Entering year three of his tenure as Utah’s head coach, this is far and away the best roster Snyder has had at his disposal. The Jazz are virtually 15 deep when it comes to viable (and at least semi-proven) rotation players. The addition of George Hill this offseason has plugged a major hole at the point guard position. With such a stocked cupboard, this should be Snyder’s first year helming a team that finishes in the top half of the NBA in offensive efficiency.
But the offensive scheme Snyder relies on is one of the more unique systems in the league. The Jazz play at a snail’s pace -- they’ve finished last in the league in both of Snyder’s seasons -- and have a huge variety of plays containing multiple reads and counters. Perhaps no team in the NBA has more mindless reversal passes and non-penetrating dribble hand-offs in their base system. It’s those concepts that cause the Jazz to eat up so much of the shot clock every possession.
In general, Snyder’s offense relies very heavily on false action -- basically decoy movements that hide the possessions real goal. But what often happens during Utah’s offensive possessions is that this emphasis on shifting the defense before getting to the core element of the play leaves the team with precious little time on the shot clock to find good looks. By procrastinating so long before getting to the meaty part of their sets, the Jazz have little margin for error when it comes to avoiding tough, bailout shots.
Yet given these critiques of Snyder’s system, it’s hard to tell if it’s really all that limiting. For all the talent on the roster, there isn’t a single player who can run at a set defense and consistently create good looks. Rodney Hood, Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks and the newly acquired Joe Johnson are all, skilled versatile wings, but they’re not LeBron James. Hill represents a massive upgrade at point guard, but he is not Chris Paul.
Those players are all best suited for the role of second-side operators -- players that can successfully navigate a defense after some previous action has caused their opponent to be pulled out of position. And the team’s bigs, while improving their offensive skills, aren’t striking fear into the heart of opposing defenses when they post up, roll to the rim or spot up looking for open jumpers. That’s why, in theory, the endless dribble hand offs, ball swings and elbow touches may be necessary to generate good looks for this group.
Up to this point, that “theory” is essentially the only thing we’ve had to go on when critiquing Snyder’s offensive approach. Because in the first year of his tenure, Snyder took over a team in transition while his second season was undermined by the personnel limitations at a crucial NBA position (point guard). Those outside factors made it hard to truly evaluate if more could be done to boost Utah’s middling offensive production.
Even with Hayward out to start this upcoming season, there is now enough talent on this Jazz roster to get a better feel for the strengths and shortcomings of Snyder’s system. If Utah continues a steady climb up the offensive efficiency rankings, it should take the pressure off Snyder to change up his approach on that end of the floor. But if the Jazz fail to show improvement on offense this year, it could stall their efforts to establish themselves as bonafide contenders out West and start to raise serious questions about Snyder’s approach.
