The Jazz have the best defense in the NBA
Last season, the Jazz essentially tied for the best defensive rating in the NBA with the Boston Celtics, but we all know who really had the better defense.
When analyzing the Jazz last season, we should really only look at the time when they were healthy, which happened when Rudy Gobert returned from injury against the New York Knicks on January 19th. From that game on, the Utah Jazz posted a defensive rating of 97.5, with the next best team being nearly four points worse.
When he first joined the @utahjazz last year, @spidadmitchell talked all about defense, how important it was to him and how he planned to make his mark in the @NBA by becoming a top defender.https://t.co/1qXKDtKeID
— Deseret News (@Deseret) October 5, 2018
Take it with a grain of salt because two of the opponents have been teams from Australia, but the Jazz are currently posting a defensive rating of 77.9. Noooooot sustainable in the least bit. However, the Jazz are the number one team defense during the preseason, and there is no indication that such will not continue moving forward.
Let’s just look at the Toronto Raptors game, since that has been the only real NBA talent they have faced. In that game, the Jazz posted a defensive rating of 78.6. Even if we narrow it down to just the first half when the Raptors were playing their regular rotation, the Jazz still had a defensive rating of 96.4.
If Gobert stays healthy, the Jazz have shown that they are still the top defense in the NBA.