Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George is making the jump

SAN FRANCISCO – Is Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George the NBA’s best kept offensive secret?

Outside of Utah and the Jazz’s fanbase, Jazz head coach Will Hardy agreed about George who appears to be a budding NBA star.

“I don’t know what the NBA is or isn’t saying,” Hardy said prior to 134-117 loss at Golden State on Nov. 24. “But I would think that if people were paying attention at all, he should be in that conversation because of the jump he has taken this year. And he is doing it in a variety of ways. It’s not like he’s red hot from 3 and hitting eight of them a game.

“He’s doing it in so many ways: His poise. His conditioning. His strength. Getting to the free-throw line. Making mid-range shots. Finishing better at the rim. So, hopefully people are paying attention to that. I know for us internally, our fan base, we see it and feel it every day.”

Said George to Andscape: “Obviously, I’m going to think that. This is a small market. I just have so much fun going out there and playing now.”

On and off the court, the Jazz are having a lot more fun with a much more mentally free George, too.

George entered Sunday averaging career highs in points (23.8), assists (7.2), rebounds (4.1) rebounds and free throw attempts (7.1) per game. The 22-year-old also is shooting a career-best 44.9% from the field.

“It’s been cool. Obviously, this is what I expected with the work I put in this summer,” George said. “But now my mind is kind of set to, ‘How do you deal with success?’ I’m not trying to get too high when things aren’t going my way or being too hard on myself. So, I’m to the point where I’m trying to navigate success on a night-to-night basis and understanding my responsibility on the team.”

For George, there has been an evolution as a person and a player since arriving to the Jazz as the 16th overall pick from Baylor in the 2023 NBA draft.

While known for his scoring, George was put in a new and uncomfortable position by Hardy of playing point guard as a rookie. Hardy coached George hard with accountability and pushed him to be more vocal. George started in 44 of 75 games and averaged 13 points and 4.4 assists per game as a rookie.

In his second season, George averaged 15.6 points, 5.8 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game while starting in 35 of 67 games. The biggest headlines in George’s second season came from being benched a couple times by Hardy for mental and defensive lapses while losing his starting position to Isaiah Collier and Collin Sexton. The young George had also built a reputation of being stubborn and immature at times, sources said.

After what Hardy described as a “powerful” and “at times emotional” meeting with George in the head coach’s office after last season, the coach believes a light switched on for the young guard.

“We just had a really raw conversation,” Hardy said. “It was not yelling and screaming. There was back and forth from both of us. But if I could sum up my message in general, it’s that it doesn’t matter how much I want it, it doesn’t matter what anyone else says. But it’s going to have to start with him wanting more and expecting more from himself. Keyonte knows how much I believe in him. He knows I’m watching his every move because I care about him and I believe in his ability.

“But that conversation was a moment where I believe we got to level with each other on where we both are in this process ultimately to reaffirm to each other that we are in it together. I remember telling him in that conversation that if he thinks I’m going to stop or if he thinks I’m going to back away or he thinks I’m going to abandon him, he is wrong. I’m going to be forehead to forehead in the fight until where we get to where we want to go.”

Said George: “Our relationship is on a whole other level now. My exit interview was brutal. Will shot it to me straight. Will calls me late at night and tells me little things like, ‘Play defense,’ and then he hangs up. But also, we got to the realization where we have some great dialogue. He doesn’t like some stuff and I try to communicate what I was thinking and the group was thinking.

“That is important for me. With the position I’m playing, I’m a second him on the floor. He can’t play. So, I’m thinking for the group trying to execute what he wants every single possession. Our relationship from my first year to now it’s completely different.”

Hardy also told George in their meeting that “it starts with how he treats himself and what he expects from himself.”

A month after the meeting, Hardy was pleasantly surprised that George was not taking days off and was regularly in the Jazz’s practice facility working on his overall game. George also decided to “step up as a leader” by hosting a group of young Jazz teammates in his hometown of Dallas last offseason for basketball and conditioning workouts, cameraderie building and fun.

