Utah Jazz: 10 Things To Think About So Far

 It’s only November, but the Utah Jazz season has already featured both incredible highs and heartbreaking lows. What does it all mean?

13 games in, the Utah Jazz are 6-7. The roller coaster ride has begun, bringing with it the expected highs and lows. Some games have us fans singing the team’s praises, others not so much. Although the NBA season is still in its infancy, I now have a large enough sample size for some musings, opinions and analysis.

Here are my 10 thoughts about the Jazz season to date.

10) Gordon Hayward Has Come on as of Late

After a rough start to the season, where at times G-Time was a complete non-factor, Gordon Hayward has strung together a streak of nice games. His points, assists, rebounds, PER and overall impact on the game have improved drastically. He’s back to looking and playing like the player he was last season. If the Jazz want to rise up the ranks, this absolutely has to continue.

What’s been most impressive with Hayward so far this year is his defense. He’s taken tremendous strides and is putting forth a lion-hearted effort. The result? He’s become one of the best defensive wings in the league.

It’s also why I think his offense struggled early. The next step Gordon needs to take is being able to find the balance needed to be effective on both sides of the floor.

Don’t believe me? Go back and watch his defense in the games against the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors. Outside of the DeMar DeRozan blow-by, which led to a Rudy Gobert posterization, he was everywhere.

All in all, Gordon is hands-down the leader and most important player on this team. It’s a great sign to see every aspect of his game become refined and well-rounded.

Oh, and speaking of coming on…

9) Trey Burke’s Resurgence

Admittedly, I haven’t been much of a fan of Trey Burke. Until recently, he hadn’t proven to me that he was good enough to be much of a contributor in the NBA. Now, I couldn’t be happier to be proven wrong. Crow has never tasted so good.

Trey is having a terrific start to the season—career-saving good. The third year is when a lot of NBA players make their jump and Burke seems to be following suit. He’s averaging nearly 12 points, two assists and three boards a game, with a PER just a hair under 17.

You’ll take that everyday from your backup point guard. What’s more, his decision-making, playmaking ability, defense and shooting have all improved significantly. Trey is a career 37 percent shooter; so far this season he’s hitting 45 percent, including 44 percent from three-point range.

The lack of a starting point guard is still a sore spot for the Jazz, and they desperately miss Dante Exum, but Trey’s play as of late is helping to stop the bleeding. Also, something to consider: if the Jazz do end up making a trade before the deadline, Trey is putting together a nice streak of solid play, which could help entice another team.

8) Derrick Favors is the Jazz’s MVP

I know I said that Hayward was the Jazz’s most important player, but don’t get it confused, Derrick Favors is the MVP. He’s been the best and most consistent player in uniform and is proving to be one of the elite big men in the league. He’s currently posting 16 points, nine boards, and 1.5 blocks per contest to go along with an eye-poppingly good 24.81 PER.

That’s top 10 in the league good, putting Favors in the same category as future Hall of Famers like Lebron James and Kevin Durant.  

If that’s not enough, Favors currently sits at number five on the steals per game list, nabbing just under two per game. And as our own Ryan Aston pointed out, Favors’ Player Impact Estimate—a stat that ranks a player’s impact on the game—is also top five behind Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.   

He’s having a hell of season and I’m ready to deem him the most underrated dude in the game.

7) 44 Wins May Just Do It

No, this isn’t another Nike ad, it’s a testament to a steadily improving NBA. During a brief chat I had with Utah Jazz radio voice, David Locke, we concluded that 44 wins is probably the benchmark of a playoff team. Earlier this year I said 47 wins would do it, but that was before I knew the amount of parity that the NBA currently has.

We all know the Western Conference has been a mega gauntlet for years. The usual suspects of the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are on top and all playing like they should. However, teams like the Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves and, most surprisingly, the Dallas Mavericks have all improved and seem to be making a playoff push.

But what’s been the most unexpected is the rise of the Eastern Conference. It’s no longer positioned as the NBA’s junior varsity. The Pacers look to be resurgent, and the New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Hornets and Detroit Pistons have all improved greatly and will be looking to make a serious playoff push.

This makes the road to the playoffs that much steeper and more daunting. Teams are bound to beat each other up and this ultimately will result in more losses throughout the NBA.

