Start Mitchell at the Point.

[NAOS]

It was ugly AF. Ish gave him 7 quick points... Royce also spotted Bullock 9 quick ones to open the game.

Winning Ugly should have been our theme though... this is what we do.

I think I’ve continually strained at how infrequently Q seems to use all this “positional flexibility” we seem to have. And at how he seems totally committed to the idea that “you dance with who you brought” on any given night.

For example: Royce. Somehow, that dude can be a drastically different player, night-to-night. But if Q plans on using him, then he gets good burn, regardless of which Royce shows up. If he isn’t in the gameplan, then he doesn’t seem to get to extra minutes.

Extra minutes where, you ask? How about as a small-ball 4 on a night where Jae can’t throw it in the ocean? Positional flexibility, right?

We almost tossed last night into the trash bin... and dammit, it was because of a type of stubbornness that irritates me.

I used to make reference to a key difference in coaching by comparing Mike Shannahan and Bill Belichick. Shannahan was a “my system” guy; he’d shoehorn guys into unnatural roles and his imagination seemed limited. Belichick is way better at adapting and molding gameplans around the skills in the locker room. Anywhooo.... I’m starting to get a bit uncomfortable with how often Q is making me think of Shannahan. We seem to have a tight enough locker room that if a player gets the hook on any given night because they’re sucking the wang, then we aren’t going to implode.

Q, use your deck, dude.

 

[Ron Mexico]

According to Locke on the radio the jazz offense is worse with Donovan at pg. I didn’t catch how he came to that conclusion.


Sent from my iPhone using JazzFanz mobile app

Our offensive rating for the season is 107.1 defensive rating is 104.5 and our net rating is 8th best 2.5. In the last 4 games where Mitchell has been our primary PG our offensive rating is 105.7 defensive rating 95.5 and our net rating is 2nd best 10.1.

So based on a very very small sample size of 4 games our offensive is a little worse and our defense is much better.

For the season our primary lineup of .R. Rubio, .J. Crowder, .R. Gobert, .J. Ingles, .D. Mitchell is off rtg 114.8 def rtg 99.8 net 15.0, which is really good. The only 5 man lineup that has played more minutes together doing better is the main 5 for OKC that has a net rating of 16.3. I would guess our ends up better though since we have the 2nd easiest schedule left and they have the hardest. In the past few games our main lineup has been swapping Royce in for Rubio. We have played a lot of minutes with that lineup in 4 games (36 minutes). That lineup is putting up an incredible off rtg 116.7 def rtg 88.3 net 28.4.

Basically most stats show that Rubio helps on offense but our hurts us on defense.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Also. . . is it worse with Donovan Mitchell at PG or is it worse because O’Neale has been bumped up into the starting lineup? Would it still have those statistical issues if the Jazz replaced Royce in the lineup with a better offensive SG/SF to team up with Mitchell and Jingles?

Royce did kill almost every 5 man lineup he was in for the first couple months but he has been helping a lot more lately. He was awful to start this season. Now he is just inconsistent.

 

[NAOS]

Anywho, Jae has no business closing that game last night.

 

[LoPo]

Our offensive rating for the season is 107.1 defensive rating is 104.5 and our net rating is 8th best 2.5. In the last 4 games where Mitchell has been our primary PG our offensive rating is 105.7 defensive rating 95.5 and our net rating is 2nd best 10.1.

So based on a very very small sample size of 4 games our offensive is a little worse and our defense is much better.

For the season our primary lineup of .R. Rubio, .J. Crowder, .R. Gobert, .J. Ingles, .D. Mitchell is off rtg 114.8 def rtg 99.8 net 15.0, which is really good. The only 5 man lineup that has played more minutes together doing better is the main 5 for OKC that has a net rating of 16.3. I would guess our ends up better though since we have the 2nd easiest schedule left and they have the hardest. In the past few games our main lineup has been swapping Royce in for Rubio. We have played a lot of minutes with that lineup in 4 games (36 minutes). That lineup is putting up an incredible off rtg 116.7 def rtg 88.3 net 28.4.

Basically most stats show that Rubio helps on offense but our hurts us on defense.

Thanks for breaking it down.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Anywho, Jae has no business closing that game last night.

I am surprised Favors didnt come back in. Its not like Jae was hitting shots so Favors would have been better on defense and better on cleanup duty on offense.

 

[idiot]

In our three games without a true point guard (according to BB-ref), we have had an offensive rating of 105.3 (about the same as the Phoenix Suns over the season so far, and even lower than our own 4th-place defensive rating) against teams collectively averaging a 109.6 defensive rating. Our year's offensive rating is 108.3. We've survived, but we certainly haven't thrived offensively.

I'm not going to look up more than that.

It's a small sample size, but we need our PGs back. Over time, it's likely that teams will catch up even more to what we're doing without a PG now that they can scout us better.

(PS -- hadn't seen Ron Mexico's breakdown before I posted -- sorry for the redundancy -- though the slightly different framing of the issues may give a more complete picture)

 

[dakidmas]

I'm almost 100% sold on Mitchell being the point of the future, he is our mini Harden without the flops, let Dante run the second unit.

The big test will come in the games against Portland and Denver next week. While Mitchell has been awesome its been a blessing to be up against some average teams during this stretch.

 

[RRJazz]

How can you compare stats from 41 games (16 at home, 25 away) that included 2 vs OKC, 2 vs Toronto, 2 vs Houston, 2 vs GS, 2 vs Spurs, 2 vs Indiana, 2 vs 76ers, etc. to 4 games at home vs Orlando, LA (no Lebron), Chicago, and Detroit??????

Just the refereeing is like night and day.

 

[Jazz]

Should have been Harden.

Was Rudy legit pissed at Donovan in his post game interview ?

I think he is just frustrated hes not getting as much ball. In his interview he gave credit to Joe for getting him the ball. Read between the lines I think he's frustrated with Donovan. Look Donovan is a scorer that's who he is so he doesn't really know how to play pg. Joe really is the playmaker out there

 

[LoPo]

We don't need Rubio AND Exum. One needs to go because I'm fine with Neto and eventually Grayson as emergency options.

So between Rubio and Exum, who goes and when?

 

[NAOS]

I am surprised Favors didnt come back in. Its not like Jae was hitting shots so Favors would have been better on defense and better on cleanup duty on offense.

I rarely talk to the TV screen, but I was staring, palms up, asking “Where the **** is Favors?”