“The first day is the first day, he’s going hard,” Hardy said about George’s offseason work. “But I think 10 days in [I notice] he’s got a different presence about him. He has a different work ethic. You start to hear the different murmurs from other people in the building working with him…

“After a couple weeks of that, you starting thinking, ‘Oh maybe this is a trend.’ And then he started to see some results. People say ‘process matters, the results don’t,’ but sometimes seeing a little bit of results can help fuel the process and help you double down on it. That early part of the summer you can tell he was locked in in a very different way.”

Said George: “I’m in the gym in the morning, I eat my lunch, take a nap and them I’m back in the gym at night. It’s repetitive. It was uncomfortable to do that every single day. But the work just became consistent and I find joy in it now.”

Adding to George’s offseason drive was the potential offensive opportunity that came with the Jazz’s roster moves.

The Jazz traded Sexton and starting forward John Collins while adding role playing veterans Jusuf Nurkic, Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson. Veteran guard Jordan Clarkson was also bought out of his contract while rookies Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr. were drafted.

While 2023 NBA All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen is still the Jazz’s top offensive option, the moves gave George a chance to fill the second spot.

“Opportunity came for all of us,” George said. “[Clarkson, Collins and Sexton] were amongst on top of the scouting report when we played other teams. Now I kind of knew that if we didn’t make any other moves, obviously Lauri is at the top. But who was going to step up there? It drove me the whole summer.”

George also acknowledged that a big part of his improvement this offseason came from his mental health growth.

The Jazz’s staff includes Dr. Ronald Kimmons, the franchise’s vice president of player wellness, who serves as a clinical sport psychologist. During the offseason, George attended Kimmons’ eight group sessions for players with fewer than three years of NBA experience. Through the “graduate level” sports psychology classes, Kimmons emphasized understanding the connection of the mind and body through breath, personal drive, the difference between mental skills work and training, goal setting, self-confidence on and off the court, focus, team cohesion and visualization. George also added that he was aided by Dr. Craig Manning, an adjunct professor of performance psychology at Brigham Young University.

George said he was apprehensive working with Kimmons during his first two seasons because he believed he had the mental strength to succeed on his own. But after his second season, George decided to “try new things” in the mental health space. George said Kimmons and Manning have helped him have a “clear mind for all 82 [regular-season games]” and he enjoys talking about the “science of the mind.”

After taking losses very hard his first two seasons, George says he has learned to “reset himself” to realize that the bad moment is just temporary.

“They were helpful in the mental part of the game,” George said. “I was with Dr. Ron during the early part of the summer. He got a group together and talked about the science of the mind and talking different things to get our camaraderie right. At the end of the day, the hardest thing in the NBA is camaraderie.

“With Craig, we’ve been talking about the simple stuff like, ‘Fear isn’t real.’ Right now, we are talking about a 3-to-1 ratio, three things you do good and do improve on. We are trying to get the subconscious mind closer to the conscious mind. Craig says that is the fastest way to develop. I’ve seen a big jump with that. My mind is clearer on the court. At the end of the day, the work you put in during the summer will carry over.”

Said Kimmons to Andscape on George: “He’s seemed to lean into [the teachings] overall. My sense is he has been doing a lot of work on his own and with some folks and taking the pieces he needs. And I’m just trying to support him and all the guys.”

One reason why George’s play appears to be a secret outside of Utah is that the Jazz are only scheduled to be national television twice this season with the first appearance in late January. Winning certainly helps as well. Although they have been more competitive – one game out of the 10-seed needed to qualify for the play-in tournament – the rebuilding Jazz are still just 6-12. But due to George’s improvement and quick start, he’s a potential Most Improved Player candidate.

As George and the Jazz continue to improve, he expects to become an NBA All-Star on a winning team.

“I set my goals at the beginning of the summer on the court and off,” George said. “One of those goals obviously is All-Star and Most Improved. But one of the biggest goals for me was winning. So, if we win, I feel like a lot of those things will come to fruition. Everything will take care of itself.

“Obviously, it’s human nature to think about some of the individual accolades. That has popped up on my mind. But the main thing for me is winning and getting better, honestly, every single day.”

Said Hardy: “I’m proud of him. He deserves the credit.”

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