Utah Jazz: 3 big questions heading into the 2019-20 season

1. Can the Jazz compete with the top teams in the West?

The Jazz have been underrated this offseason.  Sure, the West has gotten better, but there hasn’t been much talk of them doing super well compared to the top of the conference. If everything clicks for them, they can easily be a top-three seed in the stacked West. They could even fall as low as the sixth seed, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t built for a deep playoff run.

The starting lineup of Conley, Mitchell, Bogdanovic, Ingles and Gobert is one of the most solid groups on both ends of the court. Add in Exum, Green, Davis, O’Neale and Emmanuel Mudiay, and that second unit has the potential to be one of the best bench groups in the entire league.

In the playoffs, experience and defense matter. Conley has been to the playoffs almost every season of his career. Mitchell has made it his first two seasons and is determined to improve upon last year’s first-round exit. The rest of the team is defensively stout, and the bench provides scoring, defense, and leadership from Green and Davis.

The Jazz will be a tough out when the playoffs roll around. Barring a first-round face-off against the Los Angeles Lakers or LA Clippers, Utah has the ability to beat any team in the first round.  Even against those two teams, the Jazz have a real shot of knocking them off if their depth shows up for every game.

Compared to the rest of the West, the Jazz have a much better team filled with stars on both sides of the ball, leaders, team players and young players ready to learn whatever they can from the new guys. Add in a championship-caliber coach in Quin Snyder, who has improved the defense every season since becoming head coach, and the Jazz will be a force in the West in 2019-20.