Utah Jazz: Biggest strengths and weaknesses for 2017-18
By Jason Oliver
Strength No. 3: The element of surprise
As if the Utah Jazz aren’t already perennially underrated, they will enter the 2017-18 season down an All-Star and without a player that is widely considered a star.
For those in Utah or that follow the league as a whole closely, Rudy Gobert is a star player. But ask a casual fan who leads the Jazz on and off the court, and there’s a higher chance they name the guy that left before the Frenchman.
Even as a fifth seed in the Western Conference last season, nobody recognized the Jazz as a threat to the NBA’s elite teams. Their defensive authority and ability to grind out close games while injury-depleted earned them little respect.
A straight-sets loss to the Golden State Warriors in the second round is all many people will remember about last year’s team. Not for the first time, the Jazz will carry the element of surprise into the 2017-18 season.
They missed out on up to nine wins due to injury in 2016-17, which would have seen them become a 60-win team and a possible third seed. This season, without Hayward, there have already been prediction’s this squad could finish as low as 10th, with many picking the Jazz to miss the playoffs.
Utah won 51 and led the league in wins lost to injury all season long. People somehow still have no clue how good the Jazz were.
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) July 2, 2017
What most don’t know is even with their now erstwhile All-Star small forward, it was Gobert that led the team in win shares. In fact, only James Harden registered more win shares than Gobert’s 14.3 across the league.
The building block for success is still in Utah; Gobert has and will continue to drive this team towards the playoffs. The Jazz will assume their position under the radar and even when they do string some wins together, will still be placed behind the sexier teams in the league in the mainstream media’s power rankings.