The Utah Jazz's slow start to the season is punctuated by freak injury to Taylor Hendricks.
Opening the season with four-straight losses is far from ideal, but that's the scenario the Utah Jazz finds themselves in after the first full week of the NBA's regular season. A team that is looking to take a big step forward in their progression as a team has failed to get off to a strong start to the season. What makes Utah's situation more discouraging is that they just committed long-term to Lauri Markkanen. The early signs are that this team hasn't improved much since last season, in which they managed to win only 31 games.
That's not necessarily something the Jazz wanted out of this season. In fairness, the season is still young and the Jazz can theoretically turn things around. However, the outlook doesn't look great at the moment.
And to add injury to insult, the Jazz lost second-year forward Taylor Hendricks to injury in a recent loss. In what could be described as a freak fall and injury, Hendricks is expected to miss the rest of the season.
The concerns for the Utah Jazz
From the offseason whispers of the Jazz potentially making a big trade to the eventual signing of Markkanen to a long-term extension, it's practically impossible to predict what lies ahead for this team. And that's what makes Utah's future concerning.
It's been two years since the Jazz made the move to rebuild or retool the roster and there are very few certainties aside from Markkanen. That's probably the biggest reason why they haven't made the strides in their development as a franchise as you would expect this far into a rebuild.
Even though it's only a week sample size, the early indications are that the Jazz are probably going to struggle mightily again this season as they continue to wait for another young star to develop alongside Markkanen.
The concern is, that's far from a guarantee. But that's a part of the rebuilding process that can either make or break a front office's plans in the long run.