When it rains, it pours, as they say. In the state of Utah, it doesn't literally rain all that much, but metaphorically, the season has followed that metaphor to a tee. A 1-7 start, with their most recent loss being yet another way for them to lose in heartbreaking fashion, has made the Jazz a pretty miserable watch.
They're not healthy, that's for sure. Jaren Jackson Jr.'s and Jusuf Nurkic's injuries have definitely been setbacks that have been hard for Utah to overcome. Their impending returns will help Utah get it together, though how much is the question.
In the meantime, though, how have things gone as badly as they have? Well, among the many problems, one of them has been their offense, which simply hasn't been functional. They have the second-worst offensive rating in the NBA, scoring 103.9 points per 100 possessions, beating only Charlotte.
It's odd that the Jazz are struggling this much offensively because they have Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, and a surging Ace Bailey. Sure, some pieces don't fit for now, which is why Will Hardy is using a rather unorthodox approach with Darryn Peteron, but some of it's because the Jazz are simply ice cold from the field.
They have had plenty of wide open shots
The Salt Lake Tribune's Shreyas Laddha brought up that Utah is shooting 27.6% from three. That is kind of ridiculous because, aside from Markkanen, George, and Bailey, they also have Brice Sensabaugh, Svi Mykhailiuk, Kyle Filipowski, and Josh Green, all of whom are more than capable of knocking down open shots.
In other words, the process is good. It's just not getting the results they want. It doesn't mean the strategy is wrong. It just means they have to start hitting their shots at some point. It's like that quote from Mean Girls.
"All the work is right. Just the answers are wrong."
It's tough to be patient after such a tough start, but this is a good sign that the Jazz aren't really doing anything wrong as a unit. This is just a collectively bad shooting start to the season. Teams get over that, and the Jazz should too. They have too many good shooters for this to continue.
WIth all that out there, it's not like hitting their shots will magically put them back on the right path towards a run to the postseason, but it's a start. The Jazz definitely need to fix more than just their bad shooting to get back on track, but it's also fair to say that bad luck has factored into their bad start.
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