Danny Chau (The Ringer)— the Achilles Heel of the Utah Jazz

[Deleted member 848]

https://www.theringer.com/platform/...-player-of-year#click=https://t.co/taiTuhVCsh

A “prayer” in the NBA is often thought of as a long-distance heave, but in the vicinity of Rudy Gobert, it can be a shot as common as a midrange floater. A normal prayer shot has only one extremely unlikely objective: land through the net. An awkward floater over the outstretched arms of Gobert seemingly has one of two goals: land through the net or carom over to a teammate on Gobert’s blind side, at which point he might be able to do something more productive with the possession.


Gobert is a physical marvel—7-foot-1 and 245 pounds with a 7-foot-8.5 wingspan and an impossible 9-foot-7 standing reach. But despite his awing stature, he moves in a way only a handful of people his size in the world can replicate. The sum of his dimensions is singular; his presence is, itself, dimension-breaking.

The center’s ungodly reach and lateral quickness allow him to occupy the space of two players—simply by being present with arms outstretched, he almost functions as a one-man zone from the free throw line extended. It changes how the Jazz defend pick-and-rolls. It changes the frequency with which opponents even attempt to enter the lane. And should they enter the lane, it distorts the calculus of a drive: Looking up to Gobert in front of you can plant seeds of doubt in an instant, which is all it takes for the perimeter defenders around the Frenchman to recover and converge.

The way we talk about Gobert is often reserved for playmakers on the opposite end of the court. It’s easy to suss out what it looks like on offense. But it’s rare to find a player who simplifies and clarifies what good defense can be in the same manner that, say, a Steph Curry dribbling suite into a pull-up 3-pointer can on offense. That’s a quality worth building a team around, and the Jazz have done exactly that. They’ve structured their squad around Gobert’s omnipresence the way the Warriors have crafted an intricate and creative system based on Curry’s altruistic style of basketball. In an era of accelerant offenses, Utah is a defensive oasis, surrounding its obelisk with smart, energetic, and unrelenting defenders who are good in a vacuum but better together. Most teams throughout history have been built on the gravity that their star player assumes on offense. The Jazz are a rare inversion.

After losing Gobert to injury for stretches of 11 and 15 games earlier in the season, the Jazz have been absolutely dominant, allowing just 98.1 points per 100 possessions. Extrapolate that over a season, and the Jazz are one of the two best defenses of the NBA’s “Light-Years Ahead” era. As much as the team serves as an emblem of old-timey basketball principles, it is also oddly a perfect defense of the times.
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There are still only a handful of teams already constructed to take full advantage of the bounty brought about by the pace-and-space boom. Not every team has shooters at every position, not every team has defenders versatile enough to be on the floor for any occasion, not every team can trot out a Lineup of Death stylistic imitation. Most teams have to make the best of a situation with the pieces they have, and the Jazz are uniquely equipped to exploit any and all loose ends. After starting the season with a disappointing 18-27 record, Utah has since won 28 of its past 34 games and is currently in sole possession of the West’s 4-seed, which would grant home-court advantage in the first round. The Jazz are thriving in a league still in flux. Their defense is perfect in the present. But should they make it past the first round, they’ll have to reckon with the future of the sport—in either of its forms. Odds are it won’t be pretty.

Read the rest of it on the link provided.

 

[Coach Ellis]

I think that a healthy Gobert, Favors, Crowder frontcourt negates a lot of that stuff to be honest. Rubio and Favors being productive on the offensive end helps too. You might get one or two on the Jazz, but having Gobert protecting the rim allows Utah's perimeter and help defenders to be aggressive and risky. That will lead to turnovers - they just have to execute on the offensive end and work to wear these finesse teams down over the course of the game/series.

Gotta live and die with what got you to this point.

 

[TheStormofWar]

I think that a healthy Gobert, Favors, Crowder frontcourt negates a lot of that stuff to be honest. Rubio and Favors being productive on the offensive end helps too. You might get one or two on the Jazz, but having Gobert protecting the rim allows Utah's perimeter and help defenders to be aggressive and risky. That will lead to turnovers - they just have to execute on the offensive end and work to wear these finesse teams down over the course of the game/series.

Gotta live and die with what got you to this point.

Utah has enough depth to rotate Gobert out in those situations. Not much of an Achilles if you can cover it.

