former NBA player Chandler Parsons said that he saw a little bit of Paul George and Kevin Durant in Ace\u2019s game. <\/a> After a deep dive into the numbers by the talented (and probably handsome) author of the linked article, we found out that Chandler Parsons was onto something. Ace\u2019s production was right in the middle of what Kevin Durant and Paul George produced during the first 56 games of their careers. It\u2019s also pretty easy to see how we as a viewing audience could make the comparisons: Ace has a great wingspan at 7\u2019, he\u2019s shown that he can put the ball in the hoop, and to top it all off he was able to show this much promise as someone who can\u2019t even buy a beer legally yet.<\/p>\nDuring the last stretch of the season is where Ace really showed out. During the last 20 games of the season he averaged 18.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks a night while shooting 36% from 3. It should be noted that during this stretch, the Jazz weren\u2019t exactly playing inspiring basketball, but improvement is improvement. During that last stretch of games is where he caught the eye of a lot of fans, including myself. I saw a world where he\u2019d be able to contribute this year in a meaningful way next to Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. Then we were blessed by the Basketball Gods.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t expect good things to happen, and I never have. I expect my favorite teams to lose every single game that they play, and when they win it\u2019s a nice surprise. I think it\u2019s a self preservation tool; I haven\u2019t been able to talk to my therapist about it but I\u2019ll keep you updated. Due to that mentality, I fully expected the Utah Jazz to get the shaft in the NBA Draft. There was a 27.1% chance that our pick landed at #6, and only an 11% chance that it landed at #2. I was preparing for the worst; as a matter of fact I had an article ready to go about how Mikel Brown Jr. and Keyonte George would be able to operate in the backcourt together.<\/p>\n
As respectfully as possible to Mikel Brown Jr. because I think that he\u2019s going to have a really solid pro career, I cannot be more thankful that I was proven wrong. When we landed the #2 pick I knew that we were walking away with either Darryn Peterson or AJ Dybantsa, and I don\u2019t think that we could have gone wrong with either pick. I did, however, immediately think about what it meant for Ace and his role on the team.<\/p>\n
Keyonte averaged 23 points and 6 assists a game last season so he is going to get a lot of shots and dictate who else gets shots. Darryn Peterson, again, is the most NBA ready guard we\u2019ve seen in quite some time and his offensive repertoire demands that he\u2019s involved in the offense quite a bit. During Markkanen\u2019s time in Utah he\u2019s averaged 17 shots a game, and while his shot diet will be a little different this year, he\u2019ll still get plenty of touches. Then when it comes to JJJ, I think that he\u2019ll take about 12-14 shots a game like we\u2019ve seen him do throughout his entire career. There are only so many shots in a game, and when there is so much offensive firepower in your starting unit, it would only make sense that the second year player would be the one to sacrifice and not your point guard of the future, your shiny new draft pick, your former All-Star, or your $50 million man. That\u2019s why there is so much expectation on Ace to make a name for himself in this crowded field.<\/p>\n
Coach Will Hardy is going to have one hell of a time figuring out lineups this year and I do not envy him. Ace is without a doubt talented enough to be in this starting squad. I believe that he showed us how good he is going to be in in those last 20 games of the year. I think that there is a very real scenario where he performs so well that we\u2019ll eventually be able to trade Lauri Markkanen for future draft capital and Ace can replace Lauri\u2019s offensive production with ease. This is going to be a defining season for him, and it all hinges on how he handles the cards that are dealt to him.<\/p>\n
If he is part of the starting line up, will he be okay with being the 4th or 5th option? Will he be patient enough to let the shots come to him? Will be be okay with taking a back seat? Much was made of his maturity level coming into the draft, and while I don\u2019t (and didn\u2019t) buy the rumors, it would only be natural to feel a certain type of way given the circumstance. If my day job hired someone with my job description, paid him more money, and paid more attention to him, I would be a little cross especially because I was here first and I\u2019m pretty good at my job already.<\/p>\n
If I were the one calling the shots, I do think that I would lean towards having Ace run the bench unit. A lot of people could look at that and call it a \u201cdemotion\u201d but I\u2019d try my best to sell Ace on the upside: he\u2019d get all the shots he wants, he would still play starter minutes because bench production is a premium commodity in this league, AND he\u2019d have a great chance to win 6th Man of the Year if the team does well. He and Isaiah Collier could run the bench unit together and be a duo that helps the team in the long run.<\/p>\n
Ace is a key piece of this team\u2019s future, but also the team\u2019s season. We have the highest expectations we\u2019ve had in quite some time, and regardless of what Ace\u2019s playing time is, I think that his ability to adapt to his environment is going to dictate part of the team\u2019s success. My hope for Ace this year is that if he\u2019s a starter, he\u2019ll fit into the role flawlessly and be an ancillary part to a well run offensive machine. If he\u2019s moved to the bench I hope that he IS the offensive machine and wins the 6th Man of the Year award.<\/p>\n
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and I think that Ace is up for the responsibility.<\/p>\n
What are you expecting from Ace this year? Do you think he\u2019ll start or do you think that he\u2019ll own the bench unit? Sound off in the comments!<\/p>\n
Be kind. Tell somebody you love them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With all the excitement of drafting Darryn Peterson #2 overall and giving Keyonte George a contract extension, I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[64914,317214,355,99],"class_list":["post-880246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-jazz-analysis","tag-jazz-roster","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}