Utah Jazz Training Camp Report: Keyonte George, John Collins and Ochai Agbaji

As training camp has gone on, we’re starting to get reports of how things are going. The latest comes from Sarah Todd of the Deseret News.

When you get a chance, you need to go check out Todd’s article because it’s the good stuff. Here are some of the highlights.

“Keyonte George is the real deal.”

From Todd’s article:

What if I told you that in addition to being a great scorer who is out to prove he can be an equally great passer, Keyonte George also possesses the gift of super speed?

And, what if I said that his teammates have been impressed after the first few days of training camp with his ability to see the floor and deliver passes? What if there is already a sense from talking to the Jazz players that George is going to be even more exciting this season than we saw during Summer League?

That would all be pretty great, right? Well. I’m telling you that it’s all true. That’s the word coming out of Jazz training camp this week. Keyonte George is the real deal.

Is there anything more exciting than hearing great things about one of your rookies’ from camp? The only thing better is hearing that they’re looking fantastic.... also great cheesecake, I love cheesecake.

Anyways, we heard on media day from multiple Jazz players referencing how good George has looked. At this point, we have to believe them and accept that Keyonte George might be special.

How long until we get to watch Jazz basketball again?

On John Collins

From Todd’s article:

Maybe it’s because Collins’ role was always changing and seemingly diminishing in Atlanta, maybe it’s because of the decrease in production, and maybe it’s because I haven’t watched Collins a lot in person, but I feel like he’s never looked as strong and springy.

From dunking on rookie Taylor Hendricks to rising up for improbable weakside blocks, he’s just so much more athletic than I can remember him being at any point prior to this. And if you’re wondering how his shot looks (after shooting a career-low 29.2% from 3 last season), the basket seems like it’s the size of the ocean right now.

This is exactly what you want to hear about Collins, especially considering all the speculation about his shooting and his finger. Collins was gotten for next to nothing and if he gets back to his production before his finger injury, it could be one of many steals the Jazz have had the past few seasons.

On Ochai Agbaji

From Todd’s article:

In the limited time I’ve been able to watch the Jazz run offensive sets and scrimmage over the last few days, one of the people that has really stood out is Ochai Agbaji. After having an incredibly successful end to the 2022-23 season, he doesn’t look like he wasted any time getting back up to speed.

Agbaji is in incredible shape and his understanding of spacing and his timing on backdoor cuts and dives into the lane have been very impressive. While a lot of the conversation surrounding the Jazz has been about the point guard position, Agbaji is not going to let the coaches off easy when it comes to doling out minutes on the wing.

It’s great to hear that Agbaji looks good. In summer league, the Jazz were clearly trying to push him out of his comfort zone. They had him doing things he wouldn’t normally get to do like handle the ball, run a pick and roll, and generally just initiate offense, and it was a mixed bag. The things we know Agbaji can do is knock down corner threes, defend at a pretty high level, and make athletic plays. That’s a solid talent base to build on. Hopefully, Agbaji is becoming more consistent and well-rounded in his play. Like Todd mentions in her article, at some point, it’s going to be hard to keep Agbaji out of the starting lineup with everything he brings if he continues to improve like he has.