The secret is out. The Utah Jazz had a sneaky good second half of the season during 2014-15. In fact, calling it sneaky good may be an understatement. The Utah Jazz were the top defensive team in the league during that second half by quite a stretch. If the Jazz kept up that defensive intensity, they would have had a historically good defense. Led by The Stifle Tower, Rudy Gobert, the Jazz are looking to beat opponents down rather than outscore them. Can Utah keep this up? And what led to this great defense?

The Jazz were the definition of a mediocre team through the first half of the 2014-15 season but then they made two changes that turned things around. They traded away Enes Kanter to the Oklahoma City Thunder for picks Tibor Pleiss, picks, and to essentially cut salary. Kanter was the former no. 3 pick and at first it seemed that Utah gave up a former top pick for spare parts but inserting backup center Rudy Gobert changed the entire team. Gobert is a defensive monster. He is the rare center who actually scares players away from attempting shots due to his shot blocking skills. He is the complete opposite of Enes Kanter. While Kanter is a very polished back to the basket player, he has absolutely no defensive skills present. Kanter is Carlos Boozer level bad on defense and effort. Inserting Gobert next to Derrick Favors created a monster front lineup for the Jazz. The Jazz also sent Trey Burke to the bench and put Dante Exum into the starting line up. Exum isn’t a very polished player and he’s still very young but he’s long and frustrated the hell out of other point guards. Burke was supposed to be a good shooter and playmaker but so far he’s been one of the NBA’s biggest chuckers. This guy will shoot any opportunity he gets. Unfortunately, despite being a chucker he’s also very inefficient. It’s possible Burke may be related to Nick Young. While Burke may have spread the floor, he was shooting the Jazz out of games.

Things were looking very good for Utah but just this week Exum tore his ACL in international competition. He will most likely miss the entire 2015-16 season and while his 17 minutes per game last season probably didn’t win too many games, the Jazz will miss the structure he brought to the starting lineup. Burke can’t defend opposing guards and what little uptick he will bring on the offensive end will come at the cost of a worse defense. The Jazz will have to figure something out either through trade or changing other parts of the starting lineup. But things aren’t super bleak in Utah right now. Sure, Exum will miss out on critical time to develop his game but he wasn’t a large part of Utah’s success. He still turned the ball over at a very high rate and he could only shoot if he was wide open.

The Jazz have looked to trade for Garrett Temple as a replacement for Exum’s length. Another possibility is to experiment with a no point guard lineup all together. Perhaps the returning Alec Burks can take over as a co ball handler next to Gordon Hayward. Teams haven’t resolved to this much throughout history and and Utah probably won’t resolve to it as a permanent option but look for them to experiment. The most likely outcome is a trying to convince Burke to shoot less often and working with the rest of the current line up of Hayward, Favors, Gobert, and Joe Ingles. Look for newcomer Raul Neto to challenge Burke for that starting spot. Neto may be a rookie but he’s gotten valuable experience overseas and he’s a good passer, something that cannot be said with Burke.

Look for coach Quin Snyder to continue turning this team into an elite defense. Gobert is only 23 and he’s already a defensive force. Gordon Hayward is only 25 and he’s already one of the best wing players in the league. He plays tough defense, cuts to the basket, and is Utah’s primary playmaker. He is the ideal second banana. This team is loaded with young talent. Imagine how could this defense could get once these players hit their peaks. We haven’t gotten the chance to really see what newcomer Trey Lyles brings either.

Even if teams are able to get past Hayward and fellow wing Rodney Hood, they will have to run into a pile of long limbs at the basket with Gobert, Favors, and Trevor Booker roaming the paint. Utah has taken the steps to slowly build this young and up and coming roster. Utah realistically only tanked one season and used that pick to draft Dante Exum. The rest have been carefully scouted and developed. Utah has been rebuilding since trading away Deron Williams and would probably be in a better place if it traded Al Jefferson and Paul Milsap the year they went to the playoffs. The rest has been solid drafting, solid trades, and solid signings. Utah is doing rebuilding right.

The Utah Jazz will likely secure that 8th seed in the western conference or lose out by a hair to Phoenix or Dallas. This team still has a long way to go and this front office will continue to stay on the same slow and steady path to get where they want to go but the foundation is there. The Jazz will strangle and beat up every opponent. Teams will have to work hard to score. The Jazz are about one all star and a few years of development away from being a serious threat. In the mean time they’ll enjoy frustrating and scaring the crap out of any opponents trying to score on the 7 foot Frenchman.