Three thoughts on the Jazz’s 140-112 loss to the Indiana Pacers from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. If defense wins championships, lack of defense gives you lottery balls
The first half was the most promising defensive half the Jazz have played in a couple of weeks. With a young starting lineup — Isaiah Collier, Collin Sexton, Brice Sensabaugh, Johnny Juzang, and Kyle Filipowski — the Jazz were flying around defensively.
They allowed just four rim shots all half long, collapsing onto the paint early and efficiently. But they also did a really nice job of sprinting out to 3-point shooters, too, forcing second-guesses and missed shots.
It was a nice template of how the youth could be positive defensive difference makers.
And then in the second half, they allowed 83 points. For ten straight minutes, they allowed the Pacers to score on every possession. It was nearly 12 minutes before a missed basket, and that was a missed dunk.
On these possessions, and for the whole half, the Jazz just made it too easy. The Pacers were generally allowed to attack one on one, and the defensive players out there simply didn’t provide any resistance.
That the group lacks focus is understandable, given the situation. But it isn’t super encouraging to give up consecutive 140-point nights — indeed, it reflects just how far the Jazz have to go in order to be even competent on the defensive end.
2. Keyonte George’s stats
The Jazz broadcast put this up tonight:
For what it’s worth… he’s not actually No. 1 in points, Victor Wembanyama is. But he is second, and that’s pretty good.
Of course, there’s a flip side to the numbers above, too: among sophomores, Keyonte George is No. 1 in missed shots, missed threes, and No. 2 in turnovers as well as missed free throws.
Which is just to say: George is high up in all of those rankings because he’s a lot… because when he’s on the court, he tends to be the game’s main offensive character. You could argue that he needs to be, given the lack of shot creation on the roster when he’s in the game — but by the eye test, he probably puts a little bit too much on himself in that way.
Still, the offensive volume is promising. Jazz fan Richie Ostler on Twitter compiled this list of similar high volume guards who struggled with efficiency early on:
And I do think there’s a real argument that, while the efficiency is only okay, the volume being high raises George’s ceiling as a player. There’s a pathway for him being hugely beneficial offensively.
But in order for him to get that chance, he simply has to get much better defensively. DunksAndThrees.com’s EPM ranks him 506th in the NBA defensively, which is second-worst in the NBA. His -2.9 DEPM would rank as the 10th worst in the NBA in the last decade.
It looks that bad because not only does George have minuscule steal (10th percentile) and block (4th percentile) numbers, the Jazz are also 9.8 points per 100 possessions worse when he’s on the floor. Second-worst on the Jazz, among players playing major minutes, is Brice Sensabaugh, a +2.8. The gap between George and the next-worst Jazz defender is gigantic, and DEPM really punishes him for that.
I think improvement is possible. Most of all, though, I think this is a lesson in why simply relying on counting stats is so dangerous — because if you looked just at the Jazz broadcast graphic, you’d figure George was one of the best players in the league. They’d have a lot more than 16 wins in that case.
3. Taylor Hendricks interview
I don’t mean to criticize the broadcast, though, because I do legitimately appreciate the way they’ve handled their nearly impossible jobs over this season. And they’re definitely helping me out, too: for the second Triple Team in a row, we’re featuring a broadcast interview from the second quarter.
This one was with sophomore Taylor Hendricks, who, as I’m sure you remember, has missed all but three games of this season with a broken leg. Hendricks was upbeat in his time, which makes sense: he’s finally getting to jog around a little and even shoot some while the team warms up.
There were two pieces of noteworthy info Hendricks shared.
First, he said he’s up to 243 pounds — a massive jump from the 210 he was listed at coming into the NBA. Having been around him, I can confirm that he’s significantly more muscular in every way; he looks like a changed man. He said he hopes to play around 230 or 235 pounds, though.
Second, Hendricks said he’s going to be 100% by May.
Now, this blurb may have given the Jazz’s injury team a heart attack, because a few minutes after the interview, the Jazz’s public relations department clarified with writers that the 100% means he’ll be good to do “basketball activities” by then — which means practice, not games. The plan, the team said, is still for Hendricks to skip summer league, which is all the way in July.
I kind of wish he’d play, though. I thought they were too conservative in holding him out for his rookie year’s summer league when he felt he could have played, and that negatively held him back on the court in his rookie year. If he’s ready to practice in May, it feels like July should be soon enough to play a handful of games, games Hendricks desperately needs to be an actual NBA asset.
That being said, I also know nothing about recoveries from broken legs, and not Hendricks’ doctor, and have not seen any information about his recovery, so this is the very definition of an over-confident opinion backed up by nothing.
One more note from Hendricks interview that brought me the most optimism: Hendricks was asked what he thinks about the Jazz on the floor, and he said, “I feel like what I do could really help us. It’s really what we’re kind of missing a little bit.”
He’s right. The Jazz are desperately missing a defensive playmaker like Hendricks. If he can play that role consistently, it’d be huge for this Jazz franchise.
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