Every week during the regular season begins here at SCH with the Salt City Seven, a septet of recurring features that let us relive the biggest moments, key performances and hot issues in Jazzland from various angles. Check in every week for the quotes, stats, plays and performances that tell the stories from the last 168 hours in the world of the Jazz.
The Jazz's skid is up to eight straight losses now, and more injuries are compounding the mess. Lauri Markkanen reinjured his right wrist on Friday evening in Dallas, and Keyonte George suffered a nasty ankle turn on Sunday. If those two join Jaren Jackson Jr. (MCL sprain) on the inactive list, the Jazz will be faced with the task of snapping this losing streak without their three best players — to say nothing of the fact that their best veteran role player, Jusuf Nurkic, hasn't played at all this season.
When we diagnose what's not working for the 1-9 Jazz, it's pretty clear that the problems mostly lie on the offensive side of the ball. The Jazz have put together some pretty heady opponent-specific game plans, and the defense has been sound even in the seven games since Jackson and Markkanen got hurt. In that seven-game stretch, Utah has held opponents to average-ish offensive efficiency six times. Only the Spurs (in the away game) really broke Utah's defense, managing 121.6 points per 100, outside of garbage time and heaves. In the rest of their recent games, they have held opponents to between 108.3 and 116.2. League average this year is 113.3, per Cleaning the Glass.
The Jazz simply cannot score enough for their good defense to matter.
Their own offensive efficiency since the All-Stars got hurt is 98.7. If that held — and it almost certainly won't — it would be the lowest offensive rating in a decade.
"We're struggling to get over the hump right now," Will Hardy said after his team fell again in Minnesota. "We're in a tough moment right now with a lot of injuries, but I think the team is continuing to fight."
The defensive performance proves the coach right on that last point: you don't hold good offensive teams like the Spurs, Blazers and Wolves to middling efficiency without a ton of effort and alignment. But how can Utah right the ship offensively, especially if stars like Markkanen, George and Jackson are banged up?
The offense is also making the defensive task harder, as opponents are starting 17.2% with a transition play because of Utah's misses and turnovers. We've already covered turnovers in a recent Salt City Seven, but it's worth mentioning as a way Utah could get more out of their offense. Right now they're not even getting a shot up on more than a sixth of their possessions.
Whenever Markkanen is back, the Jazz could certainly try to deploy him as a paint breaker. In his best Jazz seasons, part of his effectiveness came from being able to punish overplays by assaulting the rim, but this year he's had just 12 rim attempts (and made just six). Shots inside three feet of the basket account for just 10.6% of his current diet, the lowest figure in his career by far. The Jazz are doing a great job springing him free for open threes, but we're just not seeing him attack the rim nearly as much as we're accustomed to.
That might sound like a criticism of Markkanen himself, but this might just be another example of how Utah's young playmakers need to advance in the maturity of their reads. Markkanen is really good at slipping out of picks, sealing smaller defenders, cutting back door when a guy tries to "top-lock" his cuts, etc. A lot of times, he's still doing those things to create an advantage and the Jazz guards just aren't even looking at him:
There's also a team-wide shooting malaise that is so bad as to almost defy explanation. Even historically good shooters can't find the bottom of the net right now. The team is shooting 31.2% on wide open threes. Last year, that number was 37.3%, with objectively less overall talent.
George isn't immune, having seen a huge drop in 3-point percentage (30.5% for the season) and an even sharper drop in his efficiency in scant opportunities around the rim (63.2%, down from 75.3% a year ago). A lot of this is because the Jazz are having to generate more offense via on-ball actions because of the absence of a big who can do some playmaking from the nail and elbows, something Nurkic did a lot of last year.
One solution would be to put someone else with height at the nail so they can go back to running more of their off-ball cutting action. Jaxson Hayes and Mo Bamba aren't really that type of playmaking big, but I have wondered if one way to counter pressure would be to have Markkanen flash there and then let someone like the 6'9" Ace Bailey fly around the screens they usually set for Lauri. Or, heck, maybe give Bailey himself a few reps at being the connecting piece. It might not be as potent as the real deal; part of the benefit of having your center operate that way is that it lifts the defensive big and creates room for cutters and rim attackers.
The other idea — and this might be a necessity if Markkanen and George are going to miss any amount of time — is to just let rookie Darryn Peterson run more of the show.
