When a team rebuilds, the primary focus is on finding the next cornerstone, for understandable reasons. That’s why the Utah Jazz are tanking for the second straight year. It’s not clear yet if they have their cornerstone, but while they’re still scrambling, they have their next sharpshooter in line, and his name is Brice Sensabaugh.
Sensabaugh has made a name for himself over the past year. After an insignificant rookie season, his massive improvement in his second year was impressive enough for the Jazz not to ignore him after he proved he was a flamethrower. The Ringer’s David Jacoby discussed the third-year Jazzman’s preseason shooting on “The Mismatch.”
“I’m watching this game and Brice Sensabaugh comes into the game, hits a three and hits another three. This guy hit six threes. Six for 10 from three to the point where the announcers lose it. The announcers just say, ‘Is anyone going to cover this guy?’ And then he starts doing heat checks, he misses some, but he’s taking contested threes, tough threes,” Jacoby said.
Jacoby said he wasn’t sure if Sensabaugh would excel, but he liked what he saw, to which Vernon said the Jazzman made himself stand out during Summer League.
Jacoby said the quiet part out loud about Sensabaugh: he can let him fly from three, but more than that, he’s not afraid to shoot the rock no matter what. That kind of confidence could help him become the sniper Utah needs as the team focuses on the playoffs again in the future.
Could Sensabaugh be more than that?
It’s worth noting that Sensabaugh is only now starting to catch the attention of national analysts, but earlier this year his style was compared to that of Georges Niang. Honestly, that’s not a bad comparison, as Niang has become one of the NBA’s best marksmen.
But what if that diminishes his potential a bit? If the Jazz got another Niang type with a late first-round pick, that’s a home run, but Sensabaugh has also shown some offensive finesse in his game. He can also put the ball in the basket. It may be a bit greedy, but Sensabaugh’s ceiling could be even higher if he shows he can capitalize on a few players.
There are players who have become reliable starters on playoff teams, even if they haven’t necessarily become stars. The Jazz had several over the years, including Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Ingles and Jeff Hornacek. No, Sensabaugh’s style isn’t quite the same as theirs, but he could be in their league before too long.
It might be expecting a little too much for him to be a star, but it might not be that unrealistic to think he could be a difference maker on a title team.
#Jazz #boy #quietly #turns #absolute #marksman