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Utah Jazz Rotations: What ever happened to the " _______" lineup?

Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Do you remember the "Big" lineup of Al Jefferson, Derrick Favors, and Paul Millsap? Do you remember our three guard lineup of Alec Burks, Randy Foye, and Gordon Hayward? Do you remember that those two lineups were amazing?

And lastly, do you remember the last time we used them?

They are unconventional, and honestly you can't use them every quarter of every game. That said for the time being the Jazz do have a pretty significant size advantage over most teams (let them adjust to US for once!), and we're also capable of going hyper-space with three ball handlers. Utah Jazz fans have liked these lineups too because not only do they go out of their way to make up for more conventional deficiencies -- but in some cases they turn the tables on the opposition and give us (gasp) and advantage!

Well, we haven't gone big much this season (only 20 minutes), while we did it a whole lot more last season during our playoff push. We've had much more success this year going small. (That is, you know, if you think playing 6'8 Hayward at SF is "small" -- he's the same height as Millsap)

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Big: Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, and Derrick Favors

Lineup_big

We've only seen two of these "big" lineups in our Top 50 lineups this year, by +/-. They clock in at #19 and #39, and really haven't played much. The total is a little over 20 minutes, but +15 in that time. That really tells me that in the situations we've used it, they've been pretty effective. We did not use it against the Atlanta Hawks when they went big -- and we lost that game. We play them tomorrow, so if Tyrone Corbin doesn't want to be super stubborn, he should bring these guys out early and often.

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Small: Alec Burks, Randy Foye, and Gordon Hayward

Lineup_small

These guys have been amazing this season. Their ranks in the 5-man units are #1 and #24, and their collective rank in 3-man unites are #17. And yeah, they're kicking butt. They're +40 in +/- in 34 minutes in the 5 man units, and +39 in 48 minutes in the 3-man units. They win. And they all compensate for each other as Foye is the off-ball bomber, Hayward can drive and dish, and Burks can drive and do crazy things. Also Hayward and Burks can both hit threes. It's really good on defense because it allows Foye to be hidden on their worst guy, while letting Burks handle the speedy guys, and Hayward the longer, athletic guys.

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Conclusion:

Play these lineups more. What else do we have to lose? Besides more home games? Oh wait, we're doing that already.