Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy had some nice issues to say about rookie Walker Kessler as a shot blocker after Wednesday’s 131-128 house win vs. the Toronto Raptors (7 blocks).
(by way of Leap View):
“He’s very fast off the ground late, if that is smart. Like he doesn’t simply give himself up early, he’s in a position to shut a number of area together with his final step and his size. Having 5 blocks within the 1st quarter, his exercise, it simply sparks the entire workforce. And when you may have a man like that defending the rim, the most important factor it does for our perimeter defenders is it frees you up. You’re feeling like you may play extra aggressively on the ball since you do know in the event you do make a mistake, there’s anyone behind you who’s cleansing up a number of these messes. So he’s given our workforce an entire totally different degree of confidence on that finish, simply with the way in which that he protects the basket again and again.
“It’s not simply the 7 blocks, we may in all probability discover 10, 15 different pictures that he alters or that guys don’t even take, like he’s beginning now to get the status across the league the place guys see him they usually kind of veer off and go the opposite means. So he’s been enormous for us. I feel his development, his confidence, has been one thing that we’re actually happy with as a gaggle. He undoubtedly is kinda feeling like he belongs and he’s anyone that’s anchoring our protection proper now. So he is aware of that each night time shouldn’t be gonna be 7 blocks, however his exercise stays constant each night time.”