Kessler’s second NBA season: ‘Close to being overheated’

[aubiefifty 18,114]

 

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Walker Kessler’s second NBA season: ‘Close to being overheated’

Updated: May. 30, 2024, 8:10 a.m.|Published: May. 30, 2024, 8:00 a.m.

4–5 minutes

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During the 2023-24 NBA season, Utah won fewer games than it did the previous season for the third year in a row, and Jazz center Walker Kessler did not build on his promising rookie campaign.

But while it was a season that Kessler said had the elements to make him “fall off the deep end and be crazy and maybe have like a patch of hair missing or something,” the former Auburn standout said he was not discouraged.

“Definitely was an interesting year,” Kessler said. “I think personally definitely saw the hills and valleys, a lot of ups and downs. But I learned a lot this year. I learned a lot about myself, about the team, and just trying to go into the offseason taking what I can from this season and trying to improve. …

“I learned that I need to give myself a lot of grace -- and I did a lot better at that towards the end of the year -- and understanding that the path I want to get to – the best possible player I can be – is not going to be just a straight going up. And understanding that, not to be discouraged by difficult times or times where I don’t see where I’m supposed to get what I’m supposed to get.”

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Kessler said he learned those things “by going through it,” particularly Utah’s 13-game losing streak. The Jazz beat the Atlanta Hawks 124-122 on March 15 and didn’t win again until downing the Houston Rockets 124-121 on April 11.

“You can either crash and burn,” Kessler said, “or look for a good out of it and try to learn from it and try to apply it and understanding that it’s not going to be, like I said, a steady incline. Kind of trial by fire, if you will. …

“I won’t say I’ve been close to crashing and burning, but I’ve been close to being overheated and a little turbulence. Everyone’s gone through difficult times this year and so just trying not to let that control you too much. But, obviously, you’re going to react in some way because we all are human.”

As a rookie, Kessler averaged 9.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks while playing in 74 games, with 40 starts. Kessler started the final 34 games that he played and averaged 11.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 2.9 blocks in that span.

Kessler was a member of the NBA All-Rookie team and finished third in the voting for the KIA NBA Rookie of the Year Award for the 2022-23 season.

Utah had a 37-45 record in Kessler’s rookie season. This season, the Jazz finished at 31-51.

In 2023-24, Kessler averaged 8.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while playing in 64 games with 22 starts. He finished second in the NBA in blocked shots per game.

Kessler started the first eight games of the season before missing the next seven with an elbow-ligament sprain. He missed the final six games of the season because of a broken nose. Between the injuries, Kessler’s longest stretch of starts lasted four games.

“Obviously, nobody likes inconsistency,” Kessler said, “and so trying to learn how to go through with that and learn that you can only control what you can control on any given night. And for me, that was a big learning curve because I had never been used to that. And so, like I said before, it’s the same thing: You can either react one way – crash and burn -- or try to figure it out. And so I took the latter approach.”

Between his NBA seasons, Kessler played for the United States team in the FIBA World Cup. He said he’s looking forward to an open offseason.

“It’s not even about the relaxing part more so as being in my own base camp between here and Atlanta and just working,” Kessler said. “Not having to worry about FIBA or anything right now. I’m very, very looking forward to it.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

[keeperoftheplains 153]

I had high hopes for Will Hardy. However, last season he couldn't find his *** with both hands.  That lineup was all over the place.  I'm leaning toward wanting the Jazz to trade him.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,992]

Not a great year, even as far as a tanking team that cared nothing about winning for half the season goes. Having a promising 20ish year old that you drafted with a lottery pick sit behind John Collins was just nonsensical to me. I guess they were inflating his value to eventually trade him, but Kessler looked like a pretty middling player as a result of the various experiments they tried. Not to mention they didn’t have a PG iirc