Defense next season

[jazznik]

The Jazz were incredibly bad at defense this season. The worst team in the league. And now I am watching the playoffs and I see beautiful, hard defense being played and winning the games. How can the Jazz get to that level? And, more specifically, what should the team do next season to improve their defense?

Should we not care about defense at all until after we get our foundation players? Should we expect a natural defensive improvement from our young guys? Or should we get good defensive players in the offseason to help Kessler and Dunn, the only two players who have been consistently good at that in 23/24?

 

[jazznik]

Personally, I think that Keyonte and Sensabaugh are already learning bad habits of slacking on defense because they think that to earn minutes and impress they need to do great offensively first and foremost. And that Clarkson has learned that lesson years ago and, consequently, never worked on his defense at all, putting instead all his time in working on new offensive tricks.

 

[HermanG]

The Jazz were incredibly bad at defense this season. The worst team in the league. And now I am watching the playoffs and I see beautiful, hard defense being played and winning the games. How can the Jazz get to that level? And, more specifically, what should the team do next season to improve their defense?

Should we not care about defense at all until after we get our foundation players? Should we expect a natural defensive improvement from our young guys? Or should we get good defensive players in the offseason to help Kessler and Dunn, the only two players who have been consistently good at that in 23/24?

Push defensive development and dont acquire or draft crutches imo. Hardy might need some help as well. I trust his offensive mind, but I have questions about his prowess in coaching our defense up.

 

[LogGrad98]

They've made it clear they don't care about defense. Offensive efficiency is much higher on their list, and taking care of the ball. I'd be surprised if we make any moves at all with a focus on defense.

 

[jazznik]

I think that players respond to incentives. You play good defense and you end up either stuck on the bench (Kessler, Dunn) or traded (Agbaji, Simone). But if you merrily chuck away you get highlighted and rewarded (Keyonte, Lauri, Clarkson, Sensabaugh...even Lofton late in the season). That is how the team's identity is formed and I am afraid that the Jazz want to recreate something along the lines of the previous Jazz teams when all defensive responsibilities were dumped on 1-2 players.

 

[HermanG]

I think that players respond to incentives. You play good defense and you end up either stuck on the bench (Kessler, Dunn) or traded (Agbaji, Simone). But if you merrily chuck away you get highlighted and rewarded (Keyonte, Lauri, Clarkson, Sensabaugh...even Lofton late in the season). That is how the team's identity is formed and I am afraid that the Jazz want to recreate something along the lines of the previous Jazz teams when all defensive responsibilities were dumped on 1-2 players.

You forgot NAW, who was practically a throw in and has now established himself in Minnys playoff rotation.

Also Vando.

 

[jazznik]

You forgot NAW, who was practically a throw in and has now established himself in Minnys playoff rotation.

Also Vando.

It would be funny if they do not bring Dunn back and draft another center (Clingan, Edey or Filipowski) who has the offensive game and can be a long-term starter at C.

 

[gomretat]

The issue is not about defense or offense at this point - we simply have very little NBA talent and if you become a good role player we trade you.

 

[NAOS_pt2]

Things would improve the second Kessler became a better offensive player (and therefore was able to stay on the floor)

Defense can improve dramatically/geometrically with the addition of just one or two players. The fastest route to improvement is more Kessler + a perimeter bulldog

 

[Ron Mexico]

The defense sucked.

Plus the entire team quit playing defense(okay playing.) post trade deadline.

 

[KqWIN]

Hmmm....Not sure what I can say about defense because we might still be in exploration mode

I thought the end of season interviews on this topic were pretty candid.....Will Hardy did not prioritize defense. You almost never hear that even when it's obviously true. Hardy did not care about defense and it showed. On top of the coach not caring, the FO was obviously not doing their best to make the team better anyways. So from top to bottom there was no concern with defense. I'm not sure how much I buy in the whole "culture of defense" stuff that coaches love to talk about, but it's safe to say that the Jazz do not care about that.....or haven't until this point. Winning in general is not something that the franchise has cared about the past two season, it's blatant. Even bottom feeders can say they're focused on winning as they are always moving up. The Jazz constantly pulling the rug on decent teams is the most obvious "we don't care about winning" sign there is.

When the talent level is so low, I'm not sure it's important to focus on acquiring specific kinds of players or patchwork what you have. I feel like you either need to have strong foundational players or a strong coaching philosophy before you start to go after any certain types of players. I'm not sure what kind of defense Hardy wants to play as he's neglected it. One of the bigger takeaways from this last season is that Hardy does not view Kessler as a foundational defensive piece to build around and/or he does not want to build a defense around a big like Kessler.

The thing about being the worst in the NBA is that things can change really easily/fast. Don't think the Jazz are in a hurry to improve in a hurry though. Feels like the focus will be on acquiring/developing the foundational players first regardless of what type of player they are. I think "defense next season" will likely be the same, as in the franchise will not care about it. I think it would be same if our talent was the reverse, however. If all we had were defensive players, I don't think we would be focused on improving offense....just talent as a whole.

 

[kabenac]

Bazley would be a first round pick in this draft. And this is why I love the Bazley signing as he's still only 23, plays solid defense and has shown he's able to score some as well all while being on a dirt cheap contract.

Karl Malone was a luxury as he was a great scorer and a great defender. We had enough offensive firepower where we could play Eaton and he didn't have to score. Kessler should definitely start again the moment we improve our scoring. And if we obtain solid scorers who aren't a liability on defense... all the better.