Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 111-101 loss to the Dallas Mavericks from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Small-ball experiment goes reasonably well
Remember, the Jazz sat seven players for tonight’s game: Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanovic, Hassan Whiteside, and Rudy Gay all didn’t play. That meant a starting lineup featuring Trent Forrest, Jordan Clarkson, Miye Oni, Royce O’Neale, and Eric Paschall.
Given that Paschall isn’t much of a rim protector, it meant the Jazz switched every screen, at every position. That meant some mismatches — Clarkson guarding Kristaps Porzingis in the post, Paschall guarding Luka Doncic on the perimeter.
And it went okay! I can’t say it went great, but given that it’s a whole new look for the team, I thought there were real moments of promise, where the Jazz’s defense swarmed at the right times to turn Dallas advantages into Dallas turnovers.
Take this play for example: Moses Brown has the massive size advantage down low, but Forrest forces him to catch the ball a little bit away from the hoop. That means that, after the catch, the entire Jazz defense has the chance to converge on Brown, causing mass havoc. Clarkson gets the steal.
On the other hand, I thought Paschall struggled a little bit in keeping Dallas’ quick guards in front of him. Check this play out: Jalen Brunson just drives by him in the corner from a standstill. The Mavs’ PG ends up missing the reverse layup, but I think it’s a layup he makes a majority of the time.
So here’s the question: will we see the Jazz switch more during the regular season? I think it’s worth it to try. It’s going to be more successful with Gay on the floor instead of Paschall, but if the latter can get better at staying in front of everyone, he could earn some minutes that way, too. And given some doubts at backup center, there’s a real chance we could see this look for large portions of the season.
2. More Jared Butler goodness
Jared Butler is the most interesting part of this preseason and training camp; for the second consecutive game, he led the Jazz in scoring tonight against the Mavs. In 30 minutes, Butler scored 22 points on 9-18 shooting from the field, adding four assists. Even better, he did it in front of his Baylor teammates, who came to watch the game, as well as his parents.
Here’s the highlight video the Jazz made of his play tonight:
And a quick discussion of my favorite plays:
• 0:23: Butler comes down the court, runs a sort-of pick and roll with a sort-of screen from Udoka Azubuike. But Butler snakes in front of Luka Doncic quickly to get the advantage. Now, he has a 7-foot-3 defender in Kristaps Porzingis in front. Butler hits him with a quick and gorgeous double crossover, stays wide to make the shot block difficult, and scoops in two points. That’s just a really skilled, nice play.
• 0:33: Butler gets the switch against Reggie Bullock, a reasonable wing defender. But Butler, again, is too quick: just beats him, snakes in front, forces the help, then throws a lob to Udoka Azubuike. Just being able to beat a long wing in isolation like that is impressive to me.
• 1:18: Now it’s pick and roll with Paschall. Paschall screens, Butler fakes using it to get his defender off balance. Paschall re-screens, Butler uses the second pick to get the advantage and force the help. The help is too high on the court, Butler notices, and throws a great pass for an easy two points. It’s just mature as can be.
• 1:28: Isolated on Bullock again. Butler puts him through the washing machine, just dribble move after dribble move then the huge step stepback at the perfect time for an easy look from three. It’s cash, because Butler is a good shooter.
Those are just really, really nice plays, the kind that indicate a promising NBA future. After giving himself a 6 out of 10 against the Spurs, Butler gave himself a score of 7.5 out of 10 against the Mavs. Yes, there’s still significant room to grow, but there’s a lot of good stuff here. To get this package with a No. 40 pick? It’s a big win for the Jazz, in my view.
3. Jason Kidd, Kristaps Porzingis, and posting up
On paper, the Mavs could be one of the Jazz’s long-term contenders in the Western Conference. With a top-10 player like Doncic in the fold at just 22 years old, an All-Star in Kristaps Porzingis, plus a pretty decent supporting cast around them, it should add up to a tough West team.
But Porzingis really just hasn’t been able to consistently make a positive impact since being traded to the Mavs. And as new coach Jason Kidd takes over, he wanted to change that.
“I’m going to be able to post-up more and be used in those situations,” Porzingis told reporters at the Mavs’ media day. I was used a lot as just a spacer and shooting threes and I feel that’s not my whole game. There’s more things to my game. I’ve learned a lot of things and I adjusted my game as I needed to. I’m looking forward to being utilized in the best way.”
If that’s Kidd’s plan — and it seemed like it, with the number of times Porzingis was found in the post tonight — I don’t think it’s an effective one. Porzingis posted up the 6-4 Royce O’Neale and the 6-4 Jordan Clarkson and, well, just failed to create much of anything good at all.
I understand why Kidd wants to get one of his best players going! But I don’t think it can be in the post, where Porzingis is just not wide or strong enough to be an interesting post threat, in my view. It’s too easy to poke the ball away or get around him.
Relatedly, it’s not as if Jason Kidd, Head Coach stock is very high right now in the public eye, but I might still be selling. I don’t think it’s an accident that the Bucks got monumentally better once Kidd was fired and Mike Budenholzer took over. Kidd as head coach of the Mavs makes them a less dangerous foe for the Jazz in my opinion, even if they won this preseason game by 10 points.
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