My thoughts on The Jazz first 3 games FWIW

[JGolds]

Utah is having a growing pain right now. Rubio is super ineffective, DM45 is super inefficient, Favors looks super lost, our bench looks alright but we need a guy to step up as its leader. our defense seems lack luster. we are allowing the opponents to set the pace every night. Classic Jazz, play up and/or down to your opponents level.

DM45 needs to do something different with the ball, specifically with his dribble. opposing teams have learned to crowed him in the paint and they hedge hard on screens. he needs to learn to create foul worthy contact to start getting some respect from the refs, and an the screens he needs his roller to roll hard so he can pass the ball off and create that (triple threat) so opponents wont hedge so hard. He is great at coming off the screen ready to shoot or drive, but when you have a guy who has doubled you that gets tough, need to learn to pass that ball threw the hedge so opponents respect that option. it will then open up his 3 and drives. DM is involved in a lot of pick and roles and he needs to learn to be better at it. Opposing teams have read DM's book. time to write a new one.

Rubio, on the offensive side of the ball he has quite literally played himself to the bench at times. 3s are great so are layups. but Rubio's money is in that 12-15 range. pump fake get into the arc and use the vision only he has to see the floor and look for those cutters. I like his improved 3 and its great he can hit it occasionally but don't forget to us what made us love you.

Fovors, Keeping rolling hard keep trying that corner 3. I know you will find your self in time. Favs only looks really good when playing Pick and roll with Joe. idk what else to say about him

Bench, I like that on any given night one guy from our bench could go nuts and score 20. but it still needs a leader. FIGURE IT OUT!

Defense, its the bread and butter of utah. Stop letting others dictate the pace of OUR game.

Joe Ingles, 2nd Coming of Christ?

Whats your thoughts? Am I way off on my analysis?

 

[nateboz]

It's pretty simple. Bench Favors, start Crowder. Spacing with Favors isn't letting the offense flow.

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[Eminence]

First 'move' to make is Crowder to starting 4, Favors can still get an easy 20-25 minutes as the bench big, it just better maximizes our best lineups. Wait for Donovan to get a groove, hope Joe stays assertive, monitor Rubio/Exum, swapping their roles might not be the worst idea in the world - Ricky could better run bench offenses. I know we're still fiddling right now, but eventually we'll probably have to decide on 1 of Royce/Alec/Grayson to be the main bench guard/wing. Hope Thabo comes back looking as good as he did last season.

Rubio/Exum
Mitchell
Ingles
Crowder
Gobert

Exum/Rubio
1 of Royce/Alec/Grayson
Thabo
Favors

Is a great looking 9 man rotation with some real depth behind it in case of injury.

 

[checkbookdoc]

It seems like Mitchell is struggling with his athleticism. He doesn't have any highlight above the rim plays yet, and seems to be struggling to finish in the restricted area.

I guess the real solution is to trade DM and start building around Ingles. DM + our pick this year for Lonzo Ball: Who says no?

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Yes, change everything after one bad offensive game.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

It's early in the season and everyone is good. Losses happen. Everyone is trying, no one is tanking.

And Locke called the DM stuff perfectly. He said he would have bad games and people would freak out because we only remember the good games and forgot all his bad nights his rookie year.

 

[JGolds]

Just looking for some give and take feed back. Not calling for a tank or anything. Just insight. we look sluggish. If i remember correctly when we aren't calling people names are telling people to delete their accounts this forum is a great platform for discussing jazz basketball.

 

[Getting Traded]

I certainly can't figure out what the problem is, but I'll give it a try. I do think Favors is a problem when teams play small ball. So far as Donovan, I sense too that his explosion has suffered. He's missing shots at the rim that he made last year. Ricky has been very inconsistent. It seems his focus has been similar to the beginning of last year. And Rudy has not been as dominating as I expected. Still no improvement on the offensive end. Dante needs to take over on the second unit and just focus on penetrate. He should not be used as a spot up shooter unless the ball movement finds him with a wide-open shot.

 

[LoPo]

Favors has been an issue for long term contending success for a long time. His fit next to Gobert has always been a concern. However, we have known this. We roll with Favors because his comprehensive attributes on and off the court. We might bench him for Crowder, but I wouldn't expect to see that move until December at the earliest.

We need to be patient.

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[Bawse Dawg]

Yes, change everything after one bad offensive game.

I just don't know how long we can ignore the numbers with Favors on and off the floor with the starters. It goes back to last year.

You are a smart basketball guy, surely you see how much different it looks?

If you told me what you are seeing, and why it's no cause for concern, it's an opinion I would take seriously.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I just don't know how long we can ignore the numbers with Favors on and off the floor with the starters. It goes back to last year.

You are a smart basketball guy, surely you see how much different it looks?

