The Utah Jazz entered the year once again expected to be on the outside looking in. Only three teams had lower over-under predictions, and there was uncertainty around a roster that was normally dominated by Lauri Markkanen trade rumors. For the most part, Will Hardy has sought to shut out the noise coming from the outside. There has been a determined belief that the roster is capable of winning consistently even while they’re re-tooling and looking to add young players.
I watch an unholy amount of film; I’m what you might call a Sicko. So believe me when I say I’m not being hyperbolic. The 2023-24 Utah Jazz offensive process is one of the best I’ve seen from a basketball team. This is a roster with some talent, but I believe Hardy’s coaching is milking every ounce of that talent from the roster which is not always the case in basketball.
I normally judge offenses in four ways. I don’t have a weighted formula but these are the things I look at:
- Creativity of plays and their fit with the personnel
- Spacing concepts and cutting
- Execution of counters when first option is taken away
- Speed of action
An offense normally won’t tick all four of these in my mind. Sometimes this is because teams are simply loaded with talent and may not need to extend extra labour into their offensive process. Other times, we have to remember that practice only happens for a finite amount of time and coaching is hard. With this Jazz team, I firmly believe they tick all four of the things I look for regularly.
The pace stat is mostly useless to me; it’s just an indicator of how much a team runs. Speed of action is much more important and that’s not something that is tracked by any of the statistical services I have subscriptions for. It’s something I try and gauge from watching as much of a team’s half-court offense as possible. The Utah Jazz excel at all of this.
Statistically, you might not be blown away. This is an offense ranking 17th in offensive efficiency and 23rd in half-court efficiency. But the process is excellent and the Jazz are running some modern concepts and arguably setting some metas for how modern basketball offenses will work. It’s an ideal environment for developing players, so it’s no shock many are having the best spells of their careers in Utah.
Since December 7th, when Will Hardy called a Jazz performance, and I quote, ‘ A Masterpiece of Dog Shit’. The Utah Jazz are 8th in offensive efficiency and 11th in halfcourt offensive efficiency
I’ll get into more detail in the skeleton of this article, but Hardy and his staff have an excellent understanding of the way modern defenses are playing. Teams are loading up with nail help, and often using a ‘roaming’ center on a non-shooter or an offensive player they deem low usage. Hardy’s concepts exploit these, and their set plays help maximize a roster that is mostly made up of young players, some veterans, and players who other teams did not see value in. In a way, the Utah Jazz offense unites the roster and creates some fascinating questions about what they might do next in their rebuild.
Flare Screens
I’m going to give flare screens their own section in this article because they’re often Utah’s first read in the half-court. Normally, they are ‘top flares’ such as the one below.
They’ll push these at will, especially for Lauri Markkanen. Per Synergy, the only team that ends up with more shots off-screen is the Golden State Warriors. I will asterisk this with the fact Synergy will only track this if the off-screen play leads to an instant shot. Utah runs many more screens that don’t instantly lead to a shot. This is their most common. Nothing elaborate, but something easy and low maintenance for their best player. This matters. Only Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson attempt more shots off-screen per game than Lauri Markkanen.
Flare screens are probably the most important screens in modern basketball, especially in the context of the play above. Pistol action is by far the most common action in NBA basketball. Teams need to first cover the baseline but then be ready for the normal ‘chase’ action that follows when a player receives a handoff. To attempt to do this, teams will load up with nail help and slant toward one side of the floor. This quick top flare puts that to the test because it punishes any over-help, and Lauri’s prowess means they have to pay legitimate attention to it. This leads to less coverage of the initial pistol actions.
I mentioned in my rubric for evaluating offenses the importance of flowing into stuff quickly when the flare doesn’t directly lead to a shot. Utah does this well: think of the flare like an opening move in chess.
The Thunder cover things well, so the Jazz quickly flow into a middle pick-and-roll. This is largely where Collin Sexton‘s value shows because he’s an excellent and willing driver.
I liked the read below too, where Lauri Markkanen dives to the rim and disrupts the low-man help after initially not getting open on the flare screen.
