Salt City Seven: Defense, Driving Woes, Halloween & More

The Jazz have some work to do on the defensive end. (David Zalubowski via sltrib.com)

Every week during the regular season begins here at SCH with the Salt City Seven, a septet of recurring features that let us relive the biggest moments, key performances and hot issues in Jazzland from various angles. Check in every week for the quotes, stats, plays and performances that tell the stories from the last 168 hours in the world of the Jazz.

A quick look at the big, burning question of the moment in Jazzland

After a 2-5 start, there are plenty of burning questions surrounding the Utah Jazz. Lingering issues with guard decision-making. Slumping sophomores. And what the heck is going on with Jordan Clarkson?

But let’s start in a more basic place: why is the Jazz’s defense struggling so badly?

The Jazz offense has been adequate despite several players shooting below their typical clip, a good sign that there’s probably some upside. But their -7.2 efficiency differential is due to their bottom-five defense. They’re particularly struggling to guard in a halfcourt setting, where their league-worst 104.4 defensive rating outside of garbage time is a full point worse than the 29th-ranked team, per Cleaning the Glass.

Honestly, it’s about both process and results. They allow an above-average proportion of three-pointers and floater-range attempts. But the difference between their opponents’ expected field goal percentage by location and the actual output magnifies those mistakes: their opponents are making an unusually high percentage just about everywhere other than on above-the-break threes. Their defensive rim field goal percentage is the fourth worst in the league, as is opponent shooting from the corners. In the midrange, it’s second worst. Jazz foes just don’t seem to feel a ton of resistance.

It also doesn’t help that the Jazz’s schedule has been heavy of good offensive teams. Five of their seven opponents so far boast above-average offensive ratings. The only two that don’t are Memphis (29th) whom the Jazz beat, and Orlando (20th) whom they almost beat. That could bode well for this week, when the Jazz are set to face three bottom-five offenses in Chicago, Portland and Memphis again. (Indiana is really good; that game will be a tough one for a team that’s struggling to defend.)

They have the defensive personnel to rank somewhere above dead last in halfcourt defense, which actually points to another factor: Walker Kessler’s uneven start to the season. Both Kessler and Will Hardy have acknowledged that the second-year big man’s production hasn’t been where he wants it to be. He’s still incredibly hard to score against at the rim — opponents shoot 48.6% with Kessler patrolling the paint, per NBA tracking stats — but he’s been a bit more timid as a rebounder and shot-blocker.

It’s highly likely Kessler figures it out soon. Opponent shot luck should also normalize to a degree, and the schedule strength will even out. There’s a good chance the Jazz’s pendulum might swing back the other way to some degree. The team as constructed has some defensive limitations, but the ceiling on that end should certainly be higher than “worst in the league.” We’ll see how they look in another couple of weeks after some progression toward the mean.

Telling or interesting words from Jazz people

“Everybody has to be willing to take something and put it in the middle and be willing to give it up. There’s a difference between wanting to win and wanting to win your way.”

Will Hardy, via The Salt Lake Tribune’s Andy Larsen

There were a thousand quotes this week that might be more tactically important, but I’m a sucker for broad philosophical quotes that tell you a little something about how coaches think.

This quote tells me that Hardy things some Jazz team members are reluctant to sacrifice things about their individual game, which kind of sounds like a shocking allegation except that it’s not when you think about how the NBA works. The Jazz have 15 guys who are in one way or another all playing to secure both basketball futures and financial security. Of course there are going to be some competing desires. Notice that he says that the problem is “wanting to win your way;” he’s not accusing anybody of not being committed to winning, just of wanting to get there in a very specific way that aligns with their self-interest.

We know he’s been pretty vocal about wanting guards like Collin Sexton to pass more. This quote was delivered minutes after Talen Horton-Tucker’s 20-FGA game, could that also be on his mind here? Or maybe he’s concerned with Jordan Clarkson’s ongoing funk, or the slumps Kessler and Ochai Agbaji are experiencing as they look to build on their meaningful rookie-year progress.

Honestly, to me, the question of who he’s talking to/about is less interesting than just the overall glimpse into how Hardy verbalizes the case for sacrificing. Hardy comes off to this writer as a deep thinker, but not in some exclusively abstract or metaphysical way. That makes him extremely interesting to listen to, even when he’s rightfully ruing a 2-5 start.

Stats that tell the story of the week

6

For all the clamoring to play Keyonte George more, there are only six rookies from the 2023 draft class who have played more than George’s 145 minutes. Five of the six were drafted before him, the lone exception being Toumari Camara, a second-round Suns pick who’s averaging 24.6 for the Blazers after being included in the Damian Lillard trade.

43.9%

Jazz ball handlers drive 52 times per game, which is the eighth most in the Association. But the field goal percentage by drivers (43.9%) is the sixth lowest, and driving Jazzmen turn the ball over on 9.3% of their paint forays, which is tied for worst in the league.

-13.2%

Lauri Markkanen has been superb so far. His stats are in the same range, so the differences are mostly on pretty subtle things: tighter handles, better court vision, and yes, even defense. In fact, his team-best +11.2 efficiency differential is due mostly to the defensive side of the ball at the moment: opponents’ eFG% is 13.2% worse when he is on the court.

