Problems in Utah?

What comes to mind when you think of the Utah Jazz? Perhaps it is John Stockton and Karl Malone. Perhaps it is Jerry Sloan. You might even think of Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer. Most of us will in some way or another think of an NBA franchise in the small market of Salt Lake City that has been one of the most consistent, reliable, and well-functioning organizations in professional sports.  But is that still the case? Lately fan rumblings and inconsistent play might suggest things in Salt Lake City have never been more uncertain.  Here are some of the concerns we have: 

Let’s start with the play of the team.  It is no secret that the team has issues.  Its logjam in the frontcourt and inconsistent play in the backcourt have caused the Jazz to be left to hopes of Laker losses in order for them to reach the playoffs.  An average offense and a pretty bad defense doesn’t make for a playoff run anyways.

In a recent podcast David Locke, voice of the Utah Jazz, argued that the Jazz have pretty much reached their expectations for the season.  So why are fans disappointed? Although they may still make the playoffs the bottom line is that the Jazz upgraded Raja Bell, Josh Howard, Devin Harris and CJ Miles for Marvin Williams, Mo Williams, and Randy Foye, but have managed to secure a worse winning percentage than last year.  That is strange considering the roster improvements and the improvements from current players Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Alec Burks and Enes Kanter.  David Locke says that the Jazz will have finished about 1 win shy of where they should have, and in this case that win would make a world of difference to their playoff hopes.  But the disappointment may come from the way the team has achieved their record.  The Jazz seem to have barely beaten most of the bottom feeders, and been destroyed by most of the above average teams.  Their point differential is the only negative number by any potential playoff team in the West.  The Jazz record on the road is 12-27. That strange difference from their home 29-11 record.
typically make for an elite team anyways, but the overall season in general seems to have disappointed many fans.

 

Their road woes may suggest a lack of focus and intensity, something that seems strange given the veteran experience on the team.  Some would suggest it may be coaching.  Coach Ty Corbin has taken some serious criticism as of late for his management of the roster.  Ty has indeed made some strange decisions this year.  Electing not to play Alec Burks for the first half of the season, DNP's and minute distribution, playing young players who are supposed to a part of the core very few minutes, and making strange matchup decisions late in games that include not making appropriate and seemingly obvious offensive-defensive substitutions in crucial situations.  David Locke has defended Ty Corbin by asking what else could be done.  What would make Jazz fans happy? Possibly part of the frustration could be that fans believe that the young 4 should have played more because they need time to develop, but also because they make the team better.  So when those 4 young players do not play significant minutes, the Jazz lose out on being a better team, and developmental minutes for their core.  Hayward, Burks, Kanter and Favors have all played significantly fewer minutes than comparable draft picks on other teams.  Oddly enough, Hayward, perhaps the team’s best overall player, has played less minutes per game than last year.  

Another criticism of Ty would be his inability to have a defensive structure.  This is pretty clear and no matter how David Locke might try to deflect any blame off of the coach, their system is broken.  Throw stats out the window and watch them for a quarter and you will know.  They get lost, and confused a lot for an NBA team.  Often times teams will get solid looks all game long by running simple pin-downs and drive and kicks.  It isn’t uncommon to see the Jazz close out 2 players to the same shooter only to give up a better shooter a wide open look.  Needless to say, the Jazz can rotate on one pass, but rotating on 2^nd or 3^rd passes is rarely seen with this Utah defense.   

Their offense is predictable and easy to frustrate.  That is another story for another day, but it’s worth wondering if the post heavy offense is really the way the Jazz should be playing.  The Jazz showcase 3 big minute players that all shoot above 40% from three (Mo, Foye, Hayward).  That’s pretty good, yet they are 26^th in the league in 3FGA.  

Speaking of David Locke.   Recently he called out a writer for SI for having listed the Jazz as one of the biggest disappointments for the year.  He said he felt obligated to call out the bogus report.  I have to say I feel I must do the same to Locke.  Although I have read and followed many of his reports, and understand his closeness to the team, his recent podcast with the SI writer sounded a like a whole bunch of excuse making.  I can’t help but wonder if his closeness with the coach/organization and the fact that his paycheck comes from the Jazz is blinding his ability to see past the numbers he so relentlessly uses to back up his arguments.  I get analytics, and am a huge fan of them to be honest, but in his latest podcast Locke seemed like a bully, hell-bent on shoving “Jazz numbers” down the throat of the guy on the other end, who made great points, but obviously wasn’t prepared with the same amount of information.  Locke failed to see the other guy’s points and observations.  The best point the "other guy" made was that Corbin was obligated to form some kind of offensive and defensive system that will benefit the young core moving forward.  With the offense centered around Al Jefferson for most of the year they have failed in that regard.  David Locke argued that isn't the coaches job and he should only be concerned with winning right now.  That seems like such a stretch given the organizations spoon-feeding to the fans of the "bright future" with its young players. Why convince the fans that the young core 4 are the building blocks of the future, then sit idly by while the coach squanders the opportunity to build anything with them?  

Locke continued to point out that their roster is not very good, and so Ty has actually done a great job.  He basically said that the players 1-12 are all very average.  So here’s two problems: Is he saying that Kevin O’ Connor should be the one to blame for putting together such an average roster, OR, is he saying that the core players the Jazz have drafted aren’t actually anything better than average players?  If so, the organization has some serious explaining to do, since they have convinced the fan base these 4 players are the future of this franchise.

As a twitter follower recently pointed out, Locke has berated Alec Burks several times for giving Jennings the airspace to shoot that 3 in that infamous Milwaukee loss, yet has repeatedly said over and over again the Jazz should foul in that situation.  Yet no criticism of Ty being prepared for that situation has ever been brought up.  In some ways, Locke seems to be using the players to blame them for many of Ty's shortcomings.  

I like Locke.  He is a hard worker that cares a lot about his work.  He is a great employee, but he is just that.  He’s an employee.  His paycheck comes from the Utah Jazz.  Why would he do anything other than try to defend their coach, and organization.  But to say the Jazz haven't been a big disappointment this year is contrary to what their general fan base believes. 
 

The bottom line is that the organization seems to be at a crossroads.  From our interactions with fans on social media it seems that they are much more disappointed than they are content.  Fans are anxious for the new era to begin.  It seems to have been teasing them for two years now and it may be time for the Jazz to turn over the reins to their young core, even if it means a step backwards in the win column.  I'm not sure, but would Jazz fans be more content with this year if they had played the young players twice as much as they have, and ended up 10th or 11th in the west? Its possible. I’m not sure what the answer is, but either way, the important part of any organization is keeping their fan base interested and happy with the product and the direction of the team.  Sure doesn’t feel like they’ve done that this year, no matter what their “employees” say.