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SALT LAKE CITY — In the wake of the upheaval caused by the departures of Gordon Hayward and George Hill, the line from Utah has been consistent regarding the Jazz's identity: They are happy with playing good defense and winning low-scoring games.
The Jazz’s offseason transactions tell a similar story. After finishing third in team defensive rating last year, the Jazz lavished their roster with a couple of noted defensive specialists in Thabo Sefolosha and Ricky Rubio, who, in addition to Joe Ingles, give the Jazz three-plus defenders across their perimeter defense.
These additions align neatly with the organization’s defense-first mentality as they further bolster the Jazz’s defensive depth and allow for more switchable lineup combinations on a nightly basis. But beneath their obvious defensive merits, these moves may actually reveal a hidden benefit for the Jazz’s offense: activating its transition and early offense.
As a team, the Jazz ranked 29th in steals last season, averaging a full steal less per game (6.7) than the league average. But with Rubio, Sefolosha and Ingles now in the same uniform, the Jazz will be appreciably better in that category because all three players finished in the top 20 for steals last season. What’s more is that prized rookie Donovan Mitchell — and his 6-foot-10 wingspan — led the ACC in steals per game (2.1) during his sophomore season.
Taken together, it should be expected that the Jazz will force more steals, which in turn creates extra scoring opportunities for their early offense.
Under Quin Snyder, the Jazz have used their early offense sparingly — they’ve played at the league’s slowest pace in each of the last three seasons — but when they did run, the Jazz often leaned on the playmaking of Hayward to produce hyper-efficient looks, a luxury they no longer enjoy.
To give you an idea of how the Jazz’s offense preferred to operate last season, the Jazz ranked 29th in length of possession following a defensive rebound and 24th in length of possession following a turnover, according to inpredictable.com. Even after forcing a missed shot or turnover, Utah tended toward playing half-court offense. But despite using the second-fewest transition possessions, the Jazz were the league’s most efficient transition offense last season, scoring 1.22 points per possession.
Certainly some of the Jazz’s reluctance to push tempo is owed to the nature of the roster, as their best frontcourt combination comes in the form of two talented yet traditional bigs, Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors. When those two shared the floor, the Jazz limited themselves to running only in certain situations.
Rather than forcing the issue, the Jazz optimized the high-leverage opportunities that were afforded to them, whether it was from creating turnovers in certain areas of the court or leveraging their opponent’s poor spacing. Given how efficient this was, Utah is likely to remain attacking these no-brainer situations. But where things may differ is with the Jazz pushing the ball up the floor following defensive rebounds.
Doing so plays to the strengths of the current roster, something Snyder holds in high importance. While much is made of Rubio’s passing (deservedly so), he’s also one of the top rebounders at his position (he finished 26th among 99 qualifying guards in total rebound percentage last season). With Rubio as a complement in traditional two-big lineups, the Jazz can clear the defensive glass as a team and allow Rubio to advance the ball in earnest.
Those who watched him during his years in Minnesota say the point guard is at his best when playing with a sense of urgency. After securing a rebound, he looks to apply instant pressure on defenses.
If anything can be said about Rubio’s six years in Minnesota, it’s this: Everyone eats. Never is that more clear than when Rubio is unleashed in the open floor against an unset defense. His combination of court vision, anticipation and touch allow him to access passing windows that simply aren’t available to other players. Few others in the league could complete this near half-court alley-oop, let alone see the opportunity unfolding ahead of time.
While Rubio’s scoring numbers in transition are horrific — his effective field-goal percentage last season was 46 percent in such situations, per nba.com — it’s mitigated some by the offense he creates from assists. According to stats from nba.com, Rubio ranks fourth in the league in assists per game in the “very early” shot clock range (defined as 22-18 seconds) and 15th in the “early” range (defined as 18-15 seconds). When running, Rubio sets up his teammates in myriad ways.
If the defense sags on him and clogs the paint, he stays one step ahead with his famous no-look passes.
If the defense loses track of a player, Rubio identifies the breakdown before the opposition does.
One of the more interesting subplots of Rubio joining the Jazz is how he’ll fit alongside Gobert — his primary pick-and-roll partner. By and large, the Jazz’s offense will center around that duo and, by extension, so too will its transition and early offense.
While teams that feature traditional two-big lineups generally limit themselves from playing fast, Gobert (and to a lesser degree Favors) has shown a willingness to run when necessary. Comparatively, Gobert’s transition frequency (7.0 percent) is higher than several of his counterparts who played in faster offenses last season, including DeAndre Jordan (6.7 percent), Marcin Gortat (4.1 percent) and Al Horford (5.0 percent), per nba.com.
