An NBA team’s starting unit tends to receive the bulk of media and fan attention. This holds as true for the Utah Jazz as it does for any other team in the Association. Nonetheless, a deep bench can make for a deciding factor in the outcome of games, stretches or even entire seasons.
Injuries are professional sports’ version of death and taxes: nobody wants them, but they’re unavoidable anyway. The deeper a team’s bench, the more easily they can replace injured starters. Even with a fully healthy outfit, no player in NBA history has averaged 48 minutes per game (besides Wilt Chamberlain, who we’re not convinced isn’t a widely believed folklore legend). The more frequently head coaches can spell their starters with quality players, the better their odds of sustaining winning play across entire games.
The Utah Jazz boasted one of the NBA’s best second units throughout 2020-21, but how do they stack up with the field heading into the 2021-22 season? The landscape has certainly changed, especially when one focuses an eye toward Los Angeles. The Lakers and Clippers were two of only three playoff teams to best the Jazz in bench points per game last season.
The former cleared out some of their most productive bench players in a blockbuster deal that found them acquiring Russell Westbrook, while the latter will spend most of the season without Kawhi Leonard, forcing them to shift at least one key bench player into the starting unit. Could these events create a perfect storm for the Utah Jazz to field the best bench in the NBA next season?
Here, we ranked the Jazzmen’s second unit among the rest of the NBA’s best. There is no complex formula at play in these rankings: we did look at league wide bench points per game and bench box plus/minus rankings from last season, but considering that teams will not be fielding the same rosters, this exercise is an inexact science by nature.
We also only considered projected playoff teams in these rankings. Typically, non-playoff teams fare well in bench points per game, because they frequently find themselves playing their second units for entire fourth quarters as they’re getting blown out. The Detroit Pistons led the NBA bench points per game last season at 41.3.
Something tells us they didn’t have the best bench in the NBA.
5. New York Knicks
The New York Knicks’ bench power all begins at the point guard spot. It’s difficult to predict whether Head Coach Tom Thibodeau will grant the starting position to the familiar Derrick Rose, or the (probably?) more valuable Kemba Walker heading into the 2021-22 season. Either way, it’s a rich man’s dilemma: the Knicks should roster a Sixth Man of the Year candidate no matter which course of action Thibs takes.
In 2020-21, Rose averaged 20.0 points and 5.6 assists per 36 minutes in 35 games for the Knicks. He only started in 3 out of the 35 games he played for them despite averaging 26.8 minutes per night. He seems like the likely candidate to come off the bench, if for no other reason than familiarity with the role.
Meanwhile, Kemba Walker was widely perceived as having a down year for the Boston Celtics last year, but his per 36 numbers were actually a hair more impressive than Rose’s at 21.8 points and 5.6 assists. Still, Walker battled knee issues all season that frequently kept him out of back-to-backs, and produced some long stretches of inconsistent play for the Cs.
At 31 with a recent injury history, Walker finds himself at a crossroads in his career. Can he return to something resembling his peak form and deliver a season worthy of All-Star consideration? Or, will his best days be demonstrably behind him, forcing Thibodeau to relegate him to second unit duties?
Beyond the potential battle for starting point guard honors, this Knicks bench features an intriguing mixture of solid veterans and upstart prospects. Alec Burks projects as one of the league’s most underrated second unit scorers, and Nerlens Noel is one of the best stoppers not to hold down a starting gig. The Knicks will hope that second-year players Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley can develop from unproven talents to winning assets.
This bench mob may not project to be as competitive as the one fielded by the Utah Jazz, but if the pieces fall as New Yorkers will hope they do, they could prove this ranking too low in the upcoming NBA season.
4. Washington Wizards
Remember that Russell Westbrook trade that depleted the Los Angeles Lakers’ bench?
Since moving on from the mercurial point guard, the Wizards roster at least 9 players who could theoretically contend for starting positions on teams across the National Basketball Association. Furthermore, this sudden influx of depth comes on the heels of a 2020-21 season wherein the Wizards already ranked fifth in bench points per game, with 39.3 per contest. Given the facts, why doesn’t this Wizards club rank higher on this list?
Two factors explain their fourth-place finish: box plus/minus and general uncertainty. To get the more empirical observation out of the way, the Wizards may have thrived in terms of bench points last season, but they still finished a humble 16th in bench box plus/minus at -0.1. In other words, this team may have generated a lot of points off the bench, but they gave up too many to be considered an elite second unit.
The incoming talent should help. The operative word is “should”. Parsing out this team’s depth chart heading into the 2021-22 NBA season would require clairvoyance. Montrezl Harrell is likely to reprise his sixth man role: after all, he’s a mere season removed from Sixth Man of the Year honors, and fills the role well as a combo big who can man either the 4 or the 5 position for stretches. The backcourt also looks set, with Bradley Beal returning as the Capital’s best player and Spencer Dinwiddie set to return from injury in a new home as the starting point guard.
The forward rotation, on the other hand, is about as clear as morse code to an average citizen any time past the 1930s: not very.
Between Rui Hachimura, Kyle Kuzma and Deni Avdija, the Wizards have three young(ish) wing/forwards who will all require considerable time at both the 3 and 4 positions. Meanwhile, Davis Bertans figures to maintain his starting power forward position, for his career 40.4 three point accuracy if not his $16 million per year contract. That’s a lot of mouths to feed over the course of 48 minutes per night.
Meanwhile, the big man rotation has similar, albeit lesser, logjam potential. While Harrell projects as this team’s sixth man, he’ll still need close to 30 minutes a game, at least 10 (and likely more) of which are likely to come at center. Meanwhile, Thomas Bryant is set to return from injury, but may not be assured a starting job given Daniel Gafford’s high level of play after joining the Wizards after the trade deadline.
Can a team be too deep? That’s a question the Wizards may be set to answer throughout the 2021-22 season, and until they do, they don’t earn a placement ahead of the Utah Jazz or a couple of other squads in these rankings.
3. Memphis Grizzlies
The boys on Beale Street had a busy offseason, involving themselves in a flurry of multi-team transactions. The Grizzlies’ plan for this summer was clear: improve their future outlook, even if it happened at the expense of their present.
None of which led to any decisions that had a major bearing on a second unit that ranked sixth in points per game last season, at 39.1. The most significant player the Grizzlies parted with was Lithuanian big man Jonas Valanciunas, who was a starter last season. Otherwise, Grayson Allen was a significant bench cog that the team traded this offseason, but the arrival of Jarrett Culver and Juancho Hernangomez should offset the loss of the former Duke product.
Furthermore, the Grizz will be banking on the improved health of recent lottery pick Jaren Jackson Jr., which would inevitably push playmaking forward Kyle Anderson to the second unit. As a multi-positional player with playmaking chops, the man affectionally known as Slow Mo could make for a unique sixth man in the mold of Utah Jazz hero Joe Ingles.
Otherwise, this second unit is bolstered by the presence of quality rotational players like De’Anthony Melton, Tyus Jones, Xavier Tillman and Brandon Clarke. The subtraction of Valanciunas leaves this team wanting at the center position, but the front office will undoubtedly be hoping that recently acquired Daniel Oturu can break out in his age-22 season after filling a limited role on the contending Los Angeles Clippers.
If certain trade rumors come to fruition, the outlook for this Memphis Grizzlies second unit may change considerably. In the meantime, they’ve earned a spot near the Utah Jazz in these rankings.
2. Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns, on paper, don’t have the multitude of offensive weapons on their second unit that some of the teams listed may. Nonetheless, this team’s second unit ranked first in the NBA last season in box plus/minus at 1.9. A great deal of this success rests on the shoulders of the man they call Super Dario.
Lineups with Dario Saric in place of Deandre Ayton torched opponents to the tune of 119.0 points per 100 possessions, which landed them in the 89th percentile across the NBA according to CleaningtheGlass. They also shot an effective field goal percentage (eFG%) of 57.4%, good for the 91st percentile.
In other, more succinct words: the Phoenix Suns were very good with Dario Saric playing the 5.
Arguably, we’re cheating by crediting the Suns’ entire second unit for the success of Saric + starters lineups, only the Suns boast several quality players in the ranks of their bench. They’ll be heavily invested in the development of soon-to-be third year forward Cameron Johnson. If he can replicate the 44.6% accuracy from three-point range he provided the Suns in 2020-21 across an entire season, he’ll have an opportunity to make a major impact.
Another key acquisition for the Suns this offseason also points in the direction of a potential logjam. Landry Shamet is a sharpshooting third year guard whose career 39.7% three-point accuracy on 5.3 attempts per game bodes well for the Suns. On the other hand, this squad also rosters veteran off-guards E’Twaun Moore and Langston Galloway and scoring point guard Cameron Payne. Furthermore, they lost 3-and-D wing Torrey Craig this offseason.
At face value, Shamet-for-Craig is a roughly lateral move, but with a surplus of guards and a dearth of wings on this second unit, the Phoenix Suns may need to make some additional moves to claim a bench as thorough and talented as that of the Utah Jazz.
1. Utah Jazz
Yes, a Utah Jazz page is claiming that the Utah Jazz have the best bench in the National Basketball Association.
If you’re asking yourself about the legitimacy of that claim, consider the following: Jordan Clarkson won the Sixth Man of the Year Award for the 2020-21 NBA regular season. The runner-up for that award was none other than his Utah Jazz teammate Joe Ingles.
Granting the Jazz the distinction of the best second unit in the National Basketball Association should not carry the stench of bias here: they were voted by a panel of experts as having the two best reserve players in the NBA last season. Best of all, this bench mob has only gotten better.
This offseason’s acquisitions of Rudy Gay, Eric Paschall and Hassan Whiteside all point to a deeper, more balanced Utah Jazz squad. Both Gay and Paschall will be able to man the 5 spot in five-out, small-ball formations, or cover the backup 4 position admirably. Meanwhile, Whiteside is a high-end backup center who projects as a lateral move from Jazz mainstay Derrick Favors, if not a marginal upgrade.
Utah Jazz faithful will also hope that incoming rookie Jared Butler is ready to contribute right away, and that promising young players like Trent Forrest, Udoka Azubuike and Elijah Hughes, among others, are ready to make a step forward. However, even if they’re not, the Jazzmen’s 10-man rotation of the starting unit plus Clarkson, Ingles, Gay, Paschall and Whiteside ought to be the envy of contending teams across the Association.
The Jazz’s second unit finished fourth in the NBA in box plus/minus at 1.3 last season, and they improved. We refuse to be sheepish about naming them the best bench unit in the league.