Utah Jazz Early Preseason Reactions, Tough Decisions

The Utah Jazz looked improved in their preseason win over the Phoenix Suns, but still have quite a bit to clean up and some tough decisions to make.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Utah Jazz will take the result of Wednesday night’s preseason game as they came out with a 104-99 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

While there were surely some improvements from the first game, with both Derrick Favors and Rodney Hood out, erring on the side of caution with minor injuries, and with Coach Snyder continuing to mix and match lineups, this performance was far from what fans will likely come to expect of the Jazz this season.

The J Notes’ Ryan Aston put it best when he described the game as yet “another dose of ugly preseason hoops.”

Nevertheless, there were a handful of bright points to the game First and foremost Rudy Gobert. After looking very much like the third fiddle to Hayward and Favors in the first preseason game, Gobert came out strong in Wednesday’s victory posting a 21 point, 10 rebound effort.

Rudy was relentless and aggressive as he attacked the rim and drew several fouls. But what was perhaps most impressive was that Gobert, a career 58.5 percent free throw shooter, discovered his inner sharpshooter and finished an impressive 13-of-14 from the free throw line.

This has largely been one of Gobert’s most detrimental weaknesses, so if his performance from the charity stripe in that game is the start of a trend rather than a fluke, it will be a very good sign for the Jazz moving forward.

https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/783890872521809920

Aside from Gobert, Hayward also had a solid night once again and the brightest point off the bench was without a doubt Trey Lyles. Lyles finished the game with 16 points while shooting an efficient 60 percent from the field.

Although his performance was reassuring as Jazz fans continue to enjoy his growth and improvement, it also marks one of several tough decisions facing head coach Quin Snyder in terms of playing time. While many of the Jazz players returning from last year have looked solid, the newcomers have largely struggled.

Of course, this is to be expected to some extent and shouldn’t be too concerning at this point, but there’s no denying that so far George Hill, Joe Johnson, and particularly Boris Diaw have looked quite out of sync. Hill has had the most bright moments and as he continues to be aggressive and effectively distribute the ball, he should be just fine.

But with Johnson and Diaw struggling and Lyles and Joe Ingles playing quite well, Coach Snyder will likely have a challenging time deciding how he’ll distribute minutes. I personally think that Johnson will get accustomed to this team and take command of the back-up three spot with occasional time at the four.

However, after watching Lyles throughout the summer league and during the first two preseason games it’s hard to see Snyder justify reducing his playing time even with the veteran Boris Diaw available off the bench. Yes, Lyles has some work to do on the defensive end, but his growth offensively has certainly been impressive.

https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/783886678637195264

Diaw was added mainly to be a veteran influence on a young team and if Lyles keeps up the solid play, Diaw could find his playing time shortened sooner rather than later.

The other interesting decision facing Snyder and the coaching staff at this time is regarding the point guard position. Dante Exum remains an enormous question mark and seeing him sit the entire second half after hyperextending his recovering knee was definitely a worrisome scene.

It most likely isn’t a big issue as Exum was only sidelined as a precaution, but it’s still hard to tell what level he’ll actually be able to contribute at. Despite some struggles with shooting efficiency, Hill has looked like the clear deserving starter and while Exum put up some solid minutes in Wednesday’s game, Shelvin Mack is making a case that he deserves playing time as well.

Exum’s ceiling is considerably higher than Mack’s, but Mack also proved last season that, if nothing else, he is steady and dependable. Until Exum can prove himself to be reliable both in terms of talent and health, Mack will still be an excellent commodity to have around and could easily compete for minutes.

So while it’s still very early to jump to any conclusions, it’s been nice to see the Jazz’s “Big 3” of Hayward, Favors and Gobert play well through two games (or one game in Favors’ case), it’s been reassuring to see the respectable play of reserves such as Ingles, Mack, and Lyles, and it will be interesting to keep tabs on how they compete for time with Johnson, Exum and Diaw.

If nothing else, the Utah Jazz have certainly been intriguing through two preseason games. There’s an unquestionable amount of talent and potential on this team that if fully tapped into, could create a behemoth of a team in Salt Lake City.

While they’re still quite a ways away from reaching that kind of level, hopefully the ugliness will continue to get cleaned up bit by bit throughout the preseason. Utah will be back on the court on Monday night as they take on the Los Angeles Clippers within the Staples Center.

More from The J-Notes

• With the FIBA World Cup over for Simone Fontecchio, it’s clear he deserves minutes for the Utah Jazz
• Best, Worst and Most likely scenarios for the Utah Jazz this season
• Hoops Hype downplays the significance of the Utah Jazz’s valuable assets
• 3 Utah Jazz players who have the most to gain or lose this season
• Former Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is a free agent still and it shouldn’t surprise anyone

And with another preseason game under their belt, expect the Jazz to be a little more polished and for the answers to the tough decisions facing Coach Snyder to become a little clearer.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com