ALERT: Utah Jazz PG BATTLE | Collier vs Clayton Jr: Who’s the FUTURE?

ALERT: Utah Jazz PG BATTLE | Collier vs Clayton Jr: Who’s the FUTURE?

Who’s the Utah Jazz’s point guard of the future? Is it Isaiah Collier? Is it Walter Clayton? Is it someone we do not know yet? 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 into Locked on Jazz. My name is Leaf Tulene. Excited as always to fill in for David Lock on Locked on Jazz and talk to you guys. As many of you guys know by now, I’m a lifelong Jazz fan, credentialed NBA draft analyst, attending the 2023 and 2024 NBA combine, jazz broadcast assistant, and statistician each of the past four years, and lover of college hoops. So, I’ll make sure you need you know exactly what you need to know about your beloved Jazz and this youthful core. Thanks 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 YouTube at Locked OnJazz, or the best way to help us grow is to comment anything below. And today’s question is, are you more optimistic in Isaiah Collier or Walter Clayton Jr. Thank you to today’s title sponsor. The episode’s brought to you by FanDuel. Football season’s just around the corner, so visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bets right now. Today on the show, I’m going to break down my thoughts on Isaiah Collier, Walter Clayton, and compare and contrast the duo. And per a listener request, when I asked about topics, they said, “Share who you liked most where the Jazz were drafting.” So, I’m going to give you my last three drafts, big boards, according to where the Jazz were drafting, according to who was available. So, let’s dive right in. Let’s start with Isaiah Collier. Collier is the more known commodity than Walter Clayton Jr. in the NBA, but he’s younger. So, it’s an interesting situation where I feel like the discourse is more negative around Collier right now, even though he had what I would say was a success as a rookie season and overwhelmingly one, overwhelmingly good one considering he was picked 29th. Isaiah Collier deserves a lot of credit for his rookie season, which I thought was pretty impressive considering the rotating cast of characters that he played with last season. He brought energy to the team and kind of revitalized the attack when some of the more experienced and better players in the Jazz quite frankly were not playing due to tanking quite frankly or you know actual injury. So uh the highlights of course included he had a month over 100 assists which is very rare even for established pros but very very rare for rookies. The the recent ones have been Jaw, Trey, LaMelo and those are some of the only ones who have done it and that’s very elite company to be in. More importantly than stats, when he was in, Will Hardy would constantly at the pressors that I would attend speak about the pace and the importance of Isaiah Collier and setting that pace and setting tempo that would be the most advantageous for the Jazz’s offense, which at times was actually pretty good for the Jazz despite having a woeful defense and a fair amount of turnovers that hurt their uh team success. And he talked about how it behooved the entire team to run with Isaiah Collier. And he was the instigator of that identity. The Jazz became a team that wanted to play fast when Isaiah Collier was in and that is when they played their best. Isaiah Collier monthto monthth kind of changed the way he played, right? He became a he was a timid guy who scored three points a game and had maybe a couple assists and played sparingly and all of a sudden in January he scored nine a game along with increases in rebounds and assists. Of course, many minutes rising is what the catalyst was to cause this. His field goal percentage rose to about 43% and his three-point percentage, which we’re going to talk about later, as a weakness, also saw improvement as he got bit more and more reps. February is where he really took off toting the loads of assists and in my opinion became the true conductor of the offense and the conductor of the team for the first time. And as someone who loves the point guard position, studied the point guard position, fell in love with Darren Williams, Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Rajan Rondo, Tony Parker, played point guard, very low level, but I I take watching point guards very very seriously. It’s my favorite thing to do when evaluating prospects. I love it. I thought that’s when he became comfortable and actually became the conductor of a team. And I actually think this is important to note because his playmaking continued to improve in March and April when there were fewer guys on the team, right? like there were fewer guys that could do things and he became more and more comfortable. But much like Cody or even maybe more of an apt description or comparison would be Kee, right? Keonte, the Jazz seemed to know a lot more about him and yet they still questioned his successes. Um me speaking of Keonte more so than they did Hendrickx or even Oagi prior to that they the Hrix and Abaji came on late and had flashes that enthralled Jazz fans saying you know what I remember in fact I remember seeing Abaji tweets about him saying he’s the third most valuable player on the Jazz at the end of that season his rookie year despite him being 22 years old and spent most of it in the G-League. Like there’s this reactionist thing that happens and I feel like Keon was a victim of he did well, got more minutes and then had some struggles and you know the rewards going to happen for a 19-year-old rookie playing point guard for the first time. Isaiah Collier, you know, he’d been a point guard and he was a success, an overwhelmingly large success if you’re picked at 29th, like I said. But the Jazz fans became bored of Keon and felt