6) The Jazz’s Schedule Has Been Rough So Far

Based on ESPN’s rankings, the Jazz have currently played the tenth toughest schedule in the NBA. They’re 6-7, and have played nine of their thirteen games on the road against tougher-than-average competition. Don’t sweat the losing record too much. Things will even out.

The silver lining for our recent road warriors? After tomorrow’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center, the Jazz get 14 of their next 19 games at home.

5) The Triple Wing Lineup Needs More Minutes 

By this I mean:
Rudy Gobert
Derrick Favors
Gordon Hayward
Rodney Hood
Alec Burks

The lack of a bona fide starting point guard has been the Jazz’s achilles heel this season. Raul Neto has shown that he can distribute the ball and play some nice defense, but his lack of individual offense has become a liability. Opposing teams can sag off him and load up on the rest of the team with swarming help defense.

Take the game against the Dallas Mavericks–the Mavs barely guarded Neto and instead decided to trap the other four Jazzmen on the floor.

The answer to this has been the triple wing. It’s been the best lineup for the Jazz by a country mile. It gives the Jazz a tremendous amount of length, athleticism and offensive firepower. It gives other teams matchup nightmares. It’s also the lineup that the Jazz close games with.

Burks has proven to be the best playmaking wing. He has an uncanny ability to draw fouls, get to the basket for easy buckets, and penetrate at will. The element he’s added lately is driving and dishing to create scoring opportunities for his teammates. And with the aforementioned lineup, there’s no shortage of players who can knock down shots.

All of this seems to present a pretty cut and dry argument for this lineup to get the majority of the minutes.

4) Lack of Offense/The Need For Another Shooter

https://twitter.com/Johnny_UT/status/664995440635449344

The Jazz sit at 22nd out of a possible 30 teams in offensive efficiency. Conversely, the Jazz are seventh in defensive efficiency. When you put the two together, you have the definition of an average team.

The Jazz’s pace of play hasn’t moved a bit since last season either. It’s still dead last in the league. The game plan seems to be slowly grind a team down with defense in order to win. But in games like last night’s against the Thunder, when the defense had some major lapses, the Jazz don’t have the offensive weaponry to get back in the game.

It’s completely unfair and silly to rely on defense THIS much.

The Jazz average a paltry 94.6 points per game. Even an extra eight points a game would elevate the team to the middle of the road offensively. Which, in turn, would help the Jazz win a lot more games. Remember the Jazz lost 18 games last year by five points or fewer.

The thing is, though, I don’t think the Jazz currently have the manpower to elevate the offense. Other than Burks, Hayward and Favors, who can you rely on to get buckets on a game-to-game basis?

What this boils down to for me is that the Jazz need to make a move and get another player who can score. This may come via trade, or the Jazz could play out the season and use their cap space to add someone from next year’s stellar free agent crop. 

Which leads me to my next point…

3) The Bench Has Been Crap

Joe Ingles is knee-deep in a slump. Trevor Booker, outside of slapping Roy Hibbert in preseason, has been downright awful—I was a big fan of the Jazz re-signing him, but he’s hasn’t done much to deserve it since. Trey Lyles and Tibor Pleiss haven’t shown that they’re ready for prime time. Gobert has been playing way too many minutes early due to the lack of a backup big man—Jeff Withey has been okay in short stretches, but it hasn’t been enough—and the fourth wing position is wide open right now.

Also, where the hell has Elijah Millsap been?

Conversely, Alec Burks has been playing like a Sixth Man of the Year candidate, and I’ve already documented Trey Burke’s play. However, the lack of depth is putting an inordinate amount of pressure on both of these guys.

Someone’s going to have to step up and in a major way.

2) The Jazz are Starting Three Guys Who Have Never Started Before 

Rudy Gobert, Raul Neto and Rodney Hood have never started an entire NBA season before. I know we’re all in a rush for this team to be great, but we have to remember things like this and take it in stride. Remember, the NBA season is a marathon, not a 100-yard dash. It’s going to take a minute for these guys to get adjusted to the day-in and day-out rigors of the season.

Next: OKC Serves The Jazz Another Dose of Truth

1) The Jazz Lead the League in Fouls Committed

Yup, number one in the league. I know the focus is to be aggressive on defense, but the Jazz have to stop fouling so much. It’s awfully hard to win when the other team shoot two-to-three times as many foul shots.

Part of this is being young, part of it is it being the beginning of the season, but it’s a trend that has to stop for the Jazz to make its next big leap.