The Utah Jazz Are the Rising Stars of the NBA
by Mika Honkasalo Published Today at 3:00 AM Pacific Time
The goal for any young team is to establish an identity and to begin taking steps to becoming a good team and, hopefully some day, a title contender. A big part of it is luck in the draft—stumble upon the next LeBron James or Anthony Davis and you may be set for the next 20 years. There are teams that get those once-in-a-generation players, and then there's everyone else.
The Utah Jazz are in the latter group. They have promising young players, but it's unclear if, or even unlikely that, any one of them will ever be one of the 10 best players in the league. The Jazz aren't the only team finding themselves in this situation. The Celtics, Magic, Bucks, Suns, Timberwolves, and Pistons (and whatever the Sixers are doing) are all young teams with interesting talent, but it's unclear what the future holds. There are still steps each of these teams must take—player development, drafting a player or two, building smart offensive and defensive systems that fit the personnel, etc.
Just 12 months ago, the Jazz looked like they were at the bottom of the young-team hierarchy. They finished the 2013-2014 season just 25-57, despite having talent that should have arguably gotten them further. Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward stalled in their development, and talk began of trading Hayward and whether Favors's ultimate NBA destiny was to be an energy guy off the bench. Alec Burks couldn't get off the bench because former head coach Tyrone Corbin had decided to stick with Richard Jefferson and Marvin Williams in the starting lineup. Enes Kanter was possibly the worst defensive player in the league, and Rudy "Stifle Tower" Gobert played fewer total minutes than John Lucas.
Skip a year ahead and the Jazz are 29-36 and are turning their fortunes around. They have now won 12 of their past 15 games and are playing better than anyone expected. Hayward and Favors are having bounceback/career years. Kanter has been traded for a future first- and second-rounder. Rudy Gobert has turned into a two-way monster. Rookies Dante Exum and Rodney Hood are improving every game. Trey Burke is finding a better role as a bench contributor. The in-season improvement has been tremendous, and we should be singing praises at head coach Quin Snyder, who's implemented a creative motion offense and a smart defense that are on the way to making the Jazz a serious spoiler threat this season and a plain serious threat beyond.
The Jazz are ranked 15th in offensive and 17th in defensive efficiency for the season, but over the past 15 games, they've allowed only 93.7 points per 100 possessions, which is the best in the league over that period and 3.7 points per 100 possessions better than the Golden State Warriors' league-leading 97.4 season mark. The offense has managed to stay the same despite the trade of Enes Kanter, who provided spacing and low post play. In their last 15 games, the Jazz are plus 7.6 points per 100 possessions, which would rank them 2nd in the league over the full season.
Gobert has been the catalyst for the Jazz's incredible defense since the All-Star break. They lead the league in Blocks per 100 Chances and have allowed an Overall FG% Against of only 38.5 percent in the past month. With his length, activity, and sheer presence, Gobert changes every single offensive possession for opponents. He makes crazy recoveries and ferocious blocks on unsuspecting shooters, and teams are starting to avoid driving to the middle against Gobert like the plague.
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Gobert is averaging 4.34 Blocks per 100 Chances and has a ridiculous Overall FG% Against of 37.3 percent, the best mark among 179 players who have faced more than 520 shot attempts.
The Jazz hedge on only 8.48 percent of pick-and-rolls, among the lowest third in the league. The Jazz are also getting solid contributions on the perimeter. In particular, Exum has improved throughout the season. Early on, Exum would get screened out of plays and couldn't get over picks, but now, he's using his lateral quickness to stay in front of guys and deny dribble penetration. Exum's Keep-in-Front% of 50.4 is the fourth-highest mark among all guards over the past month and is way above his season mark of 41.7.
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Favors has expanded his offensive game, and he's taking more of his shots from farther away from the hoop. With Gobert on the floor, the Jazz need every inch of spacing they can get, and Favors is improving his jump shot, which he's making at a 37.3 percent clip. Favors isn't a great post player, but he's good at finishing around the rim strong and drawing fouls off duck-ins on the baseline.
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Hayward is averaging a career-high 19.7 points per game and has bounced back efficiency-wise after a rough year where he was forced to do to much and make every play on offense. Hayward's 1.19 Points per Shot ranks him 16th among 148 qualified wing players. He's still the leading ball handler and initiates most of the offense, but the motion Snyder has implemented has spread out the bulk of the offense in a way where Hayward has been able to be efficient.
For the first time in Gordon Hayward's career, the Jazz have a creative offense to take advantage of multiple ball handlers. They run a lot of weakside action and some misdirection. They lead the league in Offensive Activity Rate (significant actions per offensive chance) at 7.53, ahead of the Spurs who rank 2nd (7.31, leaguewide mean 6.60), and the Jazz are 2nd in Touches per Chance. The offense flows quickly into a new action if the first move is stifled by the defense, and lately, it's been a beauty to watch.
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The set shown above is a basic motion start to a sideline double screen that flows into horns, which in turn flows into a dribble pitch from the corner for Hayward into a rhythm jump shot. This is great stuff! And the players are getting better every game at executing it. Gobert is actually in many ways a better fit for the offense than Kanter, even if Kanter has more variety to his scoring game. Kanter somehow only managed to rack up 26 assists in 49 games for the Jazz, which should be almost impossible to accomplish considering all the options in the offense.
The Jazz have looked great for almost 20 games now, and while they are too far behind to make a run for a playoff spot this season, watch out for them next season. They are smartly coached and play with great precision and effort. It shouldn't come as a surprise, because in just under three-quarters of a season, the Jazz went from bad to a team that in its past 10 games has beaten the Rockets, Spurs, Grizzlies, and Blazers.