enthralled by what Hendricks and Abaji showed. And I felt like that’s similar to what happened for Isaiah Collier. The question for Keon was if if he was good then why would if he if he wasn’t good I should say why would Danny A ask is he the future of the point guard? That would not be a question that was entertained and seriously considered if that were not a successful thing but he wasn’t. And if he were poor like many people made him out to be that question wouldn’t have been asked. I say that to say this. Collier has obvious warts to his game, but most notably his shooting. Like, that’s got to improve. But the discourse around him being replaced immediately by a guy who’s older than him and just got drafted and has only played one year of point guard in his life to play point guard as the future of the Jazz. Speaking of Walter Clayton, seems premature. I I think Isaiah Collier is getting a bad rap for having a glaring flaw as a shooter. A lot of these players on the Jazz, because the Jazz are as bad as they are, are going to have flaws. And I think he’s getting a bad knock. And I will tell you, I was very, very critical, and I will be very, very critical of his summer league. I thought he was terrible. However, Isaiah Collier revitalized the Jazz offense, made people believe, you know what, like Keont’s now got a defined role as a six-man because of the speed, the aggression, and the dynamic creation ability of Isaiah Collier. And the Jazz haven’t had that in quite some time. So, I think that that he’s still the guy to beat for the the point guard spot. I firmly believe he’s still the Jazz’s best distributor. And while he was abysmal in summer league, I think you got to contextualize it a little bit, he was likely instructed by coaching staff to go be aggressive. Go get yours and we want to see what that looks like for you. He was bad at it. He was really bad at it and he was inefficient and he turned it over and he shot bad shots and he looked a little out of control and you want the pros to look like they’ve played in the pros and he looked sped up and out of control. But I don’t think he just forgot how to drive and dish. So with better players on the roster, the Lowry Markin, the Walker Keslers, when he plays next to Ace Bailey in the starting lineup and they they demand the ball, whether they demand it verbally or it’s just the way the game’s played and their abilities to fan the ball, he’s going to play his role. And I still believe he’s the Jazz’s best distributor. Now, the question is, can he be the future point guard of the Utah Jazz when the Utah Jazz reach the promised land of making the playoffs and truly contending? I’m not sure there’s an answer to that. My question is one I don’t have the answer to. My verdict is to be determined because he would need to he would need the Jazz to round out the roster so perfectly to complement his strengths and make up a tone for his weaknesses. The Jazz would need big guards who really shoot it and defensively can slide. And there needs to be only he and Kesler who uh are drivers and not guys who can score. Kesler of course anchors the middle and is a lob threat vertically. So there is that’s fine, but his lack of shooting does hinder the Jazz’s growth offensively. But if he can get downhill, do his thing because the Jazz have a lot of big wings that are good defensively and also can shoot it, I think there’s a world he can be the starting point guard for the Utah Jazz. The Jazz would just need to draft their true star to play with the ball in their hands to take some of that pressure off. My concern even then probably is his lack of shooting allows defenses to go under screens and not be worried about the roller uh shooting the ball like Kesler and that shrinks the court which makes players aside from Lowry all have to be very good shooters to get enough out of his playmaking to make up for his bad shooting. Like that’s the concern. Collier was a very poor shooter. He shot 25% from three. This is as a dare shooter, meaning he was left pretty open and he shot a lot of those behind screens off the dribble. And the other thing that I think he can really hang his hat on to make him a, you know, a guy that’s more coveted than an Isaiah or than a Walter Clayton Jr. is his defense is something I think he should really work on and improve because that’s where I see his advantage, right? He’s 20 years old. He’s built like a linebacker as you hear every time they talk on the on the broadcast. You say he’s got huge shoulders. He’s strong as an ax. And Walter Clayton Jr. is the worst defender in the starting lineup of his college team. Collier has this broad build to be a pest and the speed to not give up strength while while not giving up speed. Like he can do both. He can truly be an impactful defender. You look at Lou Dort and you look at Collier and they’re not too dissimilar in terms of their build. So Isaiah Collier year two, my expectations are he gets the nod to start to start the season. And as I said last week on Wednesday, I think he would have to be playing very badly prior to the season to for him to lose his starting job to Walter Clayton Jr. will have a a likely rude awakening in the sense that Keonte had not been playing point guard ever and he was a scorer reliant on jump shots where scoring is harder in the NBA. He learned that his efficiency suffered, but also his efficiency suffered because he had to do more. He had to be the guy running an NBA team, handle the pressure, distribute, handle pressure, then get into sets and set it up and still try to score. I think there’s going to be growing pains for Walter Clayton despite him being an older rookie. And so Isaiah Collier, I think, has the advantage. And the last thing I’d say, he needs to