New York • Point No. 4 of Zach Lowe’s latest “Ten things I like and don’t like” analysis piece for ESPN last Friday was, “The Jazz, short on oomph and time.”
In this piece, which the Trib’s Andy Larsen partially covered in a roundup of recent national media perspective on the Utah Jazz, Lowe wrote that “Identity in the NBA is ethereal and fragile,” and that, “The Jazz don’t have it right now.” Among his complaints (none of which is unfamiliar to anyone who watches this team on a regular basis):
• The offense is a sometimes-inconsistent hybrid between the blender and simpler stuff run for the new scoring guys.
• Lineups with Mike Conley, while good, have been worse than the lineups with Joe Ingles.
• This summer’s roster swap of defense/size for more offensive juice has enabled opponents to shoot better on the same midrange-heavy shot profile, and prevented the Jazz from forcing turnovers.
• Utah’s own turnover issues are contributing to its poor transition defense.
Sound familiar? Pretty much. The thing is, though, while Lowe is right about every single one of those issues, that isn’t necessarily a manifestation of “lack of identity.” This team seems to know who and what it is, and what makes it most successful; more often than not, it’s more simply an issue of going out and doing it. To wit:
• “You may get tired of hearing it, but if we can defend, [good] things happen,” Quin Snyder said after Monday’s win in Cleveland. “[And on offense], we’ve got an unselfish team and guys are looking for each other. … I think when we’re playing well, that’s who we are.”
• “We got stops, we pushed the pace, we rebounded,” added Donovan Mitchell. “… For us to really get over that hump and where we really want to be, we’ve got to hold teams a little lower [in scoring]. Also, take care of the ball.”
• “Guys just being forceful with the ball, getting into the paint. Not looking just to score but make plays for each other. All season long when we do that, it’s contagious,” said Conley. “… I still think that transition defense is key for us. That’s something where, if you can take away the easy baskets and get any team in a halfcourt situation, we’ll bet on our defense all day with the guys we have on this team.”
• “We gave them a lot of easy offensive boards, easy putbacks. We’ve gotta be better on that — every single time, we’ve gotta take responsibility and box out,” said Bojan Bogdanovic.
Does that sound like a team that’s confused about its identity? Nope — they know all too well.
Hello, Danté …
My wife hates it when I use the word “narrative” in a sports context, but as an NBA beat writer, that’s what I’m constantly looking for — how has the story of the Utah Jazz unfolded at any particular moment? Sometimes these things write themselves: When the Danté Exum-for-Jordan Clarkson trade happened in December, I knew that would be part of my coverage when I made the trip to Ohio this week. One sprained ankle for Danté later, though, and there was a serious monkeywrench thrown into those plans:
“Injured players don’t have to talk to the media,” he said with a wink when he saw a few traveling Jazz beat reporters hanging out in the Cavs’ locker room during Monday’s pregame player availability. True enough. And to his credit, he sat down and did it anyway. Regardless of how you felt about his potential as a player, or his difficulty staying healthy, no one has ever suggested Danté is not a good guy.
Anyway, talking to him for a few minutes proved insightful. I was struck by how thoroughly he had embraced the situation, for the simple reason that he is a basketball player who now gets more opportunities to play in basketball games. Ryan Miller of KSL focused on how Exum’s former Jazz teammates are hopeful that he can stay healthy long enough to take advantage of his new opportunity. And Sarah Todd of the Deseret News primarily wrote about Danté, Joe, and Rudy getting together for dinner Sunday night — a sign of their continuing support for him.
A few more looks back
Here’s a few random Jazz items from the past few days — whether from the Trib or elsewhere — that I think warrant your attention:
• Andy wrote about how the Jazz are usually playing better when both Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles have their games working in tandem.
• I made an appearance Tuesday on the Bill Riley show on ESPN700, talking about what I’ve seen from the Jazz in their two recent wins, and what that portends going forward.
• I also joined Joseph Casciaro on his “Pound the Rock” podcast from The Score last week to discuss all the Mike Conley/Joe Ingles/Royce O’Neale lineup fallout, as well as the team’s post-All-Star break struggles.
• The Jazz are at Madison Square Garden tonight (no word yet on which doors they’ll be allowed to use). And while the Knicks are a dumpster fire of an organization, they did beat the Rockets the other night — a result that should motivate Utah not to take things lightly.
Up next
As I just mentioned, the four-game road trip continues tonight against the Knicks. On Friday, the Jazz will be in Boston to face the Celtics for the second time in just over a week, then they’ll wrap with a back-to-back on Saturday in Detroit. (This is their longest remaining road trip this season, by the way. Nothing more than two in a row after this trip.) The Jazz’s next game at Vivint Smart Home Arena comes Monday against the Toronto Raptors.
And finally …
On a personal note, while I’ve been looking forward to this trip on account of it including my first-ever visits to New York and Boston, respectively, it’s also been a difficult one on account of the timing. As I shared with you on Twitter, March 3 is my daughter Lily’s birthday and death day. She would be 14 years old now. It’s an incredibly difficult day for me to cope with every year, and being on the road for it and away from my family made it all the harder. That said, the outpouring of support I received from Jazz Nation and the #NBAtwitter universe as a whole, the hundreds of personal messages that people sent my way, absolutely meant the world to me, and made it that much easier to get through the day. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
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