Utah Jazz: Who can step up to fix the broken bench?

Bogey makes a super-sub

This one seems the most controversial to me. Bojan has thrived in Utah, proving that hot end to the season in Indiana was no fluke. Bogey can flat out score the basketball and will a team to victory.

There’s a reason that several fans like to say that Bojan is better than all-star Hayward was for the Jazz (he’s not). He’s quickly won over fans with his hustle, taking shots to the face, hitting the ground countless times after a drive to the hoop, and the obvious emotion passion he plays with.

In the first slide I noted how the Jazz perform the worst when Bojan leaves the court than any other of their starting lineup, and it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to take him out of the starting lineup. When Mitchell is struggling (which has been often lately) the Jazz have been able to fall back on Bojan to carry the scoring load. Take Bojan out of the starting lineup, and we will see the old Mitchell that struggled to score efficiently his first two years in the league.

But imagine what it would do for our bench lineups.

Essentially it would be a similar starting five to last years which featured Jae Crowder and Ricky Rubio, except they would be replaced with Royce O’Neale and Mike Conley. A friendly reminder that last year’s starting five wasn’t so bad after all, outscoring opponents by 10.4 points per 100 posessions. For comparison, the 2019 NBA champion Raptors outscored opponents by 10.7 points per 100 posessions with their regular starting five (Serge Ibaka starting).

Then once that starting five comes off the court, you would have Bojan Bogdanovic overwhelming second units offensively. The only problem with that bench is they would surrender too many points on the defensive end, but at this point for the Utah Jazz any option for change is a good option to give their bench a jolt of energy.

My suspicion is that Quin Snyder will ride out the rest of the month with the same general rotation. The month of December is a good test to see if this Utah jazz team is trash or if there is a flicker of hope remaining for a playoff run. If Utah can get back on track using the soft, travel-lite schedule, then there might only need to be minor tweaks for the rest of the season.

If I could pick for a player to come to the Jazz without having to worry about making an equal trade, I would pick Montrezl Harrell or Damontas Sabonis. They would make a great super sub and running mate with Joe Ingles in the second unit. Unfortunately trades require assets, something the Jazz are a little short on at the moment.

*All stats are a courtesy of basketball-reference.com