Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 118-114 win over the Phoenix Suns from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Changing the finishing lineup
To me, the biggest takeaway of this game: Quin Snyder chose to play new addition Danuel House alongside the rest of the starting five at the end of the game over longtime stalwart Royce O’Neale.
It couldn’t have been more night and day: O’Neale really, really struggled today on the defensive end, getting repeatedly screened, losing contact and control of Suns guard Devin Booker. I understand that Booker is a very good player, very skilled at getting open. But it’s honestly felt like O’Neale has made more of an effort to run into the screens set by the opposition than to avoid them, and that’s been a trend over a long period.
House is clearly better at navigating screens. More on that in point No. 2.
But here’s the question: what would you do moving forward if you were in Snyder’s shoes?
I don’t think it’s necessarily fair that O’Neale loses his spot to House. O’Neale’s established himself on this team through working just absurdly hard and playing a role in their success for years. House has been on the team for, what, two months? But on the other hand, O’Neale hasn’t really had much of an impact defensively, gosh, nearly all season. He had good and bad defensive games in the last two playoffs.
As I see it, O’Neale has more advantages. First, he’s a much better rebounder than House: critical given the average rebounding of Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, and Bojan Bogdanovic. He’s a better 3-point shooter than House, even if I wish O’Neale would take more of them. Finally, he’s a better connector than House is, especially right now. O’Neale makes half-second decisions with the ball always, finds open teammates, and just gets the ball to Conley and Mitchell.
But House has one big advantage and one small advantage. The big one is on the defensive end: House wasn’t exactly considered a stopper before arriving in Utah, but had a generally good defensive reputation — on this team, that means he’s the best perimeter defender out there. The Jazz desperately need perimeter help. And most critically, they need it when the other team has talented guards out there; in other words, at the end of games.
House is also a somewhat better dribbler and driver (though neither are strengths for either player) which means that he can weave his way into somewhat more places from the ball where O’Neale is a little more unsure.
O’Neale’s probably the better player, but House has the element the Jazz need more right now.
Ultimately, I think I change the finishing lineup based on matchups, but against most of the lineups the Jazz will face in the playoffs... I think I choose House. I want House on Jamal Murray, on Devin Booker, on Steph Curry or Klay Thompson. If you start losing the rebounding battle, go ahead, sub in O’Neale.
The key is going to be consistency, which, remember, from Houston reports was up and down. But if House can play this well every night, he needs to be in the lineup.
2. What makes a good screen navigator?
As noted above, Danuel House is excellent at screen navigation. But what makes a good screen navigator? After the game, I asked Quin Snyder that, and he broke it down into multiple facets:
• First, “the ability to get narrow, to get skinny.” Frankly, that makes sense: the best screen users try to minimize the distance between them and the screener when dribbling, but they still don’t want to collide. Excellent screen navigators can squeeze themselves into that gap.
Frankly, House is just a lot skinnier of a human being than O’Neale is. This allows O’Neale to be a better rebounder, which is incredibly useful! But it means that his body is just going to get more hung up on screens than House.
• Second, “there’s a deceptive quality to it... you can give a step or lean like you’re going under, and then get reconnected and go over.” I wouldn’t say House or O’Neale is a deceptive defender in this way, but I’ll start watching for it.
• Third, “In House’s case: even if he’s behind the ball, he’s still in the play because of his length.” Plays like this, in other words:
• Fourth, “Using that back hand. It’s hard to run with your hands up, but you’re playing to get a hand in a play and get a deflection just to create a little bit of uncertainty.” That also can slow the opposition down.
• Fifth, “Pickup points, too. (House) is willing to push up the floor and pick up, which gives him a chance to go under at times.” Essentially if he’s picks up Booker in the backcourt, that might force the screen to be closer to the half-court line than the three-point line, at which case he can go safely under the screen and stay in front of his man.
• And sixth, “And then some of it’s just desire. Sometimes, when you’re coaching, the answer is ‘don’t get screened.’” A classic key bit of life advice: right when you’re about to suck, don’t.
I truly love Snyder in-depth basketball answers. As you watch the Jazz (or their opposition!) defend pick and roll plays moving forward, keep an eye on this.
3. Jordan Clarkson’s secondary skills
Everyone knows that Jordan Clarkson can score. The scoring is going to be up and down depending on whether or not the shots go in, and everyone understands that. The same is true for basically everyone.
What there shouldn’t be huge inconsistency on is the secondary skills: mostly everything else. That’s probably a little bit simplistic, because NBA players are humans and we all just have off days. But good secondary skills can carry a player through a bad shooting night.
Tonight, I thought Clarkson showed both: both the ability to score and the ability to help the team in other ways.
This assist from Clarkson to House was the most frequently mentioned play by the team postgame. Again, we know Clarkson is thinking score-first, but what happens when he finds the extra man there?
”A big step for me was when I had Jae Crowder in iso and kicked it to the corner for three. Those plays, I gotta keep continuing to make,” Clarkson said. “I can do a good job of getting in the paint and getting past my man and making another person commit, but I don’t think I have been willing to make that pass earlier in the year. (It’s) just growth, study, time we’re putting in, the coaching staff bringing it to my attention.”
And then stuff like this: this is a nice read on the “Spain” pick and roll play, cutting Booker off, staying in front, and then sneakily getting the steal when he doesn’t expect it.
”It’s the second half of the season,” Clarkson said. “Lock it down, do what we gotta do. Start playing in playoff mode these last 22 games.”
