This is turning out to be a bumper crop of rookies this season in the NBA and the Utah Jazz brought one with them on Wednesday night who should be familiar to Maverick fans.
Keyonte George grew up in Lewisville and went to Baylor for one season before the Jazz made him the 16th overall pick in the draft, four picks after Dereck Lively II.
And before the Mavericks and Jazz duked it out Wednesday night, Utah coach Will Hardy gave his young point guard a huge compliment while at the same time dishing one out to Luka Dončić, too.
Hardy was talking about George’s development in terms of making the right decisions with the basketball. And he was hoping the 6-4 George would learn a few things on Wednesday.
“He’s not pre-determining what he’s going to do,” Hardy said of George. “In a world now of individual workouts, there are a lot of guys that are practicing moves. And you can see sometimes when you watch film that there are moments where players are pre-determining what they’re going to do.
“So when you have guys coming off the pick and roll and taking what the defense gives them, that’s a sign of his growth and development.”
Then, he turned his attention to Luka.
“Obviously, we’re hoping it’s not too much of a master class from Luka (in Wednesday’s game), but he’s maybe the best decision-maker and at not pre-determining his move of any guard in the NBA.
“Luka just looks at what the defense is doing. He’s seen every coverage and he makes his decision based on what’s in front of him. So that’s what we want Keyonte to be. Your job is to see what the defense is doing and help us get a great shot.”
Lately, that’s what George has done. He’s averaged 13.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.2 rebounds in 29.5 minutes over the Jazz’s last 10 games.
And, indeed, he did get a full dose of what a great point guard looks like when Luka had a triple-double.
Before halftime.
George showed his stuff early against the Mavericks with four assists in the first 10 minutes.
“Like any young player, there’s no guarantee you’re going to get better,” Hardy said of George. “You have to put the work in. You have to study film, learn from each game. I think he’s shown the ability to have a pretty good learning curve as a rookie.
“We want to look back at the end of the season and say he’s significantly better at the end of the season than he was on the first day. And right now, he’s progressing. Early in the season, he was very, very much pass first, almost to a fault. When a great shot presents itself, you have to take it. And I think he’s done a better job lately of recognizing his moments to shoot.”
Injury report: The Mavericks got Kyrie Irving (foot) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (back) back from injury absences, but the news was not as good for several other Mavericks.
Josh Green (elbow), Grant Williams (knee) and Maxi Kleber (toe) all were out against the Jazz.
That opened the door for some increased opportunities for other players.
“I think it’s just part of the season,” coach Jason Kidd said. “There’s always going to be injuries, sick days. You just have to deal with it and push forward.”
Dante Exum moved into the starting lineup for Williams, who missed his first game of the season. And O-Max Prosper was in the rotation during the first half.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks are hopeful that the injuries don’t become long-term, although Kleber already has missed a month. Kidd said Green’s injury also is concerning.
“I just hope it’s not as long as last time,” he said. “It was four to six weeks he was out with that last time (last December and January). But hopefully, it’s not as long.”
Kidd said A.J. Lawson, Jaden Hardy and Seth Curry all will see opportunities if Green remains sidelined.
Briefly: The Mavericks will leave Thursday for what has turned into longer-than-planned trip. When the schedule came out, they were scheduled to play three home games before the break for the In-Season Tournament playoffs. That turned into a four-game home stand when Utah was added to the schedule on Wednesday. With Friday’s game in Portland, the Mavericks elected to travel directly to Memphis over the weekend for Monday’s game against the Grizzlies. They then return home on Tuesday for a back-to-back game against the Los Angeles Lakers . . . Dante Exum got the start for Grant Williams and in the second quarter he produced a dandy, wrap-around pass to Derrick Jones Jr. for an open dunk that drew oohs and ahhs from the crowd.
X: @ESefko
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