Heart break jazz nation coach in serious accident 

As Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy was preparing for Saturday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, he decided to put out a starting five that no one could have predicted — John Collins, Keyonte George, Ömer Yurtseven, Kris Dunn and Simone Fontecchio.

While Collins and George figured to be starting, and the players knew that there would be subs in the starting unit due to injury and illness for Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson, the other three were surprised but delighted when they learned the news on Saturday morning.

They were also eager to show that they belonged and eager to play their hearts out, which is exactly what Hardy was counting on.

Hardy could have chosen to play a number of other players in that starting unit — Walker Kessler, who was making his return on Saturday after missing three weeks with an injury; Ochai Agbaji, who has played in the starting unit six times this season; Talen Horton-Tucker, who started out the season in the starting unit; Collin Sexton, who has started in 223 NBA games; Kelly Olynyk, an 11-year NBA veteran.

Instead, Hardy chose two players who played in a combined 31 NBA games last year and a player who only moved to the NBA from overseas last season. And it worked.

No free minutes

Many times last season Hardy said that he didn’t “believe in free minutes,” that players don’t deserve to be on the court just because of their name or the size of their contract. Of course, last season the Jazz weren’t really concerned with winning so that philosophy never really materialized in a tangible way.

But this year, Hardy has not been secretive or sugar coated what he expects from his players or what can happen if he isn’t seeing improvement and effort.