Utah Jazz: 5 reasons to be excited for 2019-20 NBA season

4. Utah improved their already elite defense

The Utah Jazz finished second last season in defensive rating (DRtg) with a 106.11 DRtg and finished fourth in points allowed per game with 106.5.

With their new acquisitions, however, it’s possible for the team to become even more suffocating on the defensive end in the 2019-20 season.

The team is anchored by reigning Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-Defensive and Third Team All-NBA center Rudy Gobert. However, the rest of the team is shaping up to be excellent on defense as well.

While Ricky Rubio was no slouch on defense, Mike Conley is slightly less foul prone (1.8 fouls/game vs. 2.6 fouls/game) and turnover prone (1.9 turnovers/game vs. 2.6 turnovers/game), which will allow the Jazz to reduce buckets off free throws and in transition.

Furthermore, Conley is a 12-year veteran with an All-Defensive selection and his history with the Grit-‘n’-Grind Grizzlies will no doubt improve Utah’s team defense. Additionally, Conley’s backcourt counterpart in Mitchell has made it a primary goal of his to improve on defense this season:

In terms of paint defense, the addition of Ed Davis, who averaged 8.6 boards in just 17.9 minutes per game, will allow the Jazz to prevent second chance points when The Stifle Tower takes a breather.

To put Davis’ rebounding in perspective, he pulls down a ridiculous 17.3 rebounds per 36 minutes or 23.0 rebounds /100 possessions, which is second by a small margin to Hassan Whiteside at a fraction of the price.

Besides Utah’s improvements defending guards and centers, look for Joe Ingles and Bojan Bogdanovic to hold things down against opposing forwards.

Bogdanovic stands at 6’8”, 216 pounds, and finished ninth in defensive win shares among starting forwards with 9.7, while Ingles ranked first among the same group with 13.0 defensive win shares.