Above all else, the biggest issue that the Utah Jazz have faced this year is its issues with chemistry. Most of the players the Jazz have are viable options for someone to use in their lineup, just maybe not the Jazz. A lot of players don't compliment each other well and that's caused a lot of problems for Utah and has led to a lot of bad outings due to poor communication.
That's been a huge issue for guys like John Collins, especially on defense. He's not responding to what his teammates are doing and he's allowing points to be scored in the process. You'd think with a current record of 13-19, that the team doesn't have much going on when it comes to chemistry but you'd be surprised.
The folks at SLC Dunk looked at stats from Per Cleaning The Glass and saw some unique observations through the lens of advanced metrics that SCL Dunk shared in a new post. They found that the two players that fit best with one another are the team's best offensive player in Lauri Markkanen and arguably the team's best defensive player in Kris Dunn.
Here's what SLC Dunk had to say about the pairing;
"It’s not all doom and gloom, I promise. The best duo is Markkanen and Dunn, interestingly. In 339 possessions, Utah is outscoring opponents by 9.14 per 100. It’s not readily understood why this is. Many other duos struggle with Markkanen and Dunn’s only other pairing worth noting is with Ochai Agbaji. More investigation is needed into what is contributing to its success (could just be shooting luck or opponent strength). At minimum, there’s some good yin-yang between defensive positioning, activity, passing, shooting, initiative, etc."
It's not surprising that the team has had such success with these two. The dynamics are there and they complement one another impeccably. Dunn is a defensive-minded passer, who looks to facilitate and then get back on defense. Markkanen, a three-tier scorer, naturally allows Dunn more space to work and is a great passing threat. Either as a catch-and-shoot type or even as a rim runner.
Markkanen's versatility makes him a unique target for someone like Dunn to pass the ball to, and his length ensures he won't be useless on defense. It's not surprising that when Markkanen came back from injury and Dunn got promoted to the starting lineup the team got instantly better.
This is a pair that Utah should ride with for some time more.