National Basketball Association

For Utah Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey, Length is the Thing

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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In lieu of acquiring a superstar scorer, Utah Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey has built a roster with length at every position to give his team an edge on the floor.

In my 20 years as a Utah Jazz fan, the team has only signed away one free agent for double-digit millions per year: Carlos Boozer, in 2004, on a five-year/$60M deal. Laboring in one of the league’s smallest and least-appealing markets demands an eminently creative approach to management and the squad that ESPN recently pegged to finish among the best in the West was constructed with a moneyball-like mindset that defies the notion that you need a superstar in order to contend for a title. Only the Jazz didn’t do it with stats.

What on-base percentage was to Billy Beane, length is to Dennis Lindsey.

This fundamental facet of the sport took on new meaning after the Jazz finished the 2014-15 season on a 20-10 tear while trotting out exceptionally young lineups of largely one-dimensional producers. After wallowing near the bottom defensively prior to sending Enes Kanter to OKC, the lineup of Dante Exum, Rodney Hood, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert notched the best Def Rtg by a wide margin, trouncing the second place Spurs over those last 30 games.

Exum, Hood and Hayward created chaos in the passing lanes while Favors and Gobert, whose wingspans measure 7-foot-4 and 7-foot-9, respectively, guarded the cylinder like the twin towers in their prime. Suddenly, a wayward franchise had an identity, and the realization has largely determined their course towards contending.

The Jazz should commence the 2016-17 campaign with that same lineup. The only position that will give Snyder pause is the point, with Exum returning from an injury that kept him out his entire second season and George Hill entering the fold. The gig should go to Exum, who thoroughly earned it as a rookie.

Regardless, the addition of Hill at the expense of a lottery pick demonstrates a commitment to defense that looks to ride its length to preeminence.

A principal anchor of one of the best defenses of the decade, the 6-foot-2 Hill’s wingspan is roughly equal to a slew of powerhouse perimeter defenders who stand 6-foot-6 or taller, among them Jimmy Butler (6-foot-7.5), Jae Crowder (6-foot-9.25) and Danny Green (6-foot-10).

His wingspan is much more similar to that of two 7-footers who finished among the top 60 in Def Rtg, Cody Zeller (6-foot-10.75) and Mason Plumee (6-foot-11), than slightly smaller defensive dynamos Chris Paul (6-foot-4.25) and Mike Conley (6-foot-5.75).

A couple of standard-bearers of freakish athleticism at the position, Russell Westbrook (6-foot-7.5) and Eric Bledsoe (6-foot-7.5), are distinctly stubbier. The 6-foot-4 Wall, widely held as one the most physically impressive players at any position, claims a quarter-inch advantage.

If the wildly inconsistent trio of Raul Neto, Shelvin Mack and Trey Burke managed to rank seventh in opposing point guards’ field goal percentage, it’s difficult to imagine that Exum and Hill will be second to anyone.

The wingspans of the wings are not mind-boggling, but the length is there. The league’s longest point guard duo is flanked by the rare 6-foot-8 SG in Hood; his backup, the 6-foot-6 Burks, boasts an identical standing reach. Hayward has T-Rex arms, but a chiseled and deceptively explosive 6-foot-8 frame he wields with precision.

His backup, Joe Johnson, has long been coveted for his size at the swing.

If the prospect of facing a pair of point guards with the wingspans of small forwards is scary, the notion of facing Favors and Gobert should be a full-blown nightmare. The perpetually underrated Favors has evolved into a legitimate force on the defensive end with every basic and advanced metric recommending him as an elite low post defender: he quietly finished 16th in Def Rtg last season, immediately ahead of Paul George and Bismack Biyombo, and among the top seven in both blocks (1.5) and steals (1.2) at his position.

Favors’ length, width, speed and explosiveness enable him to cover ground in the post like no other power forward besides Anthony Davis.

The 23-year-old Gobert, who boasts the longest wingspan ever measured at the NBA Draft combine, finished sixth in Def Rtg for the second year in a row. If awards were doled out by conference, Western Conference DPOY would likely be a two-man race between Gobert and Kawhi Leonard every year for the next decade.

Mar 30, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) blocks Minnesota Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins (22) in the second quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Wingspan is an oft-mocked topic, and rightfully so — the busts who built their legend on their length, like Saer Sene, outnumber the prospects that delivered on the promise of their literal reach. But this is the NBA, and size matters; when it comes to defense, underestimating the effect of length is never wise, especially among players that have exhibited tremendous potential on that end through more than mere measurements.

The size of Kawhi’s hands was apparently considered inconsequential, as evidenced by his fall out of the lottery after leading San Diego State to a 34-3 record. Hassan Whiteside’s inhuman 7-foot-7 wingspan didn’t put him over the top as a desirable prospect, despite the legit 7-footer averaging 5.4 bpg in college.

This is how wingspan should be conceptualized in regard to the Jazz: not as their defining feature, but the element of their makeup that puts them over the top as a contender.