Utah Jazz's 3-point shooting is arc nemesis

SALT LAKE CITY — With a 10-5 start, not much has gone wrong for a Utah Jazz team picked to be among the worst in the NBA this year by some experts.

Besides winning two-thirds of their games thus far, the Jazz are outrebounding their opponents, committing fewer turnovers, have more assists and steals and are shooting a better field goal percentage than their opponents.

Well, there is one place the Jazz aren't doing so hot.

Three-point shooting.

The Jazz rank near the bottom of the NBA in three 3-point categories and are shooting their worst percentage as a franchise in 26 seasons.

That's right, you have to go back to 1985-86 to find a time when the Jazz shot less than 30 percent from 3-point range as they are now at 28.6 percent.

Jazz coaches and players are well aware of the difficulty, but aren't so sure it matters that much, at least for the time being.

"We're just not making them right now," said Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin. "We're concerned but not that concerned because we don't want to go out looking for a lot of 3-point shots. We want to attack the basket first and go inside out."

So far that strategy has worked well for the Jazz, who are relying on the inside play of Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, who average 18.3 and 16.6 points per game, respectively. Their third-leading scorer is another inside player, newcomer Josh Howard, who averages 10.7 points per game.

But just think how good the Jazz could be if they could make a few more 3-pointers every game.

Through their first 15 games, the Jazz rank second-to-last in the NBA in 3-point attempts with 12.8 per game. That's just half as many per game as league-leader New Jersey and more than only one team, Memphis. The Jazz are also third-to-last in 3-point makes per game (3.7) and fourth from the bottom in 3-point shooting percentage.

Utah's lack of firepower from 3-point range shouldn't be too surprising, considering that the franchise has let three of its all-time best 3-point shooters go in the last two years.