 

[Deleted member 848]

I had a range of emotions after reading that obviously slanted by fanboyism, but having had some time to think about it a few things come to mind


- first off, I'm just glad that Danny Chau (very reputable writer, for what it's worth-- also tends to be more cold on the Jazz than many of the other ppl on the Ringer historically speaking, for what it's worth) penned this article *before* the playoffs. Either he'll be vindicated, or people will laugh in his face. I'm guessing this is gonna be the new edition of the national media's discussion of the "Jazz Achilles heel" when it was formerly 'Can Favors and Gobert work together?!'.
- I think there needs to be a broader discussion on what exactly happened in the Jazz series vs. the warriors-- there's a passing mention of Hill *only* playing one game, and Favors being hobbled, but the brunt of the blame is still put on Rudy. To me, that's crazy. Shelvin Mack averaged roughly 30 minutes a game through *the series*. Shelvin ****ing Mack. Joe Johnson started at PF through the series. Even through all of this, look at the final scores of the four games:

Yes, they scored over 100 points every time-- but given that we were down two starters? And 3 of 4 being 11-12 point losses? Those to me don't seem like glaring defensive disasters. Game 4 was a blow-out in every sense, and deserves to be considered as such-- but to me it seems like the failures of these series fall more on the offensive side of basketball than the defense. I'm fine with conceding 106, or 102 points to the Warriors with two starters out. A more in-depth analysis of the defence might show otherwise (for example, seeing which spots the Warriors were getting for their shots-- was it an overrepresentation of shots at the rim along with open threes? Did Rudy's presence not shift this at all?)
- Still, I think Danny brings up good points, and I think we've seen evidence of it as such. Favors has closed games this year, he's a mobile option at the 5. He absolutely can keep up with most players that switch on him. Then again, so can Rudy-- and one pirouette in one moment of one game of one series doesn't define an inability to keep up with perimeter guards. With that said-- how do we handle Paul + Harden? How do we stop Durant and Curry? Chau writes this article because he's pretty sure the Jazz will vault over to the 2nd round, and I think he's right to suspect that
- Our team is simply built better this year. More versatility, more shooting, more dependability, better offense. I ****ing WISH we had Sefalosha too at this part-- imagine the lineups we could trot out.
- One of the things I constantly find myself saying is telling people not to fall into these "memes" of basketball discussion, or philosophy. "It's a _____ league!", people clamour. "It's all about small-ball! You need to have a scoring guard! A stretch four!" It drives me nuts that people think basketball has arrived at this finite point, where the Warriors have created the perfect team, the Rockets are just putting it on steroids, and any team that ever intends to beat them will have to beat them at their own game. Frankly. basketball is about assembling as much talent as you can, being versatile, playing to your players' strengths, and maximizing positive-outcome players on both the offensive, and defensive end. Nothing more, nothing less. The league cycles, and different trends take hold. Those who will suffer are those who don't try to adapt. The Jazz are just a great example of the sort of philosophy that prevails in modern sports-- they are just trying to be who they are, and trying to build a team to make high-IQ players on both ends.


Anyways. Enough from me-- let me know what y'all think.

 

[LifeOnaPlate]

Frankly. basketball is about assembling as much talent as you can, being versatile, playing to your players' strengths, and maximizing positive-outcome players on both the offensive, and defensive end. Nothing more, nothing less.

Amen a million times to this. Well said.

I trust Snyder to be thinking about this stuff, and to come up with something to help. I also think too much blame is placed on Gobert here, or in the other teams' ability to exploit Gobert. We were, in some ways, a weaker team last year.

Also, the Curry clip where he schooled Rudy reminded me of this hilarous meme which, forgive me forever Rudy, I must post here now. It's funny mostly because otherwise Gobert is so damn dominant.

 

[infection]

- One of the things I constantly find myself saying is telling people not to fall into these "memes" of basketball discussion, or philosophy. "It's a _____ league!", people clamour. "It's all about small-ball! You need to have a scoring guard! A stretch four!" It drives me nuts that people think basketball has arrived at this finite point, where the Warriors have created the perfect team, the Rockets are just putting it on steroids, and any team that ever intends to beat them will have to beat them at their own game. Frankly. basketball is about assembling as much talent as you can, being versatile, playing to your players' strengths, and maximizing positive-outcome players on both the offensive, and defensive end. Nothing more, nothing less. The league cycles, and different trends take hold. Those who will suffer are those who don't try to adapt. The Jazz are just a great example of the sort of philosophy that prevails in modern sports-- they are just trying to be who they are, and trying to build a team to make high-IQ players on both ends.

One of the better points. Everyone always lives in the now and gets swallowed up in hype that they think whatever team is currently dominating the league has discovered some universal truth that was established before the world was, and you hit on that with all the stupid trends. In the 90s and 2000s, any stiff that was >7’0” and 260 was given a bunch of money because everyone needed a “Shaq stopper” (none of them did this, BTW, but it quelled a lot of fanbases’ anxieties to believe they had someone on par with Shaq’s stature). Then in the early and mid 2000s everyone said three point shooting big men were a novelty. Now apparently they’re a requirement. Oh, and yes, small ball (Nellie ball) going from “look at this stupid ****” to “OMG let’s do small ball.”

