Utah Jazz: What you probably didn’t know about the Jazz 3 draft

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During Thursday’s 2023 NBA draft, the Utah Jazz selected UCF’s Taylor Hendricks with the ninth pick, Baylor’s Keyonte George with the 16th pick and Ohio State’s Brice Sensabaugh with the 28th pick.

Interestingly, all three players are connected by more than the fact that they will all don a Jazz uniform.

A native of Orlando, Fla., Sensabaugh grew up playing AAU with Hendricks, who is from Fort Lauderdale. Not only are they familiar with being teammates, but they also experienced intense competition. As a senior in high school, Hendricks’ Calvary Christian team beat Sensabaugh’s Lake Highland Prep 62-60 in the Florida 4A state semifinals in 2022. Hendricks’ team then won the state title that season for the second straight year.

While Sensabaugh and Hendricks have been friends and kept in touch throughout the draft process, it is the draft process that brought Sensabaugh and George together. Both players are represented by the same agency, Wasserman, so they have been training together for the past month and have become close.

When asked to describe the other two, Sensabaugh said Hendricks lights up every room he’s in, adding that Jazz fans will be very happy with the team’s newest players.

“You have three good, very good personalities and people who are willing to work,” he said.

So what are these guys like when they’re not on the field?

Well, Sensabaugh said his mother made sure he was a good student in high school and college, so when he wasn’t playing basketball, he was in the books. But lately he’s gotten a little more into fashion.

“I like clothes and fashion,” he said. “Whether it’s like thrifting or going to flea markets or things like that. That’s pretty cool to me. I used to play video games a lot, but not so much anymore. Being from Florida with good weather, I just like being out in nature and whatnot. Utah is like a completely different landscape, so I think it would be cool to be out there with the mountains and stuff.”

He’ll be in good company, as George looks forward to taking his dog Duke out to explore what Utah has to offer.

“The mountains are crazy out there,” George said. “I like hiking. I have a Doberman so it will be fun to take him for walks.”

It feels like too often prospects say they’re really into music or watching sports and that doesn’t really give insight into their personalities, but with Sensabaugh and George, they showed they have some different interests.

But don’t worry, Hendricks also had a funny answer when asked what he likes to do when he’s not on the basketball court.

“I like to bowl, so I hope there are some bowling alleys near the gym,” Hendricks said. “I like watching movies, preferably thrillers, mind games. And I like music. I heard that Usher is performing in Las Vegas, so I will try to go to the concert … I hope the coach will let me.”

New with Jazz

This week on ‘Unsalvageable’

check out “Irreparable,” with Deseret News Utah Jazz hosted by reporter Sarah Todd and lifelong jazz fan Greg Foster (no, not that Greg Foster).

Tune in this weekend to hear the crew recap the 2023 NBA draft and react to the Jazz’s three picks.

New episodes are released every week. You can listen along Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and anywhere else you stream podcasts.

How to get through the off-season

I’ll be honest, when the team I cover has three first-round draft picks, there’s a lot of work and preparation that needs to be done on my end, and the week leading up to the draft was busy.

Well, my preparation for the draft has actually kept me pretty busy for the past six weeks, but I’d be lying if I said it felt like work. I love watching film on college prospects and digging around for information on them. I love re-watching college games and seeing where the strengths and weaknesses are in a player’s game and trying to project what they would look like in the NBA.

I’m an absolute hoops geek, so preparing for the draft is one of my favorite times of the year, and because the Jazz had so many first-round picks, that meant I had to have a pretty deep understanding of the players. available in this class.

Now that the draft is over, I really can’t wait to see them all play. I can’t wait for Summer League and I can’t wait to see which players go above and beyond what is expected of them or fall short of expectations.

So really, one of the ways I pass the time in the off-season is preparing for the next season.

Statistics of the week

When the Utah Jazz were drafted Taylor Hendricks ninth overall in the 2023 NBA draft, he became UCF’s highest drafted player ever. He is the University of Central Florida’s first lottery pick.

From the archives

Extra points

• What Keyonte George Brings to Jazz (Deseret News)
• Despite injury history, Jazz see big potential with Brice Sensabaugh (Deseret News)
• Ahead of the draft, a Q&A with Jazz vice president of player personnel (Deseret News)

Around the league

Marcus Smart to Memphis, Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics in three-way trade.

Chicago Bulls don’t expect Lonzo Ball to play in the 2023-24 season.

Kawhi Leonard had a knee procedure but is expected to be ready for training camp.

Chris Paul traded to the WarriorsJordan Poole to the Wizards.

Next: SLC Summer League

3 July | 17.00 | Memphis Grizzlies vs. Philadelphia 76ers |
3 July | 19.00 | Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Utah Jazz |
5 July | 17.00 | Memphis Grizzlies vs. Oklahoma City Thunder |
5 July | 19.00 | Philadelphia 76ers vs. Utah Jazz |
July 6 | 17.00 | Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Philadelphia 76ers |
July 6 | 19.00 | Memphis Grizzlies vs. Utah Jazz |

*Radio and TV broadcast information will be announced at a later date.