Kennedy Chandler Turns Heads in Jazz Debut vs 76ers

Kennedy Chander Pops for Career-High 19 Points vs. 76ers

The big game also landed some notable praise from Jazz head coach Will Hardy following the loss, who, despite the end result, was pleased with what he saw from Chandler, who had an extremely quick turnaround to go from the G League to now being slotted for 37 minutes as a primary ball handler for an NBA offense.

"He scored 19 points, but I thought he made a lot of really good decisions," Hardy said postgame. "I thought he moved the ball great... He's got good feel for timing. There were very few plays where you felt like the pass was late to the weak side, on the kick-out."

"I thought he handled himself great. It's not easy to do what he just did; in terms of stepping in, and then, you're not in a role where you're off the ball. He's on the ball a lot at the beginning of the possessions, and that adds a layer of pressure, and puts you kind of in the spotlight. I thought he played great."

However, even with one strong performance now on Chandler's resume, he's certainly not going to let that performance deter him from easing up on his focus moving forward.

If anything, this outing is now even more fuel to keep his foot on the gas for the remainder of his 10-day contract with Utah.

"It gives me more hope. It gives me confidence. I got six games out of this 10-day [contract], so I don't want to just do good, just this one game. I need to finish out strong, all the games, play hard as I can, watch film, learn, and go from there. So if I don't get another opportunity or contracts. There's still a faith out there, still, people is watching me."

If his 37 minutes on the floor were any indication from the Jazz coaching staff, expect to see a whole lot more of Chandler in the time that remains of his 10-day contract. And if he performs well enough in those reps, he could find his way to even more time on the Jazz roster with another 10 days to close out the season.