Utah Jazz: Backup Point Guard Spot Tougher to Determine Than Ever

Due to the “sometimes bad, sometimes brilliant” play of each of the Utah Jazz’s backup point guards recently and throughout the season, deciding which one deserves the most playing time is harder to determine than ever.

All season long the backup point guard position has been in limbo for the Utah Jazz. After bringing in George Hill during the offseason, it was evident that he would fill in the massive hole at the starting point guard spot, then many assumed that Dante Exum would be the first PG off the bench.

However, that clearly hasn’t been the case this season. Shelvin Mack who was acquired last season at the trade deadline has proven worthy of rotational minutes at times and Raul Neto who started the majority of Utah’s games last season has had solid glimpses as well.

Combine this with a number of injuries to Hill and the Jazz have gone through a point guard carousel all season long. Both Mack and Exum have started games this year for the Jazz and all three of them have had the opportunity to prove worthy of taking the lion’s share of backup point guard minutes when Hill has been in action.

And while you might think that by this point in the season Utah would have their permanent backup point guard solidified, with just seven games left in the regular season, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Head coach Quin Snyder has drawn a lot of criticism from Jazz fans for not solidifying that spot, but to be perfectly honest, the reason why he has yet to do so is largely because it’s been a nearly impossible decision to make.

While there’s certainly an argument to be made that it would have been best for Snyder to stick with one guy at that spot and let him work his way past mistakes in order to allow the Jazz second unit to build cohesion and get comfortable with the same guy running the point, Utah’s injury situation this season just hasn’t allowed that.

And beyond the health issues, there’s no questioning how frustratingly inconsistent Utah’s backup point guards have been all season long. One of the biggest complaints fans have had for Snyder is that he’s hindered Dante Exum’s development by putting him behind other guys on the depth chart and yanking him from games prematurely after only one or two mistakes.

There’s certainly some substance to this criticism, but on the other hand, when Dante puts up games like he did last night against the Kings where he goes 0-of-6 from the field and 0-of-5 from deep and isn’t even being defended by the opposing team, what choice does Snyder have but to pull him?

Now let me be clear that I’m a proponent of Dante getting playing time so that he can learn and grow (although as I recently wrote, when Utah has a full, healthy rotation I’d rather see him log minutes at the shooting guard spot), but it’s important to understand that when his performance is too detrimental to the team, then Coach Snyder has to find someone else that works.

Could Quin be a little more lenient with Dante and allow him to fight through and learn from some of his mistakes at times? Possibly so. But are fans generally being too harsh on Snyder for not giving Exum more run? Definitely! A coach’s job is to put the team in the best position to win games and in Dante’s bad moments, taking him out of the game has helped put the Jazz in that position.

But then again, sometimes having Exum on the floor has produced just the opposite result. He’s had some flashes of brilliance defensively and when aggressively attacking the rim. In those instances, Exum has looked like the surefire solution at the backup point guard spot.

But the tricky thing is, you could say the exact same thing about each of the other two guys as well – Shelvin Mack and Raul Neto.

Take last night’s win over the Sacramento Kings for example. As Purple and Blue’s contributor Zachary Padmore pointed out earlier today, Shelvin Mack, despite having played just six times over the past two months due to falling out of the rotation then suffering a sprained ankle, was phenomenal in the contest.

He finished the game with 14 points to lead all Jazz bench scorers while shooting 5-of-8 from the field and logging an astounding plus/minus of +31. Contrast that to Exum’s scoreless outing in 22 minutes of play and in that instance, Mack looked like the clear deserving backup point guard.

That’s certainly not the first time that Mack has had such an electrifying performance this year, as he’s put up double figures in 15 of his 48 outings this season, including an impressive season-high 19 points in the loss against Golden State on December 8th.

However, he’s also had times where he’s been one of the most frustrating Jazz players on the court, a fact that has caused no small amount of angst (much of which I believe to be severely over-exaggerated) among many of the Jazz faithful. When Mack falls into the habit of taking ill-advised shots, dribbling too much, turning the ball over with sloppy passes and essentially bringing the offense to a stand-still, he becomes more of a detriment than a help.

