Utah Jazz promote Bryan Bailey to “front of the bench” and hire Sean Sheldon as an assistant coach

The Utah Jazz have promoted Bryan Bailey to lead assistant along with Alex Jensen and Lamar Skeeter.

Bailey had been on the coaching staff with Quin Snyder the last 3 years and was an assistant on the Salt Lake City Stars for 2 years before that. Bailey has also had coaching reps during Summer League, along with helping the team with player development. It’s also nice to see that Alex Jensen and Lamar Skeeter will stay with the team. Not only is it a good sign that the Jazz still have a good core of coaching, but it’s also nice to see that a lot of assistants have to be uprooted for Quin Snyder’s decision to leave.

Sean Sheldon comes from the San Antonio Spurs, where he was an assistant coach. Like coach Will Hardy, he also worked his way up in that organization, where he started as a video coordinator. Hopefully, that ability to scout other teams and players will benefit the Jazz or help them work with players to improve different elements of their game.

This doesn’t likely affect the decision by the Jazz whether they trade Donovan Mitchell or not, but it does show that they are still working to build a strong, young coaching staff, one that can be ready for the variety of challenges next season. If Donovan Mitchell stays, the Jazz will have a coaching staff ready to compete. If they make a move, it’s clear they have a strong group of development coaches that can help develop young players.

Probably the biggest takeaway from this is that the Jazz are making hires based on what’s best for the team. Multiple young coaches on the staff means the Jazz are willing to give young talent a chance to grow in the organization. It’s fun to see and should be an interesting storyline next season.