The Jazz did this in Sunday's game and Peterson turned in his best NBA game yet: 26 points, 4 assists. For the season, he's in the 62nd percentile for points generated on possessions he ends as the pick-and-roll ball handler, 70th when he uses the play as an iso scorer. (For context, George is in the 64th and 58th percentile, respectively; the struggling Isaiah Collier is in the 36th and 24th.)
But let's be clear: there will be some growing pains if they simply hand the offense over to a 19-year-old. As talented as Peterson is, Utah's offense was still just a 102.6 on Sunday in his minutes. For the season, it's 100 exactly in minutes that Peterson is on the floor with no George or Collier.
Still, there's an argument to be made that giving the teenager some reps now could pay off in the long run.
There's rotational stuff, but Hardy's choices on that front are a bit limited. Fans get antsy any time they look out there and see all-bench lineups, but with three and now potentially four starters injured, it's just going to be a reality that Utah's going to have to improvise, lineup-wise.
One way or another, Utah needs to climb out of their offensive doldrums before the hole their in gets too deep.
"Will’s our guy. Austin (Ainge) is our guy. We’re not changing anything... We have incredible people. These are championship pedigree people. They know what it looks like. We’re going through it (together)."
- Franchise owner Ryan Smith, signaling to KSL Sports his support for the Jazz's coach and president of basketball operations
In a Friday radio appearance, Smith didn't hide from the fact that this has been a disappointing start for the Jazz. He made it clear that fan frustration is "warranted" after a 1-9 start[fn]The Jazz were actually 1-7 at the time of the interview.[/fn]. But Utah's failure to launch doesn't mean that Smith is about to shake up the basketball leadership. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody who has heard the way Smith and others talk about Hardy.
When opening the press conference celebrating George's contract extension, Smith talked about the fifth-year coach's "special gift" for reaching and leading players, including the role it played in helping George develop into a core piece. Ainge has lauded Hardy's smarts and creativity. Warriors coach Steve Kerr called Hardy a "star" and "one of the brightest coaches in the league."
Nobody's exempt from criticism when a team starts out 1-9, but Hardy isn't going anywhere, the Jazz owner says.
That doesn't mean they're happy with the start, he explained. But they knew that the heavy minutes going to 22-and-under players would make it harder to project how the early season might go — and that was before a rash of injuries.
"From a fan standpoint, I get it," Smith continued in the same interview. "We all get it. But there's only one way to to get through it, which is to go through it."
26-9
In the first Jazz-Spurs matchup, Utah did a much better job of making San Antonio work for their offense. In this one, though, the Spurs ran an absolute track meet, outscoring the Jazz by 17 in fast break points.
23.4%
The Jazz made just 11 of 47 outside shots against the Pelicans on Wednesday, making it their worst perimeter shooting performance of the season so far. In regulation they actually shot 19.5% from deep.
-16
The Mavericks' 21 offensive rebounds against the Jazz are tied for fifth most in an NBA game this season, and their 21-5 advantage on second-chance points accounts for the entire 12-point final margin and then some.
5-for-37
Ace Bailey is in some kind of shooting slump: just 5 of his last 37 over his last six and a half games. He's way too talented for this funk to last forever. Last year he was a 34.4% shooter.
8
That's how many teenagers have posted a 26-6-4 game in one of their first 10 NBA contests Paolo Banchero did it three times in his first 10 outings. The other seven are: Kevin Durant, Lonzo Ball, Luka Doncic, Zion Williamson, Victor Wembanyama, Darius Acuff and now Peterson, who logged those numbers on Sunday.
Seems only right that we highlight another scoring play from Peterson's career night.
This play starts with a guard-guard screen designed to get LaMelo Ball switched onto the ball handler. The Jazz consistently hunted Ball, and that takes Jaden McDaniels — and All-Defensive wing — off of George. As a result, George quickly angles in front of Ball without needing another screen, which is where the advantage starts.
But then Peterson makes a really smart read. His guy essentially pre-rotates, staying in to help Ball contain George's drive before DP has even completed his cut to the corner. That means there's a spot behind that help that nobody's guarding. So instead of finishing his scripted cut (which would have forced Green to lift), Peterson makes a really smart, unscripted decision. He just darts to that empty spot.
