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Kyle Anderson says the important thing is that Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy hasn't changed much since his days with the San Antonio Spurs.

Will Hardy, head coach of the Utah Jazz, smiles at a question as he speaks at an end of season press conference at the Zions Bank Basketball Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, April 14, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

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Back in 2014, when Kyle Anderson was drafted 30th overall by the San Antonio Spurs, a young Will Hardy was cutting his teeth in the video room working toward joining the Spurs coaching staff.

Hardy eventually joined the coaching ranks and Anderson was in the early days of what is an 11-year NBA career (and still going). Now, the basketball world has brought the two back together with the Utah Jazz. Of course, inquiring minds wanted to know how much Hardy has changed since those early days as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich.

“I haven’t really seen a difference,” Anderson said. “Will, being in San Antonio, was very insightful, very helpful. You can always go to him and ask him questions, he’s an open book. When it comes to being personable, he’s been the same thing here as the head coach. Probably, with obviously a little bit more authority. But there hasn’t been one change I’ve seen in Will.”

Hardy has learned more and certainly his ideas about the on-court product have changed over the years. But importantly, his personality hasn’t.

Popovich once said that Hardy’s greatest super power was that he is approachable and able to connect with all different types of people in a way that was unique and special.

Those are characteristics that weren’t always at the top of the list when it came to finding a good head coach for professional sports. It used to be about résumé, competitiveness, doggedness. These days, the competitiveness is still necessary, but so is knowing how to bring people together and connect.

“I think it just brings a different type of confidence out of you when you have a guy like Will, who can sometimes shut basketball off and have a conversation with you off the court,” Anderson said. “Just makes you want to play harder for a guy like that, who has your back, as opposed to ... those coaches who I feel they’re long gone in this league. They’re just not approachable, they only focus on basketball. That’s like the old-school style of coaching.”

Though Hardy is now 37 (still young in the NBA coaching world) and has grown and changed in many ways, players are finding that in the most important ways, Hardy is still the same guy he was when he was climbing up the NBA coaching ladder.

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