5 Most Intriguing Lineups for the Jazz

Utah has a lot of options for how to build 5-man units, writes John Keeffer. (Trent Nelson, The Salt Lake Tribune)

The Utah Jazz have a really fun and intriguing roster heading into the 2023-24 NBA season, filled with tall, athletic and multi-dimensional players. They have talented players in their prime years like Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, Jordan Clarkson and Kelly Olynyk, who want to play and win now. They also have a lot of young talent on the roster, like Walker Kessler, Ochai Agbagi, Taylor Hendricks and Keyonte George, who will want playing time to prove they belong in the league. Playing heavy minutes with first- and second-year players doesn’t typically lead to winning, so for Jazz coach Will Hardy, one of the most important parts of the job is finding what pieces work best together, especially rotations beyond the normal starting lineup. It is a difficult job, but I also have to imagine one of the more fun parts of the job to brainstorm. 

I want to explore five potential lineups that the Jazz have at their disposal this upcoming season. Some are lineups that I think would be legitimately good and I hope to see them, and a couple would just be fun for Hardy to experiment with. To begin, let’s go with one option for the starting lineup.

1. The starters

1. Clarkson
2. Agbaji
3. Markkanen
4. Collins
5. Kessler

This has been a hot topic of conversation this summer, specifically around the uncertainty around the starting guard spots. The Jazz have talented guards, but each one has uncertainty around them.

If I were to stack rank them, I’d go: Clarkson, Collin Sexton, Agbaji, George, Talen Horton-Tucker, Kris Dunn. Based on that stack rank, you’d think the easy answer would be to just play Sexton at point guard and JC at shooting guard. The concern with that would be ball movement. Sexton has only averaged 3.2 assist per game in his career and only has one season greater than 3 per game. JC had a career year with 4.4 assist last season, but his career average is just 2.7 per game. Both may be better suited being a score-first sixth man off the bench, but I would expect at least one of the two will start, because they are Utah’s best scoring creators off the dribble. 

There are also defensive concerns. In the 154 possessions that Sexton and JC played with the three regular frontcourt starters (Markkanen, Olynyk and Kessler), they had a -1.6 differential. Offensively they were dominant, with a 123.4 offensive rating, but defensively, even with Kessler in the paint they gave up 125 points per 100 possessions.

The Jazz’s most used starting lineup last season lineup featured Mike Conley and Jarred Vanderbilt, who are no longer with the team. The second most used lineup was Horton-Tucker, Agbaji, Markkanen, Olynyk, and Kessler. That lineup played 310 possessions together, and had a +9.8 differential. That said, it seems like Clarkson is bound to start at one of the guard spots, and it’s likely that Olynyk will be swapped out for the newly arrived Collins.

That brings us to the lineup above. My hope is that Clarkson (with his nice shiny new extension) starts at one guard spot, along with Agbaji, Markkanen, Collins, and Kessler. Outside of JC, who can still hold his own when he wants, defensively that lineup will hold up well with their size, length, and athleticism, anchored with Kessler in the middle. They can also space the floor with high-level shooting at four of those positions, while also putting lot of pressure at and above the rim between JC’s driving and Markkanen, Collins and Kessler’s dunking ability.

2. You’ll have to outscore us vs. You’ll have to score on us

The Jazz could also construct lineups that are extremely defense-focused versus offense-first. Let’s first look at offense-first:

1. Sexton
2. Clarkson
3. Agbaji
4. Markkanen
5. Olynyk

You have creation off the dribble, on-ball shot creation, spot up shooting, and you still have solid size at every position so they wouldn’t be absolutely terrible on defense. This lineup played a grand total of 28 possessions together last season, roughly the equivalent of playing a single quarter together. That said, the sample results were promising. They had a +13.5 point differential with a 125 Offensive Rating and a 111.5 Defensive Rating.

With no poor three-point shooters on the floor, the Jazz could play five out so Sexton and JC could penetrate the paint at will. Agbaji shot 48 percent on corner threes last season, and Olynyk shot 45 percent. With Markkanen as the ball screener for the two guards, what are you supposed to do as an opposing defense? Not sure that 111.5 defensive rating would hold true, but I do think that offensive rating isn’t far off.

On the flip side, the Jazz could also construct a very defense-first lineup:

1. Dunn
2. THT
3. Agbaji
4. Hendricks
5. Kessler

When trying to build a defense-first lineups for the Jazz, you start to realize that they are much more potent on offense. While this lineup would be a very good defensive team, I can’t imagine they would hold up on the other side of the ball. They just wouldn’t have enough 3-point shooting between Dunn (career 31.3%), THT (28%), Hendricks (shot well in college, but need to see it in the NBA), and Kessler (3 total career three-point attempts). 

Good luck scoring on them though. In today’s modern NBA, most opposing offenses are looking to use ball movement and switches on defense to find and target the worst defender. Who are you going after with this lineup? At first glance, THT might be viewed as the weakest defender, but he is 6’4″ with a 7’2″ wingspan, and weighs 234 pounds. Maybe you’d go after the rookie, Hendricks? He’s 6’10” with a 7’2″ wingspan, and was widely viewed as one of the top athletes in the draft. Dunn’s defense is the main thing that kept him in the league this long, and Agbaji is looking like one of the better 3-and-D prospects in the league. Kessler may already be a potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

With that lineup, they would just have to be average on offense to have a positive differential.

3. Go big or go Home

1. Olynyk
2. Markkanen
3. Hendricks
4. Collins
5. Kessler

Please, oh please, try this lineup, Hardy!! How fun would it be to throw out a lineup where the smallest player on the floor is a tie between Collins and Hendricks at 6’9″? There has been a lot of talk about the lack of ballhandlers on this Jazz roster, and that Olynyk could potentially be an initiator of the offense in a few lineups. Well, why not just make him the point guard then? He is certainly an elite passer at his position. Per Cleaning the Glass, he has been in the 92nd, 95th, and 92nd percentile for assist percentage among bigs the past three seasons, and has never been outside of the top 30 percent for bigs in his career.

Offensively, you don’t have a lot of dribble creation outside of Markkanen, but you do have shooting. Between Olynyk, Markkanen, Hendricks, and Collins, all are capable of shooting over 35 percent from three. With their height, the lack of dribble creation may not be as big of a deal, because unless you are willing to try and match the size, they can shoot over the top of most anyone defending them or post-up small defenders in the paint.

Defensively, this lineup is right up there with the standard all-defense lineup above. Due to the size and wingspans alone, you better have a solid floater game, because you aren’t likely getting all the way to the rim. Even defense on the perimeter wouldn’t necessarily be an issue. Markkanen, Hendricks and Collins are mobile enough to somewhat contain most guards, and then their length can make up for any slow footed missteps.

It would not only be fun, but the more I think about it, the more I think it would work in small doses.

4. The Young Guns

1. George
2. Agbaji
3. Brice Sensabaugh
4. Hendricks
5. Kessler

This is the lineup we would all be super intrigued to see, right? The oldest player would be Agbaji at 23 years old. What’s exciting is that it actually looks like a really good lineup on paper. Average to above-average size and athleticism at every position. Shot creators off the dribble between Key and Sensabaugh, but also solid shooting at four of the five positions. High-level defensive players between Agbaji, Hendricks and Kessler. The Jazz have quietly put together an incredible young core of players, and better yet, they all seem to fit seamlessly together on paper.

With this much youth on the floor, I imagine there would be plenty of hiccups and miscues, but it would be a glimpse at the potential future of the Jazz.

5. The International Men of Mystery

1. Clarkson
2. Simone Fontecchio
3. Luka Samanic
4. Olynyk
5. Omer Yurtseven

Alright, this one is just for fun, but with the FIBA World Championships kicking off it got me thinking, it would be fun to run out all of Utah’s international players at once. The fit was difficult because Utah really only has one international guard: Clarkson, playing for the Philippines. They would have decent size and shooting though, with Fontecchio at 6’7″ having to play shooting guard. It would be nice to see what Fontecchio can do given the opportunity. Playing with Italy last season, he average 19 points per game, including 26 points, 5 assist, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals against Greece and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Perhaps playing in a role where he’s asked to be the number two option on the floor would allow him the opportunity to play like he has in Italy.

Samanic played in an eye-opening way during the Summer League, averaging 16.7 points and 7 rebounds. If he can develop a more consistent three-point shot, he could become a real asset to the Jazz as a 6’10” shooter with mobility to play off the dribble.

Most recent article for @saltcityhoops just dropped! With the Utah Jazz making their first signing of free-agency, I wanted to dig into who Omer Yurtseven is and what we can expect his role to be with the Jazz. https://t.co/vwoaqwyjPM

— John Keeffer (@john_keeffer) July 21, 2023

I highlighted the arrival of Yurtseven in a piece a few weeks ago, but when given the opportunity to start with the Miami Heat in place of an injured Bam Adebayo, he averaged 12 points and 12 rebounds, including a monster 22 point, 16 rebound game verses Sacramento.

Defense would be the main issue for this lineup. Not sure how productive this lineup would actually be, but there are some intriguing pieces that would be fun to watch if given the playing time.

With all of their asset accumulation, the Utah Jazz have acquired a lot of talented and intriguing pieces for Will Hardy to play around with. They have too many mouths to feed right now and there are going to be a few talented players who don’t get quite as much playing time as I am sure they think they deserve. Going to be a fun season with a lot of players playing with something to prove. Feel free to comment on the lineups you are most interested in seeing Hardy toy around with!