Notes From Practice: Jazz Preview, Collins' Status, and More

What to expect from the Utah Jazz as the Hawks look to snap a five-game skid Thursday night.

The Hawks will try to snap a five-game losing streak Thursday night against the Utah Jazz after an embarrassing and disheartening loss to the Knicks on Tuesday. Utah is searching for consistency of its own as it integrates new players and coalesces into what could be an NBA Finals contender. 

Lloyd Pierce and Trae Young spoke with assembled media members Thursday morning ahead of Atlanta's game against the Jazz, discussing the team's recent struggles, attacking Utah's defense, and more. 

What To Expect From The Utah Jazz

The Jazz perennially have one of the top defenses in the NBA thanks to the interior presence of Rudy Gobert, but this season they haven't dominated in quite the same way they did in years past. Utah ranks just 10th in defensive rating despite touting perhaps the best rim protector in the league and a smart, versatile slew of perimeter defenders around him. 

Still, Utah can be suffocating when its defense clicks, and Gobert is the kind of force capable of singlehandedly anchoring his team and terrorizing opponents. The Jazz funnel ball-handlers toward the seven-foot Frenchman, who blocked over two shots per game in each of the past five seasons. 

"They just know they have to fight, battle, make that guard work," Pierce said. "But if he gets into that paint, they have a secondary defender back there. So there’s some comfort, even with their new guys, in how they can defend the pick-and-roll." 

That could make Young's floater an important weapon for Atlanta. If Gobert drops back to the rim to swat away layups and prevent lobs to big men, Young should get almost anything he wants from eight to 15 feet. 

"We’ve got to have solutions against guys like that and when you’re in those positions you have to have those solutions," Pierce said. "If he wants to stay back and they want to concede the floaters, Trae’s pretty good at it. … We’ve got to find ways to attack [Gobert], and the floater is one of them." 

"Just depends on how they decide to guard it. Some teams let me have the floater and don’t want to give up the lob, and some teams will try and stop my floater and then the lob will be open. So I’ll just get a better feel of how they’re gonna guard it early on in the game tonight." 

The Hawks could also look to attack the Jazz in transition, before Gobert can get back down the floor and set their defense. But while the Jazz have a middling transition defense, Atlanta has been one of the worst transition offenses in the NBA this season, and Utah's slow, methodical offense makes it difficult to for opponents to speed the game up. 

"The thing they do an exceptional job [of] is they make you defend for 18, 20 seconds, and so they limit your transition opportunity," Pierce said. "Even if you get one, they’re few and far between because of how long they execute on the offensive end and how much they slow the game down with their execution." 

That meticulous offensive approach includes plenty of pick-and-rolls and dribble-handoffs, which Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, and Mike Conley use to get downhill while Gobert soars above the rim for dunks. Ingles and Bojan Bogdanović are deadly shooters and canny secondary playmakers. In theory, Utah's offense should be uncontainable. 

But too often the Jazz tend to sputter and grind possessions down without creating an open look. Quin Snyder runs a beautiful system replete with solid passers and dangerous shooters, but Utah lacks an indomitable one-on-one creator, which leaves it without a bailout option when possessions stall. 

Pierce also noted that Snyder is perhaps the best coach in the NBA at disguising his play calls and hand signals, which could make it difficult for the Hawks, who already struggle to communicate on defense, to get a beat on the Jazz. 

"We’re going to see a lot of pick-and-rolls tonight. … So we understand it’s a pick-and-roll game, whether we can call it out or whether we can steal the play call from Quin Snyder, we just have to engage one another." 

Young Shows Reverence For Conley

In a story penned by Kevin Arnovitz last season, Young discussed his reverence for Mike Conley -- then of the Memphis Grizzles -- and cited his impact on helping the rookie adjust to the NBA. Young watched a lot of film on the veteran point guard, who was traded to Utah this offseason, and developed an admiration and appreciation for his ability to run an NBA offense. 

On Tuesday he expanded even more on why he's drawn to Conley: 

"He can do everything," Young said. "He can score at all three levels, he can shoot floaters with his left handed, right-handed. He’s probably better right-handed even though he’s left-handed. So he can just play. He doesn’t get a lot of respect, and that’s something that I admire about him. He doesn’t get a lot of respect, but he still goes out there and just plays. So I think he’s one of the best point guards in our league."  

John Collins Status Update

Collins has two games remaining on his 25-game suspension for violating the NBA's anti-drug policy, and Pierce says the big man will have no limitations on his minutes or usage once he returns. 

"Restrictions are injury-related, not this-related. He's healthy, he's in shape, he's been playing and working out. There's no concern of injury, physically, in terms of him coming back on the court and needing a restriction." 

While Collins has not been allowed to attend games, he has been practicing with the team and working out with assistant coaches during his absence. Thursday's workload included a five-on-five run with Evan Turner and eight assistant coaches and a whole lot of reps from the 3-point line: 

Collins should give the Hawks a lift on both ends of the floor, and his return can't come soon enough for a team that desperately needs him.