10 Reasons Why the Utah Jazz Won’t Make the Playoffs
By Greg Foster
4) An Abysmal Bench
There’s a theme here: Injuries = lack of depth and a lack of depth = a weak bench unit.
There was an interesting stat that Jazz TV announcer Craig Bolerjack mentioned during Saturday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Jazz have won the first quarter in each of the last nine games. The starting unit has been playing very well and creating something special.
It’s when the bench comes in that the dumpster fire is ignited—once again, go back and read that earlier tweet on the subject. To put this into perspective, the Jazz’s bench is DEAD LAST in the league in scoring.
The second quarter, along with the end of the third quarter when the bench unit is on the floor, has been tough sledding for the Jazz. In seemingly every game, a lead is squandered and the starters are sent back in to clean up the mess. It happened against San Antonio. It happened against Boston.
It happened against Toronto. It happened against Memphis. Hell, it happened against New Orleans. The Jazz were merely fortunate that the starting unit (mainly Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward) played well enough to get the win.
There’s a certain amount of talent needed in order to win in the NBA. With the Jazz’s roster the way it is, they don’t have that talent. It’s naive and neglectful to think otherwise or to think that the Jazz can stay put and expect things to miraculously change.
When your bench isn’t reliable and the best thing about it is the celebrations, you’re not a playoff team.
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Next: No.5: Youth and Inexperience