Will Hardy isn't feeling comfortable in Year 2 — that's good news for Jazz fans

SALT LAKE CITY — Will Hardy wanted to quickly correct the record.

A reporter had asked him how it felt to be more comfortable now that he had a year under his belt. He understood the question; he just wasn't fully buying its premise.

"Well, I didn't say I was comfortable. You said that," the Jazz head coach said.

Yes, he has stronger and deeper relationships with the people he works with every day — players, assistant coaches, front office members, etc. — and there's more familiarity to, well, everything. He's more settled in, sure, but he woke up the morning of Utah's season-opener with the same anxious feeling he felt last season.

"I have nerves like anybody," Hardy said. "I think that's sort of what drives me, and I know that little bit of doubt kind of keeps me working, keeps the fire burning. So I never feel fully ready, if that makes sense."

Ready or not, the season's here.

The Jazz open up Hardy's second campaign with the Sacramento Kings Wednesday at the Delta Center (7 p.m. MDT, KJZZ), starting what will be at least a six-month roller coaster ride.

Will the Jazz be able to match last year's surprising start? Will someone emerge like Lauri Markkanen did a season ago? Will they fight for the playoffs? Everything feels like it's on the table.

The optimists — including those in the Jazz organization — often point to Utah's still-young coach as a key reason for their rosy outlook.

Markkanen's lip curved into a small smile when he was asked how things had been different in Hardy's second run-up to the season.

"Are you trying to throw me under the bus?" Markkanen jested to the group of reporters.

Moments earlier, Markkanen was bent over trying to catch his breath after a long practice. That has been a common scene over the last couple weeks.

"We've been going a little bit harder in practice this year trying to take that next next step as a team," Markkanen said. "I think he's been doing a great job of pushing us and kind of being a little bit even more demanding. … But I think he's the same good guy."

Bus avoided.

Hardy, though, is demanding of himself, too.

When he critiques the team — be it at practice or a film session — he'll make it a point to vocalize that he also shares a role in the criticism.

"I've told them like, 'I'm saying this for me, too. I'm saying it out loud so I hear it too,'" Hardy said.

He doesn't look at himself anywhere close to a finished product as a coach, and that feeling is maybe never more prevalent than when looks back at his first season.

He rewatches games and sees decisions that he wished he had back. He reviews old practice plans and sees things he wishes he would have done differently. He thinks back to how he communicated things or coached certain areas, and he can find a lot of things he feels he did wrong.

Yet, despite all that, it was still seen as a success.

"Our team exceeded expectations last year," Jazz executive Danny Ainge said. "For two reasons, not because of the amount of wins, but just how they played and how they grew as a team."

That was Hardy's doing. He got a group of players that felt like an island of castoffs and misfit toys to buy into a new coach and a new team. It was assumed the Jazz would be in the tanking race; they were in the playoff one instead.

Hardy hopes that same type of growth — for him and his team — is in store for his second season. Yes, because he is extremely competitive and, like most in the NBA, has a strong affinity for winning. But also, because he feels a responsibility to the fan base.

When he looks up at a sold-out Delta Center or gets approached by fans on the street, a realization hits him: "Oh my gosh, like I'm sort of caring for this thing that these people have loved forever."

That means something to him.

"You feel that pressure," he said. "These people really care about the team and you want to do right by them."

So comfortable? Hardly.

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