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Okay, we're the worst team at scoring in the league. This is a very new low for Utah Jazz fans, we've never had a team THIS bad before, right? Well, let's look at how we got here. This is the MySynergySports.com info year to year for our overall scoring. There are some things here that are easy to understand, like FG%, some other things in the middle like PPP (points per possession), and some things I've added that you don't get on any other site on the internet: like ePPG (estimated Points per game), and ePlyPG (estimated number of plays of a specific type per game). These extra things give us a more robust understanding of how frequently we terminate a play of a specific type, and how many points we usually get from doing it. (N.B. the game values are for regular season and playoff combined, which explains why you see 70 gms instead of 66 for our lockout shortened year, etc)
Anyway, here's the year by year data of our team's offense.
Season | G | Play Type | Number | % Time | PPP | NBA Rank | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | ePPG | ePlyPG | |||
2009 2010 | 92 | Overall | 9721 | 100.0% | 0.97 | 6 | 3590 | 7328 | 49.0% | 505 | 1376 | 36.7% | 102.49 | 105.66 | |||
2010 2011 | 82 | Overall | 8524 | 100.0% | 0.95 | 11 | 3048 | 6549 | 46.5% | 437 | 1262 | 34.6% | 98.75 | 103.95 | |||
2011 2012 | 70 | Overall | 7742 | 100.0% | 0.90 | 19 | 2702 | 6018 | 44.9% | 268 | 911 | 29.4% | 99.54 | 110.60 | |||
2012 2013 | 82 | Overall | 8654 | 100.0% | 0.92 | 14 | 3036 | 6687 | 45.4% | 506 | 1377 | 36.7% | 97.09 | 105.54 | |||
2013 2014 | 13 | Overall | 1402 | 100.0% | 0.82 | 30 | 434 | 1047 | 41.5% | 70 | 238 | 29.4% | 88.43 | 107.85 |
This is a downward trend. Things were a lot smoother under a Jerry Sloan offense run by actual all-stars like Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, and Andrei Kirilenko. Things are sandpaper rough right now under Tyrone Corbin trying to coax blood from a stone like Jamaal Tinsley and Richard Jefferson. Things are not so great, but we need to look a little deeper to figure this out. It's not a simple answer like: the offense is bad right now because the season started with no good point guards and guys are missing open shots, right? (Well, that's probably what the final answer is going to be; but let's get to that answer after a few pie charts at least, ok. Humor me.)
Let's go down memory lane for a bit...
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2009-2010
This Jazz team went to the playoffs, won a round, and was one of the better offensive clubs in the NBA that year. They played 92 games. And for the most part, on offense the things they did the most frequently were things that they were not just good at doing, but among the best in the NBA at doing.
2009-2010 | G = 92 | |||||||||||||||
Play Type | Number | % Time | PPP | NBA Rank | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | ePPG | ePlyPG | ||||
Overall | 9721 | 100.0% | 0.97 | 6 | 3590 | 7328 | 49.0% | 505 | 1376 | 36.7% | 102.49 | 105.66 | ||||
1 | Spot Up | 1901 | 19.6% | 0.99 | 11 | 698 | 1727 | 40.4% | 342 | 871 | 39.3% | 20.46 | 20.66 | |||
2 | Cut | 1351 | 13.9% | 1.29 | 8 | 693 | 1058 | 65.5% | 0 | 0 | 18.94 | 14.68 | ||||
3 | Transition |
1274 | 13.1% | 1.23 | 1 | 567 | 923 | 61.4% | 41 | 128 | 32.0% | 17.03 | 13.85 | |||
4 | Post Up | 914 | 9.4% | 0.86 | 17 | 303 | 651 | 46.5% | 0 | 0 | 8.54 | 9.93 | ||||
