It was clear, after the Utah Jazz’s bench fell short after being called upon time and time again, that changes would have to be made.
The numbers are staggering: when any of Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Royce O’Neale, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Rudy Gobert share the court, the Jazz outscore their opponents by 13.6 points per 100 possessions. That is elite. And when as soon as they had even one member of the Jazz’s bench unit out there, everything fell apart: they were outscored by 8.2 points per 100 possessions every time Jeff Green, Ed Davis, Emmanuel Mudiay, or Georges Niang touched the floor.