Looking at the Utah Jazz One-Fourth of the Way Through the Season

By Jared Woodcox | Dec 12, 2015

With the season one-fourth of the way over, here’s a look at how the Utah Jazz have fared so far.

With their 21st game of the 2015-16 season now in the books, the Utah Jazz are officially just over a quarter of the way through the season. They currently hold a 10-11 record, which might not be quite up to par with the illustrious hopes of Jazz fans, but is by no means a bad start.

In fact, given the tough schedule that the Jazz have had so far and the injuries to Dante Exum and Rudy Gobert, the Jazz can be happy with where they’re at so far.

Not only were the Jazz on the road for eight of their first ten contests, but 15 of their first 21 games have been against teams with records above .500, including some of the league’s elites–the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder twice. While the Jazz still have plenty of challenges ahead, particularly in the month of December, as they play more games at home and against more favorable opponents throughout January, they have a great chance of being above .500 before the All-Star break just by playing at the same level they are now.

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Yet the Jazz truly are capable of playing better than they have been, even with Gobert sidelined. Multiple games against good teams have gone down to the wire and just a few moments of execution could have totally changed the outcomes, therefore boosting the Jazz’s record.

In Friday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Jazz lost by just four points, which is even more gut-wrenching when considering they shot a dismal 16 of 24 (66.7 percent) from the free throw line. Those shots could have made all the difference.

What might be the most frustrating aspect of the Jazz, though, isn’t that they lose close games to good teams, but rather that they seem to struggle to win games against teams that they should beat. After coming off an incredible win against the Indiana Pacers, who have been a surprisingly good team this year, the Jazz went on to lose to the hapless Sacramento Kings in a game where Utah looked flat-footed for the majority of the 48 minutes.

The Jazz have also lost both contests against the Orlando Magic. True, the Magic are an improved team this year, but looking at the two teams’ personnel, that’s a match-up where the Jazz should at least be expected to split the series. Yes, Gobert missed both games against Orlando, but it seems a little off that the Gobert-less Jazz, who beat the Pacers and hung in with the Thunder, should lose twice to the Magic.

So, clearly, while the Jazz are off to a respectable start, there is still plenty for them to improve on. With the season a fourth of the way gone, let’s take a look at where the Jazz have performed well and where they still need some work.

The Good

The Jazz’s two best players, Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors are beginning to play extremely well. Yes, Hayward sometimes gets knocked for his inconsistency, but overall and particularly of late, Hayward has been solid. For the year he’s shooting 44.1 percent and an impressive 42.7 percent from long range.

In his last three outings, he has shot nearly 69 percent (11 of 16) from beyond the arc and has been much improved defensively. He kept Paul George in check down the stretch in the win against Indiana, and aside from the incredible final minutes where Kevin Durant seemingly couldn’t miss, Hayward held his own against KD in Friday’s loss to OKC.

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Favors has been the Jazz’s most reliable player so far this season. After posting a 35-point career-high game against Indiana, he seemingly made the statement that he deserves recognition as one of the top power forwards in the league. He’s played well since then, logging double figures in each of the following three games, but he will likely look even more comfortable once his running mate Gobert is back alongside him in the paint and he can assume his preferred position.

On the year, Favors is logging career highs in minutes, points, field goal percentage, rebounds and free throw percentage. Favors’ total improvement has been the most important factor to the Jazz’s success so far this season.

Another bright point to Utah’s season has once again been their defense. While losing Gobert has undoubtedly hurt, the Jazz still have the third best defense in the league in terms of opponent points per game at 96.1. This defense has come largely because of Hayward’s improved focus on that end of the court as well as Favors’ presence in the paint.

Once Gobert comes back healthy, the Jazz should have a shot to once again finish with the league’s best defense.

The Bad

This leads into what has certainly been one of the most unfortunate aspects of the Jazz’s season thus far, despite it being something completely out of their control–Gobert’s health. His MCL sprain was by far the most severe to date, but Gobert truly hasn’t been healthy all season. With a tweaked ankle and hurt back, it’s been pretty clear that Rudy hasn’t been 100 percent this year.

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After his dominant conclusion to the season last year, it was largely expected that he would pick up where he left off and improve even more from there. Yet, when comparing his stats this season to his Post All-Star stats (which is when he truly came on as an impact player) from last year, both his points and rebounding numbers are significantly down.