play with tempo, not just this unadulterated sheer pace because I love speed and easy buckets, but he limits his game by only charging downhill and not having a change of pace to make his speed and strength more valuable. My hope is that he shoots about 30% from three, and that’s pretty measly. I mean, I I think that’s doable. And 75% from the line. Both will be about five percentage point improvements. And my expectations are tempered for him. I think the Jazz will experiment with who starts at the point guard a little bit. I think he and Clayton will each get a chance to run with different lineups and Ke is going to inhabit that six-man role be the spark plug and and that’s going to be a role left vacant by Clarkson that I think Keian is going to enjoy. And you know who helped Kee the most? It was Isaiah Collier. So to me the stat statistical expectations about 9.6 assists just like last year. But maybe it could go up sooner uh if he gets those minutes that he got at the end of the season from the beginning and it’s not cut into by the emergence of a Walter Clayton by the emergence of other players who demand the ball. So what do you think about that? I’d say he’s still the Jazz’s point guard of the immediate future, but not the one of the true future when the Jazz are contending is my contention. Well, now we’ve talked about Isaiah Collier. So let’s discuss the other potential point guard, Walter Clayton Jr. All that and more straight ahead on Locked on Jazz. August 26th is officially FanDuel’s Futures Day. A brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches. Just for just 24 hours, FanDuel is giving you all the deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP, eyeing a longot division winner or ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before week one even kicks off, this is your moment. So, if you’re taking a flyer on the MVP race, how do you feel about Joe Burrow? I think he’s going to put up big-time numbers and they’ll be better than they were a season ago. If you want to crown your champion in August, my pick might be the Chiefs. Mahomes doesn’t lose often. He might have a little bit of a resurgent season, a little bit better statistically in his own regard, but also get over the precipice, round out the roster, and beat those Eagles that beat them in the Super Bowl. or if you want to parlay your division winner darkh horses. I recommend maybe the Eagles and the Texans in their two respective conferences. Those are two I like. So let’s if you like those, feel free to copy them. If you don’t, place your own. But all the same, visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your future bets now because Futures Day is one day and one day only. FanDuel, play your game. Welcome back to Locked on Jazz. Leaf Tulene with you here. We’re talking about the point guard position and Walter Clayton Jr. has earned some fans in the Jazz front office and he’s earned some fans just period as Jazz fans. Walter Clayton Jr. for those of you who don’t know but I’m sure do was amazing in March and it helped propituate him into the first round. The Jazz in fact dealt up and took him at 18 moving up three spots. The Jazz front office has Celtics roots. Danny A, Austin A. And for me, I’ve said this before, but I can’t unsee the Jazz hoping to replicate what the Celtics did and hitting a hitting on a pick like Pton Pritchard. Walter Clayton Jr. is the Jazz’s Pton Pritchard. That’s what the hope is. That’s the way I see it. There have been some other prominent small college guards that were drafted in the first round that were older that had success in college and they’ve had success in the NBA. Obviously, Pritchard’s one, Ty Jerome being another from Virginia, Marcus Sasser from Houston. Uh, of course, the biggest one that you can think of is Jaylen Brunson, who was picked in the second round after being the national player of the year at Villanova. So, there’s examples of success. Clayton was an all-American. He was first team all SEC and he’s an A tier shooter, like fantastic shooter. But the reason I voice skepticism to the Jazz fans that say, you know what, like he should start over Collier and that he’s already the guy due to shooting is the following. Clayton didn’t play point guard at Iona where he attended college for two years prior to transferring to Florida. He played next to a guy named Dannis Jenkins. Dannis Jenkins is on the Pistons G-League team/T the Pistons. And then he played next to Zion Pulland who played for the Timber, excuse me, for the Grizzlies G-League team and kind of the Grizzlies. And both those guys were the point guards. In fact, Zion Poland, uh, you could make an argument was more important to Florida their first season at Florida. Uh, he played point guard this past season, was a first team all-American, first team all SEC, national championship winner, most outstanding player. I was all in on Florida. I bet on them to win the championship early. I took them in my bracket. I watched probably 30 Florida games in its in totality, at least 25 of them. Believe you me, I love Florida and I’m not hating on Walter Clayton, but I will say their offense made it easier to operate as a point guard for someone who has not played point guard. It mitigated the risk of not having a true point guard and they won a national championship. So, they had a lot of good players in order to do so. So, I do want to point that out. Uh, they ran their offense through a skilled passer named Alex Condan from Australia. Condom was the hub for the offense and it allowed Clayton to do what he’s amazing at, that’s shooting and attacking, using his shooting prowess, getting to the rim and scoring the rock in general. Now, that said, in watching those 25 to 30 Florida games this season, he