Editor’s note: First in a series of stories evaluating and grading every player that was on the Jazz’s final 2022-23 roster.
The Utah Jazz were in a really unique spot this season with the construction of the roster. With so many new and unproven players and so many players that had never played together, a lot of the season was spent navigating some learning curves.
That didn’t leave a ton of room for discovery when it came to the Jazz’s players on two-way contracts, Johnny Juzang and Micah Potter.
Make no mistake, the Jazz coaching staff was tracking the development of Juzang and Potter all season long. For SLC Stars games that they played in, if the Jazz staff was not able to attend, the coaches were provided with film. When the players were part of extended scrimmages during or after Jazz practice, there was film of those that was reviewed as well.
The Jazz staff saw much more of Juzang and Potter than the average Jazz fan, but even so, their minutes with the Jazz, at the NBA level, were limited. And minutes in the NBA are not something that can be replicated.
So, when evaluating their progress, we have to go by what is concrete and what we know — what was seen either in the G League or in NBA minutes.
Johnny Juzang — Grade: Pass
What was clear and obvious for Juzang coming out of UCLA is that he is a natural scorer. He has a fluid and mechanically sound shot that doesn’t change much from the midrange out to the 3-point line. He finishes well around the rim, and he’s smart about what shots to take and not take.
On the eye test, that stayed relatively the same once he was with the Jazz. In his time with the Stars he shot the ball a lot and he hit from 3-point range at a 36.4% clip and shot 42.9% overall. That’s a little below where you’d want it to be from someone who has promise as a scorer, but it’s definitely not bad.
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Juzang didn’t actually get NBA minutes until Feb. 28, and he was used sparingly. So the fact that he only shot 33.3% from deep isn’t something that I would put a ton of stock in, considering the nerves and lack of familiarity he was working with.
What is concerning when watching Juzang, whether in a game or in scrimmages, is that he still has a lot of room for improvement with his ballhandling and passing, which are two pretty important parts of the game, especially if you are likely going to end up being a spot-up shooter who needs to involve the rest of the team.
It’s probably not fair to make an overall judgment about Juzang based on the limited time that he was able to play (17 games with the Stars, 22 games with the Jazz), especially considering that much of the season Juzang was nursing a really bad wrist sprain.
But, with that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jazz want to take a chance on a different player next season with one of their two-way spots.
Micah Potter — Grade: Pass
We got to see even less of Potter this season. He also played in 17 G League games with the Stars but only saw NBA action seven times this season. In his final game of the season with the Jazz (the second to last Jazz game of the season), it was the first time he played more than 10 minutes.
But, even in limited minutes and spending most of his time in the G League, Potter showed some flashes that really piqued interest.
Most notably, as a center/forward, Potter went 4 for 7 from deep in his Jazz minutes, and a really impressive and consistent 40.6% from 3-point range in the G League while shooting 52.9% overall.
I don’t want to pretend that we know that much about Potter’s NBA game from seven garbage-time appearances. Like I said at the top, this was a strange season that required so much time dedicated to the 15-man roster that it left very little time for the two-way players. If the Jazz wanted to give Potter another two-way deal, it wouldn’t be surprising to me. But I would also understand, as with Juzang, if the Jazz wanted to get a deeper look at someone else.