The Jazz are better built for the playoffs this year

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

The Jazz moved two of their system players, Georges Niang and Joe Ingles, in favor of players who are more athletic and more capable of attacking a switching defense.

They replaced a hobbled Derrick Favors with a sometimes-engaged Hassan Whiteside, so their defensive scheme in drop coverage is at least consistent.

They developed Trent Forrest to the point where he can play meaningful minutes and take defensive assignments against top-tier opposing guards.

They added some size and toughness in Rudy Gay and Eric Paschall, although I would reverse their roles in the pecking order tbh.

Their main defensive shortcoming is when they play Clarkson and Bogdanovic both at the same time. Clarkson gets blown by and Bogey is too slow laterally to rotate. They can improve this by playing Paschall or Forrest with Clarkson instead of Bogey, and by playing NAW with Bogey instead of Clarkson.

I think you're going to see Nickeil Alexander-Walker start to take some of Clarkson's minutes and touches on offense. Giving NAW some of Clarkson's minutes will replace a negative defensive player with a neutral one.

 

[Jingled]

Locke, is that you?

 

[rjfan]

Tbh, at this point just pray we don't get a killing matchup in the first (and posible second) round so that we be eliminated without a complete embarassment. Also to not suffer from injuries.

 

[KqWIN]

If you say we're better because we will (knock on wood) have Conley this time...sure. But I don't think we're better. You might think Gay and Whiteside are upgrades, and it would be hard for them not be over Niang and Favors last year, but Ingles was terrific last year. He was our third best player in the Clippers series. NAW has been one of the worst players in the entire NBA this season. He's probably not going to play, but if he does, chances are he won't help us.

I think our chances are about the same as last year, having said that, we absolutely should have beaten LAC last year. This a good team, but Quin was a severe limiting factor....as was the case in the DEN series. We also have a very flawed team with holes that cannot be fixed by coaching. Even if Quin was as good as the media says he is, our defensive talent is awful outside of Rudy.

Hoping for the best, but expecting more or less the same thing to happen because this is more or less the same team. If/when we lose, I pray we don't lose in such horribly embarrassing fashion again. Some things are embarrassing because they are unexpected, but some are embarrassing because they are obvious.

 

[KqWIN]

Just as a run down, we have

Favors -> Whiteside
Ersan -> Paschall
Niang -> Gay
Ingles -> NAW
Oni -> Forrest

I think Ingles is easily the biggest loss....but the biggest concern is that the guys who are back are the main players and those guys got absolutely annihilated on defense 2 years in a row. We have a talented team, but it's tilted toward offense in a huge way.

 

[Douchebag K]

We are better situated for the playoffs this year because Mike and Don’s legs work

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

If you say we're better because we will (knock on wood) have Conley this time...sure. But I don't think we're better. You might think Gay and Whiteside are upgrades, and it would be hard for them not be over Niang and Favors last year, but Ingles was terrific last year. He was our third best player in the Clippers series. NAW has been one of the worst players in the entire NBA this season. He's probably not going to play, but if he does, chances are he won't help us.

I think our chances are about the same as last year, having said that, we absolutely should have beaten LAC last year. This a good team, but Quin was a severe limiting factor....as was the case in the DEN series. We also have a very flawed team with holes that cannot be fixed by coaching. Even if Quin was as good as the media says he is, our defensive talent is awful outside of Rudy.

Hoping for the best, but expecting more or less the same thing to happen because this is more or less the same team. If/when we lose, I pray we don't lose in such horribly embarrassing fashion again. Some things are embarrassing because they are unexpected, but some are embarrassing because they are obvious.

Both Ingles and Royce get brought to a standstill against switching defenses. Ingles is a strictly pick-and-roll player or a spot-up shooter. I can't agree that he had a good Clippers series, though he did okay as a makeshift point guard.

Jazz are still vulnerable to matchups that minimize Gobert's defensive impact. The Warriors would be a tough matchup for that reason. The Jazz should still beat the Grizzlies if they matchup, unless JJJ is amazing. The Suns are interesting, but that series could honestly go either way. If the Jazz were going to flame out early in the playoffs, it would be against a team like the Timberwolves, but I doubt that happens.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

Locke, is that you?

