Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 126-122 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Salt Lake Tribune beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Disappointing Defense Painting
The Spurs had the second-worst offense in the NBA, but still scored 126 points, including 74 in the paint. How did it happen?
Frankly, the Jazz looked extremely beatable on the defensive end. Whether it’s the Christmas break, the delay in the start of the game, or just the fact that they don’t have a lot of good defenders, the Jazz probably would have lost this game against any NBA team with this performance. defensive tonight.
I looked at each basket – you can also at NBA.com, by the way – and I was very disappointed with the defense of two players: Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. The Jazz gave a defensive rating of 150 when those two players were on the field; Compare that to the Jazz’s 96 defensive rating when Walker Kessler was in the game.
These two plays in the first quarter show some of the danger of not knowing where Doug McDermott is – the Beasley game. Sometimes he can just pop out of a screen, and if you’re not ready to react to his movement, that’s a wide open look for an excellent shooter. Likewise, he can also cut you off if you don’t look.
Now, maybe you can critique the game plan above, because Beasley would likely be more attached if the Jazz kept McDermott’s face, like some teams do. But whatever the game plan, Beasley can do better here.
Keldon Johnson is Spurs’ top-performing offensive threat, which means Vanderbilt got the job and the former Minnesota player is almost too active. This play is a good example: he gets too high on Johnson, which means Johnson can just blow past him – Vanderbilt makes his own worse by fouling him on the layup as well.
Again, you see why Vanderbilt wants to help here, but in the meantime Johnson can just sneak in.
There’s no doubt about it: NBA players have talent. But I think you just have to be able to stay a little closer to the matchup than the Jazz did tonight, and it cost them a winnable game.
2. Play transition defense as a guard
We all love Jordan Clarkson. But as a transition defender – well, he doesn’t make too much of a difference there.
Makes sense: skinny guards can struggle with the physics of transition defense. There’s a mass coming at full speed towards you: it’s just going to knock you down, which probably means one and one. Clarkson tends to guess a lot, which can lead to silly games like this:
But Nickeil Alexander-Walker is also a 6-4 lean guard, like Clarkson, and he tends to play a pretty good transition defense. Look at this piece for example: absolutely brilliant!
So what is the difference? (First of all, Clarkson has a temporary 2-on-1 to defend, so I don’t think these are totally analogous plays, but we’ll get to that.)
First, look at how engaged Alexander-Walker is throughout the piece: he’s closer to the Johnson engine, which slows him down a bit. He confronts Johnson, forcing him to move. And then how quickly Alexander-Walker backs up and moves his body towards Johnson’s mirror and ends up getting the strip.
Now, I’m not sure you can just show Clarkson the NAW tape and have him learn that skill. But if you’re training young guards, I think the Alexander-Walker flight here was a great example of what to do.
3. Discuss a business report
Athletic’s Shams Charania had a report today about a potential being discussed by the Jazz, Hawks and Suns. Here is the screenshot:
Shams Charania report on 3-team deal discussed (https://twitter.com/TheRally/status/1607511261473816578).
But, as Charania later noted, “I was told the deal failed to gain traction when Utah asked for multiple first-round picks.”
First of all, I want to note that it’s amazing that Jazz CEO Danny Ainge gets the best player in this deal – or at least the player with the highest reputation – And then also asked for several first-round picks. Asking for first-round picks worked for Ainge, though, and given his track record, it’s hard to blame him.
That being said, John Collins is struggling this season. He just fell off the Hawks offense a bit, where he’s generating two less than before, and shooting just 21% from three. The Hawks have disappointed this season to be only around .500. For $26 million over the next three seasons, if he continues to play this way, he will be overpaid.
On the other hand, if he’s playing like he’s capable of, there’s low buy potential here – much the same way there was with Lauri Markkanen. And if you consider a future cap spike, that $26 million might be less exciting at the end of the trade.
The Jazz would send Beasley and Vanderbilt, two players whose contracts expire after next season. Both have been key to the overall mood of the Jazz this season, but both have been defensive question marks. Vanderbilt, in particular, has a defensive reputation way above his actual on-field output at this point, in my opinion. He’s a plus at $4 million a season, but once that contract expires, I’m not sure I want to pay his next one.
You can sort of see Ainge’s math here. Vanderbilt has value in the league around a first-round pick. Beasley is the kind of shooter who has traditionally been sold at trade deadlines for a first-round pick. Collins likely has neutral value at this point. So, yeah, maybe the Jazz should get several firsts in such a deal. On the other hand, that math probably doesn’t fly to the Hawks and Suns, who both view the strengths of Collins and Crowder as positives.
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