Markkanen vacating the perimeter means there’s no nail help to disrupt Sexton, and he takes it to the paint for an easy score. This pre-action frees things up and creates lanes for players that maybe aren’t as good at creating them as the top stars in the NBA.
As always with Utah, the off-ball reads are crisp, like below.
Collin Sexton slips backdoor while the Rockets try and switch the action. To quote my good friend, Nekias Duncan- ‘The best way to beat a switch is to slip’.
Something unique about Utah is that their ATOs aren’t unique or special plays. They generally just run their half-court concepts but from a different angle with the out-of-bounds pass. The only exception I found on film was their Iverson set.
Here, the Jazz flow into the top-flare action from a ‘get’ action on the SLOB play. On this occasion, they use it to switch hunt and Keyonte gets a decent driving lane before Chet Holmgren happens.
I’ve mentioned counters and speed of action multiple times so far. I liked this double backdoor counter the Jazz used in their top flare progressions.
The two backdoor cuts open up a potential open side for a driver, but it also draws the help defense from the other side, which Collin Sexton punishes with that San Antonio Spursian lift from the corner.
In recent games, Will Hardy has felt more comfortable adding extra layers onto the Jazz’ core stuff. This opening play against the Denver Nuggets was a great way of using the flare screen as pre-action.
The Jazz run ‘Top Flare Reject Ram Spain Shallow Brush‘. It’s a mouthful but don’t panic. They don’t use the top flare as Denver has it scouted. Markkanen screens for John Collins and he enters a PNR with Kris Dunn. Collin Sexton also looks as if he’s going to screen KCP, but when KCP turns his eyes to the ball handler, Sexton sets a little brush screen for Lauri to pop for a three-pointer. Utah in particular loves brush screens, and you can see this basic concept is just a starting point for their offense. They’re beginning to add and flow into more stuff as the year progresses.
Top flares are Utah’s most common type, but they run the more traditional flare screens too. They do these both as freelance off-ball reads and as part of more intricate set plays. Here’s a basic off-ball Indiana read alongside an empty PNR, a Utah staple.
They’ll often use these as quick hitters for Markkanen, notably on an empty side. He’s good at cutting backdoor if they over-commit; that’s been a notable development of his in Utah.
As Lauri has been cutting more in Utah, teams respect that side of his game a lot more. This has been a notable change from his time in Chicago. Watch the play below as an example of how Utah uses that against teams.
We see the return of the brush screening concept as Utah runs ‘Stack Out Flip Flare‘ with a brush screen counter. The stack out is their go-to if teams are tightly defending Markkanen or Olynyk. Here they have Markkanen go off a flare screen after flipping the ball back to Collin Sexton. Note how far into the paint Toronto’s low-man is playing when Markkanen clears through the paint. He punishes this by setting a quasi brush-screen for Jordan Clarkson to pop open for a three-pointer.
Finally, just watch this play for an indicator of how annoying it is to defend the Utah Jazz when their five-out stuff is humming.
Lauri Markkanen starts the play by coming off a wide ball screen, then Collin Sexton flares for him as he’s ghosting the pick-and-roll. Admittedly, Dallas didn’t have the most fearsome defenders at the top of the key, but this just showcases how Utah dissuades nail help with constant screening and moving.
I also liked this intriguing read.
Utah goes into the elbow with the ball. It initially looks as if Markkanen is going to be part of a double screening action. Instead, Utah flows Markkanen into a top flare to an empty side. Watch Jordan Clarkson. Kenrich Williams is ball-watching so he screens Markkanen’s man which essentially creates a defacto switch that Markkanen can punish.
They may not have the talent level of other teams, but they out-work you and never stand in place. The flare screen isn’t all they do, but it’s the springboard for the majority of their half-court plays and it’s always in their arsenal, almost built into their overall DNA.
Blind Handoffs and Skip Passes
The blind pass isn’t necessarily a new tactic or phenomenon. The Golden State Warriors have used it for Draymond Green for many years as teams often would sit off him to cover all the back cuts and zipper cuts through the paint. There has also been ‘Blind Pig’ action. The way Utah and Miami have used this action is relatively unique. They’ll sometimes have Walker Kessler in the corner, which isn’t scaring a defense. But the blind handoff creates potentially easy openings into dribble handoffs. Take the play below as an example.
