Jazz focus on future as Cavaliers showcase established talent in win

The Utah Jazz faced off against the Cleveland Cavaliers, offering a chance to see Donovan Mitchell again after the trade. At this point, however, the storyline around Mitchell isn’t as significant anymore. The main reason for this is that the Jazz have moved on, now prioritizing the best path forward for the team, which involves securing a star through the draft.

Although the Jazz were heavily beaten in this game, they’re on a path toward landing a superstar through the draft. The Cavaliers, on the other hand, are at a different stage, with two top-5 picks in Darius Garland and Evan Mobley. They then made a significant trade to acquire Donovan Mitchell. The Jazz are in the early stages of their rebuild but haven’t yet acquired the elite talent the Cavaliers possess.

In this game, the gap between the two teams was clear. While Utah has some promising young players who could be solid contributors alongside a superstar, they aren’t yet the franchise players who will lead the team to a championship. Kyle Filipowski stood out as the most impressive Jazz player, going 7/13 from the field and 4/8 from three, finishing with 18 points and 13 rebounds. What’s intriguing about Filipowski is his ability to play effectively at the power forward position next to Walker Kessler. Despite Utah’s struggles in the second half, they showed some strong defense in the first half—a notable improvement given their defensive woes this season. If Filipowski can maintain this level of play on both ends of the court, he could be a key piece for the future.

Walker Kessler continues to experiment with shooting threes to expand his game. However, it hasn’t been very successful so far. In this game, Kessler was 1/8 from three, and in his last five games, he’s shot just 3/26. While that’s discouraging, it doesn’t rule out the possibility of him becoming a stretch center, as some players have developed that skill over time. But given his current 54% free-throw shooting, it might not be something to expect from him in the near future. If Kessler can develop into a reliable stretch-5, he could become a very versatile player.

There weren’t many other notable takeaways from this game, except for Brice Sensabaugh’s continued impressive shooting. Sensabaugh finished 4/7 from the field and 2/3 from three. On the season, he’s shooting 40% from beyond the arc. His shooting is impactful, and if he can contribute in other areas, like defense, he could carve out a role in the rotation.