Some of Gobert’s production in transition happens organically; other times, it’s more calculated — like in the play below.
The play begins with Gobert and Boris Diaw crossing half-court and lingering on the right wing. Together, they set screens for Shelvin Mack (these are often referred to as drag screens because of the way the big has to “drag” behind the play) and free up space, resulting in an alley-oop for Gobert.
With Rubio’s deft passing now in the fold, the efficient production from running these actions is likely to improve.
Transition or otherwise, the concerns about spacing in any Rubio-Gobert screen action remain, but if there’s a silver lining, it’s that Rubio has made a living out of navigating space-deprived offenses and producing something out of nothing.
Still, the Jazz’s offense needs some modicum of spacing and 3-point shooting in order to survive. From a transition standpoint, the Jazz were one of the most efficient 3-point shooting teams in the league last year (fifth in 3-point percentage in “very early” shot clock, 13th in “early” shot clock), albeit on a low number of attempts (30th in “very early” shot clock, 26th in “early” shot clock), according to stats from nba.com.
Crucially, Utah’s most deadly 3-point shooter, Ingles, also happens to be one of the team’s best transition weapons. Ranking in the 85th percentile league-wide in offensive transition, the 29-year-old Ingles shot 42.1 percent from three on 38 attempts in the “very early” shot clock range and 41.7 percent on 48 attempts in the “early” range, according to stats from nba.com.
His preferred station was above the break, where he shot 45 percent on a combined 59 attempts in the “very early” and “early” ranges. When defenses stifled the Jazz’s initial break, Ingles was often the first outlet option in secondary transition.
Ingles is among several Jazz players in line for an expanded offensive role this season, which means he’ll play more with the ball in his hands than previously. He’s already proven himself as a capable secondary ballhandler — he finished third in assists per game (3.3) during the Jazz’s recent playoff run — whose court sense and smart passing lend to transition playmaking, as shown below.
Beyond Ingles, the two players who will see their roles increase the most come from the same draft class: Dante Exum and Rodney Hood. After missing all of the 2015-16 season with a torn ACL, it was a welcome sight for Jazz fans to see Exum retain his athleticism in 2016-17. Of Jazz players with at least 50 transition possessions last season, nobody ran more frequently than Exum (15.1 percent), and nearly a fifth of his points came off turnovers (19.7 percent), according to stats from nba.com.
Last season, Exum's willingness to be the forerunner in transition and fast-break situations was the source of much of his offense. Until he proves he can be effective in a half-court offense (he showed some signs of life in the most recent Jazz summer league), Exum’s best ability remains his speed.
As for Hood, his transition production has been uneven. As part of a disappointing season for the former Duke product, Hood dipped to the 58th percentile in offensive transition last season after finishing in the 71st the year before, according to nba.com. So why the decline?
The primary reason was health, as Hood missed 23 games to a knee injury in 2016-17. Despite this, Hood actually ran more frequently last season than he did in the previous one (7.8 percent frequency in 2015 to 10.5 percent frequency in 2016, according to stats from nba.com) and did so less efficiently as a result. Hood was worse in a few key areas, not the least of which were free throw and turnover frequency. In 2015, Hood got to the line at a 20.5 percent clip in transition while only turning the ball over 8.7 percent of the time. In 2016, the former fell to 9.8 percent while the latter rose to 14.6 percent, according to stats from nba.com.
Even still, some of his lapses in transition are baffling. In the sequence below, Hood runs downhill at what appears to be an advantageous one-on-one situation before being thwarted at the rim — both on the initial shot attempt and putback.
That he’s been proficient in transition before is reason for optimism. Hood, 24, is eligible for a contract extension this season (The Salt Lake Tribune recently reported that extension talks between Hood and the Jazz are ongoing), and he will have a full offseason for his ailing knee to recover. With renewed athleticism and the motivation to sign a new deal, the stage is set for Hood to have a bounce-back year.
Considering the state of the Jazz’s roster as a whole, there’s little reason to think the Jazz won’t look to run more frequently this season. With the strength of the team on the defensive end, it stands to reason that Snyder will use a combination of missed shots, turnovers and specific skill sets to lubricate the offense.
In truth, the success or failure of the Jazz’s season now hinges on how reliably they can produce offense. Come Oct. 18, the Jazz may be running for their life.
