Under the "we just need to be healthy" theorem, are we better defensively, if only marginally?

[aussietin]

Just a personal anecdote, I sprained my ankle a couple of months ago, and I kept playing that night. I felt like I could still maintain most of my offense, even getting into the lane for a couple floaters. However, I couldn’t get around screens if my life depended on it while playing defense.

The lateral movement and reactions (or rather, the confidence in my ankle to be able to make the reactive defensive movement) were the things that were sapped the most and hardest when I had a sprained ankle. At that point, I started to appreciate how impossible it must be to play defense with a sprained ankle in the NBA.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Health and Rudy Gay will be the biggest differences for sure… which is why it’s upsetting we have already declared Mike ready to play in back to backs. Minute count matters but full nights of rest matters more. It’s just so short sighted and shows we’ve learned almost nothing.

Donovan has been more committed on defense and Bojan has had a few nights where he’s showed some improvement.

 

[SoberasHotRod]

Ty Lue tipped their hand in the regular season last year and we all convinced ourselves this gave Quin the opportunity to survey and respond. Quin didn’t make a single adjustment going into a 7-game series knowing that, nor over 4 straight losses. What’s different about an off-season that makes us think that would change, other than a faulty appeal to common sense?

Thanks for helping me go deeper in to my dark place.

 

[KqWIN]

Ty Lue tipped their hand in the regular season last year and we all convinced ourselves this gave Quin the opportunity to survey and respond. Quin didn’t make a single adjustment going into a 7-game series knowing that, nor over 4 straight losses. What’s different about an off-season that makes us think that would change, other than a faulty appeal to common sense?

I mean…the Jazz did win the first two games of that series and Ty made the big adjustment on the fly. Going small wasn’t the thing that killed the Jazz. It was handled reasonably well the first two games and Kawhi was there for both.

The series changed when the Clippers stopped involving Gobert in the main actions and just feasted on our horrible perimeter defense.

Truth is, Quin has been completely out coached two playoffs in a row by Malone and then Lue. Whatever happens in the RS, you have to remember his track record.

 

[gomretat]

The problem is that in most cases there are trade-offs. For years the Jazz (and other teams) have been trying to balance creating a league-leading offense with a league-leading defense. This is very difficult to do because it ultimately means the team has to have elite two-way players. The Jazz used to lead the league in Defensive Rating, but during those years they couldn't score enough to compete with the top-tier teams. So instead they started migrating to a more offensively oriented team. They replaced Rubio with Conley, replaced Crowder with Bogdanovic, replaced Exum with Clarkson, etc.

The Jazz came to the conclusion that they could combine multiple elite shooters and creators on the floor with a best-in-class defensive anchor. It's a hybrid approach. The result is that the Jazz currently have the #1 rated offense (by a mile), and the #6 or #7 rated defense. Not bad at all. The problem is when the other team has a versatile center who can play out on the floor (e.g., Jokic or Adebayo), or the team can play a PF at the 5 and but still be long and athletic enough to defend well (e.g., the Clippers). This means that the Jazz are vulnerable to certain matchups.

However, if enough of the Jazz's offensive players are healthy, the defensive vulnerability shouldn't matter much. A lineup with Conley/Mitchell/Bogdanovic/Clarkson/Ingles, etc. will outscore the other team and make up for whatever defensive weaknesses the other team can exploit. In other words, if the Jazz were healthy they probably could have outscored the Clippers even after the Clippers broke the Jazz's defense. And to be fair, no team is going to make it to the NBA Finals without staying healthy.

The Jazz have several mostly one-dimensional players, including Bogdanovic, Clarkson, O'Neale and Ingles. In order to improve, the Jazz would need to replace one or more of these one-dimensional players with a multi-dimensional player. For example, replace both Bogdanovic and O'Neale with Jaylen Brown or Paul George. However, that's very difficult to do. Rudy Gay might be able to step in as a 2-way player in much the way Nic Batum did for the Clippers. That would help the Jazz tremendously against certain matchups, since Bogdanovic and O'Neale have defensive limitations. The problem is that Gay is showing his age. He's no longer the guy who flies down the lane and dunks over people. He's become more of a Donyel Marshall stretch-4. He has enough size to be a defensive deterrent though, so that helps.

In order for the Jazz to improve from where they are, they would need to make a trade to replace Bogdanovic, O'Neale or Ingles with an effective two-way player--Jerami Grant, Christian Wood, maybe Harrison Barnes, etc. As much as we like Royce O'Neale, he's probably the guy the Jazz need to upgrade in order to take the next step, assuming Rudy Gay doesn't have that impact.

This is spot on. The Jazz and Quinn have basically committed to the notion that floor spacing is a given in every lineup. Getting someone who creates spacing and plays great perimeter defense is a costly proposition and one that we don't have the assets to pull off. In my view we are relying on health and a more committed to defense Donny to be the difference.