Utah Jazz ready to move up in Western Conference hierarchy
Best-case scenario
In the best-case scenario, the team gels quickly and comes out of the gate hot.
Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley are a dream pairing, and assert themselves as a top-three backcourt in the league. Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles provide plenty of threes and defense. Rudy Gobert winds up in contention for the Defensive Player of the Year award again and wins it. The bench does everything they’re supposed to and sits in the top 10 for bench points per game.
The team stands pat at the deadline and manages to hit nearly 60 wins with the help of all-stars Mitchell and Conley. Royce O’Neale establishes himself a solid sixth man and even challenges Ingles for a starting spot.
The team finishes second in the conference behind the LA Clippers. In the first round, they eliminate the Portland Trail Blazers in six games. Following that, they face the Lakers and Bogdanovic’s defense on LeBron James helps them beat the Lakers in seven games. They continue to face the Clippers, yet are overwhelmed by the Clippers’ defense and lose in six.
Worst-case scenario
The worst-case scenario involves the Jazz starting off slowly, and failing to catch up to the top teams in the West. Conley and Mitchell don’t gel as expected, and issues arise throughout the year. Trade talks involving Conley surface around January, which causes the team chemistry to plummet.
Mitchell doesn’t take the next step and demands the ball to make plays too often for himself. He fails to improve his playmaking skills and doesn’t share the ball enough.
Bogdanovic appears incapable of guarding bigger power forwards, and the team’s defense sinks as they allow more points to opposing frontcourts. Gobert cannot cover up the glaring holes on defense and has a disappointing year on that side of the ball. The bench, meanwhile, fails to click and they struggle to put up points while the starters rest.
The team finishes in the seventh seed to face the Lakers in round one. Unsurprisingly, they bow out in five games to LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Questions about the security of various players arise as the team ushers in the offseason.