Coaching

Pondering Small Ball for the Jazz

In a 2015 Finals series that was exhilarating for so many reasons, perhaps most intriguing for the nerds among us was the back-and-forth chess match between coaches. Steve Kerr and David Blatt traded haymakers in the form of...

Glimpses of the Game: The Dribble Handoff

Glimpses of the Game are short profiles on an aspect of the game of basketball.  Each includes a definition of the play, technique, or element, the purposes of it, and how the subject is employed by Quin Snyder within the Jazz...

Grading Quin Snyder’s Rookie Year

Right around a year ago, the future of the coaching position for the Utah Jazz was both unknown and somewhat disheartening. The Ty Corbin era, ushered in with full backing from legend Jerry Sloan after his slightly messy...

On Quin Snyder and Process, Plus Player Grades for Thunder @ Jazz 3/28/15

Process, process, process. Those who follow Jazz coach Quin Snyder closely are surely more than familiar with this simple word, one Snyder stresses in all forms on a regular basis. The route his team takes and the habits they...

On Quin Snyder’s Tinkering, Plus Player Grades for Hornets @ Jazz 3/16/15

Process always trumps results for this Jazz team under Quin Snyder, part of what makes him so appealing from a strategic standpoint. So in a massive blowout win, it should be no surprise that the Jazz tried out a few things. Jack...

On Differing Approaches to Analytics, and Player Grades for Lakers @ Jazz 2/25/15

Analytics and all its accompanying elements has been one of the hottest topics among NBA die-hards for much of the year, and especially in the last few weeks. Comments by guys like Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal on...

Ty Corbin, Quin Snyder, and How We Evaluate Coaches

It’s been a whirlwind 36 hour period for NBA junkies, as news surfaced late Sunday night of a mostly shocking decision from the Sacramento Kings to fire coach Mike Malone, replacing him on an interim basis (for now) with Ty...

On Actions, Outcomes and Playing with Purpose

  Oh good, you’re thinking. Another diagnostic piece about the Utah Jazz. Well, it comes with the territory. The Jazz narrowly avoided the worst losing streak since before all current Jazz players were born, so logic...

Utah’s Early Off-Ball Issues

As the league reaches the end of November, initial excitement over a new season begins to give way to more of a “daily grind” temperament. Unsustainable early trends start to regress back toward the mean, fan bases grow...

How Utah’s Defense Has Changed (Yes, Through Only Two Games)

Any major change in the coaching staff of an NBA franchise is going to bring about periods of adjustment. This is just as true defensively as on the other end, if not perhaps more so – even slight variations on a mostly similar...