5 | Isolation | 893 | 9.2% | 0.79 | 29 | 251 | 672 | 37.4% | 28 | 99 | 28.3% | 7.67 | 9.71 | |||
6 | Off Screen | 883 | 9.1% | 0.86 | 18 | 330 | 785 | 42.0% | 29 | 75 | 38.7% | 8.25 | 9.60 | |||
7 | Other | 736 | 7.6% | 0.37 | 26 | 55 | 137 | 40.1% | 3 | 37 | 8.1% | 2.96 | 8.00 | |||
8 | P&R Ball Handler | 580 | 6.0% | 0.82 | 15 | 169 | 400 | 42.3% | 40 | 97 | 41.2% | 5.17 | 6.30 | |||
9 | Offensive Rebound | 538 | 5.5% | 1.10 | 14 | 248 | 448 | 55.4% | 0 | 3 | 0.0% | 6.43 | 5.85 | |||
10 | P&R Man | 445 | 4.6% | 1.15 | 3 | 201 | 352 | 57.1% | 6 | 16 | 37.5% | 5.56 | 4.84 | |||
11 | Hand Off | 206 | 2.1% | 0.90 | 16 | 75 | 175 | 42.9% | 16 | 50 | 32.0% | 2.02 | 2.24 |
Good times. Some key points, the team nearly made 40% of their spot up threes, cut well, killed it in transition, and for the most part, scored more estimated points per game from their top three offensive sets then the number of attempts of those offensive sets. (greater ePPG than ePlyPG)
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2010-2011
This season was the blow up year where Jerry Sloan resigned, and Tyrone Corbin was left to pick up the pieces. The team traded for Derrick Favors here (and the pieces that would either become or be used to trade for Enes Kanter and Trey Burke). This was also Year 1 of the Al Jefferson reign and domination of our offense. There are some significant changes already to how we did things.
2010-2011 | G = 82 | |||||||||||||||
Play Type | Number | % Time | PPP | NBA Rank | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | ePPG | ePlyPG | ||||
Overall | 8524 | 100.0% | 0.95 | 11 | 3048 | 6549 | 46.5% | 437 | 1262 | 34.6% | 98.75 | 103.95 | ||||
1 | Spot Up | 1534 | 18.0% | 0.96 | 15 | 551 | 1410 | 39.1% | 255 | 706 | 36.1% | 17.96 | 18.71 | |||
2 | Transition |
1150 | 13.5% | 1.18 | 7 | 500 | 835 | 59.9% | 59 | 139 | 42.4% | 16.55 | 14.02 | |||
3 | Cut | 1012 | 11.9% | 1.25 | 8 | 525 | 842 | 62.4% | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 12.34 | ||||
4 | Post Up | 1004 | 11.8% | 0.93 | 3 | 372 | 817 | 45.5% | 0 | 0 | 11.39 | 12.24 | ||||
5 | Off Screen | 834 | 9.8% | 0.85 | 20 | 288 | 740 | 38.9% | 42 | 118 | 35.6% | 8.65 | 10.17 | |||
6 | Isolation | 820 | 9.6% | 0.85 | 12 | 237 | 603 | 39.3% | 29 | 100 | 29.0% | 8.50 | 10.00 | |||
7 | Other | 693 | 8.1% | 0.36 | 30 | 37 | 121 | 30.6% | 5 | 45 | 11.1% | 3.04 | 8.45 | |||
8 | P&R Ball Handler | 530 | 6.2% | 0.79 | 21 | 144 | 381 | 37.8% | 26 | 83 | 31.3% | 5.11 | 6.46 | |||
9 | Offensive Rebound | 500 | 5.9% | 1.08 | 14 | 223 | 416 | 53.6% | 0 | 3 | 0.0% | 6.59 | 6.10 | |||
10 | P&R Man | 289 | 3.4% | 1.03 | 9 | 123 | 241 | 51.0% | 2 | 8 | 25.0% | 3.63 | 3.52 | |||
11 | Hand Off | 158 | 1.9% | 0.80 | 24 | 48 | 143 | 33.6% | 19 | 60 | 31.7% | 1.54 | 1.93 |
The Jazz continued to focus on things they were effective in, though it is curious to see that we were much better at Pick and Rolls to the screen setting than we were at isolations... but used one more than the other. The biggest is how isolation / stopping the ball movement offense really started to pay off, from 29th in NBA rank the year before to 12th. Of course, a little of a bad thing isn't going to kill you . . . but . . .
.
2011-2012
The Jazz returned to the playoffs this year in an amazing season where the team went from 12th in the West to 8th in the span of a few weeks. Of course this completely has to do with the Jazz being great, and not that 4 teams started to tank. Don't believe the hype, as Flava Flav used to say.
