Ben Anderson: Can the Jazz shoot?


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz are embarking on a new era of basketball, post Gordon Hayward.

Hayward’s departure for the Boston Celtics left the Jazz with a major hole on the roster, not just because he was the team’s only All-Star and led the team in scoring at nearly 22 points per game, but because he was also the team’s most prolific 3-point shooter.

Although Hayward trailed Rodney Hood by one-tenth of an attempt in 3-pointers taken per game, he led the team in 3-pointers made, at two per game.

In addition to Hayward, the Jazz will also be without the services of George Hill, who ranked third on the team in 3-pointers made per game, at 1.9 makes. Combined, Hill and Hayward accounted for 11 percent of the Jazz’s 100.7 points per game, based purely on their 3-point shooting alone.

To make it worse, Hill (.403) and Hayward (.398) ranked as the third and fourth most efficient 3-point shooters for the Jazz last season, leaving them with a gap not just in shots made, but the above-average rate in which they were made.

Now, the onus falls on the Jazz to replace that 3-point shooting as best they can or risk damaging what ranked as the 12th best offense last season.

But where do they find the shots, and more importantly, the makes?

First, replacing the nearly 10 attempts per game is easier said than done. While no player in the league would turn down the ability to take more 3-point shots, it has to make sense within the team’s offense, within the player's skill set and existing workload.

Hood, for example, used more than 10 percent of team possessions on 3-point shots. Steph Curry, arguably the greatest 3-point shooter in NBA history, used 14 percent of the Warriors' possessions to shoot the three ball. While Hood could up the number of threes he takes per 100 possessions, realistically he can’t increase the rate enough to close the void left by Hayward and Hill.

Both Joe Ingles and Joe Johnson, who took the Jazz’s fourth and fifth most 3-point shots per game last year, could up their seven 3-point attempts per 100 possessions, but that could stretch the players beyond their existing abilities.

Ingles led the team in 3-point shooting rate, using 61 percent of his shot attempts on threes, while Johnson ranked fourth on the team, using 41 percent. Also, neither player averaged more than 24 minutes per game.

Players shooting a higher rate of threes than Ingles last year league-wide were mostly designated 3-point shooters and don’t share Ingles' ability as a passer or initiator of offense.

With Ingles and Hood likely using the majority of wing possessions that would have gone to Hayward, and being at or near their 3-point shooting capacity, the Jazz will be forced to look elsewhere in the lineup to find 3-point shooters.

Ricky Rubio, who is tasked with replacing Hill as the starting point guard, hasn’t proven to be viable 3-point threat as an NBA player. Rubio’s career high in 3-point attempts occurred last season when he averaged 2.6 attempts per game. While that number is 2.2 attempts fewer than Hill, he also made just .8 threes per game — more than a full make fewer per game.

The team can’t look elsewhere in the projected starting lineup for 3-point attempts either. Rudy Gobert has missed all three of his career attempts and Derrick Favors, who flirted with taking 3-point shots before the season last year, has attempted just 26 in his career, converting only four.

The Jazz will have to turn to their bench, including a few newcomers to stabilize their 3-point shooting. Notably, the Jazz added both Thabo Sefolosha and Jonas Jerebko to the roster this summer, and both are willing 3-point shooters. Sefolosha, though, is just an average 3-point shooter at 34 percent and could take more attempts for the Jazz than he did for Atlanta last season.

Sefolosha used just 3.7 percent of Hawks' possessions to shoot threes, down from his career high of 6 percent in Oklahoma City. Just 30 percent of his shot attempts were threes, down from his career-high 55 percent with the Thunder.

Jerebko used 5.2 percent of Boston’s possessions on 3-point shots last season, down from his career high of 6.1 percent. Like Sefolosha, Jerebko’s 34 percent 3-point shooting average is mediocre by NBA standards. However, 34 percent would have ranked sixth on the Jazz roster last season, and ranks fourth among returning players.

Rookie Donovan Mitchell, expected to be a significant part of the Jazz’s rotation next season, was a 35 percent 3-point shooter in college, and shot 38 percent during the NBA summer league. He used 12 percent of Louisville’s possessions last season on 3-point attempts, including 50 percent of his own shot attempts.

Beyond the new additions, Alec Burks and Raul Neto were the Jazz's next best 3-point shooters last year, converting 32 percent of their attempts.

Perhaps the player with the most room and opportunity to grow as a 3-point shooter is Dante Exum. Exum should get the majority of the minutes at backup point guard for the Jazz, with more opportunity to find his offense. The second-year guard shot a miserable 29 percent from three last year, down slightly from his 31 percent as a rookie. Encouragingly, Exum converted 41 percent of his 3-point attempts at this year’s summer league, albeit in limited appearances.

The Jazz ranked ninth in the NBA last year in 3-point percentage at 37 percent, largely due to the efficiency of Hayward and Hill. Replacing those two in the starting lineup is a near impossibility, so the Jazz will have to turn to the bench to supplement their numbers. Simply finding a replacement for the attempts will be difficult, much less replacing the makes.

The team will almost certainly take a step back as a 3-point shooting team next year, but with new additions, and room for growth among returning players, the Jazz can hope to stem the losses of Hayward and Hill. Ben Anderson is a contributor at KSL.com, follow him on Twitter @BensHoops.

Related stories

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsUtah Jazz
Ben Anderson

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast