Salt city Hoops

The Utah Jazz have climbed nearly all the way to the top of the Western Conference, and if you have been paying attention to the music men, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. They feature an all-out superstar, Gordon Hayward (save the fact that no one knows who he is because he plays in Utah), a plethora of young talent, and one of if not the most stifling defenses in the league. Shout out to to Rudy Gobert. The only question that remains: are they for real? This is truly a question that can’t be answered until the playoffs begin. We will, however dive into a few things that call the Jazz’s run into question.

Health

Often times you hear about a player’s shooting ability or ability to defend, when in all actuality the absolute best ability is availability. That has been an issue over the past few seasons for the Utah Jazz, as they have dealt with quite a few injuries. The woes continue this season, as they haven’t been the “picture of health.” Out of a possible 780 games, accounting 52 games each for 15 players, they have played only 558 games as a unit. That is almost 30 percent of the total 780 games that a player has missed a game due to injury. Granted, some of this statistic is due to later additions such as Joel Bolomboy. Others are either due to rest or health, which all affect court chemistry.

No one on the team can escape the physicality of a long season this year. George Hill has only played 28 games this season and Derrick Favors still isn’t right after returning from injury, only playing 35 of 52 games thus far. Alec Burks, whom a lot has been expected of in the past few seasons, has only played 16 games. His backup, Rodney Hood, has been the victim of several injuries himself. Dante Exum has only played in about about 30 games, and other backups Raul Neto and Jeff Withey have both played less than 30 games a piece. The Jazz have managed to claw and fight this far, but unless they can become much healthier the road will stop much faster than expected.

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Consistency in Play

Even when healthy, players must play up to their potential. This often happens with the Utah Jazz. George Hill comes out some nights and looks like a prime Rajon Rondo with a jumper. He runs the team, distributes, and finds a way to score, all while competing for triple doubles. Other nights, he comes out looking like the guy the Pacer’s couldn’t wait to ship out. Rodney Hood has to stay on the court, but is a bit too sporadic for my taste. This isn’t a facade, though — he had the same issues at Duke. He often times disappeared for sequences, but it wasn’t as obvious because he was more talented than his competition. Joe Johnson fell off a cliff. If you are going to stand in a corner and hoist three’s, at least hit most of them, Joe. Favors is a bit of an oddity here because he is coming off a major injury. However, he has shown flashes of the ability that made him who he was before the injury, and needs to be more consistent at this point. Hayward and Gobert are about the only two that bring it every night. Even though it may not fully show up in the scoring column for these two, the other things they do for the team shines through on a nightly basis.

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Right System and Personnel, Wrong Era

In any other era, you would be looking a championship team. Unfortunately for the Jazz, their style of play can never win a championship in today’s NBA. The Jazz want to play a decreased possession game, hinging on playing good defense and beating opponents in the half court. George Hill can absolutely get it done, but isn’t the open court maniac that John Wall or Russell Westbrook is. Hill is a deceptive point guard who works best in a “set.” Rodney Hood isn’t a “go get his own” type guy, even though he is capable of doing so in instances — which most NBA players are. He would rather spot up or run off screens for open jump shots. Although Gordon Hayward could play any style, he is a less physical Carmelo Anthony with elite defensive ability. He is at his offensive best in isolation. The last two members of Utah’s starting 5 speak for themselves: Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert. With Favors right at 7' 0" and Gobert just over 7 feet tall, they are both most effective in/around the paint. Favors can hit the midrange shot, but he works that in tandem with the paint play and power game. Overall, their talent and the things they are best at are better suited for a half court game, which isn’t this era of NBA basketball. When you are thinking about the Cavaliers hoisting three’s like they are going out of style or Isiah Thomas scoring 40 on a nightly basis, you need to be able to get out and run to put big numbers on the board. Add in the fact that neither of the above share a conference with the Jazz and play at a slower pace than the Rockets, Thunder, and Warriors — who all share the Western Conference with the Jazz. If this were any other era of basketball, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and even through the 2000’s a bit, Utah would definitely contend for a championship — just not right now.

Although ascending, the Jazz still have some tweaking to do. They have a solid young core, but they are either going to have to turn Favors into a stretch 4, flip him for a stretch four, or bring him off the bench in place of a stretch four. That is just the first of many moves Utah will have to make in order to realistically compete in the West. So again, are they for real? Later, but not yet. Keep bangin’ Utah.