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SALT LAKE CITY — Now that Enes Kanter is back, recovered from an ankle sprain after missing four games, Quin Snyder faces a potential sticky situation.
The Jazz coach needs to decide what’s best for the team at center. Specifically, does Kanter immediately or gradually return to the starting lineup or does Rudy Gobert continue to play with the first unit.
Decisions, decisions.
As even the untrained talent evaluator could clearly decipher, Kanter is a vastly superior offensive option but can’t come close to matching the impact Gobert provides on defense. Snyder’s charge is to determine which player meshes better with Derrick Favors and therefore gives the Jazz the best chance to win.
Along with Gordon Hayward, Favors is the centerpiece of the team’s future. Whenever the Jazz return to the playoffs it will be with Favors leading the way. With that in mind, Snyder has to go with the player who complement’s Favors’ talents.
The obvious choice is Gobert.
In the four games without Kanter, in which the Jazz went 2-2 and posted their most impressive road win this season against the Chicago Bulls, Favors averaged 21 points and 10.2 rebounds. His season averages are 16 points and 8.6 rebounds a game.
The numbers don't lie. In order for you to have a chance to win in this league against very good teams, you've got to have Derrick Favors on the court.
–Thurl Bailey
“The numbers don’t lie,” said Jazz broadcaster Thurl Bailey. “In order for you to have a chance to win in this league against very good teams, you’ve got to have Derrick Favors on the court.”
Hovering around 10-15 games below .500 all season, even with a good nucleus of young players, the Jazz are not close to a being a playoff team. But they are far worse without Favors.
For various reasons, Favors has missed three games this season. The Jazz were winless in those games, losing to Denver, Washington and New Orleans. Last season the Jazz went 0-9 without Favors.
Forget what Snyder thinks, the Jazz ought to hear out Favors. If he is more comfortable starting with the 22-year-old from France, as the limited numbers suggest, then bring Kanter off the bench.
With Kanter as the starter, Favors scored at least 20 points in consecutive games only once this season. He went for 27, 20 and 22 points in a three-game span starting alongside Gobert earlier this month.
What’s the dilemma? Apparently, an unwritten rule is to blame.
“If you're hurt you don’t lose your job because you’re hurt,” Snyder said. “If you’re hurt you’re hurt (and) you don’t have a chance to compete.”
Individually, there’s no question that Gobert makes the Jazz better defensively than Kanter. At 7-foot-1 with long arms and great timing, Gobert provides the Jazz with a good blocker close to the quality of Mark Eaton.
In his four games as a starter without Kanter, during which he averaged 33.5 minutes, Gobert blocked an astounding total of 21 shots. But he is extremely raw on offense.
“Of course, you’re going to be lacking offense (with Gobert),” Bailey said. He “is going to get better as an offensive player, but he’s very limited right now,” Bailey said. “But man, he makes up for it protecting the paint.”
Advancing the cause of Gobert does not diminish Kanter’s abilities. The third pick of the 2011 draft has had plenty of encouraging times this season and also is far from a finished NBA product.
As tough as it might be in the short term for Snyder, it’s a great problem for the Jazz to have. The more options the better as management continues the massive overhaul.
“I suspect (Kanter’s) going to get that starting position back, which gives you more offense,” Bailey said. “I’m not sure the tandem of Favors and Kanter works better together than Gobert and Favors, especially defensively. He’s earned more minutes. It’s going to be interesting to see how coach Snyder divvies up those minutes.”
