Debating Isaiah Collier vs Keyonte George

Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 116-105 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. Keyonte George sat to start 2H

Now that Isaiah Collier is healthy, Keyonte George has real competition for the point guard spot – and it’s starting to show in the rotations where the latter gets on the floor. In tonight’s game, Will Hardy moved George to the starting lineup to start the second half and Jazz Collier played in his place.

Let’s break it down, first from George’s perspective, then from Collier’s.

Hardy was quite clear about the reason for the switch: “I wasn’t happy with Keyonte’s defense in the first half. Keyonte knows how much I believe in him, but sometimes you have to make changes in the moment to make your point.”

I also saw what Hardy saw: George’s defense simply didn’t reflect that he was particularly concerned about that end of the floor. This clip has a few examples – he gambles for a steal but doesn’t really care about the consequences, he was able to confront James Harden but he didn’t, he switched from Harden for no real reason – in the first half.

After the switch, George played with the second unit and then played the final 19 minutes of the game. The Jazz were better on that stretch, +7 overall.

George was extremely supportive of the message sent in his post-game interview; he said all the right things and seemed to mean them too.

“Urgency levels should be at their highest no matter what – but we’re all human,” George explained. “I don’t know if you have a boss, but if they tell you to take a break, when you come back you will be on your Ps and Qs.” He honestly seemed to appreciate the call.

That’s good. I continue to like how George approaches his job from the floor; I think he has a maturity in his approach that is rare among 20-year-olds.

But now that we’re in year two, that solid approach needs to start paying dividends on the floor itself, where George has been too often unfocused, too often made poor shot/passing decisions and generally leaves a lot to be desired. Many basketball metrics put him below replacement level, and if that doesn’t improve, well… he’ll be replaced.

2. Isaiah Collier started 2H

The other side of that coin is that Isaiah Collier will get a season high in minutes (26) as a result of the change.

Collier had just four points tonight, reflecting that he really only has one way to score right now: beating the opposition to the rim on a fast break situation. He is really fast, but if the first step is not past the opponent, he is not able to score much.

But the good thing about him so far is that he has avoided making too many bad decisions with the ball in his hands. In fact, he has been the Jazz’s best (and perhaps only) pure point guard, setting up his teammates for more shots than he takes himself. He had eight assists tonight.

When he gets into trouble, I’ve been impressed by his ability to find an escape.

He also makes quicker passes earlier in his pick and roll drives than his guard counterparts.

“We know who our scorer is, we know where the ball is going,” Collier said. “Doing the little things, that definitely helped us in the second half.”

Finally, he’s just quicker down the field in setting the Jazz up in their actions. We’ve talked about how slow the Jazz’s half-court offense has been, but Collier pushes the pace in a really comfortable way. There aren’t a ton of wasted dribbles at the top of the arc.

I look forward to seeing if and how his performances develop over the course of the season, if he can pick his spots to get a little more scoring. He also definitely needs to further develop his jump shot to stick in the NBA. But at least his skills give the Jazz a change of pace they sometimes desperately need.

3. Parking costs

Speaking of Isaiah Collier, we had a chat after the game about the cost of parking in Los Angeles. Collier knows LA – after all, he played his one year of college ball at USC.

He also knows high parking costs. He said he had a penchant for college parking tickets. Why? Collier simply explained that parking was more expensive in LA than what he was used to back home in Atlanta.

FYI: parking at the new Intuit Dome for Clippers games is $70.

The Intuit Dome is a wonderful facility in many ways. I have an article coming out soon about the arena, how it was affected by the Delta Center, and how it may affect the upcoming renovations. But $70 for parking? It’s its most fan-unfriendly feature. It is simply too much.

Relatedly, parking costs for Jazz games have also increased greatly: it now costs $25 to park at the Gateway Mall for Jazz games. It’s not a price controlled by the Jazz, but it’s simply too much of a burden to ask Jazz fans when the same parking spots were $10 so recently.

I get it: demand for parking is high and supply is low. At least at Delta Center there is a viable public transit train option to the arena. There is no such train to the Intuit Dome, instead the team has set up various bus transportation options from nearby locations.

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