If you told me what you are seeing, and why it's no cause for concern, it's an opinion I would take seriously.

I think we need a few more games, but I am concerned with the Ricky, Favs, Rudy on court stuff.

We are fine. Memphis is a really good team when healthy. Garrett Temple is a MFer on defense... super under the radar really good pickup for them. We just really really sucked at shooting and guys looked like they were in mud.

A couple small adjustments... I think investing time in Grayson instead of AB might be a good idea. He passed up some shots, but clearly guys were closing on him hard and he had a strange calm to him. He played good on ball defense which is my biggest concern.

We need to sit Ricky until after the AS break... that's when he turns into Rick Curry.

I am not concerned with DM and actually though he played well until like midway through the 3rd/4th quarter when he started forcing things a bit. He isn't getting calls which is what sustains guys like Dame when they are off. He got hammered a couple times and was clearly frustrated. In the first half and to start the 3rd quarter he had some of the change of pace, in-between mid range shots that went in. Those help open up the close to the basket stuff. I thought he should have finished the one he dropped off to Rudy (which clearly got kicked and the Grizz hit a three off of it). My concern with first two games was everything was a contested three or just forced drive all the way to the paint.

You just can't win games shooting that bad... we had plenty of open looks too.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I just don't know how long we can ignore the numbers with Favors on and off the floor with the starters. It goes back to last year.

You are a smart basketball guy, surely you see how much different it looks?

If you told me what you are seeing, and why it's no cause for concern, it's an opinion I would take seriously.

mentioned in the other post I'm concerned, but wanted to continue on a little soapbox... what is the upside of that lineup? They are really good defensively, but couldn't Favs or Ricky be replaced with better shooters and there would be a huge uptick in offense while the defense stays very similar. I think Favs and Ricky are plus defenders, but how much are they truly adding (I genuinely am not sure)?

Like what is the big benefit to duct taping this lineup together to make it work. I've thought a little bit about what Kevin Love would look like in our offense. He can't create, but can post, shoot, pass, and offensive rebound. The defense is bad... but in the playoffs if him and Gobert share the floor and they try and get Kevin on the switch then Gobert can still hang out around the basket.

I just worry teams have figured out to drop the big against us and if we aren't 40% plus from 3 we have a good chance of losing. I think we ride Ricky and Favs as starters until it is absolutely, positively proven it sucks... and I support it. Both guys are in contract years and a knee jerk move to the bench could lose them. I think we need to gradually pull one or the other earlier if it continues to suck.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Another interesting thing we are a top 3 team in the first half and the worst team in the second half based on point differential. Just something weird. Likely mostly because of the second quarter against GS and the awful game yesterday.

 

[Alfalfa]

Another interesting thing we are a top 3 team in the first half and the worst team in the second half based on point differential. Just something weird. Likely mostly because of the second quarter against GS and the awful game yesterday.

We were -14 against GS in second half. That's probably why. Don't think point differential in last night's second half was as big.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

We were -14 against GS in second half. That's probably why. Don't think point differential in last night's second half was as big.

We are -9 on average and +8 in the first half... a big swing like the GS game obviously moves things.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

We were -14 against GS in second half. That's probably why. Don't think point differential in last night's second half was as big.

So -14 in GS, -7 in Sacramento, and -7 last night.

I have no explanation... just thought it was weird.

 

[Alfalfa]

So -14 in GS, -7 in Sacramento, and -7 last night.

I have no explanation... just thought it was weird.

It's just a small sample. Altho that could mean our first halves might catch up with the second, and not the other way around.

 

[jazzfan1971]

I only got to see the Memphis game. But, they looked out of sorts and it seemed like Snyder decided to use the game to send a message.

Lets see if the message was received for the Houston game before making any other changes. If they still play like crap, by all means shake things up.

If I was mixing things up I'd try.

PG - Mitchell
SG - Exum
SF - Ingles
PF - Crowder
C - Gobert

Let Rubio and Favors come in off the bench and play vs. backups.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I only got to see the Memphis game. But, they looked out of sorts and it seemed like Snyder decided to use the game to send a message.

Lets see if the message was received for the Houston game before making any other changes. If they still play like crap, by all means shake things up.

If I was mixing things up I'd try.

PG - Mitchell
SG - Exum
SF - Ingles
PF - Crowder
C - Gobert

Let Rubio and Favors come in off the bench and play vs. backups.

Too early to do that imo... both vets in a contract year... can't yank them around. It is a marathon not a 100-yd dash.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Tomorrow's game is big now imo.... DM struggled against Houston last year. They are without CP3, Ariza (no longer there), Luc Mbah Moute, and I saw a report that Ennis is out, Nene is out, and maybe Chriss (although I prefer if they had to play him cuz he sucks). They have struggled out of the gate so get one now while they are limping.