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SALT LAKE CITY — With roughly three quarters of the NBA season now behind the Utah Jazz and valuable developmental minutes still to come for his young team, Quin Snyder’s debut as an NBA head coach can be described with one word.
Success.
Success hasn’t always been the best description for Snyder’s coaching career. After a promising start as head coach of the Missouri Tigers, including four consecutive runs to the NCAA tournament, Snyder resigned as head coach amid a string of losses, marred by a probationary period for NCAA rule violations. He returned to coaching in 2007 in the NBA’s Development League, reaching the postseason in all three seasons, but failing to win the D-League championship despite coaching more NBA-bound players than any other coach over the same stretch.
Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey felt Snyder was worth a gamble despite his previous head coaching troubles.
Snyder’s tenure with the Jazz got off to a rough start, losing 16 of his first 21 games. Two of the five wins came on miraculous buzzer-beaters, while another was spurred by a mid-game wake-up call from the coach that led some, myself included, wondering if this young roster could handle a new coach’s intense demeanor.
Over the next 21-game stretch, the Jazz nearly doubled their total from the previous quarter season, finishing with a nine-win and twelve-loss record — respectable but unspectacular in the league's landscape.
While Exum's offensive contributions have varied greatly in his new role, the results of the team have not. The Jazz have a record of 12 wins and eight losses since Exum moved into the starting line up, the best 20-game sequence since a 12-win, eight-loss stretch from Jan. 14 through March 1 of 2013.
Then Snyder made a gamble of his own.
Just one game beyond the season’s midway point, the first-year coach called on Dante Exum, the highly touted, but extraordinarily inexperienced 19-year-old Australian rookie, to take over the reigns as the Jazz starting point guard. Despite never playing college basketball, Exum was being asked to take over the role once held by Hall of Famer John Stockton and perennial All-Star Deron Williams.
While Exum’s offensive contributions have varied greatly in his new role, the results of the team have not. The Jazz have a record of 12 wins and eight losses since Exum moved into the starting line up, the best 20-game sequence since a 12-win, eight-loss stretch from Jan. 14 through March 1 of 2013.
Projecting the Jazz record since taking over the starting role across a full 82-game season, and the Jazz would finish with a record of 49 wins and 33 losses. According to ESPN’s Hollinger Playoff Predictions for 2015, the 8th-seeded Western Conference team will require only 43 wins to qualify for the playoffs in the West. The Jazz would clear this playoff hurdle easily if their success were to hold true with Exum in the starting lineup next season.
Exum himself was the result of a previous Dennis Lindsey gamble. The general manager allowed proven veterans Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap to leave the Jazz empty-handed in free agency, clearing room for Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors to gain valuable experience on the floor while racking up losses to better future draft picks.
But rebuilding is not always so simple.
Building a losing team is easy, and obtaining high draft picks can keep a fan base interested for a short period, but eventually results are expected. Seeing the development of Hayward and Favors this year may lead one to believe the decision to rebuild around the young duo was an easy one. But before this recent stretch, the gamble was anything but safe. Neither player had been asked to be primary, or even second scoring options on an NBA team, and both were under age 23.
Not every gamble the Jazz have made has paid off, as the Jazz received seemingly pennies on the dollar for former No. 3 overall pick Enes Kanter, now flourishing in his new role with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Paul Millsap is playing the best basketball of his career as the leading scorer of the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks, while the Charlotte Hornets appear poised for another playoff run under the tutelage of Al Jefferson.
You can’t win every bet in the NBA, though Dennis Lindsey could argue not every move is made with winning intentions.
A trip to the playoffs is the next major step for the Jazz, with eventual home court advantage and a deep-run playoff run required before this most recent incarnation can be placed alongside the great Jazz teams of the past. For now however, Jazz fans should enjoy their recent winnings, both on the floor and as a result of Lindsey’s ambitious gambles. After all, despite their recent success, another trip to the league’s ultimate gamble, the NBA draft lottery is right around the corner.
Ben Anderson is the co-host of Gunther in the Afternoon with Kyle Gunther on 1320 KFAN from 3-7, Monday through Friday. Read Ben's Utah Jazz blog at 1320kfan.com, and follow him on Twitter @BenKFAN.
