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There are metrics for everything that happens on a basketball court. There are cameras in the arena that track players' every movement, their speed and record the distance between defender and shooter. There is statistical analysis available for every possible lineup combination a team has played.
But there are some numbers Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder doesn't want to talk about right now.
"For all the analytics that we talk about these days, we should remember something simple, called sample size," he said. "I think it's completely irrelevant what teams' records are right now."
But with the calendar having turned to December, more than a month of games played and a fifth of the season gone, who could blame us for taking a peek? And having played one of the league's toughest early schedules, it's safe to say the Jazz have to be OK with how things are shaking out so far.
A hard-fought loss to the Golden State Warriors on Monday put the Jazz at 8-8 — the first time the team has been at least .500 this far into a season since 2012.
Their 14th-ranked defense has been good, but not great. Their 17th-ranked offense hasn't clicked as often as they'd like, but it hasn't been terrible, either.
There are plenty of questions to be answered at both ends of the court.
The rest of the West, meanwhile, have had slower starts as the Jazz work out some of their kinks.
The Houston Rockets (7-11) have already fired coach Kevin McHale after a disappointing follow up to their Western Conference Finals appearance last season. Jeff Hornacek's Phoenix Suns are sitting below .500. And the New Orleans Pelicans, a playoff team last year, have won only four games.
Aside from Golden State's 19-0 start, the rest of the West remains a jumbled mess.
"You watch right now in the West: It looks like everyone's having a little bit of [trouble] — other than the team that won it," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said when the Jazz visited last week. "I've always thought that. The team that wins, it's easy to come back the next year. It's the team's that don't that struggle with it early on" as they start the process of fighting to reach the next step.
So if Snyder thinks it's too early to start assessing records, he certainly won't care much for the statistical models projecting the Jazz to make the playoffs, such as ESPN's Basketball Power Index projection, which puts the Jazz's chances at making the postseason at an eye-popping 97.4 percent.
But the Jazz are riding some momentum. After notching a pair of nice wins over the Clippers and the Pelicans, they took undefeated Golden State down to the wire on Monday.
Even if that loss dropped them to 8-8, it still only left the Jazz a game back of fourth place, with 10 of their 15 games in December at home.
"It's the West, so you pretty much know everybody's gonna be right there in the middle of everything," forward Derrick Favors said. "We know it's tough. … It's going to be a fight every night."
Winless winning streak
Luke Walton is undefeated.
He also doesn't have any wins to his name.
The Warriors interim head coach on Tuesday was named the Western Conference's Coach of the Month for leading the Warriors to undefeated start to the season while Steve Kerr recovers from back surgery. But on the same day, the NBA reaffirmed that the 19 wins the Warriors have accrued so far will be credited to Kerr.
On Monday, Walton's Warriors escaped Salt Lake with a 106-103 win, but not before he and Jazz coach Quin Snyder shared a mutual respect for one another.
"I've known Luke for a long time," Snyder said. "He's always had a great feel for the game. What people didn't understand is he's got a great feel for people too. That's why, in a leadership role, he's been as successful as he is in my mind. He just connects. I think that's a key in coaching. And he's smart. He's savvy. He knows that team and he knows players. He probably doesn't get enough credit for his leadership ability."
"Quin is a phenomenal coach," Walton said. "The last year in L.A. he was on the staff. I enjoyed working with him as a player. I thought he had a very sharp mind for the game of basketball."
Injury report
Shooting guard Rodney Hood looked to be in serious pain as he knelt hunched over on the floor during Monday's game against the Warriors. Hood suffered a bruised rib, the Jazz said, and he was able to finish out the game.
"They're OK now," Hood said afterward. "They're sore right now, but my adrenaline kept me going throughout the game."
Twitter: @tribjazz —
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