The Utah Jazz have been up and down this season, but one aspect of the team’s game has remained strong throughout the year: rebounding.
The Utah Jazz are currently sitting with a 18-20 record, 12th in the Western Conference. The season has not gone as expected for a team that made it to the Western Conference semifinals last postseason, but they’re 5-5 in their last 10 games and just 3.0 games back of the (current) 8-seed, the San Antonio Spurs.
The team has looked to be a shell of its 2017 self, but recently fans have been able to see flashes of what they saw last season. Like any other team in the NBA, this Utah Jazz squad has its weaknesses, but one seems to be glaring 38 games into the season: rebounding.
The team’s 34.7 defensive rebounds per contest ranks 15th in the league and their 44.2 total rebounds per games ranks 21st.
Those rankings are not bad considering the Jazz’s lack of rebounding… on paper.
Having four members out of the starting five be in your team’s top-five rebounders would normally be a good thing, but when the drop-off is as steep as the price of a ticket to a game at Madison Square Garden, that’s worrying.
Utah’s leading rebounder is Rudy Gobert, who averages 12.4 boards per game. Derrick Favors does an admirable job manning the 4-spot, averaging 7.1 rebounds per game. The next leading rebounder on the team is Jae Crowder, at 4.7 rebounds per game; rounded out by Joe Ingles (3.8) and Ricky Rubio (3.7). That’s what’s on paper.
This is a prime example of how stats are misleading.
Despite the difference between the first and fifth-leading rebounder for the Jazz being nearly nine boards per game, the Jazz are tied for first in fewest offensive rebounds allowed per game (8.8) and ninth in opponent defensive rebounds per game (33.7). That averages out to the second-best mark in the league (42.5). For a team that’s had the hardest schedule in the league to date (according to Basketball-Reference’s strength of schedule metric), that’s not bad at all.
Another thing that most fans forget about is that rebounding is a huge part of defense. It creates less opportunities for opponent free throws, leads shrinking, momentum shifting, etc.
The Jazz have been consistent on that front as well.
At home, the Jazz are averaging 45.1 total rebounds and 10.0 offensive rebounds per game. On the road, they’re averaging 45.1 total rebounds and 10.0 offensive rebounds per game. Opponents are averaging 43.4 total rebounds and 9.4 offensive rebounds per game against them on the road, and those numbers drop to 41.3 and 8.1 at home, respectively.
The numbers show the Jazz out-rebounding their opponent, so despite their low league-wide rankings in rebounds per game, their slower pace is likely the big reason why.
As already mentioned, rebounding is a huge part of defense, but it’s only a part of it. The Jazz’s rebounding ability has contributed to their current ranking of sixth in defensive rating (105.5).
Utah ranking 21st in points per game, 21st in offensive rating, 26th in free throw percentage and 23rd in 3-point percentage is not great and a topic for another day. For now though, Jazz fans can take solace in a firm foundation in one of the game’s fundamentals — and one they should hold onto as they continue to search for the mojo they had last season.