Ranking the most used Utah Jazz lineups this season
If Utah Jazz Head Coach Quin Snyder deserves credit for one thing (side note: he deserves credit for a lot of things) it might be his ability to recognize what works, and stick with it.
The Jazz have leaned increasingly on four-out lineups featuring a conventional rim protector in the middle during his tenure, with considerable success. This year, many observers thought Snyder might deviate from his formula, particularly with the team’s offseason acquisition of potential small ball center Rudy Gay. So far he’s stuck to his preferred script. Spoiler alert: all 5 of the most used Utah Jazz lineups in 2021-22 so far feature either Rudy Gobert or Hassan Whiteside at the center position.
It’s a trend worth monitoring as the season unfolds. We’re tempted to suggest that Snyder should experiment with small ball lineups sooner than later, lest he find his Utah Jazz in the postseason with no idea how to counter Nicolas Batum. In the interim, these lineups have found varying degrees of success.
Here’s how the Jazz’s five most used lineups rank according to their differential, as found on CleaningtheGlass.
Utah Jazz fifth-best lineup: Hassan Whiteside, Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanovic, Royce O’Neale, Donovan Mitchell
Lately, there has been some discussion among Utah Jazz fans about whether Joe Ingles ought to usurp Royce O’Neale in Snyder’s starting lineup. O’Neale has been injured for the past 2 games, and the Jazz’s offense has exploded with Ingles manning his usual spot.
Wherever you land on that debate, it seems evident one of them will have to come off the bench, as 3-wing lineups are not working for the Jazzmen. As per CleaningtheGlass, this grouping has a -4.7 differential, good for the 23rd percentile in the NBA.
Of course, one could argue that the more deterministic variable here is that Whiteside is in the lineup as opposed to Gobert. It’s a fair counterpoint, but as you’ll learn in the next slide, Whiteside does man the middle in one of the Jazz’s more successful lineups.
For whatever reason, this group particularly struggles on the defensive end. The 118.4 points they allow per 100 possessions rank in the league’s 7th percentile (per CleaningtheGlass). Snyder should probably look to this group as seldom as possible, perhaps exclusively in the interest of fatigue management.