2011-2012 | G = 70 | |||||||||||||||
Play Type | Number | % Time | PPP | NBA Rank | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | ePPG | ePlyPG | ||||
Overall | 7742 | 100.0% | 0.90 | 19 | 2702 | 6018 | 44.9% | 268 | 911 | 29.4% | 99.54 | 110.60 | ||||
1 | Spot Up | 1378 | 17.8% | 0.89 | 26 | 460 | 1274 | 36.1% | 212 | 623 | 34.0% | 17.52 | 19.69 | |||
2 | Post Up | 1322 | 17.1% | 0.85 | 13 | 463 | 1076 | 43.0% | 0 | 0 | 16.05 | 18.89 | ||||
3 | Transition |
1182 | 15.3% | 1.10 | 24 | 476 | 838 | 56.8% | 25 | 86 | 29.1% | 18.57 | 16.89 | |||
4 | Cut | 770 | 9.9% | 1.22 | 8 | 384 | 636 | 60.4% | 0 | 0 | 13.42 | 11.00 | ||||
5 | Offensive Rebound | 591 | 7.6% | 1.06 | 15 | 267 | 502 | 53.2% | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 8.95 | 8.44 | |||
6 | Isolation | 561 | 7.2% | 0.73 | 25 | 143 | 424 | 33.7% | 11 | 32 | 34.4% | 5.85 | 8.01 | |||
7 | P&R Ball Handler | 553 | 7.1% | 0.67 | 30 | 147 | 402 | 36.6% | 14 | 57 | 24.6% | 5.29 | 7.90 | |||
8 | Other | 517 | 6.7% | 0.44 | 11 | 40 | 124 | 32.3% | 4 | 36 | 11.1% | 3.25 | 7.39 | |||
9 | Off Screen | 432 | 5.6% | 0.82 | 24 | 152 | 382 | 39.8% | 9 | 35 | 25.7% | 5.06 | 6.17 | |||
10 | P&R Man | 287 | 3.7% | 0.99 | 11 | 118 | 233 | 50.6% | 0 | 4 | 0.0% | 4.06 | 4.10 | |||
11 | Hand Off | 149 | 1.9% | 0.88 | 10 | 52 | 127 | 40.9% | 10 | 36 | 27.8% | 1.87 | 2.13 |
Anyway, here we see post ups rivaling spot ups for the first time ever; almost taking up 20% of our offense. Cuts get marginalized, and drop from being one of our top 3 plays used every year to being used less than 10% of the time. This is the death of off the ball movement, and 1/4th of the offense is either a post up (which is a post iso) or an isolation (which is a face up iso).
Oh, and the team force fed things they were bad at here.
.
2012-2013
This was last year where we had a great group of outside shooters. That made the offense look really good at times. For the most part the offense worked, but once again we see cuts getting a smaller piece of the pie and the Jazz going to things they were not proficient in.
2012-2013 | G = 82 | |||||||||||||||
Play Type | Number | % Time | PPP | NBA Rank | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | ePPG | ePlyPG | ||||
Overall | 8654 | 100.0% | 0.92 | 14 | 3036 | 6687 | 45.4% | 506 | 1377 | 36.7% | 97.09 | 105.54 | ||||
1 | Spot Up | 1694 | 19.6% | 0.94 | 20 | 584 | 1568 | 37.2% | 328 | 872 | 37.6% | 19.42 | 20.66 | |||
2 | Post Up | 1396 | 16.1% | 0.86 | 8 | 471 | 1070 | 44.0% | 0 | 0 | 14.64 | 17.02 | ||||
3 | Transition |
1271 | 14.7% | 1.12 | 17 | 529 | 939 | 56.3% | 71 | 159 | 44.7% | 17.36 | 15.50 | |||
4 | Cut | 785 | 9.1% | 1.26 | 2 | 418 | 661 | 63.2% | 0 | 0 | 12.06 | 9.57 | ||||
5 | P&R Ball Handler | 668 | 7.7% | 0.69 | 29 | 180 | 494 | 36.4% | 28 | 88 | 31.8% | 5.62 | 8.15 | |||
