5-Step Plan for the Utah Jazz to Return to the Playoffs Next Season
One of these days, maybe in the distant future, members of the 2014-15 Utah Jazz may get together and write the textbook on NBA rebuilds.
In just two seasons, this organization went from cleaning house to having a realistic shot at the playoffs in 2016. And they may not need to add a single big-name free agent.
The growth of the young core over the last two months of the season has been remarkable. Now, what's already there will be supplemented with another lottery pick, a Euroleague star and months of offseason development.
It's more than reasonable to expect improvement from a number of players on their first or second contracts. Dante Exum, Rodney Hood, Rudy Gobert and others have already shown strides this season.
Carrying that through to 2015-16 could lead to another 10-win jump—something Utah has already done with this group between '13-14 (25-57) and '14-15 (36-42)—and a shot at the postseason.
Nail the Draft
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It's too early for a final verdict on them, but Utah's last two top-10 picks haven't produced much on the court for the Jazz.
| Trey Burke | 145 | .375 | .325 | 2.8 | 5.0 | 12.9 |
| Dante Exum | 78 | .349 | .319 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 4.8 |
But that doesn't mean the Jazz whiffed in 2013 and 2014. As Bleacher Report's Ethan Norof put it on Twitter, the "Jazz have done impressive job of nailing back-end picks and changing course of rebuild as result. Gobert one. Hood next."
Utah chose Rudy Gobert and Rodney Hood in the 20s, and they are now in the starting lineup. Adding one more contributor in the 2015 draft will help the Jazz compete for a playoff spot.
Utah figures to select somewhere around the 10-12 range, where a stretch 4 like Frank Kaminsky may be available. The Naismith Player of the Year shot 41.6 percent from three-point range. That ability to space the floor would provide a nice contrast to the no-spacing frontcourt of Gobert and Derrick Favors.
Add a Third Big
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Favors and Gobert constitute one of the best starting frontcourts in the league, but Utah has little depth inside after dealing Enes Kanter at the deadline.
Trevor Booker has been solid, but he's just 6'8" and simply can't stretch the floor the way Kaminsky has the potential to.
Salt City Hoops' Dakota Schmidt talked about the fit for Kaminsky in Utah:
"Regarding Kaminsky being an absolutely perfect fit with the Jazz, he could immediately become that stretch 4 that the team lost when they dealt Enes Kanter. Inside Snyder’s motion-heavy offensive system, Kaminsky could get a lot of open looks, as the opposing defense would be too focused on Derrick Favors or Gordon Hayward.
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Another option for some depth behind Gobert and Favors is FC Barcelona's Ante Tomic, whose NBA rights are owned by the Jazz. SLC Dunk's AllThatAmar wrote about the possibility of bringing Tomic over:
"Tomic is a legit bigman. He doesn't shoot too frequently (Minutes per shot is above 3!), but he scores at a very high rate near the basket, especially on offensive rebound / tip-ins / second chance points. He also dishes the ball and isn't sloppy with it. This season you could argue that his blocks are down, but hey, his team is still winning a lot of games.
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Tomic won't be able to spread the floor like Kaminsky or some options in the trade or free-agent market, but his ability to pass out of the post could get shooters like Hood and Gordon Hayward more shots from the outside.
Continue Creative Offseason Programs
3 of 5The Jazz is the youngest team in the NBA, with a starting lineup that's generally been younger than that of another Utah team, the BYU Cougars.
With all that youth, offseason development is absolutely critical, and the front office appears to know that.
Each summer, Jazz players spend some time at P3 (seen above), where they receive tailored workouts and training from fitness experts and doctors. AllThatAmar explains:
"P3, or the Peak Performance Project, is a training company that knows what they are doing. They have a dedicated staff of training experts (not just people who have athletic experience, but also a hard science background) led by Dr. Marcus Elliott, a Harvard trained physician. I can really go into a lot of boring details about their approach and philosophy but I will not. They measure everything and use past research (yes, they also do research - they're not just a gym you go to where someone yells at you to jump over rectangles) to better plan and customize workouts for individual players, by what sport they play, and by what goals and gains they wish to reach.
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Utah has also gotten creative with former players helping out the current roster during the offseason. Karl Malone has spent time with the big men, and John Stockton has tutored Burke and Alec Burks.
Jazz president Randy Rigby talked about the time the young guards spent with Stockton on The Big Show with Spence Checketts and Gordon Monson, per Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal:
"We've been really happy with the commitment of John to go and really support us in helping these young players not only on the floor, teaching them some tricks of the trade, but also more the philosophy and what it means, the opportunity to be playing for the Utah Jazz and playing in the NBA, and some things that they can do mentally as well as physically to become a better basketball player.
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As Utah continues to mix new and old methods of development, this young roster will continue to grow into a legitimate playoff contender in the loaded Western Conference.
Pick Up the Pace
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When the Jazz hired Quin Snyder, he promised "playing with a pass, playing with pace and playing with purpose," according to ESPN.com's Andy Larsen.
Playing with a pass and playing with purpose are coming along just fine. As for pace, well, it's plodding at best. Utah's pace of 92.5 possessions per 48 minutes ranks dead last in the NBA, per ESPN.com.
Clint Peterson of Purple and Blues shared a few reasons why the Jazz haven't been able to pick up the pace:
"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...
Maybe the biggest factor in the Jazz’s pace woes is turnovers. The Utah Jazz are dead last in turnovers forced (tied with the Chicago Bulls) at only 11.9 per game. When you force a turnover you create another possession prematurely, in a way artificially inflating the amount of possessions in a game by playing defense.
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As Exum develops, the inability to penetrate opposing defenses early in the clock will be less of a problem. And as for the turnovers, Utah has a strong defensive framework in place. As that becomes second nature for the young players, they'll be more confident in taking risks and forcing turnovers.
Dominate Defensively
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As the Salt Lake Tribune's Kurt Kragthorpe put it, "Defense gives Utah Jazz an identity."
It happened almost overnight and as the result of one transaction. As they often say in sports, it was addition by subtraction when the team traded Kanter.
Prior to that trade, the Jazz had a defensive rating of 106.1, which was 27th in the league. Since the trade, they're giving up just 93.5 points per 100 possessions, good for first. And it's not close. In that span, the second-place Warriors have a defensive rating of 99.
Utah is already among the very best in the league on that end of the floor and needs to carry the momentum over into next season.
Complacency is the enemy now. Defensive aces like Gobert, Favors and Exum can't be satisfied with just a couple of months of defensive dominance.
To make the playoffs, the Jazz will need it for a full season.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats and salary figures are courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com, and are current through games played on April 9, 2015.
Andy Bailey covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him @AndrewDBailey.
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