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LAIE, Hawaii — After the Jazz broke a huddle at center court, Lauri Markkanen, John Collins and Walker Kessler meandered over to the east side basket of BYU Hawaii's Cannon Activity Center.
Following in tow were Talen Horton-Tucker and Keyonte George. That five-man group began running through sets together.
So that settles it, right? Horton-Tucker and the rookie are in the starting backcourt. Case closed.
Well, not exactly.
"We mix it every day," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "Three days in, we've tried to give that group a good shuffle every day."
After all, this is a battle Hardy likened to "The Hunger Games." It was never going to be decided after just a couple practices. George and Horton-Tucker got the run with the starters Thursday during an open scrimmage, which was more of a coincidence than anything else.
If the Jazz would have opened the doors for the Tuesday or Wednesday sessions, if would have been a different pair running alongside Markkanen, Collins and Kessler.
"We let them play with a different person each day and just see what it looks like," Hardy said. "Let them feel each other out, let our staff take a look at them. It's been good."
Hardy isn't in a rush to name starters. Yes, he will have to trot out a couple guards for Sunday's preseason opener against the Los Angeles Clippers in Honolulu, but even that decision should be taken with a grain of salt. By that point, the Jazz will have gone through a grand total of four practices as a team. That is to say, change can come at anytime.
"It's still too early to tell. We don't have enough of a sample size yet to to make a real decision on it." Hardy said. "But for me, the nice part is I don't think any of the combinations have looked bad. Nothing has stood out as like, 'Oh, that really isn't ever gonna fit.' There's different things that different pairings can do, and we had to solidify those things as a staff. But in general, it's exciting to know that you have that flexibility."
So is there a timeline to figure out rotations on the guard line?
"Before we actually know what we're talking about? Probably like 20 games," Hardy said. "We, obviously, have to make decisions sooner than that. We'll have to make adjustments along the way."
So the beginning of the season could potentially mirror the start of camp. One game it could be George and Horton-Tucker, the next it could be Kris Dunn and Collin Sexton, and so on and so on.
"Everyone here is here for a reason," Sexton said.
Hardy's job is to determine just what those reasons are.
"There's cases to be made for all these guys," Hardy said. "We just know, as a staff, that over 82 games we are gonna need everybody. And we've got to figure out what everybody does best so that when their opportunity to help us comes in, we're ready to put them in the best spot."
