Following the departure of All-Star Gordon Hayward, the Utah Jazz immediately filled the void from a defensive standpoint, but were unable to bring in much offensive firepower.
Before the news broke that Gordon Hayward was leaving for Boston, the Utah Jazz acquired Ricko Rubio via trade. In a move that I saw as more of a lifeboat than an incentive for Hayward to stay, Rubio will nonetheless play a key role on this Jazz team.
Given the talent spread on Utah’s roster — provided they get a healthy Derrick Favors back — the frontcourt will still make a large contribution in the scoring column. And the Rubio trade will help advance the offense of both Favors and Rudy Gobert.
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Rubio is an elite passer that excels at making the right decisions on the fast-break, as well as keeping the ball hopping in a halfcourt set. But above all, Rubio is an incredible decision-maker in the pick and roll, and with perhaps the best big man duo in the league at rolling to the rim, the Jazz have a recipe for success with this play.
I wrote an article last week about the difference Favors could make if he’s healthy; it gives the Jazz a whole new dimension offensively. He’s an interior presence that can crash the offensive glass and score in the pick and roll diving to the rim. He can certainly score in the post with his overpowering play as well and he’s shown flashes of being able to hit the jump shot consistently out to around 18 feet.
If Favors can show that he’s 100 percent injury free, drop five to 10 pounds to help prevent future injuries — which recent pictures lead one to believe he has — and somehow get back to his old dominant self, he could easily give the Jazz upwards of 15 points a night with the added touches he’ll receive.
Gobert will be counted on for 15 points as well, coming almost entirely from free throws, finishing in the pick and roll and putbacks from offensive rebounds. The next step offensively for Gobert is to develop a post game.
If he could become a player that can score one-on-one in the paint and maybe just add something as simple as a nice hook shot to his game, it could elevate him and the Jazz to unseen territory. If he could attract the attention of a defense whenever he’s within 10 feet of the hoop because he can play with his back to the basket, he could become an 18-point per game scorer.
I don’t think it will happen right away, he might take a few seasons to pose a real threat in that area, but I don’t think it’s wise for Gobert to do anything drastic and add a jump shot to his arsenal because, quite frankly, it drags him away from the rim which makes him redundant.
Joe Johnson scored a cool 9.2 points per game last year and I think he can be counted on for 10 again this season. Despite getting up there in years, Iso Joe takes care of his body and is still a scoring machine.
It’s hard to get a gauge what to expect from Dante Exum this season. Maybe he still struggles to find consistency and hasn’t taken the leap that everybody’s anticipating, or maybe Dennis Lindsey’s comments about how Exum has progressed during the offseason are a mere understatement and he turns into the player we’d hoped sooner rather than later.
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My expectations for Exum this season are that he starts off playing around 18 minutes a night, and that slowly increases until he’s challenging for starter minutes after the All-Star break. However, that isn’t as dependant on his offense as much as channeling the defense from his rookie season.
Either way, Exum is capable of scoring 10 points per game if he gets the time to grow and succeed that he didn’t necessarily have last season. In the second unit, the attention from Jazz fans might not go towards Exum as much as his backcourt partner Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell was great in the Utah Jazz Summer League and even better in Las Vegas. He has every tool to suggest that he will be a future All-Star, but what about this season? He has a really nice stroke and perhaps the one criticism you could make of his Summer League performance was his shot selection, but that won’t be a problem this season.
Mitchell’s shot selection won’t be a problem because he won’t be relied upon to generate the offense. The bulk of his three-point shots will be uncontested and in catch and shoot situations, so pinning Mitchell as a 38 percent three point shooter in his rookie season is by no means unrealistic.
In one of his most recent podcasts, the radio voice of the Utah Jazz, David Locke, said Mitchell could contribute 14 points per game on average this season. While this sounds a bit presumptuous given that only one rookie in the last 12 seasons has averaged 14 points starting in less than 30 games, Mitchell could hit that mark if he breaks into the starting lineup late in the year.
To be perfectly honest, if Mitchell looks as good as he did in the summer league during the preseason, I’d have no second thoughts about placing him in the starting lineup on opening night. Obviously, the standard is way higher in real NBA games, but the Jazz need to put a much greater emphasis on growing over winning.
With all things taken into consideration, the Jazz’s offense will go as far as one man can take them, and that’s Rodney Hood. After a season where he could never really find his health, Hood looks perched for a breakout year. Some people have Hood increasing his scoring average to around 16 points this season, but I think he can surpass that total with ease.
People have lost sight of the potential Hood showed in his rookie season and due to issues with injuries, he’s never been able to get rolling. Nonetheless, this could be his year. The shackles are off, the team’s best scorer is off to Boston and it’s time to shine.
An article in the Salt Lake Tribune pointed out the strides Hood has made over the offseason and the work he’s put into becoming a better player. I’ve been high on Rodney ever since he debuted in a Jazz uniform and I still think he could be one of the league’s elites scorers in a few years time.
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This season, the difference between Hood averaging 16 points or 19 points (which I think he can get to) could result in a big difference in the win/loss column at the end of the season.
So for the Jazz to have some success at the offensive end of the floor, the improvements they’ll need are a healthy Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert developing a go-to shot in the paint, the backup backcourt duo of Exum and Mitchell to provide at least 20 points and Rodney Hood to take his game to another level.
I for one, think this can be done. Agree or disagree? Hit me up in the comments section below.
Statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference.