Quin Snyder's offense centered on screens, cuts and drives is what he calls "advantage basketball."

The system is intended on giving players a head start whenever they catch the ball.

Snyder's first rule of advantage basketball is to never surrender your advantage. If they get a five-foot head start, they should expand it 10 feet before shooting or exchanging the baton.

"You have to keep the advantage," said Rudy Gobert. "Punish them."

Utah also runs a lot of catch-and-rolls to create additional space.

The Jazz aren't necessarily unique in these concepts but they run it with more granular detail than other teams. Utah manages to maximize the talent of their offense by generating higher quality shots.

Utah leads the NBA in on-ball screens by a considerable margin. They also rank fourth in handoffs and eighth in off-ball picks. 

The Utah Jazz have no plans to bottom out and rebuild following the departure of Gordon Hayward.

Utah still has Rudy Gobert anchoring their team, which practically guarantees them of having a top defense.

"Our hope is our players grow into larger roles, and we continue a path which best serves the Jazz," Dennis Lindsey said. "And that path is to draft and develop."

The only time the Jazz have really tanked was in 13-14 following the departures of Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. Utah selected Dante Exum in that year's draft.

The Los Angeles Lakers haven't considered removing Lonzo Ball from their starting lineup despite his inconsistencies. 

“The benefit is he gets the game experience,” Luke Walton said this week. “Whether it’s close games, it’s blowouts, it’s playing against top elite point guards that do different things. John Wall, as good as it gets at getting to the rim, a [Russell] Westbrook, a Steph Curry. So he gets all that in-game experience on the go and gets to learn from it all.”

Ball has mainly struggled with his shooting and defense.

“Being a rookie you usually have more time to adjust to NBA life. You get little opportunities here and there and you grow from those. You have vets that kind of take you under their wing and show you how it’s done at this level and it’s more of a patient process,” Walton said.

“He’s handling it well so I think this way is working for him because I think it’s going to accelerate his timetable as far as taking steps in his own personal game, but it’s got its give and take.”

The Philadelphia 76ers lead the NBA in passes per game this season, just as they did in 16-17. Philadelphia was ranked third in the category in 15-16 and fourth in 14-15 as sharing the ball has been a central tenant of Brett Brown's offense.

“It’s the single thing in my opinion that can erode a locker room, erode sort of the fabric of a team,” Brown said of the Sixers’ passing. “Because it creeps into defense as much as it is blatant in offense. When you don’t share the ball, it’s a feeling that we all feel. In the locker room, they all play the game, they feel it deeper than we do.”

Brown has frequently repeated the phrase "the pass is king" during his tenure with Philadelphia.

J.J. Redick had admired the way the 76ers shared the ball on offense even before he signed with the team this offseason.

“It’s probably one of the main reasons I wanted to come here was because of how they played in the past,” Redick said. “Sometimes with the intention of sort of not trying to win at times too, but I liked how they played. I just kind of envisioned myself enjoying sort of playing in this atmosphere.”

Russell Westbrook said it is up to him to make things work with Carmelo Anthony and Paul George.

"That's a part of my job to make sure those guys are [comfortable]," Westbrook said. "Those guys are great players, and my job is to make sure they're comfortable, and in their spots, and comfortable with the things that best benefits their game."

Westbrook, George and Anthony are each accustomed to dominating the ball.

Westbrook has resisted the urge to shoot as frequently as he did last season.

"No, that was last year," Westbrook said. "This is a new year, new team."

Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Wilson Chandler, Al Jefferson, Garrett Temple, Enes Kanter, JaVale McGee and Jahlil Okafor have all made a switch to a vegan or vegetarian diet over the past year or so.

"Been on more of a plant-based diet, getting away from the animals and all that," Irving told ESPN during the preseason. "I had to get away from that. So my energy is up; my body feels amazing."

"He's had great energy all year," Brad Stevens says of Irving as part of a lengthy feature by Tom Haberstroh. "The nutrition side is huge."

"I wanted to eat cleaner," Lillard told The Oregonian this offseason. "Also I want to play lighter this year and be easier on my joints and feet. I'm getting older, you know what I mean?"

"For athletes, it's tough," Chandler tells B/R Mag. "It's not a plant-based world."

The weight of the league increased by seven pounds per player from 2000 until 2013 but has fallen three pounds on average per player over the past four years as the NBA has moved towards a fast playing style.

Irving attributes to his increased energy to his diet.

