Utah Jazz problems are collective, but several individual deficiencies are contributing

It’s easy to point fingers when things aren’t going right for a team. But the Utah Jazz’s problems are as collective as they come.

Despite it often being unfair or inaccurate, it’s human nature to point fingers and attempt to find a sole source of blame. Whenever things go wrong, it’s always easier to try to identify a scapegoat rather than search out a more complete and all-encompassing solution. Such has seemed to be very much the case lately for Utah Jazz fans, who are anxiously trying to identify why the 2018-19 season has gotten off to such a rotten start.

Some are pointing fingers at Utah’s point guard Ricky Rubio, who’s been erratic at best to start the year. Others think that Rudy Gobert playing at less than a DPOY level is what’s leading to Jazz Ls. Others are singling out Derrick Favors for not stretching the floor adequately, or certain members of the bench for not being as reliable as the Jazz need. Others still have gone as far as to pin the blame on Donovan Mitchell with a myriad of complaints.

In all honesty, though, the Utah Jazz’s woes aren’t the result of any single player’s shortcomings. It’s a collective, team-wide issue. In simple terms, the entire Jazz team isn’t playing well right now. And no individual finger-pointing, blame or reduction of playing time for a single player is going to change that. The Jazz as a collective unit have to shape up.

However, with that said, there’s also no denying that the sum of several individual shortfalls is what’s hurting the Jazz. Sure, no single player is the sole reason for Utah’s faults, but cracks in the foundation of each and every man on the roster are proving very much detrimental.

Let’s take a look at some of those cracks, shall we?

First of all, defensively. Fans have a legitimate gripe that Rudy Gobert doesn’t look like his old self. His defensive rating currently sits at 104.9. For a little context, only once in his career has he ever posted a defensive rating over 100, and it was still at a solid 101.0. His blocks per game are at his worst rate since his rookie season, and the hesitancy that he used to put in opposing players that wanted to attack the rim just doesn’t seem to be there anymore.

But this is far from all Rudy’s fault. A bigger issue has been Utah’s team defense, in which Utah’s guard and perimeter defenders haven’t been able to stop anyone from blowing past them. Ricky Rubio is perhaps the most egregious culprit of this. His lack of quickness and athleticism has made him an easy target for opposing point guards all season long. Once he’s burned past, Gobert is then essentially forced to be in two places at once. Gobert’s the one who takes the downfall statistically, but really Ricky is the one to blame in these types of situations.

But Ricky isn’t the only one that’s had this issue. Joe Ingles‘ defense hasn’t been where expected. Royce O’Neale hasn’t been as tough of a defender as last season. And Donovan Mitchell’s struggled to lock down opponents as well. Each of these individual shortcomings, including Rudy’s, are all adding together to make the Jazz simply downright bad on defense. Their 17th-ranked defensive rating mark of 109.2 is evidence of that (and also makes Gobert’s 104.9 not look quite so shabby, Utah’s vastly improved when he’s on the floor).

Not to mention, when Rudy Gobert is off the floor, the Jazz have a team-worst net rating of -14.1. So, in short, can Rudy be better? Sure he can. We’ve seen him be much more dominant than what he’s shown this season. But does that mean he’s the root of the problem? Not even close. Despite some individual issues, Rudy’s shortcomings are far from what’s sinking the Jazz. Several players’ personal shortcomings on defense have been far more harmful than Gobert’s.

Now let’s transition over to offense. Let’s face it, a big reason why the Jazz have been putrid on defense has been because they put themselves in bad spots by not executing on offense. By taking poor shots or turning the ball over, the Jazz are already reeling on their heels in transition and that’s led to several easy baskets for their opponents.

The Jazz are currently 26th in the league in opponent points off turnovers, as their foes are putting up 18.9 such points per contest. Between failing to get back on turnovers and after Utah’s plenitude of missed shots, the poor offense is leading directly to poor defense and easy opportunities for their opponents.

Again, several individual shortcomings are contributing to this team-wide problem. Ricky Rubio, Joe Ingles and Donovan Mitchell have all been turnover machines this year, as they come in at marks of 3.1, 2.6 and 2.5 per game, respectively. Their questionable decision-making and attempting to force passes that aren’t there has been severely costly to the Jazz.

Not only that, but I mentioned misses upon misses drastically hurting the Jazz, and each of those three aforementioned guys is guilty of that as well. We all have witnessed Rubio’s shooting woes first hand and the numbers are about as ugly as you’d expect. He’s shooting just 37.3 percent from the field and, to his credit, has raised his 3-point percentage to 34.2, but I think it goes without saying that he has a long ways to go there to prove he’s a consistent threat.

Meanwhile, Donovan’s lack of efficiency has been his biggest issue all season long. He’s at 42.4 percent from the field and a horrendous 30.3 percent from the perimeter. Meanwhile, Ingles remains one of Utah’s most prolific deep-ball threats, but even he’s seemingly lost the hot hand we’ve grown so accustomed to over the past few years. He’s at just 37.7 percent from deep, his worst mark since his rookie season.

Then there’s Derrick Favors, who is nobly trying to add a 3-point shot to his game, but it just isn’t there. He’s at 28.6 percent. Jae Crowder is currently second on the team in 3-point heaves (trailing only Donovan Mitchell) at 6.6 per game, but is only converting at a rate of 30.3 percent. Lastly, neither Dante Exum nor Royce O’Neale have served as shooting threats off the bench at all either.

So, sure, there’s a lot of individual shortcomings. But to point the finger at one player’s inefficiency as the root of Utah’s problem is absurd. The whole team is shooting below their expected rate. It’s certainly problematic, but there’s definitely not any easy fix for it.

In short, there’s no other way to describe the Utah Jazz’s issues this season as anything other than a team-wide problem. The team isn’t playing tough defense as a unit, ensuring that they have one another’s backs. The team isn’t shooting well, especially from the perimeter where they’ve clanked enough bricks to build a house. The team isn’t taking care of the ball. The team isn’t getting back on defense. The team isn’t executing, focusing or remaining disciplined enough to win games.

The team isn’t living up to its mantras – ‘Team is everything’ or ‘The strength of the team is the team.’ Do you catch my drift?

The Utah Jazz are falling flat on their faces in a multitude of areas. And to pin that blame on one single person is an absolute fallacy. Yes, there are individual issues, but those are all adding up to one collective problem. A big problem, at that, that has the Jazz at 8-10, 13th in the West, with no quick easy fix in sight.

If the Jazz do manage to turn things around, it’s going to take either a huge shift in effort and execution, or perhaps a change in personnel to give them more space to operate offensively and more athleticism defensively. I’m confident we’ll see the former at least to some extent, and honestly think the latter may end up being a necessity as well.

Whatever ends up being the case, though, if anyone within the Jazz locker room is considering pointing fingers, they should remember the old adage that when you point at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at yourself. The blame for this team’s struggles doesn’t rest on any one player’s head.

It rests on the team as a whole.