 

[Quin's Murderface]

Good points in here. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills at times as well because people just pretend that Gobert wasn't playing on a compromised knee during the playoffs. He had a pretty serious knee sprain and to me at least he looked much less mobile (especially laterally) than he did during the season. I don't think he ever really got his mobility back. The famous Steph play is a great example of it to me. Rudy looks like he's on ice skates trying to turn with little confidence in his knee.

Even with that as was stated the JAzz defense held up relatively well despite other injuries and weak points. The Rockets example he used was in a game where the Jazz held them well under their normal efficiency. I think the Jazz need to be a little bit less predictable and try to avoid switching Gobert on smalls as much as possible when they play the Rockets especially. They want that 1 on 1 matchup with 2 guys playing out of their comfort zone. But I don't think that's a Rudy problem as much as a coaching problem. I really liked how they played defense last night with Rudy doing more ball pressure and changing up looks instead of dropping every time and allowing the mid range jumper. More of that would be great.

 

[Coach Ellis]

Yep. Quin will come up with something unique if he has everyone healthy.

Plus, Derrick Favors blocks the **** out of that Curry layup when Rudy was on skates - instead of them trying to get Joe Johnson to help from the weak side.

 

[MDAV28]

Great article, and I truly do trust Quin to be able to adjust to the 5-out lineups in a playoff series. It may honestly come down to Gobert's offense more than anything. They have to be punished for playing Mbah a Moute at the 5

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Great article, and I truly do trust Quin to be able to adjust to the 5-out lineups in a playoff series. It may honestly come down to Gobert's offense more than anything. They have to be punished for playing Mbah a Moute at the 5

I think if CP3 and Harden are in the floor I am okay with Mbah a Moute shooting. No Capela means the paint should open up.

I do agree with others we should attempt to limit switches or make teams work harder for them.

 

[uncle f]

This has been evident for a long time now. The other Achiles Heal is defense's goid enough to pack the paint and recover but onlky when Utah dies by the 3.

Adding Jae and the depth is a nice neutralizer to this problem. Plus, Rudy knows how to recover and often has Favors to back him up.

 

[NUMBERICA]

I don't know, I mostly subscribe to the idea that the Warriors are objectively the pinnacle of basketball (given this set of rules).

I've had some of these concerns about Gobert as well. But there's more to the game than championships (like loving your team because they're ****ing cool), and the Jazz would never get equal or greater return on Gobert anyway. He's so special that you try to plug in the issues around him.

 

[MDAV28]

I think if CP3 and Harden are in the floor I am okay with Mbah a Moute shooting. No Capela means the paint should open up.

I do agree with others we should attempt to limit switches or make teams work harder for them.

Oh for sure. Mbah a Moute has been a deadeye when open this year. 43% from 3. As you said though, take your chances with Mbah a Moute beating you and absolutely abuse the Rockets in the paint.

 

[FarrakhanJazzFan]

One of the better points. Everyone always lives in the now and gets swallowed up in hype that they think whatever team is currently dominating the league has discovered some universal truth that was established before the world was, and you hit on that with all the stupid trends. In the 90s and 2000s, any stiff that was >7’0” and 260 was given a bunch of money because everyone needed a “Shaq stopper” (none of them did this, BTW, but it quelled a lot of fanbases’ anxieties to believe they had someone on par with Shaq’s stature). Then in the early and mid 2000s everyone said three point shooting big men were a novelty. Now apparently they’re a requirement. Oh, and yes, small ball (Nellie ball) going from “look at this stupid ****” to “OMG let’s do small ball.”

Phoenix did the Golden State thing first, but they never really went anywhere because the Spurs were in their way.

The reality is Curry is a unicorn. I'll be shocked if anyone will ever again hit over 50% of their shots while shooting that many three pointers. A guy that can come close, Klay Thompson, happens to be his teammate. Even with all of that, they still lost the 2016 Finals and look to be on shaky ground this year. San Antonio was beating them handily in Game 1 last year during the only time that Kawhi played the entire series.

This might be a dumb observation, but the rest of the league's attempts to become the Warriors (I.e. must avoid mid range jumpers at all costs, it goes against the analytics) has led to a crapload of crazy, low percentage drives at the basket, more than I can remember. It's almost like you have to either shoot a 3, or drive at the hoop, go for the extra point or the high percentage shot. Problem is most of these guys have trouble finishing at the rim in a crowd, so it's not high percentage at all. No one wants to be the next Carmelo out there taking shots from 12 feet away.