made enormous strides as a passer and decision maker. He drew attention because of his shooting prowess. He drew the ability to uh get to the rim based off of his shooting ability, set it up and made the right reads, found open guys. But as Keant voice, there are growing pains in playing point guard for the first time in in Ke’s career in the NBA. And now it makes you think that I don’t think that’s oneoff. I think Keant is a very good player. He was asked to do something that’s difficult. And a lot of those turnover issues, the handling the pressure uh make you overthink your game offensively. And I think that will happen likely to Walter Clayton Jr. through no fault of his own. I think it’s just just a step up in level. You’re going to have to think about the game. You now have the best athletes in the world guarding you night in night out. You’re not older than them for the first time. He was playing as a 22-year-old and it causes overthinking of what is second nature to him. That’s what happened to Keon. His shot looked a little off and it made, you know, there’s the pressure of handling the ball, but there’s also the pressure of scoring when you’re a scoring guard. And if scoring’s uh impacted by the responsibilities that happens. I expect Walter Clayton Jr. to have some of that. I also noticed, and this is a slight concern, a little bit nitpicky, that in summer league, Clayton was bothered a bit by the NBA length and athleticism uh in isolation or getting shots up and notably GI Jackson, who is someone I love, uh blocked his three on an ISO from the right side at the Delta Center in the Salt Lake Summerly on an ISO like 27 feet away. gave him some space, gave him some cushion, still was able to contest and block it. So, to me, Clayton, in order to succeed in the way the Jazz want him to, needs to have the ball out of his hands a little bit and maybe even plenty, just like Pritchard. Pritchard is not the point guard of the Celtics second unit. He plays alongside guys who handle the ball and he can handle too, and he’s able to get shots both on the ball and off the ball. He can. I do think Clayton can replicate what Pritchard does, thriving with intangibles and shooting as opposed to sheer athleticism and dynamic ability to attack the rim. I think it’s going to be playing as a team player. And if he makes the team run well, because he’s making smart decisions, makes his open shots and passes to the open guy, even if it’s not like dynamic creating for others, I do think that means he’s going to have a chance to supplant Isaiah Collier. I just think it’s going to take longer than many people do. Uh, I’ll be closely monitoring how he plays when he plays with Flip, who I think can serve as a hub and a high level one and free up Clayton’s offensive ability. I think Clayton’s a good athlete, but a very poor defender, and that’s not a necessarily a good sign because that means he’s got to be more engaged. I’d rather someone be incredibly engaged, but maybe not have the innate athleticism. But he’s not a big guard either. So, he’s a smaller guard who has, you know, tendency to lose track of where the ball is. And I want to see if he can be competent defensively because he’s going to be attacked. all rookies are, especially smaller ones. Uh, and he did look more engaged in the summer league defensively, so that was good, but I have my doubts there as well. Uh, my expectations for Walt in year one are to shoot it well. Um, but maybe not as well as some would expect as he’s one of the best shooters in the class. 37% from three would be really great for him. I’m expecting around six, maybe seven points per game, three or four assists. And if he’s given the chance to show himself, uh, should Collier struggle or there’s injuries, I think the Jazz will be happy to see what he has. But I expect more of a backup role for someone who’s going to be steadily in the rotation, but not necessarily excel and thrive to the degree where the Jazz singes and chance of stardom immediately and he’s the answer. So, I think that type of hype is largely off of his title run, the tough shotmaking, which is unbelievable. He had some incredible fadeaways to his right against Texas Tech and Yukon. He he was big time in the biggest moments and that’s something I really respect and I think he’ll make a career in the NBA. But the answer to the point guard of the future to me lies in the future. I don’t think it’s Walter Clayton Jr. and I don’t think that’s a slight tip. I think he can be a Jazz player. I just don’t think he’s the point guard of the Utah Jazz’s future. Well, in discussing the future in the form of the draft, I’ll take a look back at some old drafts the last couple years and tell you I had the highest on my boards for where the Jazz were picking based on who was available. That’s something a fan asked and I’m really happy to oblige and show you. It’s an imperfect science. All that and more straight ahead on Locked on Jazz. Welcome back to Locked on Jazz. Leaf Julene with you here. So yeah, I was asked by a follower on Twitter when I asked, “Hey, any topics people want to discuss, and a couple of them I’ve already done that I had planned, like expectations for the rookies, expectations for the sophomores, uh some Ace Bailey talk that I thought was fun statistically, but this one was more of a reminisce about the drafts that the Jazz had, whether they were good or bad. I’ll go through my big boards. I I dug them up and have my notes on the players, where I had them, who I wanted to take, found some old podcasts, listen to those, and I’m going to go through my thought process on it, and how I feel about it after the fact. So, without further ado, let’s go to 2023. Uh, the Jazz had the ninth, the 16th, and the 28th picks. The