Utah Jazz: One thing each key role player needs to improve in 2019-20

Ed Davis – Defending without fouling

When looking at Ed Davis, it’s honestly hard to find too much to dislike about his game. Sure, he’s not anywhere near the offensive threat Derrick Favors was, but as a backup center to Rudy Gobert, he’s very well equipped to thrive in that role. He’s also good in the pick-and-roll, as he shot 61.4 percent as the roll-man last season, a figure which even topped the pick-and-roll extraordinaire Favors himself. He’s additionally an exceptional rebounder, which could very well be his best trait.

But when diving in a little deeper to Ed Davis’ numbers, one thing that absolutely jumped off the page to me was his fouling. Despite playing far fewer minutes than Favors or Gobert, Davis found himself prone to committing fouls very frequently. Last season, he averaged 2.8 per game, whereas Favors was at 2.1 and Rudy Gobert was at 2.9.

Considering that Davis averaged just under 18 minutes per game last season, if we’re going to really tell this story, though, it makes more sense to look at this in terms of per-36 minutes to get a sense for how frequently he fouled compared to the Jazz’s bigs. In per-36 terms, Favors averaged 3.3 personal fouls while Gobert averaged 3.2. Ed Davis? He averaged a whopping 5.6 personal fouls per 36 minutes.

That’s a massive discrepancy and is definitely a problem when aiming to maintain the best possible defensive integrity. Defending without fouling is always a major emphasis for elite defensive teams in the NBA, and the Utah Jazz are no exception. Giving up easy baskets is never an optimal game plan, and frequently sending opposing players to the line due to an inability to slow them down without fouling is definitely just another way of doing that.

Fouling has been a weakness of Davis’ throughout his career and it peaked in 2016-17 with Portland where he averaged 6.3 fouls per-36 minutes. Sure, in 15-18 minutes per game as a backup center, the fouling issue may not rear its ugly head as much as it would for a starter and it certainly won’t be an aspect that totally sinks the Jazz, but it’s still concerning.

If Ed Davis, and in turn the Jazz second unit, want to be as sharp as possible, it will be critical that he puts a major emphasis on the defensive end and develops a way to stop opposing bigs without sending them to the free throw line.

The Jazz have a solid bench rotation overall, but it’s also full of question marks. Nevertheless, their reserve guys will go a long ways in becoming a staunch force if they can simply improve their games in the specific areas detailed here.