The Utah Jazz's Keyonte George has certainly progressed throughout his first season in the NBA. The scoring potential was always there, even going back to November.
But now in March, George has seemingly shored up a starting spot for Utah, pushing guard Kris Dunn to the bench.
There's reason to that, as George provides a scoring boost to complement Colin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen wonderfully. Even before then, the 20-year-old rookie was putting up some solid numbers off the bench, dropping 13.5 points throughout the month of December and 11.1 in January.
Since his role increased from February into March, he's been showcasing what he's capable of in 30-plus minutes a night. Shooting 42.1% from three and 43.2% overall in February, his 14.9 points per game with a 33-point performance trickled in has again displayed the type of scoring power that George holds as a young, 6-foot-4 guard in this league.
And in the last week or so, he's bolstered that case even more despite missing a contest due to illness.
A 31-point outing on 12-of-23 shooting and six threes in a narrow loss to the Miami Heat shows how he's able to score in high volume and do it efficiently against a strong defensive team. On Saturday in a 21-point loss to the Denver Nuggets, George nearly constructed another 30-point game, notching 29 points on 10-for-17 from the field along with sinking five triples on eight attempts.
This is an essential stretch for George down the line. With the Jazz sitting just outside of Play-In contention having a 28-36 record in the West, reaping all the benefits from his time on the floor is great for his overall development into his sophomore season.
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