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Are we just not a very good team?

Truth said:
Meenie, I wasn't referring to you, just a general comment. I think you have above average takes here. Some people make some good points, but there are also a lot of terrible ones. From the player's perspective, methinks they would be well advised to avoid this cesspool of negativity altogether. They need to focus on their own experiences and come up with their own truths, not wade through the hundreds of opinions of anonymous critics who may or may not be more intelligent than a potato.
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That's a good point. But I think there is a consensus, as HH commented that we are good but that we're not good enough to contend for an NBA title yet and that we have some serious holes to patch.
 
I’m not sure we are very good. I would say we are above average. We have one of the more difficult remaining schedules in the league and the second most difficult (behind Denver) of potential western conference playoff teams. I have a feeling the rest of this season is going to be challenging.
 
Wes Mantooth said:
I’ve said for weeks our defense is about average. We’ve slipped to 10th in defensive efficiency and I expect us to slip to 12th or so in the coming weeks. There is absolutely nothing special about it outside of Rudy.

Here’s the biggest problem as I see it. Royce should probably start and certainly close. He’s our best perimeter defender in a league that plays small ball and not having him on the court when it matters most is bad. It is a major problem. Rudy, O’Neale and Mitchell absolutely should be closing games. Ingles and Bogey should be the others imo. It just makes too much sense from an offensive, defensive and chemistry standpoint, no matter how much money we pay Mike.

If the guy wants to truly win that badly, he’d suck it up and volunteer to come off the bench. If he wants to have his ego stroked, we need to ship his *** out this summer.
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Ya I LOVE the chemistry, fit, and offense/defense balance of the Mitchell, Royce, Joe, bogey, gobert lineup and want to see that lineup together for as many minutes as possible.

And that's nothing really against Conley. I just think that lineup is as close to perfect as we can get with our roster.

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Niang is kind of the definition of fools gold.
I love him when he is shooting %50 from three for a stretch of games and start thinking he belongs in the rotation.

But if he isn't shooting lights out from three then he is kind of worthless.

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The acquisitions of Conley and Bojan were supposed to make us less dependent on Joe. My sense is that they haven’t. The probability of a loss skyrockets whenever Joe’s scoring isn’t clicking.

If Joe is clicking, we’re a “very good team.” If he isn’t, then I think we’re 4/5 seed who puts up a good fight in the 2nd round (with an uncertain outcome).
 
NAOS said:
The acquisitions of Conley and Bojan were supposed to make us less dependent on Joe. My sense is that they haven’t. The probability of a loss skyrockets whenever Joe’s scoring isn’t clicking.

If Joe is clicking, we’re a “very good team.” If he isn’t, then I think we’re 4/5 seed who puts up a good fight in the 2nd round (with an uncertain outcome).
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I think we only put up a good fight if Joe is clicking and he doesn't seem to be clicking with Conley in the lineup.
 
At this point we're basically the same as we've been the last 3 years, a good team but not great and definitely not a contender. I still think this team has more talent than the past 3 years and has a higher ceiling, but they definitely have a lot of things to work on and figure out.
 
Peaks and valleys. Started out on a plain, then the highest of peaks, now a pretty deep ravine. Team was bound to hit another slump. They aren't a 65 win team by any stretch of the imagination.
 
I think the Jazz are still a work in progress. The issue we have now is the issue that was pointed out during the first 5 - 10 games of the season. The Jazz have more shooters/scorers this season, but it's come at the expense of size, athleticism and toughness that helped make our defense top of the league. One immediate stat where it shows is in our rebounding. The Nuggets had a +8 rebound advantage, and the Blazers had a +13 rebound advantage. The Nuggets were even playing without Millsap and Plumlee. Even the depleted Rockets had a +2 rebound advantage without Capella.

I think it's okay to put a lineup out there with Conley and Mitchell playing the guard spots, or even a three-guard lineup with Conley, Mitchell and Clarkson with the 2nd unit. However, if that's the case, the guys at the 4 and 5 need to defend, fill space defensively and go hard to the boards to compensate. Niang and Ed Davis haven't been up to that task. It's asking an awful lot of Royce to be our primary perimeter defender and then also a primary rebounder. This is why the Warriors have energy bigs like Draymond and Kevon Looney, and why the Rockets relied so much on guys like Trevor Ariza and PJ Tucker to compensate for their lack of size on the perimeter.

Plain and simple, the Jazz need more size, toughness, energy and defense from the backup 4/5 spots. Rudy singlehandedly holds down the fort for the starting unit, but the minute he goes off the court, we're at a disadvantage.
 
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