SALT LAKE CITY — If Quin Snyder's first preseason was about the "three P's", passing, pace, and purpose, it's probably fair to call his third preseason about the "two C's": continuity and connectivity.

Essentially, the Jazz have learned from the Golden State Warriors and especially the San Antonio Spurs that what creates a successful team is teamwork that works on both ends of the floor. And from Dennis Lindsey's personnel decisions to Snyder's coaching to individual players, the Jazz are trying to implement it.

Let's start with the minutes. The Jazz have the second-highest percentage of minutes returning of any team in the NBA:

That's a good start to continuity, obviously, though Snyder says that the stats aren't very reflective of the harsh reality of last season. "Last year, you look at how we went through the season, there was no continuity because of guys being injured and coming back and sitting out. We still haven't really overcome that."

Snyder listed all of the reasons why the Jazz have less continuity than the stats show. "Dante's coming back from his ACL, Alec Burks hasn't been able to go full contact yet, Fav was hurt at the end of last year and we're still trying to get him completely healthy, Rudy played the whole summer with France, so part of him is reconditioning himself for an NBA season. And then obviously Boris and Joe and George. So even though there's more experience, there isn't a ton of continuity yet."

And it's showing on the floor. While the Jazz's record of 1-1 in the preseason isn't bad, and is essentially meaningless anyway, Snyder says the number one thing he's most encouraged by this preseason is the fact that "we're not very good." Wait, what?

That's where the connectivity part comes in. That the Jazz still have so much more potential, so much more room to grow in working together on both ends of the floor excites Snyder.

"It's like in football where you have a quarterback and a wide receiver, and they kind of have that sixth sense, throw the ball here and he's there. We don't really have that yet," Snyder says.

The Jazz don't expect to have that sixth sense by the beginning of the regular season, and they know that it will take pressure and adversity, maybe even some unexpected losses, for the team to truly come together. But the team has been willing to self-evaluate, diagnose and move forward.

"We have a lot of 'Oh, my fault.' We've got guys arguing over who's fault it is. That's a good thing, the way that these guys are willing to own that, is potential for improvement."

Rudy's offense

Rudy Gobert was great in Wednesday's preseason game, picking up 21 points in 28 minutes on the floor, including 13 from the free-throw line. That was a little bit surprising, considering his 56 percent shooting from the charity stripe last year. In that game's Triple Team, I did the math on how unlikely that was, and that it's actually a very good mathematical sign that Gobert has legitimately improved his free-throw shooting.

I asked Gobert if his free-throw shooting had gotten better. "I just made 25 in a row again today, so I'm feeling good," Gobert said. "Just shooting with confidence. My percentage is going to go way up this year."

So what's changed? "I was confident last year, but maybe not as confident as I thought I was. I wouldn't say nervous, but I was worried about missing," Gobert said. "Now, it's just a free throw. I know I'm a good shooter, and I just have to make them."

That confidence in his shot is also carrying over to live game action, where Gobert took a pull-up jumper in Wednesday's game. That shot went incredibly poorly ("It's not in my repertoire yet, the pull-up. That was a bad idea. I almost broke the backboard," Gobert said), but he says he will take catch-and-shoot opportunities this year if he's left open inside.

"If I get the ball, and I'm inside the 3-point line, and I don't need to dribble, I can shoot it. If I need to dribble, it's better that I do a hand off, and the guy coming off of it is going to be open."

Gobert's hands haven't been great in either of the first two games, leading to missed opportunities or turnovers under the hoop. Gobert is frustrated by those chances too, but says that it's mostly about learning how and when new-ish players like Exum and Diaw will deliver him the ball. Sure, Gobert's played with both players before, but he pointed out that Diaw's in a new system. Exum's also a different player than in his rookie season.

"It's important for us to find a chemistry. We use preseason for that," Gobert said. "It's great they're looking for me, and I'm just going to keep getting better."

Dante Exum's self-evaluation

The media had the chance to ask Dante Exum about how he thought he performed during his first two games back on an NBA court.

"Really good, I think. Obviously, the first game was a bit shaky, being the first game back, but I made a lot of adjustments going into the next game."

It's true. Exum looked significantly more aggressive Wednesday against Portland, and it made him wildly more effective. He attacked the paint and made the right decision once he was there most of the time, something that he struggled with as a rookie and in game one.

Exum's changed his strategy about being aggressive. Before, he said, he would wait until he got into the paint to react to the defense. But by the time he'd read the defense, it had shifted. Now, though, he says he's "making that decision before I get in there, and then if I don't have that, then change it up."

Exum and Snyder credit film work with Lamar Skeeter on his improved decision making, though it's still a work in progress. "When I do watch (film), I get that right decision," Exum says. It's about "learning where the big is and how to adjust from there."

Defensively, he's still making an impact on the game, and Snyder says that so long as he's "working his tail off" defensively, he'll get minutes to learn on the offensive end. I challenged him a little bit in the media session, asking if he or new point guard George Hill was the better defender. What I got was a diplomatic, though really informative answer.

"I think we both have our positives and negatives when we're on the defensive end. He does other things well, where he knows how to get into the big on the roll or (make) a switch. He knows how to get into the big and he's really strong with his hands."

Exum's strengths? "I think being able to stay on the defender the first step and just being able to body them. I've been able to use a bit more of my strength lately, and you saw that when I was playing against Devin Booker, and then just being able to carry that high hand," he says.

That's one reason why the Jazz coaches and executives are so high on Exum: he's just so smart for a 21-year-old. He's very cerebral in how he understands the game, and so the Jazz are confident that he's going to use his natural athletic strengths to impact basketball games in a meaningful way.

Joe Johnson's role

Joe Johnson seems like he's struggling to find his role in the offense, and he's been taking and missing some isolation, mid-range jumpers. Some of that is how Johnson naturally plays, but usually, more of them go in.

Johnson's 35 years old, of course, so it may just be some preseason game apathy: he knows how to pick his spots. And we heard from Johnson earlier that preseason and training camp was the hardest time of the year for him. Snyder, for what it's worth, doesn't seem concerned. "He's the last guy that I worry about with his game. I just know how much he cares and what a competitor he is."

Snyder said Johnson arrived for practice at 8:30 a.m. even though practice began at 10:30. "He's the same guy with a lot of depth of character. The other stuff is what our team needs more and more, that quiet leadership.

Injury report

Gordon Hayward dislocated his finger in Friday's practice. More information about that injury can be found in this story on KSL.com.

Dante Exum was held out of the second half of Wednesday's game but fully participated in Friday's practice. It sounds like he'll be fine to play Monday barring any setbacks. Rodney Hood sat out all of Wednesday's game, but also participated in practice.

Derrick Favors, though, sat out with his left knee soreness.What you've got to remember about Fav is that it's been a process this summer to him getting ready for a season. And now you start running, and there's just more pounding, and you just want to be sure he's adjusting for that process in a way that's best for him and us over a period of time," Snyder said. "I would imagine we'll continue to be observant and sensitive to how he's doing."

Alec Burks is still not participating in full-contact drills. His return timeline has not yet been revealed, though obviously becomes more critical with Hayward's injury.

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