{"id":226052,"date":"2025-10-20T04:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T04:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/226052\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T04:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T04:15:08","slug":"walker-kessler-says-its-vastly-important-for-him-to-prove-he-can-space-the-floor-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/226052\/","title":{"rendered":"Walker Kessler says it\u2019s \u2018vastly important\u2019 for him to prove he can space the floor \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the end of the 2024-25 season, there was a push from the Utah Jazz coaching staff for Walker Kessler to take at least six 3-pointers per game<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t about him making shots. Rather, it was about finding the right times in a game when a 3 made sense and finding comfortability in getting those shots off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe emphasized it a lot at the end of last year because I think it was something we had done almost none of and so we wanted to kind of force it into his offensive mix,\u201d Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. \u201cBut that word is, ultimately what I want \u2014 we need it to be a mixture.”<\/p>\n

Kessler has established himself as an agile, strong, fast and reliable threat at the rim and the Jazz don\u2019t want to let the opposing team off the hook by taking that threat away. Keeping Kessler close to the rim on both sides of the ball also keeps the other team honest and Kessler is one of the best shot blockers and rebounders in the game, there\u2019s no reason to strip him of his super powers just to get up some jump shots.<\/p>\n

But, there are plenty of reasons to want Kessler to be viewed as a stretch-5 threat as well. We\u2019ve seen so much in recent years how valuable it can be, especially in the playoffs, to have a big that can play five-out.<\/p>\n

\u201cOffensively, it\u2019s nice when changing the spacing doesn\u2019t require a sub, so also, because Walker does so many great things for us defensively, if you wanted to try to drag somebody else\u2019s defensive big away from the basket and not have to substitute to do that, that\u2019s always a luxury,\u201d Hardy said, back in December<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From Kessler\u2019s perspective, proving that he\u2019s not limited to being a traditional, rim-running big who doesn\u2019t add to spacing is necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s vastly important,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more that I look around the league \u2014 and not that I\u2019m old or anything \u2014 going into year four, in order to stay in this league and to be successful, you have to grow your game, every year.”<\/p>\n

Becoming a threat from beyond the arc, even at a low volume, is something that can contribute to success on the court for Kessler, but it\u2019s also something that can add value when it comes to his next contract \u2014 no matter who is footing the bill.<\/p>\n

Kessler played in just one preseason game for the Jazz due to a shoulder injury. In that game, he took and made one 3. Expect more of that from Kessler as the 2025-26 season unfolds. He won\u2019t be bombing long balls all game long, but he\u2019ll be looking for his spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think that Walker rolling and putting pressure on the rim, Walker cutting and putting pressure on the rim, not only to finish, but to draw the weak side defense to offensive rebound, is something that our team needs,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not going to bat an eye at some of those perimeter shots that are taken, as long as it\u2019s within the flow of what we\u2019re doing and the dosage is still correct.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the end of the 2024-25 season, there was a push from the Utah Jazz coaching staff for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,3166,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-226052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-news-feed-local","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}