"It works," Irving tells B/R Mag. "I mean, I'm not eating a whole bunch of animals anymore. Once you become awake, you don't see that stuff anymore."

Kip Andersen, the director of the What The Health documentary, says his friends joke that the NBA will soon be called the NVA, the National Vegan Association, because "that's how many players are going vegan or vegetarian."

Jaylen Brown hasn't eaten red meat or pork for his entire life. In college at Berkeley, Brown went full-on vegetarian, but he's found it harder to stick to it "outside of Cali." Brown aspires to go vegan by his 25th birthday.

"That's my goal," Brown says. "I just want to do it. I just think it's a healthier lifestyle. Maybe it can give me a competitive edge on the basketball floor. I think that's the next step."

Kevin Durant had made significant improvement over the past few seasons as a defensive player. Durant said his motivation to dedicate himself to that side of the floor was out of fear.

"I've been a scorer my whole life," Durant told ESPN this week. "I've been a one-on-one player my whole life. All I've thought about in the past was different ways to score, rather than different ways to impact the game. Since 2012-13, I've been trying to figure out ways to impact the game outside of scoring.

"Defense started to creep in there probably two years before I got to the Warriors. Defense started to become a focal point for me where I wanted to be trusted. I didn't want to be the guy where all the film clips are about how they back-doored me, or how someone drove around me or how I'm not contesting shots. I was more so just nervous about being called out during film sessions. That's why I wanted to get better."

Durant is second in the NBA in blocks behind Rudy Gobert, averaging 2.45 per game.

Durant said he would "like to be an All-NBA defender."

"I just want to be counted on by my coaches and my teammates in those situations," he said. "I don't want my coach to have to pull me out the game in situations in the fourth quarter because I can't play defense and then they need to go to a defense-offense [substitution pattern]. I don't want to be that player. I never wanted to be that player. So that's what I feared more than anything."

Durant elevated his defensive game playing beside Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston.

"It's contagious," Durant said. "If you're seeing that all the time, and it's creating points for you, that s-- is fun. It's fun when you get your teammates involved on both ends of the floor and you're all as one out there on the basketball court. You don't want to be the liability, and that's what I'm fighting against."

Durant also credited Thabo Sefolosha and Kendrick Perkins for influencing him on defense.

The Houston Rockets will need Clint Capela to take yet another step in his development if they are to fully challenge the Golden State Warriors.

With a veteran roster, Capela is one of the Rockets' only players that still has room to grow. Capela currently ranks fifth in the NBA in PER.

"The only way [to overcome the Warriors] is to develop near-elite two-way players," Daryl Morey said. "I think Clint has that potential. He's on the way. He took a big step forward last year. It's a lot to put on one guy, but we need one more step, at least."

"To me, it's just a matter of time," Mike D'Antoni said. "I'll be very surprised if he doesn't become, if not the best center in the league, one of the best. I'll be shocked."

Caepla will be a restricted free agent this offseason.

"We'll have him here as long as he'll have us," Morey said. "He couldn't price himself out."

Giannis Antetokounmpo believes playing in one of the NBA's smaller markets has helped him become a better player.

“I’m a low-profile guy,” Antetokounmpo said. “I don’t like all these flashy cities like L.A. or Miami. I don’t know if I could be the same player if I played in those cities.”

Antetokounmpo can become a free agent in 2021 when his four-year, $100 million extension expires.

“I got loyalty inside my DNA,” wrote Antetokounmpo on Twitter in July.

Antetokounmpo father, Charles Antetokounmpo, passed away in September at the age of 54. Antetokounmpo has been leaning even further on his adopted hometown of Milwaukee since.

“I can feel the love from the city every day I step on the floor,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “For me, what I’m going through now, I appreciate it even more.”

“I really don’t see Giannis going anywhere,” Michael Redd said. “Even in the future.

“With what he’s doing on the court, it’s going to automatically draw people to come play with him. I know people have that stigma about Milwaukee. But it won’t be hard for him to attract talent here. I just want a ring when they get a ring.”

Antetokounmpo will help the Bucks open their new arena.

“There’s a lot of things you can do in Milwaukee, too,” Antetokounmpo said proudly.

Jahlil Okafor and Mario Hezonja joined the likes of Anthony Bennett, Austin Rivers, Hasheem Thabeet, Jonny Flynn and others as lottery picks who had their rookie scale options declined.

The following video shows every lottery pick since 2008 to fall into this category.