This summer, third-year guard Keyonte George sent a message to Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy, asking if it was OK for him to take the rest of the players on the team on a trip for a week.

“The answer is, of course,” Hardy said. “In general, the best teams I’ve been around have had really good human connection. And I think our guys are really trying to build that by spending a lot of time around each other.”

A number of the Jazz’s younger players spent the majority of the offseason in Utah, continuing their training and practicing on a regular basis at Zions Bank Basketball Campus and various places around Salt Lake.

That was already a huge bonus for the Jazz. The young core of the team wanted to be in Utah and was willing to dedicate themselves to extended work in the gym. But, George wa

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