Taylor Hendricks Sounds Off on Jazz Rookies

The Utah Jazz did have their fair share of pitfalls during the 2024-25 regular season en route to their brutal 17-65 record, good for last in the NBA standings.

But with it, the team also saw valuable upside and growth from their rookie class from the previous summer.

By bringing in Kyle Filipowski, Isaiah Collier, and Cody Williams to the fold, the Jazz put together three new and appealing pieces for their long-spanning rebuild process, and while each have seen their respective hiccups, as all young players do, all three have shown some intriguing upside to boost a bit of confidence in what's to come, and especially in the mind of those frequently in the building.

The latest to speak on the Jazz's trio of rookies was second-year forward Taylor Hendricks, who had nothing but positive things to say about what's he's seen from Utah's fresh batch of talent based on their rookie seasons.

"They all bring something different," Hendricks said during his end-of-season presser. "With Flip, his versatility... he's able to do everything on the court. He can score the ball like crazy, rebound, defend. Then, Isaiah, being a pure point guard for us, really being able to push the tempo and get us into our offense and set the tone. And then, Cody [Williams], his length being very valuable to us. We can really use him defensively. So, just things like that. They all bring something different to the team."

For the Jazz's first-year talent, it's been a decent campaign in showing the appeal of what's to come soon from this core.

Filipowski has been one of the most versatile young bigs as one of the best steals in the second round, Collier could have an opportunity to be Utah's full-time starting point, and while Williams has been more of a project than the latter two, his two-way upside and increasing comfortability in the second half of the season could help things trend in the right direction.

With those steps forward from Utah's young foundation in mind, it does help look at this franchise-worst Jazz campaign with a glass-half-full approach. Sure, Utah's had no shortage of struggles in the standings, but alongside it has come positive growth from the mentioned batch of first-year guys, giving this rebuild a stable base to build around for the foreseeable future.

Hendricks and the rest of the Jazz roster and staff have been seemingly pleased with their first impressions of the 2024 rookie class, and perhaps heading into their coming second season, the stage could be set for another step forward for one or multiple members of the young trio.