Lauri Markkanen on Jazz struggles: ‘It’s about keeping that long-term mindset’
With a 10-17 record in 27 games to start the season, the Utah Jazz are on the outside of the playoffs looking in, but that doesn’t scare Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen. The Finnish forward believes in the Jazz’s long-term rebuild.
“I just want to emphasize that I really believe in what we’re building here with the Jazz,” Markkanen recently said, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. “So we’d like to be there. We like the environment. It’s a pretty comfortable place to be.”
Only a year ago, Utah finished 12th in the Western Conference with a record of 37-45, thanks to Markkanen’s breakout year. After the Jazz traded away Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, they were projected to be one of the worst teams in the league. Last season, the 26-year-old forward finished the season with a career year, posting 25.6 points per game on 50 percent shooting from the field and nearly 40 percent from deep.
Now the Jazz are in a hole that is always hard to climb out of, being 4.5 games back of the Phoenix Suns for the fourth-and-final play-in spot.
“I try to look at the big picture,” Markkanen said. “Obviously, we haven’t had the easiest start to the year, but I think it’s about keeping that long-term mindset … and trying to get better every day. Of course, we want to win every game, but even when you lose, I think there’s things that we can learn and get better at.
“It’s not the easiest start … We just have to try to get more together and hopefully, we can grab a couple of these wins.”
Markkanen and his fellow big man John Collins have been names that have popped up in trade rumors in the previous weeks. But after being traded three times already in his career, the 7’0 forward knows the business behind basketball.
“I kind of learned the business side of basketball,” he said. “I’ve kind of learned to just go day by day and really put the work in and try to play to the best of my abilities and whatever happens, happens.”
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