Salt City Seven: Jazz Stick Together, Big Week for Royce, Rudy Dominates & More

The Jazz stay together, just like Ingles (left) wanted. (Melissa Majchrzak via utahjazz.com)

The Salt City Seven drops every Monday throughout the regular season, with seven regular features meant to relive the week in Jazzland from various angles. Check in every Monday for the quotes, stats, plays and performances that tell the stories from the last 168 hours in the world of the Jazz.

An important quote from Jazz players or personnel during the week.

“I love our group, I love who we’ve got. But at times obviously (the constant trade speculation) is wearing…. You’re just kinda waiting for something to either happen or not, which sucks because we’ve got such a great group of guys that enjoy playing together, that enjoy being in Utah. They love being here, they want to be here, which I think in the past has been difficult. To have 15 guys that want to be here is pretty special. And we’ve got a tight bond, we’re a special group that genuinely enjoy playing together, which I think is hard to find as well…

“We’ll just sit and wait now. Like I said, I hope we have the same group as of whatever time tomorrow.”

-Jazz forward Joe Ingles, explaining to KUTV news why he and his teammates were nervous about possible moves heading into Thursday’s trade deadline

The frequently jocose Joe Ingles isn’t usually serious for 90 consecutive seconds at a time, so when he is, you know you should listen up.

He registered this impassioned plea just after a Wednesday night win, and with 17 or so hours to go before the league’s deadline for in-season trades. Ingles and his teammates had just thumped the Phoenix Suns in a 28-point victory to claim their 13th win in 17 games¹, which made it a good time for the Aussie to deliver his missive, the thesis of which was clear: no roster moves needed here.

Of course, the Jazz still did look around in the days and hours that led up to the deadline, but for a variety of reasons, nothing came to fruition. In some cases, the asking price crept too high. In others, the team on the other end of the phone valued a particular type of rebuilding asset the Jazz were light on. And of course, a deal for Grizzly guard Mike Conley came apart when Memphis surprisingly reversed course and decided to keep the franchise’s all-time leader in games played.

So it’s not so much that Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey heeded Ingles’ plea to avoid tinkering, although the end result is the same. Lindsey and his staff appear to be on the hunt for a meaningful addition, apparently agreeing with what some experts, like ESPN’s Zach Lowe, have been saying: “Utah is really good, and one upgrade from being potentially great.” 

For now, though, that’s not the focus. Now, Ingles and his 14 teammates have to prove what they spent the week saying: that no change was needed.

So far, so good, as the squad returned to post-deadline action with a 20-point drubbing of the Spurs, a team with whom they’ve been jostling for playoff position. The Jazz are currently in sixth place, and they have designs on climbing further as they play the easiest remaining schedule of any Western Conference team. 

Stats that tell the story of the week or highlight a timely topic.

23%

Per the NBA’s tracking, Rudy Gobert was primarily guarding All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge on 47 possessions. With Gobert on him, Aldridge managed just 3-of-13 shooting, or 23 percent. In all, he scored 11 of his 15 points while guarded by Gobert, but it took him 13 attempts to get there. On the other end, Gobert had 15 points (5-for-7 with five free throws) while Aldridge guarded him, and the team’s ORtg on those 35 possessions was 137. Gobert, who finished with a 21-13-4 line overall, may have been out to make a point at the expense of Aldridge, who made the All-Star team over the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

54 points, 28 rebounds, 13 assists

That’s the cumulative production this week of two players many thought might not finish the week as Jazzmen. Derrick Favors (12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds this week) and Ricky Rubio (14.5 and 7.5, plus 6.0 assists) had to spend most of the week laboring under the constant shadow of a looming trade deadline. Because of their basketball value, veteran savvy and favorable contracts, the two were the most frequent fodder for the Jazz-related rumor mill. But both played well enough — both in the game just prior to the deadline and the one just after it — to vindicate the decision to keep them. Both were also net positives in this week’s pair of games: +21 for Rubio, +17 for Favors.

+29

You know who was an unsung hero this week? Raul Neto. It can be easy to overlook just how much the Jazz have missed their third-string point guard, but he returned to action this week and was key in both of Utah’s wins. In his 25 minutes of play against Phoenix and San Antonio, the Jazz were +29. One of the issues we’ve been tracking in this space for several weeks is how the offense tends to get a little stale when Rubio sits and leaves Donovan Mitchell as the lone facilitator. Neto’s stability allows Utah to turn those minutes from a negative into a lead-extending feast for the Jazz’s second unit.

Breaking down the Xs and Os behind a Jazz score from the week.

Fake screen

The Jazz use so many screening actions on one play that defending them is a constant mental puzzle. Opponents have to incessantly calculate the threats, apply the proper scheme, and determine who the helper is — and then as soon as they have it figured out, the Jazz flow right into the next action. It has to be mentally tiring. 

And sometimes, as they did to set up this Gobert dunk, the Jazz add another layer of complexity and deceit by not actually setting the screen at all. Twice in this 4-second span of basketball, a Jazz player fakes a pick to get a defender out of position.

Poor, poor Mikal Bridges. The rookie just has no chance here. He’s guarding Mitchell when the play begins, and Mitchell fakes a screen for Rubio. Both Bridges and Jamal Crawford stay with Mitchell through this first action, which means there’s only one defender there to guard the dribble hand-off between Rubio and Gobert: DeAndre Ayton HAS to pick up Rubio as a result.

But wait, the Jazz aren’t done duping the young Suns yet. Now, Bridges has recognized that he was supposed to have switched on the original Rubio-Mitchell fake action, and so he has scampered back into the scene to pick up Gobert. But now Gobert fakes a screen for Mitchell that’s convincing enough to freeze Bridges again. (If you rewatch this and just keep an eye on Bridges the entire time, you may actually find yourself feeling bad for him. He’s completely unsure what he’s supposed to be doing on any one of these actions, let alone on the play as a whole.)

Phoenix is a bad defensive team. The Jazz won’t get looks like this against just anybody, even with all the trickiness. But decoys and layered actions just complicate the mental process for defenders. These kinds of clever play designs make it easy for anybody who’s not 100% attuned to the defensive game plan to get irredeemably lost on the play.

After each Jazz win, Twitter helps us decide who was that game’s MVP or most memorable performer.

Jazz 116, Suns 88: Joe Ingles

Seven different guys had pretty solid outings, but Ingles was the motor. His season-high 11 assists created 24 points, plus he had 15 of his own. So it’s no wonder that the Jazz were +24 during his minutes, best among the starters. The defense was also stout while he played: 84.5 DRtg, best of any of the six main minute guys. Royce O’Neale was a threat off the ball, Gobert had a double-double and a do-it-all line of 16-12-2-3-3, Mitchell did his usual damange, and Rubio and Derrick Favors were both good despite hearing their names in trade rumors all day.

Jazz 125, Spurs 105: Royce O’Neale

To be honest, Gobert dominated this game. Not only did he shut Aldridge down and therefore win the narrative points for the night (see the numbers section above), but he finished the game with 21 points (on 8-for-10 shooting) and 13 boards. But there was a groundswell of support for Royce to get on the Game Ball board. He had 17 points (including 4-for-4 from downtown) in this one, but this is as much a cumulative award as anything. His true shooting this week was an otherworldly 112% — meaning he averaged more than two points per every shooting possession — while he was on his way to posting a team-best +45 in this week’s two games. He absolutely needed some recognition this week. Sorry, Rudy. Mitchell (23-5-5) and Rubio (16-6-6) were also great.

Tracking the wild Western Conference postseason race and the Jazz’s place in it.

Utah is now just a game and a half away from a homecourt slot in the Western playoffs. It looks more and more likely that the Jazz will finish clustered with Houston and Portland — in some order — in that 4-5-6 tier.

Statistician extraordinaire (and Salt City Hoops’ own) Riley Gisseman runs his own odds using each team’s Net Rating and remaining strength of schedule, and then adjusts it based on the standard deviation from this point last season forward. His math gives Utah a better than 50 percent shot at finishing atop that mini-cluster of Jazz-Rox-Blazers — which would mean the fourth seed.

But hope is fading for the Jazz to rise beyond that. Division rivals OKC and Denver have been pulling away from the pack, and Utah is now starting at gaps of 5 and 6 in the loss column to catch those teams, respectively. With just 26 games to go, that’s a pretty big chasm to jump.

That said, those two teams have the hardest remaining schedules in the league, but a pretty decent margin. So it’s not completely beyond the realm of possibility for the Jazz to rise to third or second, but the margin for error is slim to none.

A quick look at the Jazz’s next seven nights of action.

The Jazz only have one game left before the All-Star break, but it’s a doozy. 

Tuesday: Utah at Golden State, 8:30 p.m. MT **TNT game** 

• State of the Warriors: They needed all 48 minutes — and a final-minute comeback — against Miami on Sunday, but the Warriors have won 15 of their last 16. They continue to lead the league with their elite offense, even if their defense has slipped some from recent years (currently 14th).
• Jazz-Dubs: The series will be over after Tuesday’s matchup, with each team winning once so far. Former Jazzman Jonas Jerebko tipped home a winning basket back in October, and then Ingles, Gobert and Jae Crowder paced the Jazz to a December win.
• Key for the Jazz: Utah has been able to scheme smartly against Steph Curry and (to a lesser degree) Kevin Durant, but the only way the Jazz will have a shot in their only visit to Oakland this year is if they can also score the basketball. Golden State is far less formidable on that end than they have been; in particular, they don’t really turn teams over, and they’re a little more foul-happy than the average team.

Because after all, we’re here to have fun.

OK, I know Jazz fans feel a little salty right now about all things involving All-Star weekend. But there are still reasons to tune into this weekend’s festivities. Starting with this:

It’s gonna be a good one 👀👀👀👀 https://t.co/remhe52Jxf

— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) February 8, 2019

Mitchell remains one of the NBA’s most gregarious and telegenic young stars, and the fact that he got the nod to sit at the table for the Saturday night festivities is really cool.

Don’t forget: Mitchell will also star on the U.S. team in Friday night’s Mountain Dew Ice Rising Stars game featuring the league’s best rookies and second-year players (7 p.m. MST, TNT).

That wraps another week in Jazzland. Seven more juicy bits of Jazz coming next Monday.