Trent Forrest (and Udoka Azubuike, for that matter) just had a nice stretch of home games against mediocre or under-manned teams. That's encouraging, but I'm not confident that it will hold against better teams.
Teams are going to back way off of Forrest and dare him to shoot. Teams with defensive size/length will block his passing lanes and cut off his drives to the rim. Even against the Rockets, Forrest was scoreless with 3 turnovers. He's shooting 22% from 3pt this season. He's allowing Conley to play fewer minutes during the regular season, which is great, but the Jazz still need a viable secondary ball handler to replace Joe Ingles' role. Having another ball handler also takes pressure off of Mitchell, so that he can stay fresh on offense and put energy into his defense. Forrest is obviously a plus-defender who gives the Jazz size and toughness in the backcourt. However, certain teams simply won't guard him and will let the Jazz play 4-on-5. This is why I think the door is wide open for NAW or Jared Butler to step in and play a role if they can match Forrest's defensive intensity for limited minutes.
Also, the Jazz are going to need Paschall to emerge as a double-digit scorer in the playoffs. He needs to be a guy who can bully his way to the paint and get a bucket or draw contact. Gay hasn't been able to move well enough to drive the ball on offense. Defenders with plus size won't give Bogdanovic a mismatch he can exploit. The Jazz are still small and offensively limited at the 4, which is what a guy like Harrison Barnes would have helped. Paschall also needs to rebound, or at least box guys out so someone else can rebound. He's got to become the Jazz's version of PJ Tucker.
