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SALT LAKE CITY — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 88-84 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.
1. Jazz face tough matchup in Portland
The Jazz are now 0-2 against the Portland Trail Blazers in the preseason after finishing 1-3 in last year's regular season, they also finished 0-2 against them last preseason, so overall, they're 1-7 against Portland in the last 13 months.
The Jazz seem to really struggle with how Portland plays, though I think they're making strides. Portland's best asset is their tremendous backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, both great shooters and playmakers despite their small stature. Every team has a problem with them, but the Jazz seem to help too much against the Blazers overall, which then also leaves their corner shooters open. It worked tonight for about the first 18 minutes of tonight's game, when the Blazers shot 1-10 from beyond the arc. For the last 30 minutes, though, the Blazers shot 9-17 from deep, got the lead, then held on for the win. Portland is a good team with the sixth best offense in the league last season, so this may just have to be an unsolvable problem.
But the Blazers have also done a pretty consistently good job of short-circuiting the Jazz's offense. This is where I thought the Jazz showed promise tonight, despite only scoring 84 points. Typically, the Blazers help off of Rudy Gobert: when he has the ball on the elbow, they leave him alone, and when he doesn't have the ball, his man (usually Mason Plumlee) comes over to stop drive and cut off Jazz actions.
Tonight, though, with the first possession of the game, Gobert received the ball at the elbow and immediately drove to the basket, finishing with a nice (and easy!) layup. Then, as Plumlee helped off of Gobert repeatedly in the first quarter, Gobert did a great job of waiting patiently, then timing his cuts to the basket correctly to get easy dunks. I think there's a real possibility that Gobert leads the league in dunks this season with actions just like that.
Rudy with the jam and knocks down the free throw. pic.twitter.com/xa7KYvn1ih — Brittany (@BJohnsonABC4) October 20, 2016
Once the Blazers stopped helping, the Jazz's offense really slowed. That makes some sense, as without Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, and a still-not-quite-right Rodney Hood, the Jazz's offense just didn't have the skill to beat a defense one-on-one. When those players recover, the Jazz should be much better off.
The Jazz's dilemma against the Blazers is important, because there's a real possibility these teams fight for home-court playoff positions for years to come. Both are strong, young teams, and many sites are predicting this matchup as this season's 4 vs. 5 seed playoff battle. We'll see if the Jazz can solve the puzzle by then.
2. Rodney Hood's return
Rodney Hood returned to action Wednesday, playing 20:48 in starting the game for the Jazz. Hood initially struggled to find his way in the game, missing his first five shots, all short on the rim. After that, he made two of his next 3 to finish 2-8.
But Hood said it was less about his hand hurting his shot than simply the process of returning. "It's more mental, I was just thinking about it too much," Hood said. "Once I get back in the gym and get reps up and get timing back, I think I'll be fine."
The Jazz will need Hood to be at 100 percent by next Tuesday, with Gordon Hayward out and Alec Burks uncertain to play (I'd bet against it, personally, though that's entirely a guess based on Burks limited action in practice so far).
Last year, without Hayward on the floor, Hood used 26.5 percent of Jazz possessions, the second highest percentage on the team besides the departed Trey Burke. With Hayward out there, though, Hood used 20 percent of Jazz possessions, exactly average.
But Hood was also about 14 percent less efficient (by points per possession) without Hayward on the floor last year, which makes sense, given the focus teams put towards the Jazz's star wing. In the time the Jazz play without Hayward in October and the beginning of November, they'll need efficient and high-scoring performances from Hood.
3. Cuts need to be made
Before next Monday, the Jazz will need to pare their currently 17-man roster down to 15 players. Two cuts will need to be made, and it's not necessarily an easy decision.
The cut candidates are Raul Neto, Chris Johnson, Jeff Withey, and Henry Sims. Shelvin Mack has clearly made his way onto the roster, as head coach Quin Snyder trusts him in a number of different roles. And Joel Bolomboy has his contract guaranteed for this year and partially for next as well, so while the Jazz could cut him, it would impact their 2017-18 roster cap sheet as well. Are they willing to do that? I doubt it.
That leaves the aforementioned four. Neto is the youngest of the four, so probably has the most upside. But he just finished a preseason where he shot 28 percent from the floor, and had nine turnovers compared to three assists. The Jazz already have three point guards, do they need a fourth? On the other hand, the other three PGs can all credibly play the two, so maybe a role for Neto can be found.
Jeff Withey and Henry Sims are both centers who have NBA track records. Withey's contract is fully non-guaranteed, and was pretty good for the Jazz in limited minutes last season. Sims has started 61 career games, though mostly for the 76ers, and has a mostly non-guaranteed contract. Sims shoots but misses 3-point shots, but is a better passer than Withey. Withey's a better rim protector by a lot. They're about the same age. I'd keep Withey pretty easily.
Then there's Chris Johnson. Johnson has had a really solid preseason, actually, bringing his typical crazy energy but adding in some decent offense inside. He plays at a real position of need for the Jazz, with Hayward and Burks out due to injury. He's the oldest of the four, though, and his production (and lack of outside shooting) doesn't really work against regular season NBA lineups.
I suspect the Jazz keep Neto and Withey, and cut Sims and Johnson. Both of the latter will get looks from NBA teams if cut, though I suspect Sims will probably find his way to the Salt Lake City Stars.
"Everything we've seen from (the back of the bench) has been very good, and we have guys who are NBA players," Snyder said. "That makes it harder. For those players, they've been able to show they belong in this league."