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

The Utah Jazz aren’t living up to expectations this year, and a big part of that has to do with the heavy drop off from the starting unit to bench players.

Currently the Utah Jazz sit at 13-11 and sixth in the Western Conference, which doesn’t appear that bad at first glance. However, Utah is 2-6 in their last eight games with both wins coming against a lowly Memphis Grizzlies team.

Lately their star players have looked out of sorts, their once elite defense has been hovering around 10th best in the league (bottom-10 in the last two weeks), and the excuse of incorporating new players into Quin Snyder’s system is starting to expire.

A lot of people didn’t see the Jazz having this big of a problem finding a cohesiveness on the court. In the first 10 games of the season this team was holding their opponents under 100 points, Rudy Gobert had a monster block on the reigning MVP, Donovan Mitchell was playing like an All-Star, and Bojan Bogdanovic hit this game-winner to keep the Jazz undefeated at home.

But one thing that has been a constant plague from the start is Utah’s weak bench. This is something that Jazz management knew would be a downgrade compared to last year’s squad, but they didn’t anticipate it to be this bad.

The original plan was to have Joe Ingles be the main shot creator off the bench, bascially expanding the role he thrived in last year especially when Jae Crowder replaced Derrick Favors in the starting lineup. In addition to that Quin Snyder could always stagger minutes of Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell to punish opposing benches.

The reality? Utah’s bench has been in the gutter all year in minutes played (28th), assist-to-turnover ratio (30th), field goal percentage (25th), net rating (23rd), and virtually every other metric. They haven’t been able to keep a lead when the starters are off the court.

Here is how Utah fares for when their starters have to take a rest:

outscored by 7.5 points per 100 possessions when Rudy Gobert sits

outscored by 9.3 points per 100 possessions when Bojan Bogdanovic sits

outscored by 5.5 points per 100 possessions when Royce O’Neale sits

outscored by 3.1 points per 100 possessions when Mike Conley sits

outscored by 1.4 points per 100 possessions when Donovan sits

A lot of people are wanting the Jazz to pull off a trade to upgrade the bench, but the Jazz aren’t able to trade their first round pick until 2024 thanks to the Mike Conley trade. Unless Utah is able to work a deal only involving Dante Exum, Ed Davis, and maybe Jeff Green, a notable trade is unlikely to happen any time soon unless those players raise their trade stock significantly before the February deadline (in which case the Jazz might prefer to retain them for the playoff run).

Here are three options for how the Jazz could internally fix their broken bench.

Start Joe, make Royce the Sixth Man

One thing that has stood out to me from the past three games is the improved play of Joe Ingles. Since replacing the injured Mike Conley in the starting lineup, Ingles has averaged 7.7 assists per game and shot nearly 43 percent from three point land. He has performed so much better as a starter, much of which has to do with the fact that he has a better partner in the pick and roll in the starting lineup.

When Ingles and Ed Davis tried running the pick and roll in the second unit, it was awful. Davis has mostly been a defensive and rebounding specialist for the Jazz this year, and isn’t quite replacement level for the hole Derrick Favors left offensively. That lack of an elite rolling big man has contributed to Ingles’ offensive slump this year.

When Slo’ Mo Joe plays with Rudy Gobert, their lineups outscore opponents by 2.3 points per 100 possessions. When he plays with Ed Davis, those lineups get outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions.

This obviously helps Ingles stay effective, but how does it help Utah’s bench?

One role I’d like to see Royce O’Neale take on is a defensive anchor as a perimeter player. It’s a tough task to ask from someone in just his third year in the league, but I think Royce would be up for the challenge.

Surrounded by good defenders in Ed Davis and Dante Exum, I envision O’Neale being the vocal leader helping his teammates know when and where to rotate, when to help, when to switch on the pick an roll, as well as pulling his own weight guarding positions 1-4.

It’s a role that has propelled Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics into conversations for Defensive Player of the Year award. Smart and O’Neale have very similar physical profiles. Smart is 6-foot-3 with a 6-foot-nine wingspan, and O’Neale is 6-foot-4 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan. Smart is listed at 227 pounds and O’Neale is listed at 226 pounds.

Smart was drafted as a point guard with shooting guard size, and has morphed into a bulldog on the defensive end with a point guard mentality on offense (4.6 assists per game). Royce O’Neale made the cut for the Jazz roster as a backup shooting guard/small forward, and has emerged as a valuable 3-and-D player that doesn’t require the ball in his hands. He’s technically been Utah’s starting power forward for 23 games this season.

I figured if Utah doesn’t have the personnel of a typical sixth man that is a microwave scorer a la Jamal Crawford, they could use Royce O’Neale as a defensive sixth man leader. At this point it seems a little unreasonable to expect Jeff Green or Emmanuel Mudiay to be the go-to scorer for our bench, as they fall in love with low percentage shots way too often.

Mike Conley, your new Sixth Man

Earlier this season the excuses for Mike Conley were learning to play in a new system, playing with a  center not named Marc Gasol, and finding a routine different than the one he used for 12 years in Memphis.

But the trade was completed nearly six months ago, and other NBA players have had to deal with the same thing (although none of them spent 12 years in the same city before being uprooted). The real reason behind Conley’s lackluster play is he needs the ball in his hands to be at his best.

His backcourt mate in Memphis was either OJ Mayo or Tony Allen for the longest time, and when the Grizzlies Grit n Grind era drew to a close, Conley found himself surrounded by young and raw NBA players. He didn’t have a choice but to take over.

He averaged a career high 21.1 points per game last season, albeit for a 33-49 Memphis Grizzlies team. His roster situation in Utah is vastly different from that of Memphis last season. Donovan Mitchell is the established leading scorer, and Bojan Bogdanovic is off to a hot start and deserves touches to get his 20+ points. Rudy Gobert can score 16-20 points when he gets his feeds in the right spot, and Joe Ingles has earned Quin Snyder’s trust as a primary ball-handling option when needed.

Mike Conley is stuck in the middle of it all trying to find his groove as well as get his teammates going as part of his point guard duties. Meanwhile Kemba Walker, who was tied in rumors to the Utah Jazz last summer, is off to a fantastic start in Boston.

The Celtics let Walker go right to work as the team’s best player, and there is clear pecking order established with Gordon Hayward being the number two option and Jayson Tatum the third wheel (or Jaylen Brown depending on the night).

For the Jazz, the first option is Mitchell or Bogdanovic, whoever is having a better shooting night. Then scoring options 3-5 depends on who steps up to the plate: it could be Rudy Gobert (which I’ve liked best so far), Jeff Green, Joe Ingles, or Conley. That pecking order has frequently rotated throughout the season.

Making Conley the sixth man for the Jazz would give him more of an ideal situation allowing Conley to take charge. I’m not the first to have this idea, as Tim MacMahon recently suggested it in an interview with Spence Checketts of ESPN 700 Sports:

"“He’s clearly not comfortable, and I wonder if the way this is going…, if Quin doesn’t try something drastic and bring him off the bench where it is more of the role he’s used to… maybe Mike Conley as a max salary sixth man is something drastic worth trying for the Jazz.”"

The only problem is the Jazz did not acquire Conley and his 30 million dollar salary intending for him to be a sixth man. They still have high hopes that he can figure it out. After all he is a smart player, Quin is a smart coach, and Mike still has plenty left in the tank. Additionally, his mere presence on the court has opened up space for Mitchell and the Jazz offense to go to work, even when Mike’s shot isn’t falling.

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