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Derrick Favors says he's seen a change in his head coach.
"He's more relaxed," Favors said at the start of training camp, though that doesn't mean there hasn't been plenty of yelling and wind sprints.
But as Quin Snyder starts his second season of bossing the Jazz bench, there's a certain level of comfort he has that didn't exist before.
"If there's less anxiety at the start of the year, that's just because it's more familiar," Snyder said, "and more than anything our staff has a better feel for one another."
That means the new guys, too. Igor Kokoskov, Jeff Watkinson and Zach Guthrie might be unfamiliar faces on the bench to most, but not to their boss.
In his first season as an NBA head coach, Snyder's staff came largely preassembled. Assistants Brad Jones, Alex Jensen and Johnnie Bryant were holdovers from the Ty Corbin era. Antonio Lang and Mike Wells were brought in, though Snyder had not worked with either before. The coach's closest existing relationship on staff was with video coordinator Lamar Skeeter, who followed Snyder to Utah from Atlanta.
So when the Jazz went looking to make coaching hires this summer, it made sense that Snyder wanted familiarity in addition to experience.
"They're people that when I went after them to come, I knew what I was getting and how they could supplement the staff we already have," Snyder said.
Kokoskov, the new assistant, has plenty of experience, both as head coach of the Georgian national team and as part of the Detroit Pistons team that won the NBA championship in 2004. He and Snyder coached together at Missouri.
Watkinson's background in basketball and sports science makes him an attractive target for the Jazz, who created a new position for him as assistant coach for player development. Watkinson also knows Snyder well, having been part of his staff at Missouri from 2001-06 and later working as the Hawks' strength and conditioning coach when Snyder was an assistant in Atlanta.
And Guthrie, the Jazz's new manager of basketball strategy and technology, interned for Snyder when he was with the Austin Toros, before working for the San Antonio Spurs and, most recently, the Orlando Magic.
"I think it's just more structured," forward Gordon Hayward said. "They're more organized. They're not asked to do multiple things. It's just boom, boom, boom. They need to be sharp. As a player, you appreciate that because that's what Quin asks of us. He asks us to be sharp and play with pace, and he asks the coaches to do the same thing. It's cool to see that."
They've been a boon for Snyder, too.
"We've got some people who understand, in addition to our current staff, what we're trying to build," he said. "I'm excited about that chemistry. Just like a team, it takes a while."
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