Utah moves the ball up the floor and Walker Kessler is spaced in the corner. When it comes down to it, even John Collins will get given space as teams don’t fully respect the shooting. Keyonte George drives and kicks it to Walker Kessler. Watch Jordan Clarkson sink to the corner as the pass is traveling to Kessler. This is the ‘blind’ handoff. It is designed to punish off coverage as Walker Kessler isn’t a natural spacer. It’s a way Utah can be five-out all the time and not become stale and predictable with their spacing concepts. On this occasion, it doesn’t lead to much of note, but I just want you guys to have the idea of this concept in your head.
Here they use the skip handoff as a get-out-of-jail-free card during part of something more exotic- Horns Chin.
The Houston Rockets were switching in this game, so the Jazz went to Horns Chin. Note how Walker Kessler is in the corner at the start of the play which means Sengun can somewhat play off him. The Jazz use this play to get Lauri post position on a smaller player, so Sengun tags across. If this was a shooter in the corner it would be more problematic at first glance, but Fontecchio dives to the corner and gets a really good look from beyond the arc. Switching is common with teams that are wing-heavy like Houston, and Hardy comes ready with the right plays to punish it.
This action isn’t perfect. Something I noted in the film was that this action became less fruitful if the Jazz are playing slowly.
Here, Utah isn’t running anything, so Kessler receives a cross-court pass. But because the defense wasn’t moved at all, the possession ended in chaos. The effectiveness of this mirrors the effectiveness of the Utah Jazz. If they’re moving and running stuff at speed, it’s genuinely a very effective spacing concept.
They’ll use this concept for Collins too. Below they mesh the skip pass concept with a pistol top flare.
The skip pass is their way of involving players that, respectfully, the defense isn’t paying much attention to. And as it will continue to be shown throughout this article, Utah meshes all their core stuff together.
This concept isn’t just reserved for non-shooters, they’ll often use skip passes to just keep the offense moving. Thinking Basketball did a great vid on this give-and-go resetting the dribble concept. But it’s a way for them to push for easy and quick offense and to not let defenses off the hook. There’s nowhere to hide in a sense.
I’ve mentioned layers, and Utah ran a blind pass concept in their recent game against the Houston Rockets. I’d label it ’77 Double Ghost Fake Veer Blind DHO’. A mouthful again, but simple and beautiful to watch.
Utah runs a double-drag variant, with both Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen ghosting their picks. Jordan Clarkson then looks as if he’s going to set a ball screen for Markkanen to come back for a catch-and-shoot (veer action). Only it’s all a disguise and Walker Kessler is used as a blind hub, and Clarkson darts for an open three-pointer. I’ve seen the ‘Double Ghost’ concept before, but this was a new variant and the fact that Will Hardy dialed it up in a key moment shows how well the Jazz execute the concept. Kessler in the corner isn’t threatening, but they can make it one with their actions and concepts.
Shallow Series
Now that we’ve dove into the Jazz main concepts (please keep them in mind), it’s time to dive into their most used set plays and reads. We start with the 77 Shallow series. This is a play-type that’s taken over this year. It’s like a cross-breed between a double drag and a Spain pick-and-roll. In this play, there are two ‘screeners’, with one of them sitting lower than the other. In a traditional double drag the screens are mostly parallel to each other and set. The lower screener in shallow action doesn’t set a screen.
Two back-to-back uses of it in the Rockets game are a good illustration of what it is, and what it does.
John Collins is the first screener, triggering the drop defense. Lauri Markkanen is the lower screener and he cuts across the drop coverage and pops open for a three-pointer. It means the pick-and-roll action is essentially 2v2 which is a win for the offense in an era of nail help defense.
They come back to it on the next play.
This time, the Rockets are somewhat ready for the action. Jabari Smith stays tight to Markkanen and Sengun is ready to defend the downhill action. Collin Sexton sees this and rejects the screen and Utah gets a great look from beyond the arc.
