The Utah Jazz have a plan to score without Gordon Hayward

Wrote about the Jazz, already doing things a bit differently without their former star. An excerpt:

One thing they’re already doing to goose what is sure to be a comparatively strained half-court attack (they’re throwing 20 more passes per game this year than they did a year ago, per SportVU data on NBA.com, and it’s not just because they feel like it) is making a greater effort to get into the offense earlier in the shot clock. Every team comes into the season saying they want to push the ball up the floor more often and get into their sets quicker, but at least through the early part of the season, the Jazz have noticeably followed through on that desire.

The average Utah possession following a defensive rebound lasted 14.1 seconds last season, the second-highest average in the league, per Inpredictable. They were able to wring 1.08 points per possession (eighth-best in the NBA) out of those plays through sheer talent and a diligent devotion to Quin Snyder’s system, but without Hayward, that number was sure to drop if they kept up the same pace. So this year, they’re pushing. The average Utah possession after a defensive rebound has lasted only 11.9 seconds so far, and the Jazz have accordingly been able to push up to 1.10 points per possession on those plays. They’re still slow as molasses after made baskets, but that’s their game. They’re never going to be a run-and-gun outfit, but targeted transition attacks and a concerted effort to simply get into the flow of the half-court offense sooner can, over the course of a full season, be the difference between a below-average offense and an above-average one.

Read the full story at The Step Back.