Tier 1: The top seed contenders
3. Utah Jazz
Last season: 50-32, 5th in Western Conference
Notable additions: Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, Ed Davis, Emmanuel Mudiay, Jeff Green
Notable subtractions: Derrick Favors, Ricky Rubio, Kyle Korver
From one through five, the Utah Jazz might have the strongest starting lineup in the NBA. While they sacrificed a little bench depth this summer, the depth they now have in their first five more than makes up for it and vaults them into the upper echelon of teams.
Donovan Mitchell‘s struggles shooting the ball have made him a divisive talent, but there’s no denying that he has been asked to do far more than most young players through his first two seasons. He shot just 43.2 percent from the field last season, but that’s in large part thanks to the fact that he took almost 20 shots per game. Utah’s next most prolific shooters? Ricky Rubio (10.7 FGA) and Jae Crowder (10 FGA).
Utah’s offseason moves should help to ease the load on their young star, with both Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic big gets for a small-market franchise. Constantly vacillating between overrated and underrated, Conley will be a steadying presence at the point for the Jazz. He’ll be able to take on Rubio’s share of the ballhandling and playmaking, while also offering more scoring (21.1 PPG last season) and perimeter shooting (career 37.5 3PT%) than the Spaniard was able to.
Bogdanovic will further boost the team’s shooting, and his ability to create shots will both ease the burden on Mitchell and give the Jazz a go-to option when he’s on the bench. After Victor Oladipo‘s season-ending injury, Bogdanovic averaged 20.7 points per game while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from deep. Those are All-Star numbers, and the 34 game sample size is enough to suggest that they are sustainable.
It remains to be seen how Mitchell will adapt to having more mouths to feed offensively, and we should learn quickly whether his high shot attempts were forced upon him or whether they’re more of a personality trait. There’s certainly potential for him to be an effective off-ball weapon, as he ranked in the 94th percentile for spot-up plays, just a hair behind Stephen Curry.
Defensively, the Jazz should continue to be an elite team for as long as Rudy Gobert is on the court. Now a two-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, there can be no debating the effect he has on opposition players at the rim.
Utah’s bench is looking a little thinner now than last season, but Royce O’Neale and Dante Exum have proven to be playable in the past, Ed Davis is a good signing who has proved effective everywhere he’s played, and Jeff Green is still capable of one scoring outburst per season.
Add in Joe Ingles‘ outstanding playmaking at the FIBA World Cup, and there’s plenty for Jazz fans to be excited about heading into next season. Their defense has long made them a good regular season team, but a revamped offense might see them finally go deeper into the postseason.