They’ll sometimes run these on an empty side, which takes excellent defensive communication to contain.
This is particularly terrible defense, which jumped out on Lakers film, but the concept is difficult to defend while switching on an empty side because Markkanen is good at sealing his defender when they try and jump ahead and cut to the perimeter to stop him. Here he just sneaks backdoor for a lob.
They’ll often disguise the 77 Shallow with a ram screen.
This ram screen essentially speeds up the proceedings in the play, Indiana was likely expecting a top flare. But this is a good showcase of why this play is effective and is becoming a staple in NBA offense.
If Markkanen’s screen was parallel to Kessler’s, the lowest defender could contain the drive and then the on-ball defenders could recover out to Lauri when he pops. Because Lauri is in that shallow position, it means the containing defense has to be perfect because Obi Toppin is then responsible for not surrendering the middle and also defending Lauri. Switching may seem like it works, but switches early in a possession can hurt you later on when you’ve got Bennedict Mathurin on Walker Kessler. The ram screen is a nice wrinkle that makes the play more effective.
I noted earlier that the only ATO concept I’ve seen them run that isn’t part of their base offense is an Iverson set. But even when they run that, they’ll often flow into the base offense as shown below.
Utah goes to the Iverson action for Collin Sexton. They’ll often have Markkanen set a ram screen for a guard to ghost out. On this occasion, Markkanen flips his body position and they go into their shallow play. The Hornets cover it relatively well but still concede a very good look to Lauri Markkanen.
They’ve also added an intriguing variant to their shallow series where the second screener veers out to free up a shooter.
Like with the blind DHO earlier, the Jazz go to this in crunch time which shows how much they like it. You learn the most about teams in these moments. Walker Kessler comes off the ram screen, Jordan Clarkson then loops around and sets a screen on Markkanen’s defender. Houston switches the cross-screen when Lauri lifts, but they lose contain and Collin Sexton drills the floater when Sengun recovers to Walker Kessler.
This play signals the dilemma of defending Utah. They had to pay so much attention to the off-ball stuff that Collin Sexton got an easy look on the ball. Sexton’s play has been excellent, and likely the main difference in Utah racking up wins in comparison to their early-season form.
Strong Series
Utah runs a lot of double-stagger screens. This again is largely down to the fact their best player is an off-screen flier. But it is also a very good way to keep everyone involved and consistently pressure defenses. One of the things that stands out on film is just how many different reads Utah has in their series. The execution is consistently pretty good and there’s much more variety than always having someone come off a double stagger.
Utah loves ghost screens, and here Simone Fontecchio ghosts the initial strong stagger and we see them return to the skip pass concept. It’s a nice way to ensure less traffic for a young guard like Keyonte George to have to navigate.
They also like to push for the ‘Strong Dribble‘ variant. This is where a player comes off the double stagger screen, receives a pass, and immediately passes it back to the ball handler. They’ll often use this against teams that want to stay attached such as below.
They run ‘Strong Dribble Pop‘. Note how they create a great driving lane for Collin Sexton with this action. It’s why he’s having such a profitable season.
They also incorporate their brush screens into this concept.
Markkanen draws all the attention. He sees that the third defender has cleared out, so he pulls his defender into another defender (brush screen). It would be more effective with a better shooter than Collins, but this is a very effective option they could go to at any time with how much attention Lauri draws.
I also like the ‘Strong Dribble Veer‘ option they use. It’s an effective switch-beater.
The play effectively allows the Jazz to pick matchups, and Fontecchio’s slip means that Luka Doncic is involved in a pick-and-roll action as the ‘big’ defender. Fontecchio then ghosts out for an easy three, which epitomizes the Utah Jazz.
They’ll also run far split cuts on these strong staggers if they see defenses sitting under.
Here, Utah runs ‘split cuts’. The first screener Clarkson is cutting backdoor, with Agbaji coming off a single stagger. It created an empty-side look when the Lakers were defending relatively far into the paint. Utah gets a good look on the play.
These strong staggers require a lot of attention when you’ve got so many reads. Utah does a great job teaching their players to make ‘face cuts’ across the weak side such as below.
