Ace Bailey is going to be a star if he pans out. Those guys were going to be good if they if if their panning out was being an ancillary piece. So, he’s going to have a rough up and down situation probably and that’s okay. You can’t expect him to be the rookie of the year and be the ISO score. You It would be a success if he can thrive in that Tobias Harris role and get the numbers that I projected for it. So, coming up next, I’ll touch on what I expect from Walter Clayton, some summer league thoughts about him. Should he start, and uh is there a world in which Walter Clayton Jr. has a super successful season and becomes the Jazz point guard of the future that has been missing for a while? All that and more coming up ahead on Locked on Jazz. It’s time to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour energy transfusion. It brings the bold grape, ginger, and lime flavor of making your favorite golf drink, minus the alcohol, into a quick, energizing shot. Whether you’re sinking birdies or just making memories with friends, this one’s a hole-in-one for your energy game. Let’s be honest, some days on the course or off of it, you just need that extra boost to stay sharp and energized. You guys are likely better golfers than I am. 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So whether you’re meeting up with friends or trying to turn 18 holes into 36, get the energizing boost you need to power through. Order transfusion flavored 5-hour energy shots today. All right, welcome back to Locked On Jazz. Leaf Cholene with you here. And speaking of big shots in big moments that give you energy, Walter Clayton Jr. provided those for the Florida Gator. They won a national championship. That’s what he’s known for, being the big shot taker. And will he become Mr. Big Shot in Salt Lake following the the the moniker of Chanty Bilips? Who knows? But I don’t think it’s crazy to think he could play a vital role early and often in his career. So, let’s explore what Walter Clayton Jr. is for the Utah Jazz. And let’s let’s take you back to how I felt initially about Walter Clayton Jr. being chosen because I wasn’t necessarily thrilled. Not because I didn’t like Walter Clayton Jr., But it shocked me to see the Jazz move up three spots to take a guy that was a fifthear senior. A guy that I I felt like had his best season with the best team in the country. He was he was fantastic. He was on a fantastic team, but that was his first year playing point guard. And the Jazz where they have a glaring hole is at point guard. So is he uh taken to solve that issue? Can he? Maybe. But I I think there was some short-sightedness to it. Uh and it was it was trying to replicate a a pick made in Boston, maybe a couple recent picks that have been hits on older guards that shoot the ball well on winning college basketball teams. So I told one of my friends who I watched the draft with that Austin Austin A that is is trying to clone the Pton Pritchard pick which he was attributed uh success in in choosing Pritchard I believe the 26th pick and it he said like that was a big pick that was a one that won many people over as an evaluator. They thought wow it’s a great job of scouting by him and Pton Pritchard won the six man of the year. That is a great job of scouting. I think that he was trying to replicate that. And maybe in this analogy, the Ace can be Jason Tatum and that would be just swell. So, it’s not just Pritchard though. Uh Mark Sasser went late in the first round a couple years ago out of Houston, went to Detroit. He’s been solid. Ty Jerome went a couple years ago. He’s had a circuitous route to success and all were older college guards that had um big-time college careers and went deep in March Madness. My only issue with Clayton though in that pick and then I’ll get to the positives is that he wasn’t a point guard for much of his career. He played with Dannis Jenkins who’s on the Pistons now at Iona and Jenkins was a point guard. Clayton then played with Zion Poland who is a G-leeer in the NBA right now and he was the point guard at Florida the season prior and Clayton was good but he wasn’t a true point guard and the Jazz have lacked that. That said, there aren’t that many true point guards anymore. And I will say just a nerdy college basketball is Florida won the whole thing, but their offense was largely ran through their bigs and kind of having inverse sets that they ran at the top and Clayton’s gravity was uh a large reason for their offensive success. That said, my larger point being is I wonder if Pton Pritchard is a fair comparison because he’s not asked to be the primary initiator of the offense in the way that I think Walter Clayton Jr. will be for the Jazz. I wonder if he can run enough offense while finding his own shot and balancing that as a guy who’s not necessarily an isolation create my own shot type of guy in the way that Pritchard was and now is um w with tons and tons of guile like Pritchard does. Uh Clayton Clayton is more of a I’m going to find a way to get a three off and if you really contest too far I’m going to get to the lane and kick out. However, that’s the negative. That’s why I was a little low. I also thought Casper Yakonis was available and he was someone I thought highly of. I thought there were a lot of wings and the Jazz have sorely needed defense. So, you know, there’s some other reasons I didn’t love it. That said, I do have some faith it’ll be fine because man, he can shoot the basketball. So, now let’s go to the summer league. And the stories of the summer league to me really lined up with that Isaiah Collier was terrible. Isaiah Collier was so awful in fact that Clayton actually may have a really good shot to get starters minutes because if Collier continues to shoot poorly, which I think he likely will, and the distribution stagnates, which is still a good level of distribution, like he average over six assists per game as a rookie, I think that his assist numbers and distribution success will stagnate because his shooting is bad and he won’t be um shocking anyone with the pace of play that he started to infuse into the Jazz offense. and that that he also his best run when the Jazz were firmly out of the running and also without some of their better players. So, they played faster and the teams that played us frankly weren’t trying as hard. So, Collier definitely would be my favorite to start. Uh I’m not trying to get ahead and say Clayton should start day one, but I do think Collier has a ton to prove because if the second unit runs well with Walter Clayton Jr. and they run clean offense and he shoots it well, uh, he’ll be a success, an overwhelmingly big success because I have no doubts about his shooting eventually being good, whether it starts well or or from the beginning is bad and gets better. I have no doubts about him shooting the basketball. He’s going to be a very good shooter. I do have some doubts about the self-creation and does if he runs the second unit smoothly that would indicate to me he’ll get chances to start because he’s able to self-create use his gravity as a shooter and create for other people and find the right players to score the basketball. I will say he’s a very mature player and he’s a couple years older than Collier is despite Collier already being in the NBA and I do believe in that uh helping the transition whereas Collier did have some growing pains and we’ll talk about Isaiah Collier and a couple of the sophomores next episode. Clayton will have some rookie pains of course, but I will I think the biggest thing to monitor for him is can he create his own shot at the same level that he was able to in college and if so does he shoot it as well with the added distance and added athleticism. He had his shot blocked by Gi Jackson and ISO and that didn’t sit with me very well. Um but to me success for Walter Clayton Jr. isn’t statistically dependent. It it’s can he stick out there on defense and just be an okay defender. someone who uses hands, his athleticism, you’re going to hear on broadcast forever and ever. He was recruited as a football player, so he is a good athlete. He was recruited more highly as a football player than he was as a basketball player and he was recruited to SEC schools. Can he be a good NBA defender? Probably not. Can he be competent? That’s what I’m asking for. Can he be okay? And can he run the offense with some success as a someone who balances scoring, which was his primary role at Florida, with facilitating, which will be his primary role with the Utah Jets. So my numerical guesses are that he gets around 20 minutes per game, probably just a touch under that and will have a chance to up that number should call your struggle or he excel. If Clayton can create for himself and by virtue of that dishes out to others, I think he’ll stick and thrive despite the what I think will end up being poor defense that will actually hurt his true ceiling for his NBA career. But his summer league, he looked okay defensively and Collier was so bad offensively that I think Clayton ended up being a big winner summer league. And this will be a storyline to monitor for the Jazz as the season progresses. How comfortable does Walter Clayton look? And how does Isaiah Collier play? So, thank you guys for listening. Uh I I think he’ll play about 20 minutes a game. I’m guessing around seven points a game. That might be even generous. But let me know what you guys think about his as well. It was mostly about Ace because that’s the guy the Jazz hope to be a star of our franchise. That’s who I hope turns into a star of our franchise alongside future lottery picks in in this year and next year. But let me know what you guys think about those statistical projections. Uh tomorrow, tune back in and hear about my expectations for the players heading into year two. Is Kyle Filipowski the second most coveted prospect on the Utah Jazz behind Ace Bailey? Find out why. I believe so tomorrow. And and there’s a chance I I waffle a little bit, but I think it’ll be Kyle Filipowski when I finally make my decision. And thank you for making Locked on Jazz your first listen today. For your second listen, find the Locked On uh NBA podcast where there’s no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date, contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. So, find Locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. And thank you guys for listening. I really appreciate it.

Will Ace Bailey live up to the hype? Utah Jazz fans are buzzing with anticipation for their top draft pick’s rookie season. NBA draft analyst Leif Thulin breaks down Bailey’s potential impact, projecting 14 points and 5.5 rebounds per game by season’s end. Tuline also dissects Walter Clayton Jr.’s fit in the Jazz’s rebuilding plans, questioning his ability to create his own shot at the NBA level. From Summer League performances to comparisons with established stars, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the Jazz’s young talent. Tune in for expert insights on how these rookies could shape Utah’s future and potentially surprise the league.

0:00 Intro: Expectations for Ace Bailey’s rookie season

5:08 Ace Bailey should start every game for Jazz

15:22 Projecting Ace Bailey’s rookie year stats

20:57 Walter Clayton Jr.’s potential impact for Jazz

26:52 Summer League takeaways for Clayton and Collier

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Utah Jazz, Ace Bailey, rookie expectations, NBA draft, Will Hardy, Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, summer league performance, shooting efficiency, defensive potential, rookie statistics, Walter Clayton Jr., point guard competition, Isaiah Collier, NBA transition, college basketball success, David Locke, Locked On Jazz, Utah Jazz podcast, Utah Jazz news, rookie development, team rebuilding, NBA rookie projections, player comparisons, offensive schemes, defensive growth

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