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SALT LAKE CITY — Walker Kessler had an innocent smile as he swiveled his chair around in front of his locker.
"Are you guys wanting to talk to me?" the rookie center asked, noticing the small media crowd that was hanging out near him.
That wasn't the first question he asked on Tuesday night during the Utah Jazz's 111-104 preseason loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Vivint Arena. In fact, having plenty of queries is becoming Kessler's MO early in his first season in the NBA.
He hounds Kelly Oylynk for answers, seeks out advice from Cody Zeller, and even picks the brain of a guard like Mike Conley. To him, it's simple: He's entering a whole new chapter of his basketball life and he wants all the help he can get.
"Why wouldn't you ask questions, instead of just being quiet and kind of suffering by yourself," Kessler said. "I mean, some people think it's like a humbling thing to admit your faults, I guess I don't see it that way — see it as an opportunity to grow. So why wouldn't I pick someone's brain that has been here for 10 years?"
It's that approach that has helped him take advantage of early opportunities with the Jazz, and helped him turn a potentially frustrating evening into a memorable one.
Kessler finished with 12 points and seven rebounds and helped the Jazz cut what was once a 27-point Spurs lead down to 6 points with a furious fourth-quarter rally. He ended the night with nice defensive moments and consecutive rim-running dunks that energized the home crowd.
"It's always nice to see some success," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "He works really hard, he studies the game, he works with our assistants. Again, it's all about trying to accelerate his learning curve in any way that we can."
Tuesday appeared to help speed things up a bit for the center. The night ended with some memorable moments for Kessler but started with a lot of whistles.
Kessler first checked into the game at the 7:07 mark of the first quarter. Less than two minutes later, he went to the bench after picking up three quick fouls.
That, though, offered yet another learning experience for Kessler; suddenly coaches and teammates were showing him what he had just done wrong. He was taught how to better contest shots and how to better defend on face ups.
"I know this now, I didn't know this, I gotta have my butt to the sideline," Kessler said. "Like in college, I was so used to kind of just being in between the basket and the ball. But now it's about taking that hit with one arm, but not grabbing them. So it's a learning process."
Good thing Kessler has proven to be a quick learner. He took those early disappointments, tried to fix them and ended up having one of the best nights on what looked to be a forgettable night for the team.
Utah was trounced in the first half and gave up 39 points in the first quarter, and trailed by 16 going into halftime.
A lineup of Kessler, Jared Butler, Simone Fontecchio, Talen Horton-Tucker and Rudy Gay led a fourth-quarter charge — albeit against the Spurs' C-team — and made things interesting at the end.
"I think in the fourth quarter he really found his identity," Hardy said. "He stuck to keeping it simple, played defense without fouling, protected the rim rebound and then really ran because he can really get out and run the floor."
And continued the learning process that has helped him already solidify a spot in Hardy's rotation.