Being able to riff like that off of what the defense gives you is pretty precocious stuff. Even if he misses here, Joan Berenger had to fly at him, leaving Bamba unbothered for a potential tip-in. Doesn't matter this time, though, because the rookie's soft touch gets the ball to roll in.
Welp, here we are with another week of no Game Balls. Here are the top performers from each game during Utah's 0-4 week.
Strong in defeat:
- Jazz 97, Spurs 119: Lauri Markkanen. Markkanen was the only player who had it going in Texas: 22-8-3, 65% true shooting and no turnovers. No other Jazz player with more than Josh Okogie's 18 minutes had more than a point per shooting possession, so this is a fairly easy one.
- Jazz 113, Pelicans 120: Keyonte George. George had a chance to avoid overtime completely, but his tiebreaking attempt came a fraction of a second too late. Then he sank two bombs to start OT, but sadly those were the Jazz's last points until a meaningless bucket with two seconds left. Still, George's case is ironclad here: 39 points, 9 assists, 4 steals and a bunch of late-game heroics. Markkanen's double-double (21 and 10) was a distant runner-up.
- Jazz 100, Mavs 112: Lauri Markkanen. Peterson's career-high 21 (and five assists) were probably more newsworthy, but this was another game where the whole opponent game plan revolved around Lauri. As such, the Jazz ball handlers had a hard time getting him the ball going to the hoop, but the Finn calmly sank eight threes for all of his 24 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
- Jazz 100, Wolves 115: Darryn Peterson. Hardy called this DP's "best game as a pro," and it's hard to argue: 26-6-4 counting stats, but beyond the numerical impact, the Jazz more than ever before just oriented themselves around the rookie's creation abilities. That was especially true after George turned an ankle, but even before then, Peterson had the ball in his hands a ton, and largely did good things with it. George's 19-5-8 night was interrupted by that ankle tweak, and Hayes' 18 points on 6-for-6 shooting really helped.
It's another 4-games-in-6-nights stretch coming up for Utah.
Tuesday 11/10 vs. Heat: MIami has its own mini-crisis brewing, starting 0-4 after acquiring megastar Giannis Antetokoumpo during the summer. They're 2-2 on their current swing through the West, but needed overtime to get past the struggling Clippers, and then had to sweat a clutch affair in Sacramento on Sunday. In all they've won four of six, but that undersells the amount of worry around Biscayne Bay. Giannis still looks otherworldly (28-13-5 averages), but he and fellow All-Star Bam Adebayo are still figuring out their chemistry: -6.3 per 100 when the two play together, The Heat allow the most opponent threes per game this season, and the highest opponent effective field goal percentage.
Wednesday 11/11 vs. Magic: Similar story out of Orlando this season: once again their offensive has underwhelmed (4th worst), and once again they have key injuries getting in the way of evaluating their young core. Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs are both out long term, which has put more pressure on Franz Wagner. Consequently, the German wing is turning in his worst true shooting season by far. The Magic have lost four straight, and like the Jazz will be on the second half of a back-to-back on Wednesday, although theirs involves the dreaded west-to-east travel (from Sacramento).
Friday 11/13 @ Rockets (NBA Cup): It turns out having a point guard matters, because getting Fred VanVleet back from injury suddenly made Houston's talented roster congeal in a very real way. Kevin Durant is slowing down only slightly in his age-38 season (21-6-3 per game), and fellow All-Star Alperen Sengun (22-9-8) is still a do-it-all hub. But the Rockets are also getting a career-best performance from Jabari Smith Jr., who's canning almost 48% of this threes. Stylistically, Houston plays slow, takes the fifth fewest threes per game, and defends well without fouling.
Sunday 11/15 vs. Spurs: Already the third Spurs-Jazz contest of the young season, and also the last. The Jazz are probably glad to be wrapping up their season series with Victor Wembanyama and crew, who have now won eight in a row. Wemby is among early MVP favorites with his 29 nightly points, 12 rebounds and league-leading 4 blocks. The Spurs have started every game with their 4-guards-and-Wemby lineup, which is (and no, this is not a typo) +29.1 per 100 possessions. Teams just cannot score against that group. Their big offseason acquisition, Tobias Harris, hasn't even played yet and already the Spurs are looking fairly invincible.
Visiting Minnesota, with their three former Jazzmen, always makes me think about the current NBA players who still have Jazz teammtes in Utah. Actually, Tony Bradley's return to the franchise increases the number of guys with an active tie to the current roster:
