Written by Sean Woodley at Bloguin
The Utah Jazz can defend.
Since trading Enes Kanter and inserting Rudy Gobert into the starting five at the deadline last season, Quin Snyder’s team has undergone a startling transformation. Utah was by the far the best defensive team in the final two months of the 2014-15 campaign, posting a 94.8 Defensive Rating that was three points per-100 possessions better than the second-best Spurs.
It’s no surprise really. Gobert and his front court partner Derrick Favors are two of the most disruptive rim protectors in the NBA. Around those two behemoths, is a collection of long, defensively sound wings that leave few chinks in the Jazz’ armor. Through 13 games this season, Utah is proving last season’s strong finish was no aberration. Snyder’s squad ranks 7th in the league with a 99.1 Defensive Rating. With their ball-stopping ability, the Jazz are right where most people expected them to be – in the mix for one of the final playoff spots in the West.
But for the ceiling of this team to truly be blown off, Utah’s offense needs some revamping. As competent as the Jazz have been preventing opponents from scoring, they’ve been equally inept generating points of their own. In the early going, the team has the eighth-worst offense in the NBA on a per-possession basis and ranks in the bottom-10 in Assist Ratio (29th), Effective Field-Goal Percentage (22nd), True Shooting Percentage (22nd), Three-Point Percentage (21st), three-pointers made (27th) and three-pointers attempted per game (27th). A team that plays at the league’s second-slowest pace needs to score efficiently in order to not get left behind, and they just aren’t doing that so far. It’s been a slog.
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