This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

When legendary San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich speaks, people tend to listen. So when Popovich once told Quin Snyder his team needed to pick up the pace, Snyder quickly agreed.

"We didn't have any big guys. We had a bunch of guards," Snyder said recently, thinking back to his time as the coach of the Spurs' D-League team in Austin, Texas. "The best way to develop those guards was to open the floor and play more pick-and-roll and play with pace."

It worked, too. The Toros sprinted to a record number of victories and Snyder ran away with a D-League coach of the year award. And in light of that success, "playing with pace" would be one of Snyder's mantras when he landed his first job as an NBA head coach.

Three seasons later, the Utah Jazz are plodding along at the slowest pace in the league — and that's fine by their coach.

"Golden State sets the bar with their pace and they're so explosive offensively that it's easy to say, 'Hey, that's the way you should play because it's effective.' But it's effective for Golden State," Snyder said. "It wouldn't be effective for us to play that way, and that took a little bit of getting used to for me."

The Warriors, a blitzkrieg with basketballs, average about 103 possessions per game, according to NBA.com's statistics. The Jazz, on the other end of the spectrum, average just 93.

"You have to get to know your team," Snyder said. "We don't have runners. Our bigs, as effective as they are, we're not going to run the court like that, rim to rim."

The Jazz finished dead last in pace in Snyder's first two seasons as head coach and are well on their way to doing it for a third straight year. More importantly to the Jazz, their offensive efficiency numbers have improved in each of the three seasons, with Utah's 12th-ranked offense currently averaging about 106 points per 100 possessions.

"We play pretty well offensively. It's about playing precise and making teams work," shooting guard Rodney Hood said. "… It's different, but it's better for me. I can play off other guys. I can play pick-and-roll. Everybody feels involved."

Said swingman Joe Ingles, "We can play fast. We've got guys that can get up and down the floor. … But I think where we really hurt teams is in the half court because we can execute so well."

There is, however, still serious room for improvement.

Only four teams pass the ball more than the Jazz, who want to work the ball from side to side in their halfcourt offense. But that deliberate approach has put them in binds, too.

No team in the league takes more of its shots (10.3 percent) in the final four seconds of the shot clock than the Jazz.

"That's not what we want," Snyder said, adding he believes some of the problem has been injuries and inconsistency at the point guard position. "Those guys have to have a leadership on the court where if we are doing something in the halfcourt, we get into it with some urgency, some quickness. That's one of the things we work on. You don't ever want to be up against the clock."

But while he doesn't want things grinding to a halt, Snyder has slowly learned to embrace his team's slow style, even if he doesn't like the word much.

"There's not really anything that we do in society where you say, 'We do that slow' and it's appealing, right?" Snyder said. "'He eats slow'; maybe that's a good thing because you savor your food. But other than that, being slow isn't usually a compliment. You're a slow reader means you're not very smart.

"'They play slow.' It's like, 'Great, thanks.' I'd like to think we just play effectively."

Twitter: @aaronfalk —

Slow and steady

The Jazz are one of five teams in the NBA to rank in both the bottom half of the league in pace and the top half of the league in offensive efficiency

(Team - Pace Ranking, Offensive Ranking)

Jazz • 30th, 12th

Kings • 27th, 15th

Spurs • 25th, 4th

Bucks • 21st, 10th

Raptors • 20th, 2nd

Source: NBA.com

Jazz vs. Bucks

At Vivint SmartHome Arena

Wednesday, 7 p.m.

TV • ROOT Sports