The Jazz have a bottom 5 offense
Coming into the season the most common question asked about the Jazz was, “How is this team going to score?” While the Jazz started off strong, their offense came back down to earth during the second week of the season. So far this season, the Jazz have the seventh-worst offensive rating, and are only averaging 99.2 points per game. Which is good for 27th in the NBA.
The Jazz offense has looked good in flashes, but they have gone through severe scoring droughts. Against the Clippers, the Jazz were able to keep the game close throughout the first half, but the beginning of the third quarter started with a 15-2 run, and then after clawing back to make a six-point game, the Clippers ended on a 14-2 run. This has been a recurring theme.
There continue to be stretches where there doesn’t appear to be any flow. The main culprit may be Ricky Rubio, who was brought in this off-season via trade.
Quin Snyder’s offense has always been predicated on ball movement and getting every player touches. He believes that if everyone is touching the ball, whether they are shooting or not, they will feel more involved and will play harder. Throughout his entire career, Rubio has been a ball dominant point guard. So far, you can see that he and the players around him are struggling to adjust.
Quin Snyder said the turnovers come from putting guys in positions that aren't their strengths. He said they need to clean that up
— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) October 27, 2017
They have also not gotten what they expected out of Rodney Hood. He has shown in spurts an ability to be a go-to option on the offensive end, but he has struggled with consistency. He is averaging 14.4 points, but his variance in scoring is very high. He has scored over 20 points three times, between 10-19 points three times, and has finished with less than 10 points two times. The Jazz will need him to emerge as a consistent threat on the offensive end if they are going to climb out of the basement offenses.
In the end, I don’t think this is going to be the norm for the Jazz going forward. I do think there will be struggles, but there is too much talent on this team to be a bottom five offensive unit. By seasons end, I expect them to creep back into the top 20.
The Jazz do not have elite one on one players, but they are one of the deepest teams in the league, and they are smart with their ball movement. Just look at this Rubio/Favors pick n’ roll, that resulted in the sweet dish to Gobert.
They have a lot of newcomers, and changes to the scheduling lessened the amount of practice time prior to the start of the season. We are seeing the results of a shortened preseason, an earlier start to the regular season, and the Jazz starting things off with four games in six nights.
The Jazz won’t be a dominant offense, but expect better things to come.