Checklist for Utah Jazz During Season's Home Stretch

The 2014-15 season is winding down. And because they're in the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz are already out of the playoff picture. 

So the young team's goals for the last quarter of the season should be made with an eye toward 2015-16. What can this core learn and improve on now that will help them take another leap?

Dante Exum has a laundry list of things to figure out. Rudy Gobert still needs work on the offensive end. Trey Burke has to find some way to be consistent at this level.

All that won't be solved in the next two months, but coach Quin Snyder can continue to steer things in the right direction. As he does, the items on this list can eventually be checked off.

Light a Fire Under Dante Exum

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A lot of the excitement that surrounded Exum in the summer of 2014 has subsided, as his play on the floor has been underwhelming.

Actually, underwhelming might be generous. In the course of NBA history, only nine players have qualified for the minutes leaderboard and played more than 20 per game while averaging fewer than five points and three assists.

Exum and his teammate Joe Ingles are two of the nine.

The young point guard's troubles may be more mental than physical, though. He's shown flashes of his athletic ability over the course of the season, but he's passed up countless opportunities to use his length and quickness to attack the paint.

He often catches the ball with a defender isolated on the wing or in the corner, but instead of driving, quickly passes it out or launches a three. That passiveness has led to one of the lowest usage rates among rookies who are averaging 20 minutes this season:

			Per Game		Shooting
Rk	Player	Age	AST	PTS	FG%	3P%	USG%
1	Andrew Wiggins	19	1.9	15.6	.438	.347	21.7
2	Jabari Parker	19	1.7	12.3	.490	.250	20.8
3	Langston Galloway	23	3.0	11.8	.384	.338	19.9
4	Zach LaVine	19	3.1	7.5	.413	.282	19.9
5	K.J. McDaniels	21	1.3	8.8	.396	.291	19.4
6	Elfrid Payton	20	5.8	7.9	.420	.190	18.1
7	Bojan Bogdanovic	25	0.8	7.8	.415	.309	16.4
8	Nerlens Noel	20	1.6	8.5	.444		15.9
9	Elijah Millsap	27	1.2	5.8	.333	.367	15.8
10	Shabazz Napier	23	2.6	5.2	.382	.368	15.7
11	Marcus Smart	20	3.5	7.4	.373	.337	15.2
12	Dante Exum	19	2.3	4.7	.356	.313	13.8
13	Joe Ingles	27	2.5	4.2	.401	.319	11.4

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/26/2015.

So how do you spark the confidence in Exum that inspires him to attack?

Snyder recently talked to Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune about the subject: "It's just a process for him," the coach said. "But as far as losing confidence, I don't lose confidence in him."

That sort of endorsement from the boss is a step in the right direction. Getting similar encouragement from teammates on the floor, in practice and in film sessions is important too.

That doesn't mean everyone around him has to be a cheerleader, though. Sometimes, Exum may need a teammate to yell at him for not attacking a driving lane.

Develop Rudy Gobert's Offense

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Gobert is already a dominant force on the boards and on defense, but he has a ways to go on offense.

In today's NBA, you don't really need a ball-dominant post player, but it helps to at least have someone who can hit a 10- to 15-foot jumper.

Derrick Favors provides that for Utah now, but further positional ambiguity and the ability to flip Favors and Gobert in high-low sets would be a real luxury.

Both are willing passers and could provide some highlights reminiscent of those that come from the interior passing of guys like Tim Duncan, Tiago Splitter and Boris Diaw in San Antonio.

The good news is that Gobert is already further along in that regard than many expected him to be in his second year. Grantland's Zach Lowe wrote about it at the beginning of February:

"

And in an unexpected twist, he has become a clever passer. Gobert had seven assists — seven! —  in 434 minutes last season; he already has 56 in 1,134 minutes this season. Gobert isn’t Magic Johnson, but he has shown that he can read the floor on the pick-and-roll:

That slick drop-off pass has become a regular thing, and it is huge for Gobert’s potential long-armed partnership with Derrick Favors.

"

In addition to his ability to finish putbacks and alley-oops, his continued development as a passer and the extension of his range out to 10 feet will make Gobert a viable option on offense.

Hundreds of shots a day should be a critical part of his regimen over the rest of this season and on into the offseason.

Improve Free-Throw Shooting

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Following Utah's disappointing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, Salt City Hoops' Ben Dowsett tweeted, "This will be the 9th game in 10 tries the Jazz have failed to break 70% from the free-throw line. Becoming a real concern."

On the season, Utah's free-throw percentage of 73 ranks 27th in the NBA. Their percentage in the clutch (when a game is within five points in the last five minutes) of 74.3 ranks 24th.

Improving at the line is something tangible that the Jazz can tackle right now. But it's ultimately a personal responsibility that falls on the players.

The bulk of practice time is spent on more complex things like running the offense or going through defensive rotations. Individual players have to be willing to spend extra time in the gym putting up tons of free throws.

Start Playing with Pace

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When Snyder first arrived in Salt Lake City, he explained a new philosophy that he would bring to the Jazz, via ESPN's Andy Larsen, which included "playing with a pass, playing with pace, and playing with purpose."

Now, over two-thirds into the season, Utah's pace (measured as possessions per 48 minutes) of 92.84 ranks 29th in the league.

Purple and Blues' Clint Peterson dove into the issue:

"

It’s not so much that the Jazz aren’t trying to play with pace as that they simply often cannot find a way to penetrate the opposing defense effectively to get a high percentage shot off. The later in the shot clock it gets, the lower the Utah Jazz’s field goal percentage also gets.

"

Some of that will be solved next season by the return of Alec Burks from the season-ending shoulder surgery he underwent on December 31, but this is also tied to Exum. If he can discover the confidence to attack from the point, Utah could get a lot of open looks off the first or second action of the possession.

Figure out Who Needs to Be Closing Games

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Utah's lack of experience is most obvious in the clutch (again, last five minutes of a game in which the teams are within five points). 

According to NBA.com, Utah scores 98.3 points per 100 possessions (offensive rating) in the clutch. They allow 108.2 points per 100 possessions (defensive rating) in the clutch. That makes for a net rating of minus-9.9.

Overall, their offensive rating is 102.8, their defensive rating is 105.2 and their net rating is minus-2.4.

For Utah to take the next step, they need to close that gap. And that starts with finding the right group to close the game.

The top five players in clutch minutes played are Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Trey Burke, Alec Burks and Rudy Gobert. With Burks out of the equation due to season-ending shoulder surgery, the next guy in line is Trevor Booker.

Hayward and Favors, Utah's two best players, makes sense. After that, it might be worth tinkering with. Perhaps the current starting backcourt of Exum and Ingles deserves a shot. Or maybe even defensive specialist Elijah Millsap.

The drawback with all three of those options is a potential drop-off in offense, but returning to the dynamic of the staring lineup could help.

When Hayward plays with Exum, Ingles, Favors and Gobert, he almost takes on a James Harden-like role, where he runs the offense from the wing. Exum and Ingles are less of a threat to shoot than Burke, but playing them means more opportunities for Hayward.

You want your best player to have the ball in crunch time, and for a team already doomed to miss the playoffs, looking for ways to make that happen is fine. The rest of this season is about development and learning. Experimentation can help.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats and salary figures are courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com and are current as of Feb. 26, 2015.

Andy Bailey covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him @AndrewDBailey.