Walker Kessler's early-season frustrations come into focus in Jazz loss to Suns

Walker Kessler immediately bent over in frustration.

He had just thrown a poor pass that resulted in a fastbreak opportunity for the Phoenix Suns, and it was one mistake too many. He put his hands on his knees and could only watch as Grayson Allen attacked the rim on the other end.

That was just one of a few times Kessler's disappointment boiled to the surface during the Suns' 126-104 blowout win over Utah at Footprint Center in Phoenix Saturday.

Kessler wasn't the reason the Jazz lost to the undermanned Suns. There were plenty of reasons — the most abhorrent being the 19 turnovers (and the 30 points that came from them) and sending Phoenix to the free-throw line 28 times — but there's no doubt Kessler hasn't had the start to the season he or anyone else expected.

This is a player, after all, who is fresh off an All-Rookie season and spent the summer training with the United States' FIBA World Cup. Everything seemed to be setting up for a breakout year for Kessler.

That still may come, it just hasn't yet.

Kessler scored just 2 points, grabbed five rebounds and committed three turnovers Saturday, and was far from the defensive anchor he's shown he can be with the Jazz.

Saturday's performance followed back-to-back disappointing efforts to start the season. In Friday's win over the LA Clippers, Kessler finished with 7 points and four rebounds, and had a mostly non-impactful 8 points and eight rebounds in the season-opener.

"I know Walker's really frustrated right now," Jazz coach Will Hardy said.

He's frustrated because his performance is not what he envisioned coming out of the gate, and frustrated over the simple miscues he's made. Hardy, though, has offered up some words of support for the starting big man.

"He has had some unfortunate moments — ball slips through his hands, fumbles of catches he normally makes, he is a split second later on a block shot that maybe he's gotten before — but it's a time for Walker to understand that this league is really hard, and tough moments, tough stretches can happen to any player," Hardy said. "Right now, he just happens to be having one at the beginning of this season."

And the fact that they are happening early can put a bigger microscope on the struggles. After all, a poor three-game stretch in January doesn't get the same focus when you've spent two months putting up consistent double-doubles.

"You want to start the season with just a take off moment, and it doesn't always work that way," Hardy said.

The good news is Hardy doesn't think there needs to be any grand change to turn things around. Kessler proved who he was last season.

"This doesn't mean that his next three games can't be amazing," Hardy said. "We all know what Walker's capable of."

Hardy hinted that some of Kessler's early-season struggles could potentially be attributed to some added pressure he's putting on himself. After what he showed in the latter part of his rookie year, there was obvious excitement from Jazz fans and the NBA world at large about what was in store for his second season in the league.

Hardy called that "natural" and that it was clear that Kessler thought — or at least hoped — that he would hit the ground running as soon as the opening tip went up.

But three games don't make a season — no matter if they occur at the beginning of the season, the middle, or the end. And regardless of the slow start, Hardy sees no reason why Kessler still can't have the season so many expected of him.

"His work hasn't changed. He's still in the gym working really hard — on his body, on his game," Hardy said. "He's still watching a lot of film. But Walker is hard on himself, and it's our job to help him get better and to also support him in tough moments and just say, this is the way the NBA works. There are tough stretches that happen all the time."

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