6 | Other | 596 | 6.9% | 0.43 | 13 | 40 | 109 | 36.7% | 4 | 38 | 10.5% | 3.13 | 7.27 | |||
7 | Isolation | 586 | 6.8% | 0.77 | 21 | 177 | 467 | 37.9% | 15 | 49 | 30.6% | 5.50 | 7.15 | |||
8 | Offensive Rebound | 569 | 6.6% | 1.09 | 11 | 258 | 459 | 56.2% | 2 | 3 | 66.7% | 7.56 | 6.94 | |||
9 | Off Screen | 507 | 5.9% | 0.84 | 22 | 170 | 453 | 37.5% | 47 | 117 | 40.2% | 5.19 | 6.18 | |||
10 | P&R Man | 441 | 5.1% | 0.94 | 21 | 166 | 347 | 47.8% | 3 | 11 | 27.3% | 5.06 | 5.38 | |||
11 | Hand Off | 141 | 1.6% | 0.78 | 24 | 43 | 120 | 35.8% | 8 | 40 | 20.0% | 1.34 | 1.72 |
The Jazz had Spot up jumpers be the largest part of the offense when the team scored 0.99 PPP on them, and were #11 ranked in the NBA. This '12-13 club had a lot of shooters, but even so could not equal the performance of that older Jazz club. Also see that Pick and Roll ball handler up there? That #29 rank? Yep. #MOLO
.
2013-2014
Is it tanking when you try to do the things you are worst at, but the most times every game? Or is it 'learning' and development? Or just a bad offensive strategy?
2013-2014 | G = 13 | |||||||||||||||
Play Type | Number | % Time | PPP | NBA Rank | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PTM | 3PTA | 3PT% | ePPG | ePlyPG | ||||
Overall | 1402 | 100.0% | 0.82 | 30 | 434 | 1047 | 41.5% | 70 | 238 | 29.4% | 88.43 | 107.85 | ||||
1 | Spot Up | 304 | 21.7% | 0.82 | 26 | 88 | 273 | 32.2% | 47 | 163 | 28.8% | 19.18 | 23.38 | |||
2 | P&R Ball Handler | 216 | 15.4% | 0.61 | 28 | 55 | 163 | 33.7% | 6 | 18 | 33.3% | 10.14 | 16.62 | |||
3 | Transition |
180 | 12.8% | 0.86 | 30 | 54 | 121 | 44.6% | 3 | 22 | 13.6% | 11.91 | 13.85 | |||
4 | Post Up | 150 | 10.7% | 0.85 | 11 | 49 | 107 | 45.8% | 0 | 0 | 9.81 | 11.54 | ||||
5 | Cut | 120 | 8.6% | 1.08 | 24 | 51 | 96 | 53.1% | 0 | 0 | 9.97 | 9.23 | ||||
6 | Offensive Rebound | 104 | 7.4% | 1.00 | 20 | 43 | 81 | 53.1% | 0 | 1 | 0.0% | 8.00 | 8.00 | |||
7 | Other | 97 | 6.9% | 0.38 | 21 | 6 | 17 | 35.3% | 0 | 5 | 0.0% | 2.84 | 7.46 | |||
8 | P&R Man | 75 | 5.3% | 0.91 | 22 | 29 | 60 | 48.3% | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 5.25 | 5.77 | |||
9 | Isolation | 67 | 4.8% | 0.79 | 19 | 22 | 52 | 42.3% | 1 | 5 | 20.0% | 4.07 | 5.15 | |||
10 | Off Screen | 54 | 3.9% | 0.98 | 7 | 22 | 50 | 44.0% | 4 | 10 | 40.0% | 4.07 | 4.15 | |||
11 | Hand Off | 35 | 2.5% | 1.09 | 4 | 15 | 27 | 55.6% | 8 | 12 | 66.7% | 2.93 | 2.69 |
Also of note, scoring off of cuts is now the #5 most used thing the Jazz do on offense. When we were a Top offense it was #2.
But that's just a numbers , Xs and Os , basketball game.
.
So the team isn't running the right plays. And the plays we rely on are not producing. Never before have spot ups been more than 20% of the offense. I really hope Trey Burke (off the ball) can nail these outside jumpers. More cuts and players moving off screens too, please. Or you know, just bring back the FLEX offense.