Utah Jazz
Possibly the team flying under the radar the most this season, nobody seems to be talking about the Utah Jazz at all through the first portion of the 2019-20 season.
With a 13-10 record, the Jazz is sitting in 6th position in the Western Conference is quite a strange position, comfortably two games clear of the Minnesota Timberwolves in 7th position but also two games behind the 5th place Denver Nuggets.
A possible reason for the Jazz flying under the radar is the minimal chatter about their rising star, Donovan Mitchell. The young jet is continuing to develop his game but with the sharp rise of young superstars such as Luka Doncic and Trae Young, Mitchell has almost become the forgotten star in the West and despite being the No.1 player on the Jazz roster.
It could also be the fact that they have only made it past the Western Conference Semifinals in one season since the 98-99 season. That means a 20-year stretch with only one appearance in a Western Conference Finals series, where the Jazz was comprehensively beaten 4-1 by the Spurs anyway.
So far this season, Utah holds a 9-2 record on their home court whilst holding seven different opponents under 100 points and only 5 scores over 120. The Jazz rank as one of the slowest paced teams in the league, focusing predominantly on their defensive craft whilst being lowly ranked on offense.
Their slow pace is one of the reasons I believe the Jazz will not be contenders come playoff time.
Averaging just 106.6 points-per-game, Utah rank 22nd in the league for this category despite ranking 4th in the league for 3-point shooting, connecting on 38.5 percent of these attempts. Their scoring average is the lowest of any team currently sitting in the top six positions of either the West or East Conference.
Utah is also struggling to move the ball on the offensive end also. Averaging just 21.4 assists per game is only good enough to be ranked 4th last in the entire league, coupled with their 16.5 turnover-per-game average which ranks 3rd highest in the NBA. Fourth lowest in assists and 3rd highest for turnovers is a recipe for disaster for any team, let alone one trying to contend with the best teams in the league.
On the defensive end, the Jazz also struggles to force turnovers despite having Rudy Gobert, consistently one of the best defensive players in the NBA. Utah only averages six steals each game, ranking 2nd last in the NBA whilst ranking 5th last for blocks also. They are consistent in the top-10 of categories such as points-per-game and field goal conversions allowed, but not being able to force oppositions into turning the ball over is again, not a great recipe.
Other factors that do not bode well for Utah include their 4-8 record away from home, the fact they have only scored over 120 points on 3 occasions against the bottom-feeders of the NBA (Golden State, New Orleans, and Memphis) and their 5-8 record against teams with a .500+ record.
The last factor severely hurting the Jazz is the minimal impact they are getting from some of their starters. Mike Conley has failed to really make an impact in Utah since his trade from Memphis over the off-season. The point guard has struggled to find his place behind Donovan Mitchell after being the No.1 man in Memphis for so long. Royce O’Neale fails to really add anything to the Jazz also, with Utah relying on Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic to carry the team on offense particularly.
Despite sitting 6th in the West, Utah has far too many areas of concern to really compete with the likes of the Lakers and Bucks. They have super talents in Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert but fail to put together all the pieces of the puzzle to be legitimate championship contenders.