The Utah Jazz have a myriad of injuries on their team. Don’t feel sorry for them though, because every great story has great tribulation.
Got Car Troubles?
In this league, you’re only as good as your record and right now, the Utah Jazz aren’t very good.
With a 13-17 record, the Jazz are barely hanging onto the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference and if they don’t change their tune, then they’ll be right back in the middle of the NBA Draft Lottery.
Granted, this year it’s not bad to have a lottery pick with players like Ben Simmons, Kris Dunn, Jaylen Brown, Cheick Diallo and Stephen Zimmerman expected to become available. Nevertheless, Utah wants to make the playoffs and why wouldn’t they? Their team is talented.
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If you’re one of the people who is sitting there and feeling bad for Utah then you should stop right now. Almost every professional sports team has to deal with injuries at one point.
They are just as common as having to deal with car troubles right before you’re on your way to work. Right when you run out the house attempting to get to work early, start the engine and notice your car not running, that’s when you begin your real adventure, trying to figure out how to solve your biggest problem.
Want to know what makes a good story great? Drama, adversity and overcoming an obstacle. Utah has a chance to overcome adversity this season and we could be looking at one of the most resilient teams in franchise history.
Time to Answer Some Questions
For the Utah Jazz, this season was about starting the car, racking up a lot of wins early in the year to lock up a playoff spot and then cruise until the finish line. That didn’t go as planned and now Utah has to deal with their car trouble. However, if you’re one of the people who feel negatively sad, don’t.
Questions have emerged such as, if Gordon Hayward is the best player on your team, how far can you go? Or can Rodney Hood get more aggressive and avoid having a sophomore slump? Or can Trey Burke be called upon to produce even more than he has this season?
We’ve seen one of these questions already get answered. In a 94-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves last night, Burke had one of the best games of the season where he scored 23 points off of the bench.
Burke also shot 8-of-18 from the floor, had four assists, one rebound, one steal and two blocked shots. He’s been able to continue being productive in spite of the circumstances around him. Though he’s not the starter (which is still extremely stupid at this point) he’s been getting the minutes in order to succeed.
The reason the Jazz lost though wasn’t in Burke’s hands. It’s because the team only managed to score 80 points. Utah knew that it needed to start scoring more before everyone got injured. Now that these injuries have happened, their problem has only grown larger.
Beauty in the Struggle
For example, if everyone was healthy and no injuries occurred, these questions surrounding the personnel on this team would’ve piled up. Instead, we’ll be able to clearly evaluate everyone individually and see how they can impact a franchise.
The Western Conference playoff hunt normally isn’t a laughing matter but this year it’s been a joke how bad these teams have played and still managed to get into the playoff race. The Houston Rockets nearly traded everyone on their team, fired their former head coach Kevin McHale, and as dysfunctional as their season has been, they still find themselves in the seventh spot in the playoff hunt.
As for Utah, they’ll also have to realize that this season isn’t picture perfect, but it’s still worth the picture. It’s sink or swim mode for Utah moving forward.
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If they want the playoffs bad enough, they’ll get there. Just don’t feel bad for them if they don’t because this team has enough talent even with the injuries to get it done.