The 2001 Lakers team was a terrifying team with Shaq at his peak and Kobe with enough experience to be at the beginning of his peak. Philly looks like they may start wreaking havoc in this league pretty soon, and they hardly resemble Golden State. Simmons has literally only attempted something like 10 3s the entire year.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

A couple thoughts--

** Teams with a stretch 5 will try to pull Rudy out of the paint. Rudy's mobility and defensive awareness guarding the perimeter have improved, and he can guard on the perimeter, but regardless, getting Rudy out of the paint is task #1 for any team.

** Golden State played with pace and athleticism that several of our guys couldn't keep up with. In the playoffs, athleticism becomes more important, and guys like Favors (being injured), Ingles and Joe Johnson couldn't keep up. Interestingly, Exum plays better when the game speeds up. He's going to be something to watch in the playoffs.

** Contemporary teams are trying to maximize 3-pt attempts and maximize positional versatility. So Rudy as a traditional 5 looks a bit like a throwback, but I think the article exaggerates it. Watch Rudy dominate in the POs and this article will look silly.

 

[framer]

This might be a dumb observation, but the rest of the league's attempts to become the Warriors (I.e. must avoid mid range jumpers at all costs, it goes against the analytics) has led to a crapload of crazy, low percentage drives at the basket, more than I can remember. It's almost like you have to either shoot a 3, or drive at the hoop, go for the extra point or the high percentage shot. Problem is most of these guys have trouble finishing at the rim in a crowd, so it's not high percentage at all. No one wants to be the next Carmelo out there taking shots from 12 feet away.

This just indicates that you watch a lot of Jazz games. Consistently driving the lane against the Jazz results in a lot of crazy, low percentage drives at the basket. This may not be the case when playing a lot of other teams. With the race so close I watch more teams play and the level of defense in a normal NBA game is horrendous. Against an average NBA team, midrange shots are a bad idea. To beat the Jazz when they are on, it is necessary to hit midrange. The fact that they are becoming more rare is a good thing for the Jazz.

 

[framer]

** Teams with a stretch 5 will try to pull Rudy out of the paint. Rudy's mobility and defensive awareness guarding the perimeter have improved, and he can guard on the perimeter, but regardless, getting Rudy out of the paint is task #1 for any team.

This is why having Favors and Crowder is so darn important. The toolbox with those two plus Rudy fits just about any nut or bolt we are faced with from a stretchy four. Swapping out Favors for a Mirotic helps a bit offensively, but damages a big staple of our defense when defending teams that can draw Rudy out.

 

[Coach Ellis]

If they want to go inside all game. . . great. They’ll still end up with a ton of crappy midrange shots and contested threes. Favors, Crowder, Jingles, O’Neale, Exum, Rubio and Mitchell are all still plus defenders. Jazz can trade three for two all night long. Eventually, it’ll add up.

Jokic and Marc Gasol are the only two I can think of that really give him trouble out there. Any other “stretch” 5 is going to give up a lot on the glass and let Rudy and Favors get plenty of second chance opportunities.

 

[uncle f]

Phoenix did the Golden State thing first, but they never really went anywhere because the Spurs were in their way.

The reality is Curry is a unicorn. I'll be shocked if anyone will ever again hit over 50% of their shots while shooting that many three pointers. A guy that can come close, Klay Thompson, happens to be his teammate. Even with all of that, they still lost the 2016 Finals and look to be on shaky ground this year. San Antonio was beating them handily in Game 1 last year during the only time that Kawhi played the entire series.

This might be a dumb observation, but the rest of the league's attempts to become the Warriors (I.e. must avoid mid range jumpers at all costs, it goes against the analytics) has led to a crapload of crazy, low percentage drives at the basket, more than I can remember. It's almost like you have to either shoot a 3, or drive at the hoop, go for the extra point or the high percentage shot. Problem is most of these guys have trouble finishing at the rim in a crowd, so it's not high percentage at all. No one wants to be the next Carmelo out there taking shots from 12 feet away.

The 2001 Lakers team was a terrifying team with Shaq at his peak and Kobe with enough experience to be at the beginning of his peak. Philly looks like they may start wreaking havoc in this league pretty soon, and they hardly resemble Golden State. Simmons has literally only attempted something like 10 3s the entire year.

The league has already evolved to this. Teams kill the Jazz on midrange shots and the Jazz are firing back with midrange and paint floaters. Or "knucleball", "deadball" or whatever other term Bolerhack borrows from baseball. I'm surprised that ******* hasn't called a half court pass a spiral ball yet.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

More like Danny go chow down on a dick cuz Gobert is a God.