If Jazz defense is Top 5 can they overcome lack of offense?

David Locke
Jul 21, 2017 · 1 min read

The question confronting Jazz fans with their newly formed roster is will they be able to score enough. Should the question instead be, can the defense be good enough to carry the Jazz?

Last year, the Jazz were the 3rd best defense in the NBA. The editions of Ricky Rubio, Thabo Sefolosha, Donovan Mitchell and Ekpe Udoh the Jazz have defensive upgrades across the board.

Locked on Jazz listener Jake Semmel looked at the last 15 years the NBA and broke down how top 5 defensive teams fared. Here are the highlights from Jake’s research.

  • Only two teams out of 75 had a winning % less than .500 and both had the 30th ranked offense in the NBA
  • The 12 teams who ranked in the top 3 defensively and had an offense between 15th and 20th all won over 49 games and averaged 53 wins as a group.

This is great work by Jake and it is much appreciated. The question is can the offense be adequate enough to support the great Jazz defense in 2017–18

NOTE — Feel free to send me your research at dlocke09@gmail.com and I will publish those that I think are worthwhile.

LOCKED ON JAZZ

Lead by longtime sports personality David Locke and host of the talk show Locked on Sports. Locke is the radio voice and Utah Jazz. Locked on Sports is the home for the best coverage of Utah Jazz on the web from various sources.

)
David Locke

Written by

David Locke is the radio voice of the Utah Jazz and his podcast Locked on Jazz was named 1 of top 5 Sports Podcasts in 2012 by Stitcher.

LOCKED ON JAZZ

Lead by longtime sports personality David Locke and host of the talk show Locked on Sports. Locke is the radio voice and Utah Jazz. Locked on Sports is the home for the best coverage of Utah Jazz on the web from various sources.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade