Utah Jazz: Despite loss, Royce O’Neale made a name for himself vs. Houston

The play of Royce O’Neale was undoubtedly one of the most encouraging bright points of the Utah Jazz’s first-round loss to the Houston Rockets.

The 2018-19 Utah Jazz season came to a disappointing end on Wednesday night. Although few believed it possible that the Jazz would be able to dig themselves out of a 3-0 hole in the first place, it was still hard to see them go down the way that they did. Utah posted a terrific Game 5 against the Houston Rockets but ultimately couldn’t come through down the stretch where they faltered and just fell short.

If Utah had been able to hold onto late leads in both Games 3 and 5, this would have been an entirely different series – one in which the Houston Rockets were likely shaking in their boots. But alas, instead the Jazz couldn’t muster quite enough. And at least in Game 5, that came largely as a result of several players under-performing their typical level of play.

Donovan Mitchell was perhaps the main culprit, going just 4-of-22 from the field and making some critically poor decisions down the stretch. However, Rudy Gobert wasn’t much better with just nine points on the evening while logging a team-low mark of minus-15. Last of all, while Joe Ingles shot better than he had for much of the series, that really wasn’t saying much as he went just 4-of-12 from the field and 3-of-9 from deep.

However, one player who had a superb Game 5, and by and large a superb series, was none other than the Jazz’s undrafted diamond in the rough Royce O’Neale. O’Neale played a significant role in last year’s series against the Houston Rockets as he was inserted into the starting lineup in place of the injured Ricky Rubio. That playoff experience certainly helped him as O’Neale was one of Utah’s most consistent producers in the series.

Like the entire rest of the team, he got off to quite a slow start in Game 1, putting up just two points on 1-of-5 shooting. But from there, Royce really came alive. He scored 17 points in Game 2 on 70 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from deep, then in Games 4 and 5 went on to put up games of 11 and 18 points, respectively.

He was Utah’s leading scorer in Game 5 and, quite frankly, deserved more looks down the stretch as the lone Jazzman with the hot hand and because he was often left open. Perhaps most incredible about O’Neale is that he led the Jazz in 3-point shooting in the series at a clip of 34.8 percent.

That’s honestly not all that good of a mark, which says a ton about Utah’s atrocious perimeter shooting in all five games. But the fact that a second-year undrafted player was the one leading the Jazz in that category is still very telling. Royce O’Neale was a legit threat for the Jazz in a playoff series against one of the best teams in the NBA. And he’s undoubtedly solidified himself as an impact player and staple of this Jazz roster moving forward.

Furthermore, while O’Neale and the rest of the Jazz squad struggled on defense early in the series, they largely figured things out and were able to keep the Rockets pretty well contained. It was Utah’s offense that was by and large the biggest issue, despite Royce’s best efforts. But while the Jazz as a whole were decent on defense, O’Neale was masterful. He ended the postseason as Utah’s third best in defensive rating, all while largely drawing the assignment of covering James Harden.

He originally found his place in this league by being an incredible lockdown defender, but he made that reputation known in this series as he was a consistent force on that end. On both ends of the floor, O’Neale made a name for himself and is set to be a key cog for a Jazz team that is a mere piece or two away from being a true contender as early as next season.

And what also makes O’Neale so unique is that, due to his relatively unknown nature prior to Dennis Lindsey’s signing of the former Baylor standout, he is on an incredibly cost-effective contract. This past season, he was paid just $1.3 million, the lowest mark on the team save for two-way players Tyler Cavanaugh and Naz Mitrou-Long. He’s also still under contract for next season at a mere $1.6 million.

$1.6 million for a guy who appears to be a bona fide 3-and-D threat, just led his team in 3-point percentage for a series and was the leading scorer in an elimination Game 5? It doesn’t get much better than that. Every NBA team would desperately love to have a player of O’Neale’s skill and value, and there’s no doubt he’ll be in for a large pay raise in the summer of 2020.

As ought to be expected, Utah Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey has made some great decisions and some less than great decisions. The Dante Exum experiment, for one example, is looking to be of the latter sort barring a big change in the next two years. However, there’s no denying that the signing of Royce O’Neale – especially when it came down to a tough decision between him and former fan favorite Joel Bolomboy – has been one of Lindsey’s most savvy moves.

Royce O’Neale has been a steal of a pickup for the Jazz who only continues to get better. He’s proving Lindsey a sage for finding diamonds in the rough, but even more importantly, he made a name for himself in the Jazz-Rockets series. Royce may have flown under the radar leading up to this season, but he’s a tried and true NBA rotation player now.

And ideally, he along with his Jazz team will take yet another leap forward in what will be O’Neale’s third season as a professional. At just 25 years old, Royce certainly has plenty of time to blossom and develop. And I expect him to do just that.