Utah Jazz Player of the Week 18: Bad week, but good players

The Utah Jazz had yet ANOTHER 1-2 week. Last week they lost to the Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers, but beat the Boston Celtics. This week? They beat the Houston Rockets 117-114 in OT, but lost to the San Antonio Spurs 96-78 and Brooklyn Nets 98-96. Yes, they lost to the Nets. At home. This is ridiculous. I think a lot of Utah Jazz fans would rather that they don't go 1-2 at home, and lose a game to the freaking Nets. I'm partly to blame, I guess, as I assumed the win would happen. So I'm the reason why we can't have nice things. Or, maybe it's the Jazz' fault for not taking care of business. Since we're playing the blame game we have to start with the players. But -- and this is the important part -- some guys were blameless.

Let's check out who did what this past week:

• Gordon Hayward (37.0 MPG): Gordon did his part even if he wasn't perfect against the Spurs. He did average 22.0 ppg, 4.3 apg, 4.0 rpg, and 1.7 spg. He shot 51.2 FG%, 50.0 3PT%, and 90.0 FT% while knocking down 2 threes a game and getting to the line nearly 7 times a game. Sure, he was -18 in +/-; but this team isn't really there without him. And there, apparently is a shot to go 2-1 at home.
• Rodney Hood (36.5 MPG): Rodney averaged 15.0 ppg, 5.0 apg, 3.3 rpg, and 2.0 spg. He shot only 41.7 FG%, but 41.2 3PT% from deep. For a guy shooting nearly six threes a game this is a cool quirk. He whot 6/10, 4/11, and 5/15 this week. Sadly, his 2/7 from deep against the Nets hurt. He also shot 88.9 FT% from the line, but only got there three times a night. He led the Jazz in +/- with +5 and ALSO had a 3:1 assist to turn over ratio. Consistency isn't there yet, but the results are still good overall.
  
• Derrick Favors (36.3 MPG): Soo-oooh close to a 20 and 10 week for Favors, 19.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg, while shooting 54.6 FG% and 75% from the free throw line. Favors also averaged 1.7 apg, 1.7 spg, and 1.7 over the week. So a 20/10/2/2/2 line is ridiculous. Of course, he tired with Hayward for -18 in +/-.
• Rudy Gobert (32.9 MPG): This wasn't Rudy's best week ever. Match-ups have lowered his minutes and he averaged only 7.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg, and 2.3 bpg. He missed out on having a double double because he shot only 42.1 FG% and 42.9 FT%. He got to the line nearly five times a game, and right now hack-a-Rudy is working for the other team. Also, his 0.13 to 1.00 assist to turn over ratio was the worst of the season for him.
• Shelvin Mack (28.4 MPG): Shelvin started three games and averaged 10.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, and 1.0 spg. Not bad, right? Well, he shot 40.0 FG% and only 14.3 3PT% from deep. That's what he was shooting for the Atlanta Hawks, and that's not good enough for a starting NBA point guard. Or a back-up point guard. His 0.58 to 1.00 assist to turn over ratio was 3rd worst on the team as well.
  
• Trevor Booker (17.8 MPG): Booker continues to be one of our best players off the bench this season. Over the last week he averaged 5.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, and shot 57.1 FG%, 50.0 3PT%, and 0.0 FT%. He hustled a bit and finished with a +1 in +/- over the week.
  
• Trey Burke (15.2 MPG): Trey Burke's minutes are almost all gone, but he still managed to average 6.7 ppg while shooting 44.4 FG%, 37.5 3PT%, and 100.0 FT%. Only five guys made threes this entire week. Hayward went 6/12, Hood 7/17, Burke 3/8, Mack 1/7, and Booker 1/2. In comparison, not that great but not as horrible as it could have been. Burke didn't do much else, but did manage a 1.00 to 1.00 assist to turn over ratio.

Chris Johnson (13.6 mpg) seems to be the 3rd wing on this team right now because Alec Burks is out and Joe INgles (11.3 mpg) is in a down swing right now. That said, Johnson is doing it by playing defense and hustling a bit. He didn't make a three at all this week and shot only 30.8 FG%. Somehow he's getting more minutes than Ingles who also missed all of his threes this week, but is shooting 37.5%. For the record, Ingles had a chance to make a huge three last night but just missed. Raul Neto (11.3 mpg) shot 11.1 FG%, 0.0 3PT%, and 100.0 FT% this week. He didn't get a lot of chances to show what he can do on the court. Trey Lyles (8.4 mpg) shot 50.0 FG% this last week and averaged 3.3 ppg and 1.0 rpg over the week.

The cool thing this week? Booker, Burke, Johnson, Ingles, and Neto all finished the week with individual A:TO ratios of 1 to 1. And Burke, Johnson, Neto, and Lyles all shot 100% from the free throw line. The bench wasn't great this week, but they did the little things.

Dante Exum and Alec Burks missed all the games because of injury. Jeff Withey collected three more DNP-CDs. And Tibor Pleiss was down with the Idaho Flash on and off this week.

Overall, I'm not a huge fan of how things went this week. But a few guys had really nice performances out there. The bottom line is that I really want the team to get healthy.

.

Oh, and hey, this is just a reminder but you all should be playing FanDuel! It’s fun. It’s easy. And it’s a real way to make real money! And after all, you’re smarter than all those other dumb sports fans. Prove it! Sign up at FanDuel today! Still not sold? Okay. Here’s the beginner’s guide that may help you out!