Gobert will need to take his time coming back in hopes that he can return the healthiest he’s been all season. With a fully functional Gobert in the mix, the Jazz turn into a defensive juggernaut with true playoff hopes. Without him, those hopes dim significantly.

Another struggle for the Jazz has been the play of its rookies. While this is certainly to be expected, it’s still always a bit troubling to see rookies under perform. With exception to his career performance against the Indiana Pacers, Raul Neto has largely been a let down.

His shooting has been awful as he’s gone under 36 percent from the field and his assist to turnover ratio is at about 2:1. That certainly won’t cut it for an NBA starting point guard. While Neto’s defense has been decent, logging one steal per game and a solid defensive rating of 96.8, he has clearly struggled to contain athletic point guards.

Rookie Trey Lyles also has not been impressive so far. He hasn’t shot well from anywhere on the court including the free throw line. Even with an increased opportunity due to Gobert’s absence, he hasn’t provided many quality minutes.

While it’s much too early to give up on either of the Jazz’s young rookies, it’s always a little disappointing to see them play worse than expected.

The Ugly

It hurts to put this here, but unfortunately sometimes the truth hurts. Rodney Hood‘s play in this early part of the season has been downright hard to watch. After emerging as a sniper from deep in the second half of last season, Hood has taken a turn for the worst. He’s shooting under 30 percent from deep on the year and with a one of six outing in Friday’s loss to the Thunder, it doesn’t look like he’s on track to improve that percentage any time soon.

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With that being said, is it too early to panic about Hood’s latest shooting slump? Absolutely. However that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a reason for serious concern. While it’s natural in basketball for a long-range shooter to fall into a slump, sometimes that slump can be worsened by poor shot selection. That is certainly the case for Hood.

Honestly, if Hood had the exact same shooting percentages, but was taking good shots, this would barely be a concern. However, the fact that he is often forcing up terrible shots makes it very worrisome. His shot selection and decision-making on offense have been questionable at best. It’s almost as if last season’s late success left him a bit overconfident. Now with his shooting percentage steadily dropping, it’s likely having the opposite effect.

Hood needs to get himself going and bolster his confidence again by not settling for poor shots and looking to make the extra pass when possible rather than forcing up a contested shot or off-balance runner. While the Jazz’s defense has remained solid, the offense has largely struggled. If Hood is able to get out of his current funk, it could totally reverse this issue.

Playoff Hopes

So with all of this being said, where do the Jazz stand in terms of their playoff hopes? Surprisingly, if the playoffs were to start today, Utah’s 10-11 record would be good enough for the eighth seed in the West. It’s interesting to note that if the playoffs started today, the West’s bottom two seeds, Houston and Utah, would have sub-.500 records while the East would be leaving out two teams, Detroit and Orlando, with records above .500.

The West has long been the more powerful of the two conferences, but with how things are shaping up so far this year, the Jazz could find themselves the beneficiaries of playing in a “weaker” conference.

While it’s tempting to remember all the times the Jazz have broken hearts and let their fans down, I feel confident predicting that the Jazz will make the playoffs. Unfortunately, this belief largely stems out of the weak competition of the seven teams below them rather than a firm confidence in the Jazz’s abilities.

Yet truly, with the exception of perhaps the Phoenix Suns (who are currently 1.5 games behind the Jazz in the West) none of the teams below them seem to have much of a chance of being playoff teams. Portland and Minnesota are too young and Denver, Sacramento, New Orleans, and Los Angeles just don’t seem to have the talent.

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So whether it’s because the Jazz are improving or simply because the competition in the West isn’t what it used to be, I truly believe Utah will make the playoffs. If Gobert comes back healthy and the Jazz can get their defense back on track by the All-Star break, that possibility seems even more likely. However, to do so, the Jazz will more than likely have to finish better than the .476 record they currently have.

Clearly, there’s still a lot of season left to play. While a 10-11 record might not be the start that many hoped the Jazz would get off to, it has been enough to keep them right in the playoff mix. If Utah can improve in the areas where the team has struggled so far and win the games against teams below them in the Western Conference, their playoff chances still look very much alive and well.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com/stats