Recognizing the best (or most memorable) performances from each Jazz win

Not a lot of action in the Game Ball department this week, with only one win’s worth of credit to dole out.

Jazz 133, Grizzlies 109: Jordan Clarkson. Blowouts always mess up the Game Ball process, because guys wind up juicing their stats in a way that makes it harder for box score watchers to tell what really mattered. But in terms of the “why they won” criteria, this felt to me like a close call between Clarkson and Markkanen, who had the most to do with Utah putting Memphis away early. Clarkson scored five and assisted five more in an early 17-5 run to pull away, and then after another 14-0 surge that included two Markkanen threes, it never got closer than 15 again. For me, Clarkson (20-6-5 with two steals) just edged Markkanen (19 & 11). Sexton was also helpful with an efficient 23 to go with six assists, and Kelly Olynyk had a very complete game and a +38.

Strong in defeat:

• Jazz 102, Nuggets 110: Walker Kessler. Had the Jazz somehow pulled this off, I would have had no choice but to go with Markkanen (27-14-5) here, as I’m a little stricter with myself on Game Ball decisions being about “who was the best player on the court” in most cases. But since I’m just giving out the consolation prize here, I actually think Kessler’s 22-and-13 breakout was the bigger story.
• Jazz 113, Magic 115: John Collins. Markkanen’s late theatrics almost swung the game to Utah, but Collins was far more efficient throughout. He had 20 points (7-of-10 shooting) and 10 rebounds, and was also pretty impactful on defense. Clarkson hit a couple of timely shots, but his 21-6-6 came on 5-for-20 shooting.
• Jazz 95, Wovles 123: Lauri Markkanen. Almost the default choice here, as nobody else really did enough to overcomplicate the decision. Honestly, the second choice statistically might be THT (14-4-5 with two steals and a block), but most of his contributions came in a brief stretch of the second where he was 4-for-5, sandwiched between two 0-for-4 skids. Collins quietly did his thing again, but no need to overthink this one: Markkanen was the Jazz’s best on a team-wide off night, so we’ll give it to him for his 22-and-8. 

Xs and Os behind a Jazz scoring play

Despite shooting woes, the Jazz have found ways to get some advantageous spacing. Here are two different examples of the same type of trick to empty out one side of the court and get guys open layups.

Both of these feature a pretty loaded strong side of the court, which quickly becomes the weakside when the action is quickly reversed. Then the Jazz show like they’re going to run a dribble handoff (DHO) or elbow ball screen, and that completely opens up the paint on that side of the floor.

This only works because of how quickly they flip the floor. Normally if you put three offensive players on the weak side (the side away from the action), the defense would instantly just figure it out and decide which guy’s job it was to sag to the middle to protect the paint, knowing there is plenty of help to rotate to perimeter shooters.

But because it looks on both of these plays as though the action is headed to the right side, the defenders are all hugging their guys.

Then Olynyk (on the first play) quickly turns to the corner for what looks like a DHO, and that’s too fast for Memphis’ defenders to go, “Oh, I guess that makes me the weak side help now,” so they don’t help. And look how hard Sexton sells it. Juking towards Olynyk and even signaling for the screen before darting baseline.

Similar stuff on the Collins dunk, except that everybody’s involved here. The 3-man action on the inbound has all of Denver’s right-side defenders thinking like they’re on the strong side of the scheme. But by the time Markkanen even has the ball in his hands on the left wing, Collins has already faked/slipped a screen, so he’s standing alone under the basket. Nobody comes in to help on his roll, because a half second earlier, they were all engaged as strong side defenders. Really clever way of generating a wide open side of the floor, despite the fact that there are two non-shooters on the court for Utah here.

Looking ahead to the next seven nights of action

Here’s a sentence or two on each of Utah’s three games this week as they complete a 4-game trip.

• Monday, 11/6: Jazz @ Bulls. As discussed above, the Bulls might actually be the right kind of matchup for the Jazz: a team that won’t necessarily pick apart their defense. The Bulls are the third-worse 3-point shooting team, and also don’t rebound super well, so the Jazz should have a shot in Illinois.
• Wednesday, 11/8: Jazz @ Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton looks like the real deal (24 ppg, 12 apg), but this roster still isn’t constructed to make the leap to contention just yet, despite a powerful offense. And Jazz fans who are bummed about Taylor Hendricks’ absense from the rotation should take some solace in the fact that No. 8 pick Jarace Walker is also not in Indy’s rotation.
• Friday, 11/10: Jazz @ Grizzlies. **IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT** The Grizzlies aren’t just without Ja Morant: they have three other rotational guys who haven’t played yet, and guards Derrick Rose and John Konchar have been in and out of the lineup. The result is what you’d expect, although they finally notched their first win on Sunday, playing the similarly hapless (and similarly shorthanded) Blazers.

Random stuff from the Jazz community

Let’s be honest, the Halloween #content is the best. Like Kessler showing up in his Olynyk costume, or Clarkson repeatedly killing it with yet another over-the-top disguise.

But the best one had to be this video where multiple Jazzmen are surprised to see the team got a hold of pictures of their younger selves in Halloween attire.

🎃 Happy Halloween, everybody 🎃#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/kqHt2YMd7o

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) October 31, 2023

Week 2 is officially in the annals of Salt City Seven history, my friends. Back next week!