10 games in: How the Jazz stack up in Quin Snyder's metrics


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SALT LAKE CITY — In the hallway leading to the Jazz locker rooms at the Zions Bank Basketball Center, the team's practice facility, there hang two whiteboards. The whiteboards, reading JAZZ OFFENSE and JAZZ DEFENSE respectively, tell the team where they rank in terms of statistical categories important to Quin Snyder, and therefore, the team.

On offense, the whiteboard keeps track of three stats:

  • eFG percentage
  • "Pass Rate"
  • team turnover percentage
On defense, four stats are kept:

  • defensive rating
  • transition defense per 100 possessions
  • opposing eFG percentage
  • contest percentage
Then, each of these stats are tracked in 10 game chunks, so the Jazz can see their progress or regression during the season.

Now that 10 games have passed, using Snyder's method, let's see how the team is stacking up in these seven categories.

eFG percentage: 22nd

eFG percentage stands for effective Field Goal percentage. Basically, it's the same as regular field goal percentage, with 3-point shots given 1.5 times credit compared to 2-point shots.

That the Jazz are ranked 22nd with a 47.4 eFG percentage isn't much of a surprise, given the lack of quality jump-shooting talent on the roster. But what has been a bit surprising is the Jazz's poor performance inside: they're currently shooting just 52.6 percent from within five feet of the basket, good for only 27th in the NBA. With Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors shooting a lot of those shots down low, that percentage should get higher as the season progresses.

Pass Rate: 6th

There are a number of different ways to evaluate how well a team is passing the ball. One of the simplest is counting the number of passes per game. The Jazz average 324.9 passes per game, which is good for sixth in the NBA.

However, the Jazz aren't doing a good job of turning those passes into scoring opportunities. They currently have the second-fewest assists in the league, and no Jazzman is averaging more than three assists per game. The best passer on the team is probably Raul Neto, but he's averaging so few minutes that he's not having much impact on the team's overall numbers.

Team turnover percentage: 9th

After ranking 26th in turnover percentage last year, ninth (committing a turnover on 14.7 percent of possessions) is a major improvement for the Jazz, who made holding onto the ball a major focus during the preseason. Their ability to avoid turnovers has been the biggest reason the offense has been about average so far. That improvement, I estimate, is saving them about three points per game, when considering offensive opportunities gained and transition opportunities saved.

Defensive rating: 6th

The Jazz's 96.6 points allowed per 100 possessions ranks sixth in the NBA. That figure is a big improvement over their total last year (102.1 DRtg), but a slight decline from their post Enes Kanter trade DRtg of 94.8.

That being said, studies have shown that NBA offenses usually improve over the course of the season. That was one thing that made Utah's end-of-season defense so impressive last year, and it will be interesting to see if Utah's defensive impact can climb near the end of the season once again.

Transition opportunities allowed: 18th; transition D effectiveness: 19th

Quin Snyder's big defensive focus last season was preventing transition opportunities with good defense, but so far, the Jazz have not been very good at that. They rank 18th in the league, allowing teams to get out in transition on 13.1 percent of all possessions. And when teams get out in transition, the Jazz are only 19th in the league at stopping them.

That hasn't pleased Snyder, who seems to call timeout every time he feels his team doesn't run back in transition like they should. I'm not sure if Snyder calls these timeouts to yell at his team or to give them a breather, but regardless, it's been a focus of his timeout strategy so far.

Opposing eFG percentage: 9th

The Jazz are doing a pretty good job of contesting shots by their opponents, ranking ninth in the league, allowing an opponent 47.2 eFG percentage, but maybe not as good as Snyder wants. The Jazz are the best defensive team in the league within 10 feet of the basket, which makes a lot of sense given the twin towers of Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, but have done a poor job defending corner threes.

One thing that's worth watching is the personnel used. If the Jazz play more of the Triple Wing lineup, one would expect the Jazz's height and length to bother more teams on the perimeter.

Contest percentage: 11th

One benefit of the NBA's SportVu cameras, cameras that track the X and Y position values of every player on the court 25 times per second, is that we can now track how far away the nearest defender is when shots are taken. In other words, we can determine whether a shot was contested.

The Jazz currently contest (defined as getting a defender within 4 feet of the shot) 57.2 percent of opponent shots, that ranks 11th. For contested shots, the Jazz are allowing the lowest percentage in the league at 41.3 percent, likely because of their length. That's a good sign for the Jazz's defense moving forward, now they just need to find a way to get closer on a higher percentage of shots if they want to be truly elite.

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Andy Larsen

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