To elaborate, Favale’s position was that, out of the wings that currently populate Utah’s rotation, only Royce O’Neale is a viable option to guard the NBA’s elite wing players. He made no efforts to deny the overall value of Joe Ingles and Bojan Bogdanovic: he simply claimed that the Utah Jazz were short a wing stopper.
To put his claim to the test, we took the top 3 wing defenders on each of the four teams below the Jazz in last season’s standings, found their Defensive Box Plus/Minus’ (DBPM) from 2020-21, and ranked each alongside the Utah Jazz based on their average DBPM.
Two caveats apply to this exercise. First, the players considered had to play at least 30 games last season, a number somewhat arbitrarily selected to ensure that each player was a mostly regular part of their team’s rotation. Second, “wing” is not an official position: for this exercise, we’re defining a wing as “a player who saw minutes at the Small Forward position in 2020-21”.
With those parameters established, let’s look at the five best regular teams in the NBA last season, and how their top 3 wings stacked up against one another in terms of DBPM.
Utah Jazz</a> short a wing?</p>
<p>To elaborate, Favale’s position was that, out of the wings that currently populate Utah’s rotation, only Royce O’Neale is a viable option to guard the NBA’s elite wing players. He made no efforts to deny the overall value of Joe Ingles and Bojan Bogdanovic: he simply claimed that the Utah Jazz were short a wing stopper.</p>
<p>To put his claim to the test, we took the top 3 wing defenders on each of the four teams below the Jazz in last season’s standings, found their Defensive Box Plus/Minus’ (DBPM) from 2020-21, and ranked each alongside the Utah Jazz based on their average DBPM.</p>
<p>Two caveats apply to this exercise. First, the players considered had to play at least 30 games last season, a number somewhat arbitrarily selected to ensure that each player was a mostly regular part of their team’s rotation. Second, “wing” is not an official position: for this exercise, we’re defining a wing as “a player who saw minutes at the Small Forward position in 2020-21”.</p>
<p>With those parameters established, let’s look at the five best regular teams in the NBA last season, and how their top 3 wings stacked up against one another in terms of DBPM.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #00265D" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://thejnotes.com/2021/09/03/analyst-utah-jazz-one-wing-short/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> 5. Brooklyn Nets </a>
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prominently features a 2x Defensive Player of the Year in Rudy Gobert</a>, all of Brooklyn’s highest paid players are primarily about a bucket. In fact, these two teams are about as close to a direct apples-to-orange comparison as you’ll find among the NBA’s contenders. With that said, apples and oranges are both fruits, and we intend to compare them anyway.</p>
<p>The Brookyn Nets’ best wing defender by DBPM last season was Kevin Durant with a score of 0.6. That alone is an inherent problem: the most capable perimeter defender on this roster is also, arguably, their most effective offensive player. This uneven distribution of labor stands in direct contrast to the Utah Jazz’s roster makeup. Coach Snyder’s best perimeter defender last season was Royce O’Neale, with a DBPM of 1.7.</p>
<p>Let’s just say O’Neale isn’t what most would call an offensive hub.</p>
<p>The Nets don’t have a competent defense because they’d rather double-down on the offensive side. That’s perfectly fair, and with good health, they’re widely regarded as overwhelming favorites to win the 2021-22 NBA championship. Just don’t expect them to do it by grinding it out on the less glamorous end of the floor.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #00265D" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://thejnotes.com/2021/09/03/analyst-utah-jazz-one-wing-short/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> 4. Denver Nuggets </a>
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<span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> Ranking Donovan Mitchell among NBA's top shooting guards </a> </div>
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<p>Identifying a single flaw in the Utah Jazz is a difficult exercise. They are one of the NBA’s deepest and most well-rounded teams. Their biggest obstacle to contention may, in fact, be the absence of a top 5 player. Nonetheless, when compared and contrasted with the NBA’s other top squads from last season, it seems apparent that the Jazz are sitting comfortably as far as defensive wing depth is concerned.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">