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SALT LAKE CITY — Same no-frills haircut. Same face shape. Same clean-shaven look.
Yep, there are definite similarities between Utah Jazz rookie center Walker Kessler and new coach Will Hardy.
Kessler has heard all the jokes — both from external and internal sources — about his somewhat striking resemblance to his new coach; and as a light-hearted gentle giant, he's enjoyed them.
"I've heard it all about me being his other brother or something, or his clone," Kessler said. "Let's face it, we've both got the same hairstyle. We've all got the same jaw line."
As for Hardy ... well, he wasn't aware of such talk until it was broached by a reporter earlier this week.
"Do I think ... " he said, beginning to repeat the query. "I honestly haven't thought about it until right now."
Hardy proudly stays off social media and hadn't seen some of the (in jest) claims that Kessler is his long-lost son, or that the two may just be the same person. Initially, Hardy was taken aback from the line of questions, but when reporters shared some of the jokes, he broke out a smile.
"That Walker and I haven't been in the same room — that's actually really funny," he said.
To add to the similarities, it appears Kessler already thinks like a coach, too.
Kessler was one of the most dominant NCAA rim protectors in recent memory where he averaged 4.6 blocks per game in his final year at Auburn, with a block rate that was the highest of any college basketball player in the past 14 seasons.
So what makes him so special on that end?
"Growth spurt, first off, that helped a lot," Kessler said.
Simple enough.
Height often plays the biggest factor in defending the rim; and at 7-foot-1, Kessler has plenty of that. That's not his only strength, though. After growing up playing one-on-one against guards as he never really stopped growing, he has an understanding of how guards want to play — and, likewise, how to attack them defensively.
He's just continued to add on to that knowledge as he's developed.
"With a lot of film comes a lot of analysis of that person you're playing," Kessler said.
If he has a guard that he knows that likes to shoot a pull-up jumper, he'll try to bait him into that shot while positioning himself to block it with his length. If the guard prefers a floater, he knows he can be aggressive when they start to slow down their drive.
"I took to heart trying to stop a whole team's offense and understanding what they're running, because as a big I'm kind of like the linebacker," he said. "I kind of see what they're running so I can call out players, call out screens. I not only have to understand what my big does, but I have to understand what the guard does.
"If I get switched off with this guard, what is he more likely to do? Is this guard really a shooter? Does he like to drive a lot? Does he like to make one drive and one quick change direction?"
He said it's "a lot" of film study to have that type of expertise, and now that process is beginning again with NBA players and teams.
"He has a lot of questions and he wants to be prepared," Hardy said of the young center. "He knows this is a big step for him going to the NBA, that it's going to be very different from playing in college. So he's been really diligent trying to learn as fast as he can with our assistants.
"There's a lot of things, as you guys know, that you just don't learn until you're out there and you actually feel it. So that's why training camp's really important for Walker."
Important for that and for letting people know that he and his new coach are, in fact, different people.
"I feel like coach should be complimented that he looks like me," Kessler said. "That's just my opinion."
Said Hardy: "Thank you for the compliment. I appreciate that."
