Utah Jazz ready to move up in Western Conference hierarchy
With the NBA season drawing closer, it’s a perfect time to take a look at the Utah Jazz, a strong contender in the Western Conference.
The Utah Jazz are ready to make a run this season. They made drastic improvements to the roster, and in a loaded West are expected to finish top five in the conference.
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The Jazz will be looking to cure their postseason fever, as they’ve been underwhelming in the playoffs despite knocking off the Oklahoma City Thunder two seasons ago.
Utah faced off against the Houston Rockets in round one this past year and were expected to compete with the offensive genius that the Rockets exhibited throughout the regular season. However, the Jazz quickly went down 3-0, and despite stealing a game at home in game four, looked entirely overmatched against James Harden and company.
It’s safe to say that the Utah Jazz will at least need to make it to the second round to satisfy fans, but most will want a conference finals appearance. Especially with the moves made over the summer, expectations are high in Salt Lake City.
With Donovan Mitchell entering his third season and Rudy Gobert manning the paint, the team already had two big cornerstones to build around. The team didn’t make any moves in the draft, besides a trade made two weeks prior.
As the Jazz got better, so did the rest of the West. The eight playoff teams from last year are still in contention (aside from the Thunder), and teams like the Los Angeles Lakers that fell short last year will be nearly guaranteed a spot in 2020s postseason. However, the Jazz have the talent to compete, and everything about them will be broken down in the following slides.