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All That Amar, Managing Editor of SB Nation’s SLC Dunk, stops by to discuss the Utah Jazz, whom he declares are finally in win-now mode. The young Jazz haven’t won a playoff game since 2010 and have finished with between 38 and 43 wins three of the past four seasons, but things appear to be changing for the better. Amar explains how the coach, general manager and players have all come together to generate a much-improved product on the court. Here are some of the highlights of our discussion:
4:18-5:07: Our guest explains how added depth has allowed the Utah Jazz to weather an early storm of injuries: “The main reason is that they’ve had a few seasons with injury before, so they kind of figured out that they need to prepare for that. And what Dennis Lindsey, the GM of the Jazz, did was he went out and… they wanted to get depth, and I think that they accomplished that this season… adding George Hill, Joe Johnson and Boris Diaw. These guys, they haven’t been healthy for every game of the season, but they have made sure that when Utah is missing 1.5 starters per game, about three rotation guys every single game… they still have enough guys to stay in the game. If this was last year’s roster, the record would probably be maybe eight wins instead of 15.”
6:05-6:44: Amar sees the work Gordon Hayward has put in to develop both his skills and his body: “[Hayward has] made it so the things that he’s good at and the things that he’s worked on work together, so that he’s even better than he originally was. He’s streamlined himself into being a better offensive player… I think working on your body is something that all NBA players have to do. If you’re going to be a star, you have to at least be average or above-average physically. That skinny kid out of Butler didn’t have the body to be a star. This Captain America hunk right now, maybe he does.”
9:12-9:44: He goes on to explain how Rudy Gobert has used criticism as motivation to fuel his offensive awakening this season: “[Gobert] is kind of motivated by the haters. On Twitter and other social media, if anyone is critical of him, he will favorite that message to give him motivation. The offense has improved with the rest of his game. I think it’s an opportunity for him to show people that he’s better than what they thought he was, almost [dropping to] the second round of the NBA draft, or being overlooked or traded by the team that drafted him, which was Denver. He wants to prove people wrong.”
10:40-11:23: But it’s not just Gobert who has improved his scoring. Quin Snyder’s offensive system is finally on display: “The thing is that he’s working hand-in-hand with what the front office wants… What they wanted Quin to do was rebuild Utah’s defense. The first two, if not the first three, training camps were all focused on that so obviously the offense was lagging behind. But the bill of goods we were sold was that Quin Snyder, who worked under Coach K [Mike Krzyzewski] and [Gregg] Popovich and Larry Brown and Ettore Messina and [Mike] Budenholzer and all these other guys, he’s supposed to be an offensive genius… It seems like they finally have some players who can run his offense, and we’re finally seeing it catch up to the defense.”
17:32-17:56: Amar assesses where Utah’s team-building process stands early in 2016-17: “Utah hasn’t really done that type of drastic move yet [trading away potential for veterans]. They’re trying to do two different things at the same time and the results remain to be seen. To be win-now, that means you’re giving up a lottery pick. That’s exactly what Utah did this offseason; they gave up the 12th pick to get George Hill. That’s a clear indication that they think they definitely need to win now.”
19:10–19:55: Consider our guest a huge fan of newly acquired George Hill’s fit with the Jazz: “He’s a hand-in-glove fit with what both the GM and the head coach want. He’s a 3-and-D point guard who allows the wing players to handle the ball and initiate things, and that’s kind of their offense with Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood. Hill has exceeded my expectations. He’s shooting fantastically well… The big difference is that this is a guy who has been in the playoffs, he knows what it takes and he knows when to pick his spots… He’s averaging 20 points per game so far and that’s because he knows what this team needs from him.”
25:18-25:38: However, Amar is more wary of the challenges of integrating their other new veterans, Boris Diaw and Joe Johnson: “What [Boris Diaw] is doing right now is kind of what Joe Johnson is doing: he doesn’t want to rock the boat. He wants to see what the team is before he puts some influence on it. He’s passing up a ton of shots. It’s going to be tough for [Diaw] to adjust; it’s going to be harder for Joe Johnson to adjust though because Diaw is already at that point in his NBA career where he is a bench role player.”
29:07-29:29: All in all, he loves that the Jazz are embracing the modern NBA and enjoying success while doing so: “The untold story has to be that this is a completely different Utah Jazz team. This is one that’s taking 3’s, they’re making 3’s, they’re not posting anybody up, they’re not doing pick-and-rolls. This is not the Utah Jazz that I watched in the ‘80s and ‘90s; this is a modern Utah Jazz team that’s going small. It’s everything us old fans hated, but now we’re rooting for it because we’re winning.”
Music: “We Like to Party” by Kevin MacLeod
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