Per Team Rankings’ database, the Jazz allow 3-point attempts at the fourth-lowest rate in the NBA (31.7 per game). Those shots fall just 35.3% of the time, which makes Utah a top-6 team when defending the perimeter. There’s obviously bound to be some variance in that area and players like Jordan Clarkson and Bojan Bogdanovic are far from good defenders but for now, what the Jazz are doing is a perfect fit in today’s NBA.
Living and dying by the 3
You’ve heard that phrase time and time again and in 2020-21, the Utah Jazz have breathed new life into it. Among players averaging at least 10 minutes per game, Utah has six whose total shot distribution includes more than half from deep. This season, Royce O’Neale (70.2%), Joe Ingles (67.1%), Georges Niang (66.7%), Clarkson (57.2%), Bogdanovic (55.7%), and Mike Conley (53.5%) own real estate outside the 3-point arc. The team’s scoring leader isn’t far behind.
Tied for seventh in the NBA in 3-point attempts per game, 8.4 of Donovan Mitchell‘s 18.6 shots every night are of that variety. He’s been one of many players to improve their play while the rest of the roster remained mostly unchanged. Mitchell is also one of just a few Jazz men possibly due for regression in the future, which bodes well for the team as a whole.
Is this sustainable?
Of the aforementioned seven Utah Jazz players (not including Gobert, who doesn’t shoot 3s), only Clarkson, O’Neale, and Mitchell are likely to see their percentages fall at some point. Clarkson, a career 34.6% shooter from deep, is converting at a 39.2% rate. He did shoot nearly 37% a season ago, so perhaps that decline won’t be steep at all. O’Neale, who cans his treys at a great 38.6% clip, has shot a scorching 45.2% this season. While that’s fantastic news for the Jazz, it almost surely isn’t sustainable over the course of a full season.
Then, of course, we have Mitchell. After hitting 33.2% and 32.1% of his pull-up 3s over the past two seasons, that figure is up to 34.1% in 2020-21. Also, his catch-and-shoot percentage from deep has become ridiculous. After posting percentages of 40.1 and 43.2 in 2018-19 and 2019-20, Mitchell is now up to a whopping 50.6%. With Conley having improved his play and the rest of the team serving as legitimate threats, it’s possible Mitchell continues to make 3s at a rate similar to what he is now (41.5%).
The Jazz are playing a risky game by relying on so many 3s to fall while preventing them from doing so on the other end, but it’s working. With that said, it’s hard to tell how much longer this level of productivity will last. It could parlay into a deep playoff run fueled by sharpshooters all around the court, or things could go up in flames a la the Houston Rockets in Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference finals. One thing is for sure, though: Utah is dangerous.