Jazz took Taylor Hendricks, Keonte George, and Bryce Sensib. So, I had Taylor Hendricks in a tier with Kase Wallace, and Derek Lively, with Lively being the one I had ranked the highest of the trio. So, according to my board, the Jazz should have taken Derek Lively uh and of the players that were available. However, the Jazz had just had a excellent rookie season from Walker Kesler in which he finished uh in the first team all rookie. So, I figured that pick wouldn’t happen and I wasn’t wed to any pick there. I wasn’t angry at the Taylor Hendricks pick, but I also wasn’t overly ecstatic. I thought that that was a slight reach in terms of skill level. I think it was wishful thinking about what he could be in terms of they need a good dynamic athlete and maybe he can turn out to that but he hadn’t shown it to me. So I was banking up potential. I had Hendrickx 12th. I had Derek Lively ninth. They were all in the same tier. Case Wallace was in between. Actually I believe Kase Wallace was 12th and Taylor Hendricks was 11th. But nonetheless I think that’s a a fair number to have. Lively would have been my preference if it was just a best player available. Now, at 16, I I wanted the Jazz to take Keonte George. I had Keante at number 12 on my board and was very happy with that pick considering I watched his proday live and he was sensational. He was the best proday I watched that season by a mile. And at 28, I was begging the Jazz to take Gigi Jackson and I was the mayor of his fan club, having him as high as like seven at one point that season. But in watching his proday, his stock actually dropped because he was sick at his combine proday. And I actually was able to attend his night before practice proday where his family played gospel music. I met the parents. They were lovely people. His dad was a big man and he was a pre a I want to say he’s a preacher and he was playing gospel music and it was very relaxing but just didn’t feel like the environment for a workout. Gigi Jackson was missing a bunch of jump shots. Just looked off and looked out of shape. And then the next day I watched his actual proday and the same thing. He looked off. He shot the ball very poorly. shot poorly from three, shot poorly from the mid-range. Did look explosive, but not the same guy I watched in tape in terms of that dynamic mover that had just turned 18. So, I moved him down from nine on my board that was prior to the combine to 17 because I just was so shocked by how poorly he shot. But to me, at 28, that level of talent at 6’9 was a sprint to the podium territory pick at 28 and he went 45th and then returned a all rookie caliber season. So, I’m a huge GI Jackson fan. And just a little peak behind the curtain for you guys. Let me know what you guys think about those picks, where I had him, what were your preferences then. So, let’s go to 2024. I had Cody ranked number five on my board and thus I wanted him at 10 because he was available. I also had Matas Bzelis ranked ahead of 10 whom most would choose as the answer the Jazz should have picked and I believe I had him ranked eighth. So, I was pro Cody also liked Matas and at 29 I had Isaiah Collier ranked 12th on my board. So, he was my favorite pick there by a mile. I was very pleased with that pick at 29 and he has panned out well and at 32 I had flipped 32nd and clearly I was too low on flip in that regard but he was the favorite on the board more or less when he was picked. Uh I I thought it was between he and Johnny Furview and a couple picks after him based on who was left on the board. I I didn’t necessarily feel too confident about that 20 24 class because there was no obvious angles anywhere because of the weak draft class at the top. There was decent depth, but I felt certain of one thing and one thing only. That Stefon Castle is the clear number one in that class. And I remember wondering when the lottery was announced if the Jazz could trade up to get him due to having very like this was not a unanimous board. You didn’t know who was going to go one until the end of the draft where Reach did. Most people thought it would be Sar. Sar went two. I I thought it was a a draft in which there could be a move made to move up the draft and see if there’s a guy you like that the other team doesn’t feel that great about and you overpay for him. The guy I was hoping the Jazz would target was Stefon Castle who won rookie of the year. I’m very happy about him. The way he’s panned out, not so happy he’s going to be on the Spurs anchoring what’s a very, very threatening team for years to come against our beautiful Utah Jazz roster that we hope can be built to that level. So, that was the one player I really felt all that strongly about. The rest, you know, give or take your preferences. I thought it was all right. So, this past season, you guys have probably heard this from me as I did lock on chess. Entering the draft season, I had Ace and Trey 3A, 3B. I probably had Trey a hair in front throughout much of the process. But the day of the draft, I had this weird feeling of of worry of anxiety rather than excitement. And I was watching with two friends at Buffalo Wild Wings and I was relieved to what the second the Jazz took Ace Bailey I was relieved because despite being a Trey fan believing he could be a 25point scoreer in the NBA I kept getting this worry based on people telling me oh he could be Cam Thomas and I just felt more safety with Ace Bailey and that he’s 69 and he shoots the ball well and he could be someone like the statistical projections I put out there he could be Paul George and who knows if that’s true maybe neither achieve even those comparisons or maybe one exceeds greatly. I I just felt that if we got one of Trey or Ace, so I had three and four respectively, that at the five pick, we succeeded. So, I came away very happy there. And then the other pick at 18, I was frustrated by the Clayton pick. Like I said, I adore Walter Clayton Jr. I thought he was the most fun player to watch in the country. He and Cam Jones from Marquette. And I still came away frustrated at this pick despite adoring a Florida and winning a future on Florida. I thought that the Jazz reached at 18. And I preferred Casper Yakachonis who went the next pick to the Heat because Casperis was a guy I had in my top 10. I think he’s got a lot of game and he just became inefficient uh due to a large workload and he kind of ran out of gas throughout the season. However, that wasn’t really my frustration. My frustration wasn’t at the Walter Clayton versus Casper Yakonis. It was more that the the that part of the draft was littered with wings and I had predetermined all draft season long that the Jazz would take a wing at 21. They trade up to 18. And I thought, well, they must be making an aggressive move for Cash Yakonis. And I wanted the Jazz to get three and D wing. So, that was the only way I could justify not getting a 3 and D wing is get someone I had in my top 10. And the Jazz didn’t take a wing or get Casper Yakonis. Therefore, Walter Clayton Jr. uh bore the brunt of my frustration. Though I’m I’m high on him. I talked myself pretty quickly into Clayton. That said, you heard my expectations. They’re they’re pretty standard. They’re nothing over the top. I’m not that much of a homer to tell you I think he’s going to be fantastic right away when I was frustrated at the pick. So, that’s just transparency right there. Uh the Jazz didn’t have a pick in 2022. I know we got Walker Kesler that was not our pick, but I I’ll tell you my experience of it because that was the four years I’ve done it. In 2022, that was my first year evaluating professionally. And though the Jazz didn’t have a pick, I felt like that was my most successful year diagnosing who was destined to do what their roles have been in the NBA career and how they’ve done so far. And we’ve have the largest track record because that’s the oldest team, oldest players and the most established into their roles on their teams. So the way I feel based on watching these guys in their careers play out and unfold, my board was pretty close to how I’d rank it in a reddraft. And you know, there’s there’s some obvious ones. Of course, one and two are are usually going to be pretty good. Uh but it wasn’t necessarily clear entering that draft who is going to be willing. There’s a lot of debate up until draft night. Bets were changing, lines were changing, but I felt adamant that Paulo Bancer was going to be the number one pick. Jabari was the betting favorite for it much of the season. And that was a big discourse back then. I had Bera 1, Chad Holgren, too. I actually had Jabari fourth. Uh the other the other takes from that that I would feel proud of. Um, there are some definitely some misses. I was actually fairly low on Walker Kesler. I did not have Johnny Davis in my first round. He was picked 10th and he is out of the league. So, I was proud about that sticking to my guns that I did not see Johnny Davis’s future being a bright one. Uh, and I sniffed that out when the Jazz, you know, could have easily been drafty in that type of range. And, you know, teams make mistakes. I thought that was a clear one. I was high on Jaylen Duran who slipped to the tail end of the lottery. I had him very high and I think he’s going to be a formidable center in the NBA for years to come. And I was pretty high on Jaylen Williams, too, though certainly not high enough because quickly I realized that mistake and have begged the Jazz to trade for him forever since. And perhaps that tainted my evaluation of Cody Williams in longing for Jaylen Williams. Uh, in some, the reason I bring this up, and thank you for whomever asked that question, is drafting is not an exact science, and I’ll always be happy to share my thoughts on Jazz picks before they happen, after they happen, and in general. And I won’t sugarcoat what I believed then and try to make you sound like, “Oh, I was right because of this.” Like, I I don’t think I was right about Cody Williams. I hope he turns out to be good. I thought it was a bad draft. And my expectation for him was in his prime, he can be a guy who scores 15, four and four, 14, five, and five. I forget the exact expectation I laid out. I don’t think that’ll happen just based on what I watched, the observance, the confidence level. However, you know, I had my reasons. I watched some film and I’m going to be right some, I’m going to be wrong some. Everyone’s going to feel that way. But I think it’s interesting to look at people’s draft like myself who who do this professionally, semi-professionally versus fans who who just watch a little bit and then the teams like there have been so many mistakes. We talked about Johnny Davis. He went top 10 for an NBA team’s evaluation. So I think it’s fun to talk about the draft, talk about the evaluation process, my expectations for these young guys before it’s too late. And I hope that answers some questions for whomever asked that question to revisit how I felt the Jazz did in those drafts and what I would have done. So, let me know what you guys think about it, what you guys would have done and how you feel about that. Thank you guys as always for making Locked on Jazz your favorite your first listen and your favorite show. For your second listen, listen to the Locked On NBA podcast where there’s no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Lockdown 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. It’s been a pleasure. Look forward to keeping with you throughout this month of August.

