Photo by Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
Advertisement
The Jazz have been without George Hill and Derrick Favors for 12 games apiece, Boris Diaw for nine games, Gordon Hayward for six, Rodney Hood for two, and Dante Exum for one. (Alec Burks hasn't played at all, and it's not entirely clear he's still alive.) Coach Quin Snyder has used 11 different players in the starting lineup at least once and he also has rolled with 11 different five-man combinations to start games, none of which has started more than three games in a row. The only game Utah's preferred starting five—Hill, Hood, Hayward, Favors, and Rudy Gobert—has played together this season was also Hayward's first game of the year. And still, the Jazz are on pace to hang a 50 in the win column.In other words, the breakout season that many (but not all) saw coming until injuries derailed it in 2015 has arrived a year late. Given the way Utah's rotation was lengthened this off-season, it's no surprise the Jazz have been better able to weather injuries. They're getting contributions up and down the roster, from imports and from holdovers.The big acquisition, even though he has played only 11 games, has been Hill, which makes perfect sense. His conceptual fit with Utah was so obvious that I may have somehow wished the three-way trade that landed him there into existence simply by asking for it in March.Read More: Kyrie Irving Isn't a Prototypical Point Guard, and That's What Makes Him Great
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement