Utah Jazz: Six most frustrating aspects of the season thus far

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – OCTOBER 22: Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz reacts to a call by referee Natalie Sago in the first half of a NBA game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Vivint Smart Home Arena on October 22, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images)

Continuity, Anyone?

To me, this has been by far the most frustrating aspect of the 2018-19 season thus far. The Utah Jazz remained quite conservative this offseason, bringing back nearly their entire core (save the aforementioned Jonas Jerebko), citing the power of continuity as the main motivating factor. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve agreed with the Jazz’s decision on several occasions. I liked the tactic to stick with continuity.

However, while I believe the decision was right, so far the result has been far from it.

What I mean to say is, this Jazz team was kept together with the assumption that they would be able to come in and build off the cohesion and chemistry that we saw a year ago and therefore be a major threat to opposing teams. While others tried to get up to speed and adapt to new teammates, the Jazz presumed to already be a step ahead due to their familiarity with one another.

Unfortunately, such has looked far from the case. Utah’s team defense has been poor. Their offense remains clunky and often times inefficient. They’re just 19th in the league in assists (23.4) and an atrocious 24th in turnovers per game (15.9). In other words, this team has looked nothing like a cohesive group that maintained its continuity from last year, and they haven’t come anywhere close to utilizing that as a strength to outmatch opposing teams. Their 4-4 record is evidence enough of that.

With all this said, I truly think the Jazz will figure things out. From their defense, to their turnovers, to their disjointed continuity, this team will get better. But that doesn’t change the fact that we expected them to get off to a better start considering that no significant new faces were added and no drastic changes were made.

Instead, this team looks much more like the 19-28 squad that started out the 2017-18 season, than the one that finished 29-6 to close out the year. Yes, it’s early and things could transform quickly, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Utah Jazz are off to an unexpectedly frustrating start through the first eight games of the season.