The Utah Jazz’s point guard situation takes center stage as Isaiah Collier and Walter Clayton Jr. vie for the starting role. Will Collier’s impressive rookie season and ability to revitalize the offense be enough to secure his position? Or could Clayton’s March Madness heroics and sharpshooting skills propel him into the spotlight?

Leif Thulin, filling in for David Locke, breaks down the strengths and weaknesses of both players. He analyzes Collier’s impact on the Jazz’s pace and his need for improved shooting, while exploring Clayton’s potential transition to full-time point guard in the NBA. Thulin also reflects on his past draft evaluations, offering insights into the unpredictable nature of player development and the challenges of projecting NBA success.

Discover why the Jazz’s point guard of the future might not even be on the current roster and gain valuable perspective on the art of NBA draft analysis.

0:00 Intro: Utah Jazz’s point guard of the future

5:09 Isaiah Collier’s rookie season and potential

10:44 Expectations for Collier in year two

13:17 Walter Clayton Jr.’s background and potential

17:52 Expectations for Clayton in his rookie year

20:23 Analyzing past Jazz draft picks and boards

25:28 Reflections on the 2024 NBA Draft

30:02 Importance of draft evaluation and expectations

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Utah Jazz, point guard, Isaiah Collier, Walter Clayton Jr., NBA draft, rookie expectations, Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, Walker Kessler, Will Hardy, Danny Ainge, NBA Summer League, shooting improvement, defensive potential, playmaking ability, Florida Gators, college basketball, NBA roster construction, David Locke, Locked On Jazz, Utah Jazz podcast, Utah Jazz news, Lauri Markkanen, Cody Williams, FanDuel, NBA combine

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