Is Will Hardy the best coach in the NBA?
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- The Utah Jazz are on fire! In this In this enhanced segment from the Thinking Basketball podcast, Ben and Cody break down why the Jazz have turned their season around, Coach Will Hardy's "Beautiful Game" Xs and Os that remind us of the 2014 Spurs, his lineup changes and more.
-Full episode-
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#thinkingbasketball
Lauri Markannen's time in utah has been super fun to watch, before he was a skinny 7 foot floor spacer with flashes of guard skills. Now he is an ABSOLUTE TANK that is one of the best cutters and play finishers of the ball, dunking over people and somehow an even better shooter.
As a Chicago Bulls fan, I hate how we gave up on him too early. We'd be a serious playoff team with Lauri. Miss him.
@@williammccormick984If he were still on the Bulls he wouldn't have developed into anything unfortunately. Bulls haven't developed their own great player since Thibs over a decade ago
GarPax along with Hoidberg/Donovan set that franchise back immensely
@@williammccormick984 serious as in at least making the playoffs and getting bounced in the first or second round every year? yea, i agree
@@PantsaBear coby white has been developing well
This is how he plays with his national team as well. I think he just didn't get the right opportunities in his previous teams.
The fact that you guys are able to supplement the conversation with the EXACT clip you’re talking about is what makes you two so great. Credibility on display. Excellent work as always Thinking Basketball team!!
Just came here to subscribe after binging the Greatest Peaks series. This will be my first video watched as a subscriber! I’ve never been a basketball fan at all, but the way you break down game film makes it interesting to me.
That's really cool to hear. You might like Greatest Peaks season 2 ("offensive legends") as well
@@ThinkingBasketballis there gonna be an offensive legends video soon?
@@Justin683Unfortunately they're pausing the series for the season, they mentioned it in a community post
@@ThinkingBasketball And Greatest Peaks season 3 ("defensive legends"), which is coming soon, right Ben? Right Ben?? 🙏
As a Jazz fan, I was so happy to see this video pop up.
Amen, brother!
I love these kinds of teams. Kind of reminds me of the Hawks with Korver back in the day. But, these types of teams tend to wither away in the playoffs unless they have the Star power of a team like the beautiful-game Spurs.
I think they all basically overachieve in the regular season and then pay a kind of "perception" tax in the playoffs.
Detroit and Miami did it but its a rare thing. Teams like the jazz would be able to win more if the Refs called an even game
That's the number one reason why teams who play good basketball lose to star powered teams. Those extra points in the playoffs add up in a 7 game series. Good thing coaches are calling out the refs again like the good ol days
@@ThinkingBasketball that is a good way to phrase it.
The clips really help with understanding what you're saying on a deeper level. love it
Hardy was rated very highly by Danny Ainge and brought him over to Utah as head coach. That was my first clue that he might be good.
Ainge, in his time as an executive has hired as Head Coach Doc Rivers (when he was still young and really good), Brad Stevens and Ime Udoka. He had a say in hiring Hardy and Mazulla. He's 5/5 in picking COTY level coaches.
The WIll Hardy interview with Ryen Rusillo was great, such a humble and honest guy!
Hardy is a genius. Literally an artist who uses the court as his canvas to craft his masterpiece. His plays are as fluid as possible and he literally has a counter for the other teams counter, fluid nonstop motion offense at its best.
As an italian, I was always biased about Fontecchio. We always wanted him to start, even though he didn't deserved it that much until this point. But we always knew that he was able to contribute offensively and defensively in a good system. In Europe, for the most part we build system players (also Markkanen). So happy to finally see him thrive!
Ben, I don't know if anyone on youtube has ever told you but you have great hair. They have that styled but mess look. Love em. Keep em locks protected.
Haha thank you!
Will Hardy UNIQUE PLAY 😤😤😤
Italian NBA fan here, shout out to the best basketball thinkers on YT for highlighting Simone's good stretch! he's a smart player that knows his limits in NBA and play to his strenghts. Less talented overall than other italian legends but his body and playstyle are maybe the best combination among italians for a long NBA career as solid rotation piece. Hope he get the recognition he deserves cause he plays winning basketball.
Totally agree about the "stirring the drink" thing - Utah is one of the best ORB% teams in the league since they have so many 7Fters.
this might be controversial for such an inexperienced coach to be given this title, but if you watch the jazz games youll realise that hardy is actually an amazing coach. in my opinion he’s the best coach in the nba right now. yes, better than erik spoelstra
edit: to the people saying that he needs to make the finals first, the jazz would have a pretty good chance of making the finals if they had butler, adebayo, etc
Him and Mark in OKC are awesome coaches to watch
Erik Spoelstra would make the postseason with this team and has done so with an even worse roster on several occasions. If what you say is true, I hope I see the Jazz in the playoffs this year. Especially with a play in tournament Spoelstra never was granted the last time he didn’t make the playoffs.
@whoknows9193I wouldn’t say he’s just as good as Spoelstra especially for all the reasons you mentioned in defense of Spo, but yes Hardy is good.
Spo's defensive coaching gives him the edge. But yeah its good to see up and coming coaches that are killing it
shut up bro, make the finals first, spo is much better
Its a whole team of players that other teams didn't want. Pretty impressive
Damn good content right here. More please.
It's this kind of thinking that made Erik Spoelstra only win one CotY award.
Erik hasn’t even won it yet unfortunately🥲but i agree with your point completely.
He never won one tho
@@b111x you're right he won co-coach of the year from the NBCA in 2017
I mean there are so many great coaches in the league at any given time honestly the only time I thought so deserved coat was 2018
COTY is a fraudulent award to begin with. Casey won it in 2018 while his Raps got constantly got punked in the playoffs. Budenholzer won it in 2019 while his Bucks looked lost against Nick Nurse and his Raps. Some coaches do win it on a good narrative like Thibs in 2021 for the Knicks. But rarely does it measure overall coaching aptitude.
Incredibly complete team!
These improvised 3 person interactions or gaggles on the wing where they are layering split cuts and curls are so chaotic for the defense to manage..
Simone Fontecchio taking a huge leap like the last 20 games was huge for the Jazz because Will Hardy always try to play big lineup (Kelly Olynk, Kessler and Lauri) because they dont have competent wing (or 4 if you think Lauri is a 3) that can hold on in perimeter defense and Simone come in and did the job really good. And playing John Collins with Lauri not pairing with Kessler also make the floor really open. I hope Ochai Agbaji can take the leap next year
I really hope they can keep Lauri long term. They can be great in the next couple years
Lauri is great but they still need help. Right now the way they're playing, they're not going to have talents through draft. And they're certainly not developing young players either. I'm a Spurs fan and I can tell they're making the same mistake as we did when Kawhi and Aldridge left. That's when we should have started tanking but we let Dejounte Murray and DeRozan try for years before we started a real rebuild. Not every team is lucky enough to have tanked for Wemby.
@@chen-pangchang5154i'm always surprised by this desire to thank. Yes you hit a homerun with wemby but please ask a Pistons fan to explain why they are happy with the moves Weaver made (he did give up right away on trying with young guys like Kennard and Bruce brown). Milwaukee and Denver never tanked and build great contenders by years of slowly building. I understand that DeRozan should have been traded earlier but are you really happy poeltl, Murray and white are gone?
Didn't even have time to mention how Hardy has an nba team running zone defense with regularity and its working
There's too much with them, that's why we had to do an hour on the full episode (and didn't cover everything)
They legit did the entire podcast on the team, it’s on their second channel
@ThinkingBasketball if you could edit video into those podcast episodes as a whole, you would make this community the happiest on UA-cam by like a mile. But I can also understand that this would involve unbearable amounts of work, so I think I will just appreciate those little snippets as they come ❤
Coach Spoe Copy Cat.
