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According to the data at mySynergySports.com the Jazz are the #23rd best team in the league on transition plays, but still manage to control the boards enough to get out and run 15.3% of the time. Without any All-Stars, and filled with youth the Jazz should try to run more when they have the chance. Being almost worst at finishing these plays is bad though. The Jazz used to run the best fast break in the league with John Stockton making the right play, and guys like Karl Malone and Bryon Russell filling the wings, while Jeff Hornacek trailed. Even in the Deron / Brewer / AK / Memo days the Jazz were potent on the run. This Jazz team can't get it right though. Let's take a look at transition plays:
| Transition | |||||
| Bigs | # of plays | % of plays | PPP | Rank | FG% |
| Al Jefferson | 26 | 2.6% | 1.08 | 160 | 52.4% |
| Paul Millsap | 102 | 11.2% | 1.18 | 113 | 59.7% |
| Derrick Favors | 36 | 6.8% | 1.25 | 74 | 81.8% |
| Enes Kanter | 20 | 6.7% | 1.00 | NA | 50.0% |
| Jeremy Evans | 5 | 12.5% | 1.40 | NA | 75.0% |
| Wings | |||||
| Raja Bell | 47 | 22.7% | 1.43 | 9 | 65.1% |
| Josh Howard | 66 | 14.8% | 1.02 | 191 | 58.8% |
| C.J. Miles | 133 | 23.3% | 1.11 | 146 | 53.1% |
| Gordon Hayward | 145 | 22.5% | 1.28 | 56 | 64.2% |
| Alec Burks | 91 | 24.3% | 1.14 | 129 | 58.3% |
| DeMarre Carroll | 12 | 32.4% | 0.83 | NA | 40.0% |
| Point Guards | |||||
| Devin Harris | 177 | 30.7% | 1.05 | 175 | 52.1% |
| Earl Watson | 50 | 19.4% | 0.52 | 251 | 27.3% |
| Jamaal Tinsley | 9 | 7.0% | 0.67 | NA | 6.0% |
The good news is that our best guys at this are Raja Bell (#9), Gordon Hayward (#56), and Derrick Favors (#74). The bad news is that outside of Gordon (who has to do it all himself with a coast to coast), other guys are the guys who are taking these shots in transition -- and they are 'constantly doing dumb sh*t'. Look at Josh Howard, things look good with that 58.8 fg%, except this doesn't tell the whole story -- he has a 19+% turn over rate in transition -- which is why his PPP is so low. It effectively makes Howard, a former All-Star, just barely better in transition than Enes Kanter. I can't even make that up. That's just how the facts are.
I like the idea of Freight Train Favors running hard. He needs to do this to get easy buckets. Hayward is already great at finishing around the basket with his length and hang-time. Also up there are Paul Millsap (he seems to do everything well) at #113 best in the NBA, and Alec Burks #129 best in the NBA.
I can't expect a guy like Big Al to finish a lot of these plays. Similarly, our point guards should be the ones passing the ball to finishers (Devin Harris is in attack mode though). We need easy buckets. Nothing is easier than a 3 on 2 break if everyone knows what they are doing and are on the same page. These are buckets we should be getting. More Favors/Burks/Hayward -- less everyone else please.