Will the Utah Jazz regret letting this 2020-21 free agent walk?

Roster turnover is an expected part of every team’s offseason, and the Utah Jazz were no exception heading into the 2021-22 season. Still, the team enjoyed significant continuity compared to several of their rivals in the pursuit of an NBA championship.

The team’s offseason additions of Rudy Gay, Eric Paschall and Hassan Whiteside were widely met with positive reviews, and rightfully so. Both Gay and Paschall have the potential to serve as the small-ball 5 the Jazz may have been missing in the NBA’s 2020-21 Western Conference semifinals, and Whiteside has more-than-compensated for the departure of longtime Jazzman Derrick Favors in 2021-22 so far.

Unfortunately, it was a largely overlooked departure from the Utah Jazz that the team may be regretting in hindsight.

Are the Utah Jazz missing Georges Niang?

Georges Niang isn’t exactly a household name. Casual NBA fans could be forgiven if they’d never heard of the man. On the other hand, serious NBA observers should be well-aware of the man named Minivan’s on-court impact.

Last season, Niang played 16.7 minutes per game for the Utah Jazz. In those minutes, he averaged 6.9 points per game while shooting an impressive 42.5% from deep. Those are the statistics of a valuable, floor-spacing rotation player, but it’s the performance of particular Jazz lineups that featured Niang that really tell the story.

Per CleaningtheGlass, the Utah Jazz ranked in the 87th percentile in Effective Field Goal Percentage (eFG%) when they featured a lineup of Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson, Miye Oni, Niang and Rudy Gobert. For the uninitiated, eFG% is a statistic that measures field goal percentage while adjusting for the extra value of three-point makes.

Admittedly, this was not a frequently used look for the Jazzmen, as Miye Oni averaged a mere 9.6 minutes per game in 2020-21. However, it also wasn’t the only hyper-efficient lineup featuring Georges Niang. A lineup featuring him alongside Gobert, Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanovic and Royce O’Neale actually ranked in the 99th percentile in eFG%, per CleaningtheGlass.

Of course, that lineup was also subject to a small-sample size, as any lineup featuring Royce O’Neale in the point guard slot is likely to be. The point still stands: Niang was featured in some hyper-efficient Utah Jazz lineups last season. Unfortunately, efficiency has been an issue for the Jazzmen in 2021-22.

Overall, the Utah Jazz are ninth in the NBA in eFG%. That’s solid, but it’s a notable drop from their fourth overall finish in 2020-21. It’s reasonable to conclude that their efficiency may look better with Niang playing 16.7 or so situational minutes per contest in 2021-22.

All of which may be much ado about nothing. After all, the Utah Jazz acquired Rudy Gay partly as a replacement for Niang, and he’s been unable to suit up for them in 2021-22 so far. Gay isn’t the same three-point threat that Niang is, but he’s arguably a more well-rounded player and a better defender. His addition to the squad may make memories of Niang fade a little more quickly in Salt Lake City.