This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The thing we know about the Jazz now that we already knew but that we know better than we knew is this: This collection of young players is making it difficult for opponents to score.

But that's only the half of it. The better half.

Come whatever else may, that defense is the rack of confidence nailed onto the wall upon which every other positive aspect hangs. Without it, the Jazz would be a slightly more cohesive version of the Brooklyn Nets.

And the Jazz are aware.

Sparked by the presence and priority of Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, the other players understand the importance of what they get done at the less glamorous end, and even more importantly, they relish it. There's duality to that, positives and negatives. They relish it because they have to in order to win. They're not good enough offensively to not relish it.

That's why you hear players talk the way they do and, in most cases, play that way, paying close attention to responsibilities and scrambling hard when planned choreography breaks down.

"As long as we play defense the way we know how to play it, we give ourselves a chance to win every game," Trey Burke said .

Added Rodney Hood: "We're one of the best defenses in the league. We take pride in being a really good defensive team. We all hold each other accountable. We have to get better. We just want to do what we do."

It's become cool.

After 10 games, a bumpy stretch over which the Jazz played eight road games against two at home, winning five and losing five, here's what the Jazz do: They build a wall around the basket and force offenses either to lob shots over it or drive straight into it. Sometimes, that wall, when it's working properly, moves out toward shooters, too.

Opponents are taking only 25 shots per game in the restricted area — third-fewest in the league. They are making only 28 percent of their shots in the paint [non-restricted area], the NBA's lowest percentage.

The Jazz do another thing. They throw an anchor overboard, putting a drag not just on their own attack, not just on their opponents' offense, but on the entire game. There have only been three games thusfar in which that didn't happen — against Portland, Cleveland, Orlando — and the Jazz lost all three.

Even with that, the Jazz rank third in the NBA in points allowed per game (91.8). They rank 29th in pace of play, which makes their defense seem even better than it is. Their overall defensive rating places them sixth, a slot likely to improve.

With the absence of Dante Exum, there will be times this season when the Jazz get torn apart by opposing point guards. Already, Damian Lillard and Mo Williams hurt them, and there will be others. But overall, the defense is a bad mother.

It begins with Gobert, who missed a couple of games due to a bum wheel, but who is now back, alongside Favors, forming the combo that not only is the bedrock of the Jazz's defense, it's gaining acclaim as the league's best young defensive front line.

Favors is now a full-grown man. At the defensive end he plays off of Gobert, and at the offensive, he's broadened his game to include perimeter shots. He defends, rebounds and scores, this season taking more shots (12.7) than anyone other than Gordon Hayward (13.7).

The question remains: How good can the Jazz become on attack? Another one: How good do they have to be, not just to make the playoffs, but to do damage once there?

A breakdown of NBA champions and runners up from 2002 through 2012 done by Sportingcharts.com shows that defensive efficiency rating is more important than offensive efficiency. Seventeen of the 20 teams over that span had a top-10 regular-season defensive efficiency rating, while 12 were top-10 on offense.

The 10 champs' numbers went like this: 2012 Miami Heat ranked sixth in OER and fourth in DER. The '10-'11 Mavs were eight and seven. The '09-'10 Lakers were 11 and five. The '08-'09 Lakers were three and five. The '07-'08 Celtics were 12 and one. You see the requirement.

Detroit's '03-'04 Pistons were the outlier, finishing 19th in offensive efficiency and second in defensive.

The current Jazz sit 18th on offense and sixth on defense.

The defense will get better. The offense? The historical stats say … it has to.

Over their first 10 games, many of the Jazz's shots came in the flow of the offense. They're just not dropping enough. The optimist would say the combination of Hayward's crawl out of an early slump and further growth from Hood and Alec Burks, among others, will bolster points. The pessimist would say the Jazz need a couple of better shooters.

For his part, Quin Snyder wants his team to get more scoring, to create good shots, but easing up defensively is the last thing he can afford. "I don't want to let my guard down," he said.

Like an unevenly sliced melon, plopped back together, the Jazz are lopsided: just about the best on one end, in need of bettering at the other.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.