Ace Bailey, or at least his former representation, seemingly did everything possible to not get drafted by the Utah Jazz. Bailey reportedly had “preferred” destinations which may or may not have influenced a few teams that were in position to take him in June’s draft. But Utah decided the talent was too great to pass up — even against the looming threat of Bailey not reporting to camp or just being a general malcontent — and took him with the No. 5 overall pick.
So far, this looks to have been a very smart decision.
For starters, there have been nothing but positive reports about Bailey’s attitude. Teammate Kyle Anderson has called Bailey’s positivity “infectious,” while coach Will Hardy has praised the 19-year-old’s “willingness to ask questions” and ability to “see the game and learn on the fly.”
With the obvious qualifier that we’re talking about preseason basketball, and just two games at that, Bailey has looked extraordinary on the court so far. Over 70 minutes against the Rockets and Spurs, Bailey has put up 45 points on 19-of-29 shooting.
Impressive numbers, obviously. But it’s the way those shots are coming, within what is clearly a concerted effort on the part of the Jazz to put Bailey in his most optimal scoring positions, that is putting to bed what was one of the universal concerns about his game in college.
That concern was that his offense came very hard. Everything was contested. Part of this was because Rutgers, outside of No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper, didn’t have anyone capable of drawing defensive attention away from Bailey. But it was also a problem that Bailey was so bothered by the pressure he did face.
Now, when we say bothered, it doesn’t mean he couldn’t score against pressure. He could. And he can. Bailey’s ability to bail himself out with tough shots was perhaps the biggest feather in his draft cap. But in the NBA, making tough shots off whirling spins into mid-range fades cannot be the first page of your survival guide. Sustained, efficient scoring only happens when you are operating in breathable enough airspace to access consistently clean looks.
If you can’t cleanly and consistently create that space for yourself, via your own handle (which is something we know Bailey has thus far struggled to do, as evidenced by his alarmingly high turnover rate against pressure in college), then it has to be created for you. And that’s what the Jazz are doing for Bailey.
Rather than asking him to start from a stationary position and create advantages in isolation, the Jazz are putting Bailey on the move so that by the time he catches the ball he is either already in, or quickly moving toward, open space. From there, he only requires one or two pressure-free dribbles to get right into a clean shot.
This approach was on beautiful display in Bailey’s preseason debut against the Rockets.
In Game 2, it was more of the same against the Spurs.
What you’ll notice is that in all those buckets, only one came out of isolation (and even in that one he got to his spot at the elbow with exquisite efficiency and footwork, requiring just three dribbles punctuated by a luscious spin move). In fact, Bailey has needed just 28 total dribbles to get off his 29 preseason shots so far.
You don’t have to be a genius to do the math here. That’s fewer than one dribble per shot. That is prime Klay Thompson stuff. Bailey isn’t the all-time distant threat Thompson is and he’s a better athlete, but the common theme between the two is that they’re at their best when they’re catching balls on the move rather than starting from scratch.
Bailey may well evolve as an individual creator (in fact, he almost certainly will), and when he does it should allow him to get to the rim and free-throw line more. Some people are already saying they see a young T-Mac, which is lofty but perhaps not unwarranted. But for now, Bailey is clearly most comfortable as a mid-range scorer on minimal dribbling (a more athletic Rip Hamilton should have everyone in Utah very excited), and it cannot be overstated how smart it is that the Jazz are positioning him in accordance with that talent until the rest of his arsenal comes around.
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