Lauri Markkanen is isolated on the weak side while everyone else is involved with the double stagger, so he makes a cut across the middle of the paint for an easy jump shot.
I’ve mentioned meshing before. Here’s another example of it all coming together:
Utah runs a wedge screen for Collin Sexton, which is completely inverting the offense. It brings Lauri Markkanen to the top of the key and he comes off a top flare. While all this is happening, Collin Sexton cuts right into the teeth of the defense. Per a league source, Utah does a lot of off-ball movement work in practice. It shows on film.
Perhaps my favourite play in Utah’s strong series is the Fake Slice STS (Screen the Screener) set that they run, here’s what it looks like.
Utah inbound the ball to the weak side elbow. Kris Dunn then sets a slice screen (back screen from the wing) for Markkanen. The alignment of players here matters a lot. In this game, the Rockets were switching 2-4 but not 1-4 because Jalen Green is a small guard. This means Dillon Brooks has to be responsible for covering Markkanen backdoor. He overplays on the fake screen and Markkanen comes off another screener and drills the three.
Houston did an OK Job defending this play after the original advantage was created by the slice screen. Most of the time it’s harder to cover.
Utah dialed this up in overtime of the aforementioned Rockets game. This time the entry is a little different with Collin Sexton coming off a zipper screen on the weak side. Markkanen uses the fake slice screen and when 2 defenders come to him, Walker Kessler slips backdoor for an easy dunk. With Utah’s size, merely switching things isn’t always an option and they do a good job milking that fact.
The same happens here against the Pistons.
Two again go to Markkanen which is common. Some teams will come into games with plans to blitz the ball out of the hands of good shooters. The problem with this play is that your help defense is disoriented and it’s not always that simple.
Here’s what the play looks like if the slice screen isn’t rejected.
The Thunder cover the slice screen relatively well but still concede a decent look to Collin Sexton. Chet Holmgren also has to drop deep, so a skip pass to Kessler may have also worked. It shows the attention Lauri garners when he tries to cut backdoor.
Here is another example of things all meshing together.
Utah looks as if they’re going to run a strong double stagger. But the second screener and the man closest to the ball is John Collins. Instead of running the staggers, Sexton throws the skip pass to John Collins and they flow into a Chicago action which creates a numbers advantage, getting Markkanen a great look.
Here’s everything coming together differently in a recent game vs the Hornets.
The Jazz use the skip pass to John Collins to open the play as Nick Richards is in drop. Note on the weakside, Utah is trying to set the flare screen for Markkanen. His man jumps out to the corner to stop the flare, so Markkanen comes back. But watch John Collins. He veers towards the weakside after skipping the ball back to Collin Sexton and Lauri gets a great look. Here they managed to combine their skip pass concept, a flare screen, and their strong series. This is a particularly great off-ball read.
As I’ve mentioned, the good offenses mesh things together. It’s not like playing Madden where plays you call are independent. Your concepts and philosophies should mix with your set plays, and off-ball reads should shine through.
Elbow/Horns/Stack Out
Utah runs a lot of offense through the elbow. In a recent press conference attended by Philadelphia 76ers beat reporter Daniel Olinger, Will Hardy said of elbow offense:
It’s hard to know where to help from there … and from an analytical standpoint, the most valuable shots are at the rim and corner threes, and if you put the ball in the middle of the floor, you now have 2 corner players
Utah doesn’t always have two in the corner in their elbow sets, but they commonly create high percentage looks from them. Perhaps my favourite is when they run ‘Twirl Action’. It’s an off-ball screening action where there is a double stagger screen and a player cuts off or rejects the first screen, and the first screener then comes off the second screener.
Writer’s Note- Not all of these plays necessarily catch the ball at the elbow, but due to their nature I still consider them part of Elbow Offense. NBA Spacing has evolved and catching the ball just outside the perimeter in 2024 likely matches catching it at the elbow in 2014.
The Jazz get the ball to Kelly Olynyk near the elbow. Jordan Clarkson cuts baseline and rejects the double stagger screens, with Ochai Agbaji coming off the screen for an easy look from beyond the arc. It can be difficult to defend on an empty side, so mixups are common.
