MILWAUKEE – The Utah Jazz lost 123-100 to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, but fans’ negative reaction to the game wasn’t due to the incredible disparity in fast break points (39-9), continued Jazz turnovers or the fact that the Bucks used the Jazz as a way to get back on track after a miserable start to the season.

Instead, fans on social media were up in arms over some of the team’s rotation decisions. The short version is that fans were upset that Kyle Filipowski and Isaiah Collier only got garbage time minutes.

But I think to get a more accurate picture of what happened, we should go back a little bit and look at what happened before Thursday night.

Before Taylor Hendricks broke his leg, Lauri Markkanen missed three games with back spasms, and Jordan Clarkson missed a couple of games with nagging plantar fasciitis, Filipowski wasn’t in the Jazz’s regular rotation, and before Thursday , Collier had not played a single minute. of NBA basketball because he was suffering from a hamstring strain.

As the Jazz went through training camp and the preseason, it seemed pretty clear that there could be some cases where a couple of young players would spend some time in the G League so they could run around while the Jazz focused. of NBA development over other young players.

Roster injuries changed the plan quite a bit at the start of the season and gave Filipowski some room to get some legitimate minutes at a time when he otherwise wouldn’t have.

On Thursday, Markkanen and Clarkson returned to the lineup. Markkanen’s return was going to take someone out of the rotation. Drew Eubanks got the minutes that many fans believed should have gone to Filipowski.

Collier was also cleared to make his NBA debut, and fans took offense to the fact that Patty Mills played 16 minutes and Collier only entered for the final four minutes of a blowout.

Frankly, I don’t think anyone needs to explain that Collier doesn’t play. He didn’t have a great performance during the preseason, there are big question marks about him as an NBA player and his first regular season practice with the Jazz was yesterday.

He’ll almost certainly get an opportunity down the road, but on Thursday there’s no reason to believe he’d be entitled to minutes, much less a significant role.

Still, I asked Jazz head coach Will Hardy what went into the rotation decisions after the game and here’s what he said:

“We’re trying to create a lot of different combinations with the big guys to figure out what works best for all of them. Kyle has been very well behaved. There are a lot of games to play and Kyle will play a lot and he knows it. Obviously, Lauri’s return to the mix is ​​a huge factor for Kyle based on his position. We’re trying to figure out the best way to bring Lauri back into the fold and what kind of positions we want to put Kyle in. Nothing is ever set in stone when it comes to our lineups and rotations. “We also look at who we are playing and what we think impacts that game.”

Hardy was then asked how he balances development with balancing rotations and all the other factors that go into these decisions. I think what’s important in Hardy’s response is his attention to what happens behind closed doors and how those things are perceived by all the players on the team.

There are practices, film sessions, training sessions, shootouts and extra races that no one outside can see, and to maintain credibility as a coaching staff, in addition to driving the value of a competitive culture, there has to be accountability and a sense that things are earned, while development is prioritized.

That means this can’t simply become a development camp where the youngest players on the team get the most minutes no matter what.

Honestly, we’ve seen what happens when NBA teams have given the keys to young players who aren’t being guided or at least held accountable by some older players, and those young players don’t always do very well.

“I have a long-term vision in mind for all of these guys,” Hardy said. “The reality is that we can’t play against all the young people every night. That’s not how it’s going to work… This notion that just getting minutes helps you improve is not true. Playing for the sake of playing doesn’t just make you better. That’s why we have practices. That’s why we have the G League… we’re going to use all our resources to help all these guys get better.

“I understand the feeling of ‘Why didn’t Kyle play tonight?’ But we also have to maintain that this is a team and that we are 18 guys that are in the locker room every night, and they see what happens in practices, and they see what happens in games, and we have to maintain a standard of Por For example, doing your job well means you get to play a little.”

Let’s imagine being a veteran on the roster. Imagine there have been several days in a row where Clarkson, Eubanks, Mills and others have been absolutely killing rookies and other young players in practice.

Imagine the amount of time and no-complaint commitment many of the veterans on this team have invested no matter the situation (like being on a team built to lose).

Still, George, Williams and Kessler are in the starting lineup and Filipowski got a chance thanks to some unfortunate injuries. At some point, Eubanks probably deserves to be thrown a bone and Clarkson deserves his time on the court.

But even if you, as a fan, still don’t believe that to be true, imagine being one of the veterans in that locker room and how insignificant all the hard work behind the scenes would be if the Jazz’s seven youngest players were simply talented. minutes every night.

Hardy has to make sure he doesn’t have a wardrobe that implodes with anger and feelings of being abandoned or feeling like trying doesn’t matter. That’s not the lesson he wants young players to learn either.

“I think if anyone is going to have an emotional reaction to who plays each night, it’s going to be a really tough year,” Hardy said. “We have a lot of young players and that means we have to think about the big picture of the team, the future and each of these guys individually.

“I think just saying without understanding that the seven young men are going to play every night is not going to work… but I can promise you that my number one focus every day and my number one focus for the rest “The best of the season will be develop all these young players.

And Thursday was only the eighth game of the season, so let’s give all this some time.