SALT LAKE CITY — Perhaps expectedly, the first question Utah Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey was asked during his time on the podium at the team’s media day in September was why he chose to bring back the squad almost entirely intact from last season.
Lindsey gave a lengthy answer, but on multiple occasions within the response, he referenced the idea of balancing how the group’s collective character captured the hearts of Jazz fans, the value of continuity and what objective advanced analytical data told him and his staff.
That analytical data, which in large part aims to remove emotion from the equation when examining players and teams, is becoming an increasingly recognized way of analyzing performance, both by teams as well as basketball observers.