If there is a team that will make a huge jump in the 2016-17 season, many people are expecting that team to be the Utah Jazz, who are coached by Quin Snyder. The Jazz added George Hill and Joe Johnson in the off season and expect to have Dante Exum and Alec Burks at full strength come opening night to round out a roster that consists of Gordon Hayward, Rudy Gobert, Rodney Hood, and Derrick Favors.
Due to their talent, youth, and upside, there is tons of chatter of the Utah Jazz being a top 10 team in the NBA and a team that can threaten to reach the Western Conference Finals. Considering that the Utah Jazz went 40-42 and finished 9th in the Western Conference last season, to call them contenders this season feels to be a bit of stretch to me. I don't deny the talent level that is there and the upside that this team has. Dante Exum very well become one of the top players in the NBA and Rudy Gobert likewise has all the tools to be the next dominant big man in the NBA. In addition, Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward, while not all-stars, are getting better every season and establishing themselves as one of the best players in the league.
But with that all being true, I don't see them as a team that will threaten to come out of the Western Conference. They're just not there yet and that's ok. They're right where they should expect and hope to be, which is to be a team that people are looking at and saying, "Those guys are gonna be really good in a couple of seasons."
Jazz Nation will say that the future is now and that this team is gonna make serious noise due to their off-season acquisitions, health, and one more year of seasoning. While I do think that all of those things bode very well for the Jazz, I still think the Jazz will be in a dogfight to make the playoffs and win a series. The Warriors and Spurs will be the top two teams in the Western Conference again and the Thunder with Russell Westbrook will still be very dangerous even with Kevin Durant jumping ship. As for the rest of the conference, the Clippers, Grizzlies, and Trail Blazers should prove to be competitive. Even the Timberwolves should be a team that people keep an eye on.
The Western Conference is still loaded and the Jazz have to go out and prove that they are one of the best teams in the conference. If there is anything that should worry the Jazz it is their lack of a true superstar. Rudy Gobert and Dante Exum have superstar potential, but they aren't there yet. Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors, while being very good players, don't have superstar potential. They have all-star potential, but not the potential to be guys who lead a team to a championship. They can help a team win a title, but they can't be the centerpieces of a championship team like John Stockton and Karl Malone proved themselves to be.
As for what type of expectations we should have for this Utah Jazz team, I think we should expect them to make the playoffs with the hopes that they find a way to win a series. If they do that, they should be very happy with how they are progressing. I love the direction that this team is going and I have no doubt that a championship may be coming to Utah in the near future, but I don't think they will make the huge leap that other people are expecting.
Note: This blog post also appears on my Utah Jazz blog: utahjazz406.blogspot.com. Click here to check it out.
This is a good site! come on and join with us!
ReplyDeleteFoto Bugil Abg Toket Montok Pentil Mancung
Great article! Now that we are in mid-December and we have a quarter of the season behind us, I'd be interested to hear your updated thoughts on the Utah Jazz. Despite having 3 starters, even 4 players during at least 1 game, have managed to win 8 of their last 10 (1 of the losses was the Warriors and the other was a loss at the buzzer). Granted, it has been a fairly easy schedule over those 10 games. But as you mentioned, Gordon Hayward was not an all-star player when you wrote this. He is now playing like an all-star. The case could be made that Rudy Gobert is also now playing near all-star level. Still dominant on defense, he has now added an offensive game, getting to the line and shooting almost 20% better from the line than in previous seasons. Rodney Hood is still playing outstanding despite some injury struggles. There has been some disappointment in Dante Exum, who has been relegated from starting PG his rookie season to #3 behind George Hill and Shelvin Mack. Fans have been disappointed. But I invite you to compare his numbers this season to his rookie season. Surprisingly, only 3P% has dropped. Most of his numbers are up! Although his defense seems to have declined, the fact that he has been relegated to #3 is more a testament to the strength of this year's Jazz team than to any decline in Dante's game. Which brings me to 1of the 2 scariest aspects of this Jazz team. It's not the improved play of Hayward or Gobert. It is the contribution of the bench - deep down the bench. Players that seemed so inconsequential they were not even mentioned in your post. Jeff Withey and Boris Diaw, also picked up by the Jazz this summer, have been solid. But Shelvin Mack has filled the spot left by an injured George Hill admirably, both offensively and defensively, and Joe Ingles leads the league in 3P%. Those are contributions no one expected. Maybe this can be said of a lot of teams, but it seems like they are the most dangerous team in the league if (big if) they can stay healthy for more than a couple of games.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your analysis! Thanks for reading! I agree that health is a major obstacle right now and is THE major obstacle this team has to overcome. Hayward and Gobert are both playing very well and the offseason acquisitions were solid. I do have questions about Exum and am still not sold on him yet, even though I recognize he is young. Glad you enjoyed the article! I plan to do another Jazz piece soon. It will be on here and on my Jazz blog. Go Jazz!
Delete