No, but I see the logic of what the team is doing. Personally, I would have tried like hell to trade Rudy Gay and Jordan Clarkson, and I would have gladly attached picks. I'm honestly glad Joe Ingles is gone, though I don't like how it happened.

 

[KqWIN]

Both Ingles and Royce get brought to a standstill against switching defenses. Ingles is a strictly pick-and-roll player or a spot-up shooter. I can't agree that he had a good Clippers series, though he did okay as a makeshift point guard.

Jazz are still vulnerable to matchups that minimize Gobert's defensive impact. The Warriors would be a tough matchup for that reason. The Jazz should still beat the Grizzlies if they matchup, unless JJJ is amazing. The Suns are interesting, but that series could honestly go either way. If the Jazz were going to flame out early in the playoffs, it would be against a team like the Timberwolves.

The Clippers were almost exclusively playing switching defense and there's really no question that he was great in that offensive series. Easily the next best offensive player outside of Donovan. 14/4 in just 28 MP on 70% TS. He had 5 turnovers in 6 games. If that's not a good series, I don't know what it would take for you to call it a good series.

 

[416Klawzz]

Our coach still sucks at coaching

 

[Avery]

I agree with this take. From a pure player perspective, I believe we are a bit more suited to having some better balance.

The x-factors for us this year really come down to three things: the inefficiency of Ingles/Clarkson, injuries and our ability to execute in crunch time.

There's no doubt that Ingles/Clarkson had the best years of their careers last year and have regressed heavily this year. It's part of the reason our bench units have been ineffective. Ingles should have been benched long ago and his knee injury bittersweetly solved it. As for JC, he simply has to make his shots and make better decisions - simple as that.

Injuries have sucked - most teams are going to be worse when your two all-stars are sidelined and we're no different. We just need to be healthy for the playoffs and anything can happen.

Coming up in the clutch has been a massive issue this year. Last year, we were 17-13 which isn't great, but at least passable to a degree. But we're 12-16 already this year which is a pretty massive swing (especially when you consider how many clutch games we've lost to inferior teams). How much better would we look in the standings right now with another 4-5 wins?

Makes a world of difference - the Suns are 22-3 in these scenarios which is pretty incredible.

 

[416Klawzz]

Gobert will be exploited again

 

[fishonjazz]

Agreed.
During the 4 game win streak we have looked more athletic and engaged on the defensive end. During that streak our opponents have averaged 98 points per game (104, 102, 104, 85) Oh and btw that is without our best defender by far.
For those who want more/better defense, congrats.

 

[LogGrad98]

Gobert will be exploited again

lol

 

[416Klawzz]

Is Bojan with 9 fingers better than Bojan with 10 ?

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

NAW can play out of pick-and-roll. He could be a good fit.

 

[Jingled]

The Clippers were almost exclusively playing switching defense and there's really no question that he was great in that offensive series. Easily the next best offensive player outside of Donovan. 14/4 in just 28 MP on 70% TS. He had 5 turnovers in 6 games. If that's not a good series, I don't know what it would take for you to call it a good series.

He was absolutely terrific offensively in that series. He wasn't great defensively but honestly no one outside of Rudy was very good on that end in the Clippers series.

 

[fishonjazz]

Man joe was having a rough year. Career lows in 3pt% and field goal%. HIs points, rebounds, and assists were all down from last year as well. And his defense looked to be a career worst as well. Getting T'd up and tossed multiple times too.

 

[KqWIN]

NAW can play out of pick-and-roll. He could be a good fit.

He can play PnR, shoot, defend, and pass all the same. I.e. he does them all very badly. We're really banking on NOP being super toxic....which is a good bet. But it would be hard to be more awful than he has been this season.

 

[fishonjazz]

He can play PnR, shoot, defend, and pass all the same. I.e. he does them all very badly. We're really banking on NOP being super toxic....which is a good bet. But it would be hard to be more awful than he has been this season.

Eh, I think we are more banking on rudy, donovan, conley, bogey, whiteside, paschall, forest, royce, and clarkson but we just thought it might be nice to get a player that has a chance at playing and helping this season and getting better in the future vs a player that is guaranteed not to play this season and will likely only get worse in the future.