Ricky Rubio and Donovan Mitchell partnership helping Utah Jazz rediscover playoff form

Thanks to an unlikely backcourt partnership, the Utah Jazz emerge from the first 50 games of this season better off than they were last May.

Coach Quin Snyder credits the grind of the season for forcing his players to build familiarity, especially when it comes to the starting backcourt of Ricky Rubio and Donovan Mitchell. After seven straight victories, including four of 19 points or more, the lessons they’ve learned are driving success few expected would come so quickly.

“He has been working really hard on connectivity with his teammates,” Snyder said following a 129-97 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Feb. 2, praising Rubio’s quick integration into the organization.

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Developing connections is a process Rubio has never had to confront. The struggle to develop a jump shot is well-documented, but Rubio could always be counted upon to create opportunities for his teammates. Yet with by far the lowest assist percentage of his career and uncharacteristic turnovers throughout the season, Rubio is still finding his way.

Utah’s system is unlike any that Rubio has ever had to play in. That’s mostly because it does not revolve around him. Rubio gained renown — as a teenager — because he passed like Indiana Jones uses a whip, finding avenues through and around opposing defenses. For the Jazz, Rubio is just a piece.

Everyone in Snyder’s system is simultaneously an initiator and finisher. The other players on the team will screen for Rubio before he catches a pass, and then a pay will unfold below him. He must survey on the fly.

Mitchell constantly works himself open, earning every possession he gets. The balancing act between the two takes work, and it’s been dicey throughout the season. The key, as Mitchell put it, is to stay aggressive and not be afraid to communicate when success doesn’t immediately come.

“Being able to encourage each other is a big part of our relationship,” Mitchell said.

Watching the team over the first couple months of the season, the haste with which the roster was put together was apparent. Utah lost two productive starters, Gordon Hayward and George Hill, to free agency. They had to make a long trip to the bank to keep a third, Joe Ingles.

For the second straight season, Utah has also had to struggle through injuries to its core players. All-Defensive center Rudy Gobert has missed nearly half of the team’s games. The team hasn’t been able to rely on the same bench from night to night. The team points toward Gobert’s absence, particularly, as a barrier to the type of chemistry they hoped to build. He is perhaps their best player, and the Jazz have a different identity without him.

“It feels better when you know who is going to play,” Rubio said. “That chemistry is building up now, and it’s showing.”

Utah’s point differential has recently risen to the top half of the league. They have the NBA’s 15th-best offense along with a top-10 defense. Snyder’s system is patiently creating the situations it always has — more open shots for his team than you’d expect and hardly any at all for the opponent.

Ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, the Jazz were able to snag Jae Crowder from Cleveland in return for Rodney Hood, who in his fourth season has failed to take seize the opening created with Hayward’s departure. Utah was shopping Hood to get an asset back before he reached free agency this summer, and Crowder fits well.

The secret advantage the Jazz possessed this February was that their roster was due for a reset. Playing Hood with Mitchell and Rubio didn’t work, and the Favors-Gobert tandem has run its course. The guys who were due a decision were the ones easiest to ship out. Hood leaves early, while Favors’ expected departure in July will open space for someone else to step in.

Snyder has proven he can make the most of pieces the rest of the league undervalues.

Take a minute to appreciate the Jazz for their ability to even be alive at this point in the season. After losing Hayward, they were supposed to be an afterthought unless someone like Hood or Alec Burks took a leap forward. Hood ranks fifth on the team in minutes, while Burks has faded into a small bench role. Snyder instead let a rookie take over the offense, and let defense lead the way.

In a locker room full of unfamiliar faces, the connection between Mitchell and Rubio, one of the quietest players in the league, has blossomed into a huge factor for Utah’s success. That an honest and vocal relationship built between the two could become a strength for the team is a testament to the work put in by the two guards.

“I’m happy to see those two forming a relationship,” Snyder said. “There’s a new energy that the group has.”

Unfortunately, only one lineup featuring the Mitchell-Rubio backcourt ranks in the top half of the league in offensive efficiency, according to Cleaning the Glass. The lineup that has worked best is a super small group with Derrick Favors at center and injured veteran Thabo Sefolosha playing a stretch four role. Anything less than perfect spacing closes driving lanes for the guards.

On the other hand, the Jazz are learning the value of a passer like Rubio in their system. During their winning streak, Snyder has slowly given Rubio and Mitchell more opportunities to make plays with the ball in their hands — a sign of trust that he has given to few guys, including Hayward. It makes everyone’s life a little easier than the high-wire act the Jazz feared when Hayward or Hill went to the bench last season.

“He sees out of the back of his head,” said veteran guard Alec Burks, who after years of injury trouble has occasionally struggled to fit with the new-look Jazz.

As far as chemistry goes, one of the most important stepping stones in this Jazz season was Rubio discovering how to work with Gobert in the pick-and-roll. Early in the season, their timing was a problem. Rubio often turned the ball over as he tried to fit the ball to the massive big man. The angles were different than with craftier players like Nikola Pekovic or Karl-Anthony Towns. It has come a long way.

Still, very few lineups featuring Rubio and Gobert have been successful this year. Gobert’s inability to make the same types of plays after he catches the ball has forced Rubio to be even more precise about where he feeds Gobert. It’s a pick-and-dunk when you run it with Gobert.

Mitchell has found ways to become a better partner for Rubio. He has continued to chuck 3s with no abandon, following up on a great sophomore season at Louisville. When the ball in his hands, he dives toward the right play as it unravels. He finds points where others would never look.

It’s tough to peg the proper culture for a draft prospect in June, but it’s clear now that Mitchell has found the right kind of home in Utah. Snyder loves the rookie’s drive, and in his rise from the back end of the lottery to two Rookie of the Month awards, the growth is obvious.

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Together with Rubio, he has provided structure for a Jazz roster that looked hollow after Hayward left for Boston. The playoffs are in sight once more, the backcourt suddenly fueling the team’s success.