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Utah Jazz Lineups: Which players appear to play well with one another?

By AllThatAmar
Maddie Meyer

In our lives as Utah Jazz fans, cheering an 0-8 team playing without their Rookie of the Year candidate Trey Burke, this early season has been rough. We fans (if not the front office or coaching staff) believe this season is supposed to be one of Development and Discovery. Right? RIGHT? Because it's not about wins, so it has to be about something.

And that thing has to be learning about our team. Some five man lineups are actually better than the sum of their parts. And the data from the first 8 games is, well, odd. Let's take a look:

Stats per 100 possessions:

Lineup Points Scored Rebounds Passing
1 2 3 4 5 Min Own Opp +/- OREB DREB TRB AST TOV A:TO STL BLK
1 John Lucas III Alec Burks Gordon Hayward Derrick Favors Enes Kanter 56.0 82.3 132.5 -50.2 22.1 30.1 52.2 18.1 16.1 1.12 2.0 4.0
2 John Lucas III Ian Clark Alec Burks Mike Harris Rudy Gobert 54.6 104.8 62.2 42.6 19.7 42.6 62.3 16.4 13.1 1.25 13.1 3.3
3 Jamaal Tinsley Gordon Hayward Richard Jefferson Derrick Favors Enes Kanter 53.7 90.8 127.1 -36.3 10.7 28.9 39.6 21.5 14.9 1.44 5.8 3.3
4 Alec Burks Ian Clark Gordon Hayward Mike Harris Enes Kanter 50.3 97.7 51.4 46.3 20.6 36.0 56.6 10.3 15.4 0.67 10.3 0.0
5 John Lucas III Alec Burks Gordon Hayward Derrick Favors Rudy Gobert 50.2 71.1 106.6 -35.5 6.5 29.1 35.5 9.7 29.1 0.33 6.5 6.5
6 John Lucas III Gordon Hayward Richard Jefferson Derrick Favors Enes Kanter 48.0 95.2 104.1 -8.9 14.5 37.1 51.6 21.0 19.4 1.08 3.2 5.6
7 Alec Burks Gordon Hayward Richard Jefferson Derrick Favors Enes Kanter 40.4 101.7 87.8 13.9 37.0 9.2 46.2 9.2 9.2 1.00 18.5 0.0

And now just the shooting info:

Lineup Points Scored
1 2 3 4 5 Min Own Opp +/- FGM FGA % 3PTM 3PTA % FTM FTA %
1 John Lucas III Alec Burks Gordon Hayward Derrick Favors Enes Kanter 56.0 82.3 132.5 -50.2 30.1 88.4 34.0% 4.0 26.1 15.3% 18 40 45.0%
2 John Lucas III Ian Clark Alec Burks Michael Harris Rudy Gobert 54.6 104.8 62.2 42.6 42.6 95.0 44.8% 9.8 22.9 42.8% 9.8 26 37.4%
3 Jamaal Tinsley Gordon Hayward Richard Jefferson Derrick Favors Enes Kanter 53.7 90.8 127.1 -36.3 35.5 85.0 41.8% 1.7 20.6 8.3% 18 25 73.4%
4 Alec Burks Ian Clark Gordon Hayward Michael Harris Enes Kanter 50.3 97.7 51.4 46.3 46.3 102.9 45.0% 0.0 20.6 0.0% 5.1 5.1 100.0%
5 John Lucas III Alec Burks Gordon Hayward Derrick Favors Rudy Gobert 50.2 71.1 106.6 -35.5 22.6 64.6 35.0% 3.2 16.1 19.9% 23 29 77.7%
6 John Lucas III Gordon Hayward Richard Jefferson Derrick Favors Enes Kanter 48.0 95.2 104.1 -8.9 38.7 88.8 43.6% 8.1 20.2 40.1% 9.7 15 66.9%
7 Alec Burks Gordon Hayward Richard Jefferson Derrick Favors Enes Kanter 40.4 101.7 87.8 13.9 41.6 115.5 36.0% 4.6 18.5 24.9% 14 28 50.2%

According to NBA.com these are our best lineups. Why are there only 7 of them? I don't know. I don't control the NBA. I supposed because I got this from a list of NBA teams, these are the 5-man unites that qualified for a specific time. I have them listed by most minutes played. I don't know how accurate these minute values are, but these are the stats PER 100 POSSESSIONS.

Soooooo, yeah. Our team has not been getting it done on offense at all. Our best lineup has to have been playing mostly in garbage time (Lineup #2: Lucas, Clark, Burks, Harris, Gobert). Our Best defensive lineup (Lineup #4: Burks, Clark, Hayward, Harris, Kanter) is even more confusing.

I really don't want to delve too deeply into these lineups, but our starting lineup hasn't been that good. I can only assume things HAVE to get better with Diante Garrett, er, I mean Trey Burke in the lineup. As a fan you have to assume that these guys are lesser than the sum of their parts for a specific reason. They're probably really worried about the fiscal cliff or something.

Ultimately the question for this team going forward is going to have to be "Is Gordon Hayward a 2 or a 3?" Or, you know, "Can mad scientists make Alec Burks 2 inches taller so he can play the 3?"

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