NBA: 30 Storylines Driving The 2015-16 Season
Apr 10, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) warms up prior to the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
Utah Jazz – This is the Year…I’m Calling it!
The Utah Jazz are one of those teams who have consistently been among the worst in the league for a number of years now. Every time they seem to have something sticking they just blow it up and start over (I guess they really like the process).
This year’s roster feels like it could take the league by surprise, however. I’m not saying they’ll make the playoffs, but I think they have a legitimate chance to be one of those teams we talk about in the last few weeks of the regular season as one that is vying for the final playoff slot (I’m predicting they end up around 10th or 11th in the conference).
What I like about them is their youth and relative anonymity. They have Derrick Favors (who I love and despise my Brooklyn Nets for trading away for Deron Williams) as their premier player, and he’s only 24. Gordon Hayward is the league’s most consistently inconsistent player, with stretches of good and then bad shooting which haven’t been seen since Daffy Duck in Space Jam. I love the length, athleticism, and shot blocking prowess that Rudy Gobert brings to the team, and Trey Lyles (the team’s first round selection in the 2015 Draft) brings welcome depth in the post.
Guard play is where this team seems to be the most dicey at the moment. If they could find a way to fuse Trey Burke and Dante Exum (a la Goku and Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z) they’d have an elite young point guard. However, as that technique hasn’t exactly been brought down to a science yet, and the fact that Exum is out for the season, that seems to be unlikely.
I firmly believe that a great deal of the Jazz’s success hinges on the ability of Alec Burks to elevate his game in his return from injury. He needs to come back in a next level sort of way to make the Jazz a contender as opposed to a bottom dweller.
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