Dec 19, 2014; Orlando, FL, USA; Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder calls a play against the Orlando Magic during the second half at Amway Center. Utah Jazz defeated the Orlando Magic 101-94. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Much has changed in barely more than half a season for the Utah Jazz, in regards to preseason expectations for a team we hardly know even now. Some things we thought would be givens have leaped out of the mind’s eye entirely due to injury or expected results. Others have remained relevant, solidifying their status. Some have carved out an entirely new space of relevancy. With these qualifiers in mind, let’s take a quick look at the Utah Jazz lineups used the most over the last month of the 2014-15 NBA season.
Due injury, Trey Burke, Gordon Hayward, Joe Ingles, Enes Kanter, Derrick Favors has been the starting lineup for most of the last month for Quin Snyder, until five games ago when he swapped out Dante Exum for Burke. Rudy Gobert, Elijah Millsap and Trevor Booker make up the other players in what has essentially become a nine-man rotation for Snyder.
We’ll look at the most-used lineups over the last month, a period in which the Utah Jazz have made the most progress, minimum 20 minutes played together, which constitutes seven lineups.
Burke Hayward Ingles Kanter Favors
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This unit has played 69 minutes in the month of January, second-most, and have posted a 92.5 offensive rating and 105.0 defensive rating. This lineup, for whatever reason, manifests multiple statistical deficiencies as a unit, leading to the recent switch by Snyder.
The things this unit does really well is get a lot of assists while not turning the ball over much, but that’s negated by the defense and copious three-point attempts that fall at only a 26.3% rate of makes. They also have the fastest pace of these seven lineups.
Exum Hayward Ingles Kanter Favors
The point guard is the move Quin Snyder made, citing defense as his main point of emphasis for making the switch.
This unit has played 46 minutes together in the month of January, third-most, and have posted a solid 110.2 ORtg and a staggering 87.9 DRtg. Turns out Quin Snyder does know a little something about basketball after all.
However, nice as it is, this isn’t the Jazz’s best offensive or defensive rating among these seven groups.
This unit shares the ball well, like the last one, although it’s mainly Hayward and Ingles doing the ball handling instead of Burke. They also don’t turn it over very often and nab defensive rebounds at an 80.5% rate.
They don’t crash offensive glass particularly well, but don’t really have to with a 54.6% effective field goals rate.
Exum Hayward Ingles Favors Gobert
Before Burke was swapped for Exum this was the most-used second unit, playing 42 minutes in the month of January, the fourth-most used lineup overall, with a lowly 87.6 ORtg and 103.7 DRtg. Their net negative of -16.1 is worst among five-man lineups playing at least 20 minutes together in the last month.
The other part of Snyder’s reasoning for making the point guard swap was how poorly Utah’s bench scored, reflected in these numbers rather starkly. This is one of four of the most-used lineups in the month where Favors slides from center to power forward.
This unit offensive rebounds like madmen, but partly because they can’t hit the side of a barn from more than five feet away. They also give away the ball the most often among the same criteria in the same span, 21.3% of the time turning it over, or more than one in every five possessions.
This is the lineup many Jazz fans would prefer for the starting line, but we can see there’s plenty of issues with it at this juncture
They also shoot the three and free throws at a worse rate than any of these other lineups, 17.6% threes and 61.1% free throws.
One other major problem with this group together on the floor is they rarely convert passes for makes with an awful 5.9 assist ratio, even with excellent passers Hayward and Ingles on the floor, the Jazz’s second and third-best assist percentage passers.
This is the lineup many Jazz fans would prefer for the starting line, but we can see there’s plenty of issues with it at this juncture.
Burke Hayward Millsap Favors Gobert
This is one of two five-man lineups that’s played 20 minutes together in the month of January, posting a 108.5 ORtg and 104.7 DRtg. This unit shoots pretty well, rebounds really good, but doesn’t defend or share the ball, particularly.
It’s basically a tread water group of guys, good for matchups versus mediocre to poor teams, or if you have a lead on a playoff contender.
Outside of a couple of penetration or lob plays, this group tends to let the ball stick and be forced to create shots late in the clock out of urgency.
Burke Hayward Millsap Booker Gobert
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The other 20 minutes played lineup swaps out Favors for Booker as a bench unit, and boasts a 106.3 ORtg with a solid 94.1 DRtg. For whatever reason, this lineup gets along much better as a bench unit without Favors in it.
They pass and shoot okay, rebound better than any of the other lineups playing 20 minutes together in the month, while moving along at the next-fastest pace. This unit also hits free throws at the highest rate, by quite a bit, 87.5% makes on 19.2 attempts.
Some of these numbers will certainly have to do with them playing against other bench units, but it’s nice to know your second unit can extend a lead, not lose it. This second unit is superior to most in the NBA.
If you’re keeping track, you’ll have noticed that we skipped a couple lineups along the way, chronologically. That’s because I saved the best for last.
Burke Hayward Ingles Favors Gobert
This unit has played the most minutes together in the last month, 71 of them, with stellar ratings on both offense and defense. Their 114.8 ORtg is tops in the grouping with a very solid 94.1 DRtg.
This group is tops in points 107.1, assists 23.7, steals 12.9, field goals 54.8%, and three-pointers 40.9%
While this unit does tend to turn it over a bit, that’s their only deficiency, and near the best in virtually every other category.
This group is tops in points 107.1, assists 23.7, steals 12.9, field goals 54.8%, and three-pointers 40.9%.
The reason this unit has played the most minutes in the month of January is because, even though they don’t start together, they often finish games together.
Burke Exum Hayward Favors Gobert
This has been Snyder’s best alternate unit, as it combines both starters and bench players in a mix-and-match kind of way. They’ve put up a so-so 101.1 ORtg, but have posted by far the best DRtg, a 76.8.
This unit’s net rating is off the charts, best in the group at +24.2, but they shoot like . If they were to get a few shots to drop, this would be a deadly unit to field with their 3.00 Assist/Turnover ratio. They almost never give the ball away, a mere 4.8% of the time.