Just listened to his interview with Ryen Russillo. Great coach
Great video!
I've loved watching their offense. As a Suns fan, I'm jealous.
Great job bringing attention to smaller market teams... Almost every team has a wealth of talent, it's how a Coach can get the best of them... Sadly it's always the lesser known/experience coaches that are willing to try, what are perceived as, different concepts... Understanding player strengths and weaknesses is so vital to coaching lineups, but often if it seems a player is "established" a Coach will stay with that trend... Example: a scrub like vanvleet, slow footed defender, not a great passer and mediocre shooter... He's only in the league because he did well the championship year...him and siakam! Pacers are stupid
Not that Boston isn't killing it anyway right now, but if Will Hardy was still in Boston and became the head coach like he would have if he wasn't hired away by the jazz before the Boston coaching situation last summer, the Celtics could be even better than what we are already seeing
But Ben said "Clarkston" first!
Great with got a version with videos now!!!
Jazz fan here. Thanks for posting this Thinking Basketball! How do you say "flare screen" in Italian? Fontecchio is quite the fan favorite here in Utah.
hardy coached under coach pop so that is where the lineup genius comes from
You guys really know basketball and I love your videos. Have you ever gotten job offers from NBA teams?
St. Christopher's school legend Will Hardy
3:06 what a pass from olynyk
You got me, I'm making a Lauri Markkanen build next 2K.
Late JC was not efficient bcoz a lot of times before he is forcing his shots. The JC now is different, he learned to pass the ball more.
Btw, he's one of the assistant coach of pop before that's why they said they offense looks like 2014 spurs. Which is true.
Can you do a video at some point on keyonte? So curious to hear what your guys opinion on him and his upside
If you havent noticed, your background still says 2023!
SIMONEFONTECCHIO LOVE , I was hoping for that (I'm from Italy) and in the national team we let him cook but he is a perfect role player for the NBA, thank you for showing that! On the other hand I really wanted to see lauri on the warriors but seeing the season the jazz are having I don't think he will be traded. Regarding that can you do a video on the warriors struggles? Much love from Italy ❤️❤️❤️
Exactly! 7' Reggie Miller, I have been saying that for almost two years now.
Looks a lot like UCONN or Creighton. Definitely good offense and fun to watch
If the Jazz can come up to top5 or farther, then yes, we'll see...
SIMONEFONTECCHIO 🗣🗣🗣
This just another danny ainge masterclass
I wish Willie green would watch this video😫
Ok but the ultimate question is always - "is he sacrificing the long term development of young players to have short lived good but not great and certainly not championship caliber team"?? Playing Sexton, THT more than Keyonte George should be your first clue that this coach doesnt care about development which is a dangerous thing because this team's ceiling is definitely not top 4 in the league no matter how hard he tries. Even coach Spo needs Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo to carry their mediocre lineup. Hardy is not god. No way Lauri and Jordan Clarkson can carry this team any further than a first round exit. Let the young players play and trust the process.
Check the Ryen Russillo Hardy-podcast here in youtube and Hardy explains his thoughts on playing the youngsters vs. veteran guys. It's not as simple as you would think 😃
@@magicofshootingstar I know they think they got something in Lauri. And they intend to build around him as they move forward. And 2024 is probably weakest draft in recent memory. If they somehow got Cooper Flag in 2025 draft, then maybe it all works out. Looking at Thunder for example, after getting Shai, it still took them years to get to where they're right now. So I get it the difference between retool and rebuild. However, Sexton is what he is. 7th season in NBA no team will buy that he's suddenly a changed player. He can be of some value but not at the cost of Keyonte George's playing time. George was having a very good stretch before getting injured. Now he's back and look healthy and even play on b2b, there's 0 reason to play him under 15 minutes all of a sudden. You can still win game by playing him while Sexton's value wont be hurt because even if you play Sexton 35+ minutes per game, no team will pay Utah more than 1 FRP for him. He's not gonna start in any contending team and he's not as valuable as Caruso or Derrick White even if he's able to average 25 pts per game. Those numbers are all inflated.
@@chen-pangchang5154Before last night's game, in their last 5, these are George & Sexton's stats, per game:
George:
Mins: 24
PPG: 14
APG: 4.2
+/-: 6.6
TS%: 60
Sexton:
Mins: 22
PPG: 24
APG: 4.4
+/-: 12
TS%:73
Those stats don't say they're interchangeable, that Utah is making a mistake by not playing George more or that they'd be better off giving him more minutes.
@chen-pangchang5154
And that has nothing to do with what Hardy was talking about, so I assume you didn't watch the interview I suggested. 😃 I understand that it was a bit long and you might have not had time but it was funny that you still "answered" to my comment.
Hardy was talking for example of the fact that lockerroom is living breathing ecosystem and that he wants to build a culture and not make it feel like all the players are just props for a development of few guys. Also that he wrestles pretty much daily with the development versus winning aspect with the choices he makes. There were more too but that's some tidbits for you from the interview 🙂
No it’s Spo
Rick Carlyle should be coach of the year
It’s Spo
I had a thought the other day: Will Hardy, Mark Daigneault, or Chris Finch should win COTY. The first 2 are younger than LeBron...
Btw we Utah boys do go by Utahn
If only the Udoka scandal had come out a little sooner and Will Hardy hadn't gone to Utah yet... Mazzula isn't bad but the Celtics could be even more formidable
he is the BOAT 🎉
There Cleveland cavaliers of the West
"yes yes no" -> "no no YES!"
Finland is know for 2 things.
Nokia and Lauri Markkanen
Did Spoelstra die and I missed it?
This reminds me of some European plays.
No. Mark Daigneault is.
Spo
Jazz fans were going for Hardys head before THT got DNP'd to oblivion.. Don't forget that.
Ever mad scientist needs a crazy engineer...
He's 20 times better than Quin Snyder ALREADY.
why everybody saying spo?
Because he is clearly the best coach in the NBA and has done more than any coach in NBA history with far less talent.
@@b111x I understand that but this szn specifically is it more than usual or is it long overdue? i haven’t followed the heat alot
@@lowEyez95 Erik Spoelstra has never won coach of the year. This season in particular, they have been more injury prone than every single contender in the league including the Cavs who have been missing Garland and Mobley. So much in fact that Miami has still yet to have 1 fully healthy game all year and now we are halfway through the season. All this for Miami to likely get back to the conference finals for the 4th time in 5 years. It’s long overdue that he gets his respect.
Who's saying that. I've heard of the Timberwolves and Thunder coaches, I think Spo is more of a reach this season. I mean, he's been elite every season, and yes, i wouldn't be surprised if he's been the legit best coach every year, but good team records do help a lot to tell who"s gonna do better come awards time if they have a level of talent somewhat similar to that of Spo.
No. Hope this helps.
It's a big help.
SHM Darvin ham is the best coach.
No OKC Thunder's coach is.
37 - 45 and 31 - 51 is not "the best coach" in the NBA.
Kris Dunn analytics jump off the page
sum weeks ago luka smoked his ass and he got mad 🤡
SIMONEFONTECCHIO
Will hardy the best coach in NBA is just a laughable statement. Jazz are in 12 place in the standings and in the game tonight the jazz are down forty at halftime. He's lost the team.
nope its Joe Mazzulla
like
SIMONEFONTECCHIOMVP
daigneault is better
that's how basketball is played in euroleague, hardy is not doing anything special
no
Saying anyone outside of Spo is the best coach shows a lack of iq
I want the Warriors to get Lauri, think of how that man would function with Steph, Draymond, and whoever's left. He'd be great in that system.
no love for kris dunn ;(
Oh, Dunn gets lot of love in the full episode.
@@ThinkingBasketballomw to watch it now!!!11!1!!
i remember when luka smoked him and he got mad 🤡