Three thoughts on the first week of the regular season from Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. This is what “not tanking” looks like

During the summer, I asked Will Hardy if he was excited to coach the Jazz this season, given president of basketball operations Austin Ainge’s declaration that the team wouldn’t be tanking.

“Very, very,” was Hardy’s two-word answer .

You see why through the season’s first week. This Jazz team looks significantly more competitive than last year’s version.

First, the team’s offense is a thing of beauty: It’s nearly entirely off-ball actions for Lauri Markkanen , Walker Kessler, and Kyle Filipowski, the Jazz’s three most efficient scorers. Over and over again, they run this off-ball stuff that gets defenders having to make choices.

One example: S

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