Early into this 2021-22 NBA season, Utah Jazz fans are mostly concerned with one stat: win/loss totals. Their Jazzmen are 4-0, and if you love the team, you probably aren’t concerned with how they’ve gotten there.
That’s entirely fair, however, there have been some statistical markers from the Jazz’s undefeated start that are quite interesting. As the three-point revolution’s new vanguard, the Utah Jazz are bound to set some historic precedents. This club’s fans are truly witnessing history.
Here are 3 statistics from the 2021-22 season to date that reinforce that fact.
1. Utah Jazz True Shooting % (TS%)
As we’ve discussed recently at the J-Notes, the Jazz haven’t actually been shooting the three ball very efficiently in spite of the team’s tremendous volume. Several key members of the team have been enduring shooting slumps to begin the 2021-22 NBA season.
Those slumps are reflected in the Jazz’s 19th ranked 33.3% accuracy from three-point range. For contrast’s sake, the Chicago Bulls are leading the Association in three-point accuracy at 40.4%.
The shots may not be falling, but the Utah Jazz are hoisting them without reservation. Their 43.5 attempts per contest are the most in the NBA. Intuitively, one may question the validity of this strategy. If the Jazz are hitting their threes with the 19th best conversion rate in the NBA, could it be advisable to shoot the most threes?
As it turns out, it is very much so.
In spite of the Jazzmen’s shooting woes, they’ve got the second best TS% in the NBA at 58.6%, trailing only the Philadelphia 76ers (59.5%). For those who don’t know, TS% is a shooting percentage that aggregates field goal percentage, three-point percentage and free throw percentage.
The fact that the Utah Jazz could routinely miss so many triples and still rank second in the NBA in TS% validates the entire three-point revolution. It demonstrates that shooting more three-pointers makes an offense more efficient, even if those attempts aren’t consistently dropping.
The Utah Jazz are already undefeated: once those threes start finding nylon more consistently, they’ll pose a major problem to any team in the NBA. As it stands, they still boast one of the most efficient offenses in the NBA in spite of rostering several slumping three-point threats.