Utah Jazz rookie Ace Bailey’s role on offense and defense explained

Hardy discussed the team’s new star prospect, offseason training and plans for the upcoming season.

Utah Jazz rookie Ace Bailey will have to make some changes to thrive in the NBA.

That means adapting his game, getting stronger and preparing for the grind of the NBA schedule, Jazz coach Will Hardy said while discussing the team’s lottery pick during a weekend event in Salt Lake City.

Speaking at a clinic for local coaches, Hardy made his first public comments since the Jazz took Bailey with the fifth pick in the NBA draft. Naturally, how the Jazz coach would integrate his team’s newest star prospect was top of mind.

“On the court, offensively, it’s going to be a little bit of playing without the ball, moving around. I think Ace showed he was really active in summer league. He’s a good cutter. He can play in off-ball screens,” Hardy said. “And then defensively, while his body is continuing to get stronger, it’s going to be about using his length, because I think that is a real strength of his right now. I think that’s how he can survive on the defensive end right now.”

Hardy said the team “wasn’t able to see (Bailey) as much as we would like” as a result of a hip flexor injury that kept the 19-year-old sidelined for all but two games of summer league. Of course, Bailey also needs to adapt to the NBA’s more grueling schedule, just as any player does.

“For Ace, first and foremost, it’s going to be about building a routine. The NBA is a lot. The number of appearances is far more than he used to. That’s practice, shootaround, games, but it’s going to be about sort of him finding his routine, because I think the routine saves you during the season, you don’t have to think that much,” Hardy said.

The Jazz’s crop of rookies, sophomores, and third-year players have practiced and played in Salt Lake City for most of the summer. They’ll continue to do that for the next two weeks, Hardy said. Then, the players will take a short break around Labor Day, before returning with a larger portion of the team at open gym sessions at the Zions Bank Basketball Campus, where they’ll work four days per week during most of September. Training camp begins September 29.

New Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge indicated that the Jazz, unlike last year, would avoid sitting healthy players in the service of acquiring a higher draft pick.

When asked if he was excited to coach a team without those restraints, Hardy had a two-word answer: “Very, very.”

The Jazz coach made his comments at the third annual Utah Coaches Collective Clinic on Saturday morning. There, roughly 300 coaches from all levels of Utah youth basketball learned from Hardy and his coaching staff. The assembled coaches learned how to teach shooting, defense, strength and conditioning, and more from the pros.

“If you coach basketball in the state of Utah, you can come to this clinic,” Hardy said. “This organization has been kind of a centerpiece of this community for a long, long time. We want to keep that going.”