NBA.com's John Schuhmann gets you ready for the 2017-18 season with a key stat for each team in the league and shows you why it matters. Today, we look at the Utah Jazz, who have been the league's slowest team under coach Quin Snyder.

THE STAT

The Utah Jazz averaged 1.22 points per possession in transition, the highest rate in the league last season.



THE CONTEXT

But only nine percent of Utah's possessions, the second lowest rate in the league, were in transition.

The Jazz ran well, but didn't run often, playing a slow and deliberate style that allowed opposing defenses to get set. In each of Quin Snyder's three seasons as coach, Utah has ranked last in pace and either first or second in passes per possession.

As an aside, it's interesting that the other team that plays at a high altitude -- the Denver Nuggets -- has played at an above-average pace in 37 of the last 40 seasons, while the Jazz have played at a below-average pace in 25 of the last 29.

Ball movement is good, but transition opportunities are better. League-wide effective field goal percentage dropped from 60 percent in the first six seconds of the shot clock to 50 percent thereafter last season. The Jazz's effective field goal percentage in the first six seconds was a league-best 66 percent.

But the Jazz ranked last in the percentage of their shots that came in the first six seconds and first in the percentage of their shots that came in the last six seconds, when their effective field goal percentage was just 44 percent. They got 1.5 times the value in their early-clock shots.



With how slow they play, the Jazz haven't taken advantage of how good their defense has been. They've been a better-than-average defensive team in each of Snyder's three seasons, ranking third (their highest rank in 28 years) last season. The Jazz didn't force a lot of turnovers (they ranked 29th in steals per game), but more stops should still generate more transition opportunities.

Now, with Gordon Hayward gone, the Jazz are really lacking players who can create offense in the half court. They should have a top-five defense again, but to remain in the Western Conference playoff picture, they'll need to get more easy baskets.

It may be time to pick up the pace.