In fact, a combination of those issues is why he fell out of the rotation, and his former backup point guard spot, in the first place.

And although Mack was brilliant last night, the main reason why he and Exum got so much run against the Kings was because George Hill and Raul Neto were both sidelined with groin injuries. Of late, particularly while Mack has been injured and/or out of the rotation, Neto has put up a solid string of games which had many convinced that perhaps he would indeed emerge as the permanent and reliable backup point guard option.

In games where he’s logged at least 10 minutes this month, Neto is averaging nearly six points per game (over double his season average) while shooting 53.8 percent from the field. But his impact goes well beyond simple scoring figures as Neto has been a brilliant decision maker, extreme hustler and capable defender. Over the course of his last three contests, the Brazilian guard has posted a total plus/minus of +27.

But, once again as you might have guessed, Neto has seen his ineffective moments as well that have placed him behind both Exum and Mack on the depth chart for stretches.

On the season, Neto has been the most efficient shooter, but also the lowest scorer of the three. He also has the highest net rating of the three by a long shot – an astounding 12.1 – but that is on significantly fewer minutes and games played than the other two.

So as you can see, while it’s easy for fans to gripe and get bent out of shape about who Snyder should slot permanently at the backup point guard spot, it’s truly been anyone’s guess which player will be the best answer night in and night out. Quite honestly, all three have been extremely inconsistent, capable of both amazing or frustrating their fans and teammates on any given night.

And that, as well as a never-ending onslaught of injuries, is precisely why the Jazz have gone through such a revolving point guard carousel this season. Deciding who to give those minutes to has been an extremely difficult task and I don’t envy Coach Snyder for having to make that tough decision.

If it were up to me, though, although his better play has been in a smaller sample size, I would go with a healthy Raul Neto as the permanent backup point guard. He’s not as good of a scorer as Mack and he doesn’t have the length or quickness of Exum, but he is solid fundamentally and makes great decisions.

In a sometimes turbulent second unit, the Jazz don’t necessarily need a superb scorer running the point while Hill takes a rest, but rather someone steadying like Neto who can take care of the ball and bring out the best in his teammates.

If I was confident that Mack could play like he did last night more consistently, I’d very likely pin him as the deserving backup point guard. However, judging him off one game is neither fair nor accurate (and that goes for good games and bad games). The fact of the matter is that Mack has had a tendency this season to rattle off one or two good games, then follow them up with a string of three or four poor ones.

Perhaps in the season’s final stretch he’ll prove more consistent and thus produce a firmer argument for deserving that spot in the rotation, but until then, I see him more as a nice insurance player, especially given the apparent fact that any of Utah’s guards could fall to injury at any time.

Finally, let’s not forget Dante Exum. While his ups and downs have made it hard to rely on him at times at the point guard spot behind George Hill, as I mentioned earlier in the week, I’d still like to see him log time at the shooting guard position. It wasn’t long ago that Utah used Neto and Exum together as the one and two-guards and it’s a combo that I truly think could work for stretches.

Exum needs playing time to develop and certainly has the build and skill set to be effective at the two, so rather than bury him beneath three other point guards, I hope that he can find meaningful minutes as a backup to Rodney Hood at what has been a shaky shooting guard position for the Utah Jazz.

More from The J-Notes

• With the FIBA World Cup over for Simone Fontecchio, it’s clear he deserves minutes for the Utah Jazz
• Best, Worst and Most likely scenarios for the Utah Jazz this season
• Hoops Hype downplays the significance of the Utah Jazz’s valuable assets
• 3 Utah Jazz players who have the most to gain or lose this season
• Former Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is a free agent still and it shouldn’t surprise anyone

In some ways it’s crazy to think that the Jazz are just seven games away from the postseason and yet they still have significant rotational spots that are up for grabs. A handful of players still have plenty to prove in these final seven contests and hopefully all of Utah’s point guards can get healthy, then one can emerge as the easy choice as the backup at that position moving forward.

And I’m sure Quin Snyder, who’s been stuck trying to work his way through this point guard carousel all season long, would agree.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com