Utah is also good at pushing into something else if the initial action doesn’t create an instant shot.
Cam Reddish forces Jordan Clarkson further out from the paint, so the Jazz go into a middle-pick-and-roll. Note Kelly Olynyk also setting a flare screen alongside the PNR (Indiana Action). This is likely considered a win for the defense but it’s still a pretty good look which shows how playing against the Jazz can be confounding.
Utah has counters upon counters in their offense.
This time the Jazz run ‘Stack Out Chin Twirl’. Jordan Clarkson cuts backdoor when Josh Green very aggressively tries to deny him the cut towards the ball handler. Dallas then top-locks Kris Dunn so the Jazz again go to a quasi-brush screening action to get John Collins a lob attempt. Though top-locking Kris Dunn is an odd decision, it’s just likely Dallas had twirl scouted and wanted to top-lock the final part of the action. But Utah was ready.
They also love to run ‘Peja’ or ‘Rip’ actions. These involve someone back screening before coming up for a shot or a dribble handoff.
Jordan Clarkson sets a back screen for Collin Sexton while Olynyk has the ball at the elbow. When Clarkson sees he’s still top-locked, he cuts backdoor and gets a good look. OKC isn’t the team to run this against given their tendency to want to swarm the paint, but against teams with more of an outside-oriented approach, this play could be very effective.
I’ve mentioned the word meshing a tonne in this article; let’s look at another example of it.
Utah gets Jordan Clarkson the ball at the elbow. Keyonte George then sets a back screen for Lauri Markkanen. The defense doesn’t do an amazing job covering it, but Jordan Clarkson instead hits Walker Kessler and goes into the ‘Blind’ dribble handoff option that’s part of the Jazz half-court offense. This was particularly effective because the Peja action occupied the low men and created an easy look for Jordan Clarkson.
Utah will also often use the elbow as a sort of safe space in their half-court stuff.
The Jazz go to Ram Ghost, but Keyonte George opts to pitch the ball to Kelly Olynyk. George then comes off a flare screen for an open three. This is an easy concept that I feel they should go to more often. The top flares don’t often come with any kind of pre-action but this is extremely effective.
Here’s another layer they added in a game vs the Charlotte Hornets.
Charlotte has Markkanen come off a ram screen and ghost it. The ball then is pitched to John Collins in the elbow. Collin Sexton sets a sort of freelance flare for Lauri Markkanen and comes up to receive the ball. Markkanen is tightly defended so to quote NFL lingo, it’s ‘free yards’ for Collin Sexton and easy labor. They then flow into a Spain pick-and-roll. On this occasion, the Hornets switch everything, but it puts Brandon Miller in a bad position against a very accomplished lob threat in John Collins.
They come back to it on the next play.
This time, note Miles Bridges tags into the paint more than he did on the first play. This time, Simone Fontecchio leaks out as the back screener. After some good ball movement and screening, Collin Sexton nails an above-the-break three-pointer.
Conclusion
Overall, I’ve been blown away by the Utah Jazz offense this season. Running offense is extremely hard, but Utah is one of those teams that are mastering the details other teams miss. They put a hell of a lot of time into perfecting their off-ball movement, and it means that they’re able to somewhat overachieve on the offensive side of the ball.
I’m not into many coaching cliches, but one I’ve seen trotted around is ‘You can stop plays but you can’t stop principles’. I don’t think it’s a bad quote but I feel it misses the point. Principles are everything, but your principles can be elevated by how tough your plays are to stop. The Jazz give their players live reps, as they don’t have many specific packages for out-of-bounds plays.
To revisit the earlier things I look for in scouting offense, it’s very hard to tick the boxes of all four. For the most part, the Utah Jazz do this. It’s a creative scheme using some unique and very new concepts, and it’s well executed with speed and has enough counters for the defense to know that stopping the first action may often mean little.
Regardless of the direction Utah chooses to go in, Will Hardy has proven himself extremely capable of maximizing a rebuilding squad. It wouldn’t surprise me if Hardy became one of the greatest coaches of his generation.
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