Utah Jazz: Best In The West

There is no question that the Golden State Warriors should have beaten the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

There is no question that the Oklahoma City Thunder should have beaten the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

There is no question that the Utah Jazz should have made the playoffs.

Missing the playoffs can’t be blamed on one missed foul call that would have sent Jeff Withey to the free-throw line for the win. Missing the playoffs can’t be blamed on the absence-of-mind effort that was given against the Mavericks at home nearing the end of the season. Excuses of an injury plagued season can rationalize in your mind that the Utah Jazz were as good as they could have been. They didn’t, they failed. No excuses, no rationalization. The Utah Jazz should have been the 6th seed in the Western Conference and they failed. They came up short in the eyes of their fans.

The Jazz have had one of the most promising offseasons of any NBA team that you can have without adding Kevin Durant to your roster. The narrative before Dennis Lindsey’s historic week of ‘wheeling and dealing’ was that with the addition of a healthy Dante Exum to the group that was already put together would propel them to the next level. That narrative is as unfair to Dante Exum as it is to Jazz Nation. The idea that a 21 year-old point guard that is essentially about to begin his sophomore campaign, having only played 82 games is an unfair amount of pressure to place on his Australian shoulders.

Jazz Brass knew that.

Everyone knew the Utah Jazz needed a veteran combo guard that could play with the ball as well as off the ball. Everyone knew the Jazz needed shooting, Coach Snyder’s offense undoubtedly got the Jazz the shots that they wanted, however the roster did not have the talent necessary to make the shots. The roster needed a play-making big man to help the front court’s rotation. Dennis Lindsey added a veteran point guard that is not only elite defensively, but boasts one of the better shooting percentages from behind the arc. Joe Johnson is not the man we knew in Atlanta but he still has a lot of great basketball left to play. Boris Diaw is un compagnon of Rudy Gobert’s from the French basketball team, but he is also one of the most versatile big men that the league has to offer. Assuming the Jazz are getting the Spur’s Diaw and not the Boris from Charlotte, Utah should be happy. 

Every need that the Utah Jazz had, they filled. However, they didn’t just fill the void but they filled the need with the best option on the market. Joe Johnson is talent levels above the other free agent back-up wings that were on the market, he is a veteran that can easily mesh with this group and he came cheap- he is a professional. Boris Diaw was acquired for a second round draft pick from 2015 that has failed to make Utah’s 15 man roster. Every one of these three additions is a great fit to a group that already meshes well and adding the wrong player to a group that has great chemistry would be extremely dangerous. If the Jazz were to add a difficult personality to the roster, it would make the personality management aspect of Coach Snyder’s job much more difficult.

There is no debate that the Golden State Warriors will finish with the best record in the NBA during the 2016-2017 season, However the other seven in the top 8 of the west is up for debate. The Spurs are likely to be considered the heavy favorite to finish second in the West, the Clippers are the next team that you would assume finish in third, however after several seasons of underachieving under Doc Rivers it is okay to assume that they might blow their best opportunity to be second best in the Western Conference that they have had. In the fourth spot the Memphis Grizzlies would typically be suspected to be slotted in that spots as a top 4 team in the west. However, with Marc Gasol still recovering from a broken foot, Chandler Parsons recovering from his knee injury and Mike Conley recovering from his season ending Achilles injury it makes it difficult to assume the Grizzlies will “wow” us next year. Portland did not have the offseason that I expected them to have. Even though the addition of Festus Ezeli and Evan Turner gave them much needed depth, I don’t see them preforming better than they did last year. The Rockets, Pelicans and Thunder all had key players leave their organization. Speculation of trade rumors continue to surround the Thunder/Westbrook and the Clippers/Griffin, which would most likely mean that the Thunder will drop out of the playoff picture while the Clippers once again stick around the middle of the pack.

The Utah Jazz will finish no worse than fifth in the Western Conference. They will easily finish above an aging Memphis ball club that has failed to provide any type of a second unit, they will finish above the Durant-less Thunder, They will finish above the overachieving Mavericks, They will finish above the Rockets that lost Superman, They will finish above the destroyed franchise in Sacramento, They will finish above the struggling Pelicans, they will finish above a Denver team that still has a long road ahead of them, they will finish above an up-and-coming team in Minnesota, They will finish above the desert heat in Phoenix and they will finish above a Lakers team that will mourn/celebrate the loss of the Black Mamba all season.

That is 10 teams that the Utah Jazz will assuredly finish above in the Western Conference standings next season. Leaving the top 5 spots in the west up for grabs… err, Golden State will take the top spot. Best case scenario the Jazz are fighting San Antonio for the second spot in the west. Worst case scenario Utah will finish fifth in the west.

That’s right Jazz fans, The Miller’s team in Salt Lake City will not finish worse than fifth in the west at the end of the 2016-2017 season.

The Utah Jazz will finish fourth in the west, behind the Warriors, Spurs and Clippers.

The Utah Jazz will be among the Best In The West.